“And what about the piranhas?”“I doubt the fishies’ll snack on anything critical.” He leaned in to murmur at her ear, “They only go for small prey.”

“Greedy for more?"Grinding his hardness against her hip,he nuzzled her neck,her ear,murmuring words in Russian.His warn breaths against her made her shiver wildly."Wh-what did you say?""I talked filth in your ear."Voice gone ragged,he said,"I told you that you've got the prettiest little pussy I've ever seen,and then I told you what I'm going to do with it.”

“She murmured, "You're unfinished.""Aye, precisely.""I need to go."When she moved to get up, he shoved her against his side and slapped her arse to keep her there. "You stay with me."She snapped, "What do you want from me, Chase?"He drew his head back in confusion. "I want everything. You're mine, Regin.”

“What is he?”“I can’t puzzle it out. He doesn’t have horns, pointed ears—or apparently a need to eat. He does have small fangs, but he also sports a tan line.”“You checked? Natalya, you durrrty bitch.”“Hey, I had to determine if he was a blood sucker or not. Now I don’t know what to think.”

“Once I'm free, we're going to find out exactly how much pain you can endure while remaining conscious. I won't stop until you tell me where my ring is." He leaned in to say at his ear, "I'll be sure to make you feel your loss.”

“Lothaire briefly gazed heavenward. "Chase is clearly a reluctant sharer. Which should incite her curiosity about what's going on in his head. She's a disgustingly self-righteous Valkyrie, filled with the need to fix things, to right wrongs. If anything needed fixing ..." He waved a hand to indicate Declan from head to toe. "As wrong as he can be.”

“Did he ask what she'd done in her room? Hell, no. At that point, and after that bewitching smile, if she'd murmured, "I'm leading you into the fiery depths of hell," he'd have followed dumbly.”