Taken By Lust Read Free Page B

asked. He looked young, his sable hair cut almost military short. His chestnut gaze met hers in his rearview mirror from a face that looked barely out of his mid-twenties.
    “I’m fine, it’s been a long night.”
    “Looks like it. I know a short cut to your address. I can get you there ten minutes faster if you want me to take that.”
    “That would be great,” Selene said with another heartfelt sigh.
    She was tired. The cabbie turned down the next street, one she didn’t recognize but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t know all the streets in the city and a cabbie would. The cabbie turned again down a road that was darker and she sat up in her seat. There wasn’t much traffic on this street. She slid off her heel. There weren’t many places to hide a weapon in this dress but a steel-heeled stiletto would work. The cabbie turned down another street and they pulled back into traffic. She sat back feeling much more comfortable until a loud pop, a swerve, and they rolled back to the deserted street.
    “Hold on, ma’am. Let me check the tire and then I’ll call Hub to get you another ride.”
    The cabbie parked the car and got out before she could say anything. When he unfolded from the car he was taller than she expected. He would have been able to look over her head slightly. He wore jeans and a black sweater. He knelt down next to the back tire on her side and disappeared from her view.
    “It can’t be helped,” he called to her.
    “I can wait. It wasn’t your fault. I can wait for the next cabbie.”
    “You could. Or…” He trailed off and she sat up straighter to talk to him.
    “Or what?”
    “This.” Faster than humanly possible the door was wrenched open and the cabbie crawled into the car. He didn’t look right. His young face was changing, melting. She didn’t know how else to explain it. The skin on his cheeks looked as if his cheekbones had disappeared. The skin hung down and started to split. She saw blood and fur. She could hear his flesh ripping and screamed. As quick as she could draw breath she screamed. He was so strong. She couldn’t get him to let go of her. She felt faint when his fingers extended and twisted until they were long, knobby things that didn’t look like they were real. The ends were tipped in thick black claws. Claws.
    She screamed louder, punching at him, clawing at his skin. Under her nails the skins came off in clumps until he was covered in fur and his face was a demon come to life. Terror nearly stopped her from screaming but when he lifted up and she could see that a part of his anatomy was still very much human male she no longer had that problem.
    “No!” she yelled, kicking and twisting.
    “No one is going to save you,” he growled at her. His claws raked down the front of her dress and split the material like it was paper. She didn’t stop pelting him with blows to cover herself. If she gave up he would take more from her than her modesty. She clawed at his face, trying to find some weakness. When she felt his eye she dug her fingers in, feeling the orb pop and then the gush of fluids around her digits. Bile rose in her throat but she kept pushing. The demon roared, pulling back from her, but she held on.
    “Let go you bitch!” He lashed out and his claws dug into the flesh of her right breast, ripping through meat as he pulled away. She whimpered, the pain too much to get enough air to cry out. He dragged her from the back of the cab. She lost her shoes, her feet bumping over the rough pavement. The demon grabbed her by her hair, jerking her painfully to her feet. He lifted her off the floor and when she looked at his face, one eye missing and the lid shut around the hole, she saw his face for what it really was. He looked like a great cat. He looked like a man mixed with a panther. He roared in her face, his sharp teeth only an inch from her face, his scalding breath bathing her face, and she felt then that she was crying.
    “I’m going to rip