Beneath a Blood Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

had left my arm scarred and broken. While the hairline crack had healed, the memory of its pain remained.
    As the shock wore off, my fury at his betrayal washed through me, giving me the strength to get to my feet. I shook from head to toe, balling my hands into fists at my side. “You cheating son of a bitch,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “You left the threats? You disgusting frea—”
    When I had known him, Rory had been slow and deliberate in the way he moved. Closing the distance between us in a long stride, he whipped out his arm and cracked the back of his hand across my face. My head snapped to the side from the force of the blow, and I staggered. He grabbed hold of my upper arm, his fingers closing around the injury my father had give me three years before.
    Without his hold on me, I would have fallen. Blood streamed down my chin from where his blow had split my lip.
    “Watch your mouth,” he snapped. The sound that came out of his throat wasn’t human; it was an animal’s growl, and it sent shivers racing through me. “You should be grateful. I could have decided to simply kill your friend, but I thought you’d appreciate her company.”
    “Jesus Christ!” Isabella gasped out, rising to her feet.
    Without hesitation, Rory pulled a gun from his pocket, pointing it at my friend. “Sit down and be quiet, ma’am. This doesn’t involve you at the moment. This is between me and Sara.”
    Isabella’s face paled, and she sank down onto the couch without a word.
    “Why did you leave me?” The way Rory’s eyes bore into me chilled me to the bone.
    Instead of a sane woman’s fear, my rage, disgust, and self-loathing smothered all of my other emotions. My anger won, and I lifted my hand to mouth, pressing my palm to the wound to staunch the flow of blood. All of the things I had wanted to scream at him years ago bubbled out of me in a relentless flood. “Why would I stay with a cheating bastard like you? I told you. I told you from the start. All I wanted from you was your loyalty. You sold yourself pretty cheap to that other girl, didn’t you? Didn’t think I’d catch you in the act, did you? How did she get you? Did she buy you a couple of shots? Maybe drugs you couldn’t afford? Did she let you take her for a ride in your piece of shit car when I wouldn’t? Well? Which was it? Piece of shit cheater. My only regret is that I didn’t run far enough.”
    I pulled my hand away from my mouth, turning my palm to him. My blood dripped down my arm, reached my elbow, and fell to the floor.
    All of the anger fled from his expression as he stared at my red-stained skin. With a gentle touch, he seized my wrist in one hand and my chin with the other. I froze, trembling at the bruising strength of his grip. “I shouldn’t have hit you.”
    “I never should have gotten involved with you. Looks like my father was right.” With far more strength than I thought I possessed, I ripped my hand free of his hold. “Let me go. Forget it, Rory. I’ll never take a cheating scumbag like you back.”
    “Even if it costs you your life?” he asked, arching a brow. “It might, you know. I have no intention of letting you get away this time. Not after I spent so long hunting you down. I have to give you credit. You did a pretty good job of hiding. Now that I’ve found you, I won’t lose you again.”
    “I’d rather die.”
    When he backhanded me again, I hit the floor hard, stunned from the force of his blow. For a long moment, I couldn’t even breathe, let alone fight him when he dug his foot into my side and rolled me onto my back. He pressed his shoe between my breasts and pinned me to the floor with his weight. “You will, unless you change your mind,” he promised.

    Breathing hurt, and I had the feeling Rory had broken something pressing down so hard against my chest. Sharp pains blossomed from where he pinned me with his foot, strengthening each time I inhaled. He ignored me, all of his attention