Chosen by the Vampire, Book Two: Cruel Selection Vampire Series, #2

By Atlas Rose

The dance is over but the battle has just begun.

I hate them. I want them.

My body craves them like a drug. 

The dance haunts me. The music, the seduction. The sex. I'm like an addict, searching for the Sinful in dark corners, remembering the way their moon-kissed skin glowed under my touch.

But I came here for a reason. I want retribution for my murdered family...but more than that...I'm searching for salvation to find a way out of this torture.

I'm falling to my knees, desperate to find a way out from under their clutches.

I shouldn't be tangling my fingers in Cassian's hair.

I should be burying a knife in his heart.

Kill or escape, the words haunt me.

I want this over. I want to be free. 

But will my heart be intact?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atlas Rose
• Release date: Aug 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201720025

Book preview

Chapter One

Answer me, Cassian growled, his fangs glistening as they hovered over the vein in my thigh ready to strike. Will you give in to us?

Panic filled me, tearing through my veins. I pressed my spine into the hard, stony wall, cowering. I tried to get an idea on my location. Tried to scan my memories of the last few minutes to find out where I was. But everything was a blur.

I failed. That was all I knew.

Cassian had plunged the ballroom into darkness after the dance had ended and torn me from the room in the blink of an eye.

Were they going to kill me here?

The young geeky guy, Trevor, came back to my thoughts.

I’d try harder to seduce him, if given the chance. I trembled with the thought, while the chains dangling over my head clinked and shook. My hands were clenched into fists, chained high above my head. Steel shackles sat heavy against my arms. I trembled in the cold, bare to their gazes. My perfect chiffon dress now lay in tatters on the ground, ripped apart by Cassian’s need. He hovered between my legs, his gaze ravenous. I breathed in hard and fast, torn between arousal and fear.

The Vampire waited for a second for my answer.

Then he drew his head backwards and, with a savage roar, sank his teeth into my body.

I jerked, driving my hips from the stony wall, pressing my body harder into the bite. Cassian’s gaze was urgent, his fingers sliding in and out of me, hungry and insistent.

YES! I howled my torment into the void while my body responded to him, turning me on with such intensity, I trembled with need.

My body shuddered and jerked with the flare of delicious pain. He was merciless, brutal, his mouth clamped on the groove of my thigh. I jerked my gaze to the agony, before the sting melted away. His fingers glistened, moving in and out of me. With every smooth slide of his thumb against my clit, I shuddered.

My legs trembled and then gave way...until I didn’t know where I was...until I didn’t know who I was.

Still, the Sinful weren’t done. The shackles came apart from my wrists, hands found me, carrying me to the mess of my torn dress. They lay me down as Cassian pulled away, leaving me with the other two Sinful. His eyes were wide and haunted. Blood seeped over his lips. My blood. The thought rose, then slipped away, weighed down like a body in a pond.

Will you give into us? Arkyn growled, and slipped between my thighs.

But something was happening to me. Something that raced through my veins like a bolt of power. Something ancient and predatory...and powerful.

Arkyn, Casian growled, and lifted his hand to his mouth. His chest rose in great heaves. Color flushed his skin before it faded, and then, with a massive stride, the Vampire was striding back to me. I want more of her.

No! the leader snapped, and lowered his gaze to my widened thighs.

But it was too late. Cassian was like a runaway carriage with all six horses galloping for speed. He lunged at his leader, grabbing him by his shoulders. "You don’t understand. I need her!"

Cassian! Arkyn answered, rising to his feet, and turning on the other Vampire. "You will get more than your share, brother. Look at her."

They both turned to me. But that delicious predatory feeling flowed through my body. The juncture between my thighs was alive, senses firing, sending a hum through my bones.

A hum that called for them...that wanted them. I thrashed my head from side to side as both Arkyn and Cassian moved closer. Lorcan just stared at me, bewildered. Their gazes tracked every movement as I slipped my hand between my thighs and closed my legs. What’s happening to me?

The Calling, Arkyn whispered. His white fangs grew, sliding along deep red lips. Open your legs for me. I want to look at you.

I shook my head, fighting the beast inside me. The one that slid against my insides, begging for more, who wanted them, who called them. But that hunger inside me was strong, surging to the surface, refusing to be denied. My hand shook, slipping as my knees parted.

Arkyn’s body trembled as he lowered himself to his knees. His tongue skimmed his lips. Blood wasn’t what he wanted in this moment as he reached out and gently dragged his thumb along my crease. I’m going to fuck you now. A throaty growl tore from his lips. Oh, my undead heart, hell have mercy, I want… Danger flared in his eyes as he flicked his gaze to mine. I want to take my time with you. I want this to last for eternity.

He didn’t sound like himself. He reached out, his thumb grazing the tight peak of my breast as Lorcan moved closer. His eyes glowed with an eerie glow. I closed my eyes as his thumb drew a circle around my nipple and then made the slow descent. I ached in the heaviness between my legs, ached with a kind of desperation I’d never felt before.

I needed him. I needed all of them. Take the ache away, the plea slipped from my lips.

I opened my eyes to the three Vampires who looked at me with ravenous hunger. Please take the ache away.

Arkyn lowered his head. Icy lips kissed my navel. I would be honored to be your first.

I flinched at his words. How did you know?

I can smell it all over you, along here. He lifted his hand, taking the swell of my breast as he kneaded, and lowered his head between my legs. And here.

My spine arched from the floor as he licked the insides of my thighs. The heat was building once more, flicking out with greedy, languid tongues to drive my desire wild.

Why me, I growled, trying to fight the need to splay open my legs and let him do what his lips promised to do. "Why the hell do you want me?"

They stilled. Hungry. Panting.

Eyes glittering with a darkness.

Until the sound of shattering glass outside filled the air.

Fuck! Arkyn roared and shoved to his feet. He jerked his head toward the doorway as a gunshot went off with a BOOM!

Cassian! Arkyn snapped. Take care of that!

Rage sparkled in the Vampire’s eyes as he looked at me once more.

Get out here, now! a male roar came from outside. "Don’t make us burn the house down, Vampire!"

Arkyn flinched at the words, then slowly licked his lips. The sight was seductive and sensual, as though he wanted to savor the feel of me, to draw it deeper inside him. Lorcan.

The Vampire stepped forward without saying a word.

Take Asena back to her room. Make sure she’s safe and-- his gaze drifted to the torn dress underneath me. Clothed. You will protect her with your life. Do I make myself clear?

I flinched as the ache ebbed inside me. But I failed.

No. Arkyn gave the barest hint of a smile. It wasn’t you who didn’t complete the task. That male wanted you. I can still smell his desire now. He was planning on taking you out of here.

Vampire! The roar filtered through the doorway once more.

My heart lunged.

Will you show me around? Trevor’s voice slipped through my mind. I jerked my gaze toward the doorway. It was the same…

Yes, Arkyn growled and straightened his suit. It seems our little mortal has plans for your future. Danger sparked in his eyes as he smiled. And now we have plans for his.

One nod was all it took. Cassian and Arkyn tore from the room with a gust of wind that snuffed all four candles and plunged the room back into darkness.

Don’t fight me, Lorcan whispered against my ear.

His fingers slid over my breast, and then traveled down my body, lingering at the apex of my thighs. I could take you right now, he whispered. I’d fill you with my body, stretch you wide. I’d show you why we are both desired and feared.

Somehow, I knew he’d be risking the wrath of Arkyn and Cassian. Hate found me, filling my bones like marrow now that the hunger of desire was fading. And risk your life in doing so?

He stiffened. His fingers trembled, dancing at the entrance to my slit. It’d be worth it, he whispered. To have you writhing with pleasure underneath me. It’d be worth it a thousand times over.

I shuddered as that need rose with his words. I could see it unfolding inside my mind, see him parting my thighs. One slide of his zipper and he’d be inside me, plunging deep, sating that aching hunger inside me.

Darkest hell. He spat, trembling. "No more...no more. Or I won’t be able to help myself. I want you...I want you more than I’ve ever wanted life."

His words shocked me. I stilled, letting the fantasy fade. The seconds seemed to stretch out in the darkness, before, ever so gently, he slid one hand under my back and lifted. My body ached with the weight as he settled me onto my feet and then grabbed the ruined dress underneath me.

I caught the movement in the darkness. Black on black shifted around me as he leaned close. Your dress is ruined, he said, the words a hungry growl, as though he took great delight in knowing that.

He wanted to ruin it himself. He wanted to tear the dress from my body, to make it slick and wet. A moan slipped past my lips.

A dangerous, ravenous growl echoed in the air around me. Don’t try me, Asena, not when I’m riding this close to sheathing myself in your body right here and now.

A smile danced at the edges of my lips, cutting