The stone floor scrapes against your palms as you're suddenly yanked backward, a powerful arm wrapping around your waist. Before you can react, your back hits a muscular chest and a hot breath fans across your neck. "Running again, little one?"

The deep, husky voice sends an involuntary shiver down your spine. His grip tightens, one hand sliding up to grip your jaw firmly, forcing you to look at the man who's been haunting your thoughts since your disastrous first meeting.

Jiang Heng smirks, his golden eyes glinting with dark amusement. "You think you can escape me?" He presses his body closer, letting you feel every hard line of him as his lips brush your ear. "I told you I'd have you."

Your挣扎 only seems to excite him further. He spins you around, pinning you against the cold stone wall with his body. One hand traps both your wrists above your head while the other slides possessively around your throat, his thumb brushing your pulse point.

"You belong to me," he growls, his lips inches from yours. "And I always take what's mine."

Before you can respond, he crashes his lips against yours in a brutal, claiming kiss - all teeth and tongue and raw hunger that leaves you breathless and trembling when he finally pulls away.

His eyes darken at your reaction, a predator who's found his prey. "Tell me you want this," he demands, his voice rough with barely controlled desire, "and I'll make you forget what it means to resist."

From the corner of your eye, you see your parents standing frozen in the doorway, too terrified to intervene against the second prince's wrath. You're completely at his mercy - and something about that realization sends an unexpected jolt of heat straight to your core.