Page 20 of Wreck Me

Until I’d gotten a little too into the darker, illegitimate aspects, the parts that had him basically ruling the underground here in Rossun.

So he’d pushed me toward Luxington University, to get back to the degree I’d put on the backburner to be there for him.

“Tell me, lovely,” he said, his rumbling voice bringing me back to the immediate moment.

Us.

Here together.

For the first time in weeks.

With starting at Luxe, moving out of King Manor, and setting up in a mansion off campus with Bastian, it had been beyond busy. And texting and talking on the phone, even through video call wasn’t enough. I had to be close, touching him.

“Tell you what?” I asked, dazedly, still basking in the afterglow.

“How have the first few days of collegiate life been treating you?”

I lifted a shoulder. “It’s fine.”

“Just fine. Hmm. Well, you need to give new endeavors time before you settle on a stance and opinion.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just… mundane. Compared to what I was doing.”

He stroked my cheek. “That’s what you need right now. Normality. Stability.”

“And out of the dark,” I groused. “As you keep telling me.”

“Not all the way. You still have a certain outlet.”

“And when are we gonna get back down to that? It’s been weeks.”

“Because we had to deal with Damien.”

“He’s dealt with. He knows he’s well and truly out after what he did.”

“One unstable element removed from the equation, but I don’t want you becoming another.”

“I’m Wrath, Cas. That’s my role in our outlet.”

“And you’ve delivered well with your punishment and passion for our nightly endeavors.”

“But now you think it’s unbalanced because Damien is out? His whole Chaos persona.”

“He had become increasingly unbalanced, that’s why he’s out. He almost compromised us because he lost his grip on his control and reality.”

He rolled off me and propped his elbow on his pillow, holding his head as he softly stroked my bicep, running his fingers over my snake tattoos—red, black, and gold—that were created with a 3D effect, twisting around the length of either arm. He loved them, just like I couldn’t get enough of the one tattoo he had over his heart of a black wolf with gnashing teeth dripping blood wearing a golden crown.

“Tell me about the girl.”

He had me sinking into his touch as he soothed me in that strategic way of his. Before I could do a thing to counter it, he had me. I let out a peaceful sigh as I looked into his shining hazel eyes for a moment, before telling him, “As I told you when I first got here earlier, she didn’t take the bait. Unfortunately, the strings you pulled to fuck with that first class so Bastian and I could use it to set her on the desired path with us and align her priorities to us, away from her studies at Luxe, were wasted.”

“You said she ran?”

“Yeah.”

“At what point?”

“What?”

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