Page 90 of Crown of Chaos

“Please, what? Please drink your messy cunt, or fuck it? You’re dripping all over the covers, aren’t you? Such a messy girl, wife.” He was staring at my core with naked hunger sparkling in his gaze. “Tell me who owns this messy cunt? Beg me to toss you down and wreck you until my name is the only one you know. Or are you begging me to bite you and reaffirm my mark? Give me words, woman.”

“I need you to do itall,” I confessed.

I didn’t care about the head wound. My body was on a roller-coaster, and the highs and lows were too much. I wanted him to end the ache, to ease the need that was coiled in my belly.

“Is that what you want?” he whispered, slowly curling his finger within me.

“I want you to fuck and bite me, Knox. Please?” I whispered, waiting for him to do as I was begging.

His hand left my aching, clenching cunt, and his lips danced toward the white scars he’d left before. I angled my head, inviting him to mark me again, but he merely placed soft kisses over the curve of my shoulder. The hand against my throat tightened, and I closed my eyes to the pleasure that it sparked. The gesture didn’t make me feel trapped or threatened. It made me feel protected. It was rare to feel anything other than pain lately, and before I could stop it, words tumbled from my lips.

“I crave you right now, here. My body desires to feel you within it and on it. And I need to feel your teeth sinking into me and how you stretch me and savage my tender flesh until we’re fucking boneless. Please, I want your hands everywhere on me, Knox. I want you to give me everything. So give it to me.”

“Drink, Aria.” He chuckled deeply, grabbing the bottle he’d dropped beside my leg and then holding it out for me to take. That was not at all what I expected after my admission. Accepting the bottle, I sat in the comfort of his body while peering into the flames and wondering what I had done wrong. He didn’t speak again for some time, and the uncertainty finally got the better of me.

“Nothing?” I whispered, fighting the swelling in my throat when he failed to reply. “I—” It came out choked and desperate. My words stilled, and I fought the pathetic pull of desperation settling into my bones. How was he ignoring me? I had begged him. My body was pliant and available. He was ignoring it and me and wasn’t giving us what we both craved.

“You lose the ability to speak in full sentences, sweet girl?”

“And think straight.” And draw a deep breath or keep my emotions in check. “Let me go, Knox.”

“I think not. You’re not leaving my arms tonight,” he warned thickly, rolling his hips until I felt his erection against my spine.

“Is that so?” I whispered, turning to peer into the ocean-colored depths that churned with need, creating waves within them.

“I don’t think you’re able to argue with me, Little Monster. I saved your pretty ass today, and I’m only asking to hold you. So, take a fucking drink of the whisky and get the fuck back where you belong,” he ordered in a dominant tone that had my eyes widening.

A scream of pain sounded from the wall, and my eyes slipped toward the door. The men’s grunts of pain followed, causing my lips to curl into a smirk. Bodies thudded against the wall, and her soft-yet-fierce, snarl warned them to back off. He chuckled, feeling me tense as Esme belted out a string of violent cussing before she howled. The sound of masculine groans exploded. I blinked as something started thumping against the wall while she rattled.

“Fuck around and find out, assholes!” she snarled, and my lips twitched.

“That’s my best friend,” I murmured, watching Knox smirk. “She won’t admit to it yet, but she’s my person. We’ll be digging holes to hide bodies in any day now.”

“Your concussion is showing, Aria,” he stated, taking the bottle back so he could remove the top. Then he handed it back to me. “Drink slowly so you don’t end up retching.”

I licked my lips, brought the bottle to my mouth, and drank deeply from the delicious whisky. I moaned against the taste that exploded on my tongue and lowered it while he continued watching my mouth. Slowly, his eyes lifted and locked with mine.

“Take another,” he ordered, which caused my lips to lift in a smile before I did as he’d asked.

I held it out for him, but he shook his head as warmth began spreading through me. I blinked, fighting the warm sensation of weightlessness settling into my muscles. Warning bells echoed inside my head, but the harder I fought, the stronger the pull became.

“What did you do to me?” I slurred, fear spiking through my mind. Shoving against his legs, I tried to rise from the bed, but Knox didn’t allow it. He just held me as he lowered us to the mattress. “I trusted you,” I muttered weakly.

“You’re safe, Aria. Stop fighting me and just sleep. I will keep you safe while you rest and gather your strength,” he promised, holding tighter. “You’re safe with me. I promise you that.”

Chapter Forty-Five

My eyes popped open, andI slid my hand over the empty bed. I was alone inside the room and still dressed in only an oversized shirt. Beside my pillow sat three black roses, which eased the sting of waking up alone a fraction. I bristled with the knowledge that he’d drugged me. Why the hell had he done it? I blinked away the sleep from my eyes, scouring the room for the asshole to let him have my opinion on what he’d done. Only, I didn’t see, or sense him nearby anymore. Slowly, I slid from the bed and stretched, inhaling Knox’s scent that clung to my skin and perfumed the air in the room.

I eyed the clothes he’d left on the chair and wondered how he’d gotten them clean before morning. Lifting them to my nose, I drank deeply from his scent, smiling at the heady perfume of his skin. I dropped his shirt onto a chair before pulling on my own clothes, wincing at the slight pain that pulled on my scalp. My head pounded, and there was a pulse throbbing behind my eyeball that wouldn’t stop, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been the night before.

Once dressed, I moved to the door and paused, cocking my head to the side as I listened. The silence that filled the air was deafening and had me hurrying to exit the room filled with the scent of desperation while also making me forget I wasn’t a desperate, weak bitch. Knox had left me unsatisfied, and I had no idea why. He’d never have done that before. Unless he thought he was going to edge me again, in which case, I’d edge his ass off a high cliff.

My room opened into a windowless hallway, and I stepped out, moving swiftly to the room Esme had to have been in last night. The door was cracked open, so I peeked in and found a very naked, very passed out Esme contorted awkwardly on the mattress.

Satisfied that she was alive and safe, I kept moving down the hallway. My bare feet made no sound over the wooden floor, and the farther I went down the hall, the more eerie the stillness became. Pushing the next door open I found, I revealed a very spacious room that was empty of guests.

I leisurely took in the rustic furniture and the paintings on the walls. In one, a beautiful woman stood beside a horse. Her dark, sand-colored hair reminded me of Knox’s, but her eyes were more like Brander’s. Wondering who she was, I backed out of the room and tried door number three. This one opened to a breathtaking view of the mountains.

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