Page 118 of Stalked By Seduction and Shadows

“Have you ever had a healthy relationship with a man before, Scarlett? Other than with your friend Jaxon?”

I tucked my cock back inside my pants. My shadows reached for her unconsciously, their black smoke billowing over her legs. She’d gotten used to it, barely glancing at the power that could kill her in a fraction of a second—the deathly magick that was gentle with her and only her.

She shook her head. “No.” She swallowed, struggling to maintain eye contact. “I’ve never even been in love. I’ve gotten close, a couple times. At first, I gave all of myself away, to my first dead-end relationships. Only to wind up empty. All men have ever done is disappoint me.”

“Better to use them before they can use you?” I asked tentatively.

A familiar expression eclipsed her features. Shame and something far darker. When the light in her eyes began to dim, I reached for her hand to keep her here with me.

“I’m stupid to trust you. I’m naive to feel how I feel, to still hope for everything I’ve always dreamed of,” she said cryptically, though I knew she was talking about love.

My lips itched to smile, hearing her reveal indirectly that I’d stolen her heart. She didn’t trust me fully yet, but one day she would see that I was never planning on giving it back.

“I want you to let go. I demand it,” I said, leaking the same cool authority into my voice as I would when giving a battle directive. “I told you I would require all of you, even and especially the pieces of yourself you’ve learned to bury. Fall and I will catch you.”

Her breath was shaky, her heart skipping around adorably erratically. “You didn’t address the becoming your slave part of my fears.”

I grinned. “Mm. I rather like the sound of that.”

Her eyes narrowed, blooming with fire. Yet there was the tiniest twitch of her lips.

“You will never be entirely free at my side. None of us are free, especially in times of conflict. You will forever be a weakness to exploit. But I will never lock you away. I will always act out of your best interest, even if that interest misaligns with my own desires. If one day you decide you want to start over on the other side of the world, I will pour my resources into getting you as far away from me as you desire. Even though that would tear me up inside.”

Her eyes flashed at that last admission—her ability to hurt me.

“I want you to taste a kind of freedom you’ve never thought possible. Freedom from all of your fears, your wounds, your unmet needs and desires. I’ve always told you that you deserve nothing less than it all.” I stroked her cheek. “There’s no way for me to guarantee my honesty other than by showing you with my every action. Treating you like my pet is one of my favorite pastimes. But if one day you should decide you want all of your power back, including the power you relinquish in our games and play, I will hand you the keys to your own mental freedom.”

She was silent for several moments.

“I don’t think I will ever be free from you,” she whispered. “Nor you from me.”

At that, we both went silent.

The sun was starting to rise, warm light making its first slow trickle through her new dark mauve velvet curtains.

Maybe I should’ve harbored guilt for waking her up so early, especially with her schedule at Odessa. But when I stared into those piercing eyes, I couldn’t feel guilty at all.

“Would you like coffee?”

“I don’t have any coffee. Or a way to make it,” she sleepily murmured.

“Yes, you do. Your lack of both annoyed me. So I remedied the situation.”

She giggled, and I fell into the sound too easily, lost in its melody. This beautiful sound she made for me.

After a yawn, she closed her eyes. My shadows had coiled all around her, and the little demoness only relaxed into them.

I allowed her to drift as I busied myself in her kitchen, bringing water to a boil and pouring it over the best light roast coffee in all of Ravenia. As I waited for the grounds to steep, I imagined how it would feel to wake up next to Scarlett every day.

In a strange way, I couldn’t imagine it at all. It felt as though I was stealing her, taking what didn’t belong to me. As agonizing of a thought as it was, I sometimes worried Scarlett’s heart belonged to a human soul out there she had yet to meet. A man who would take care of her, treat her well, perhaps even excite her—even if it would pale in comparison to everything I stoked in her fiery soul.

Yet I had the audacity to claim her for myself, to ruin him for her, if they were to ever meet.

It was frightening, these human emotions that were becoming more and more frequent. I’d gone searching for them in Crescent Haven, I could admit that now. It was as though I’d slaughtered and buried my humanity in that haunted cemetery, under the gritty dirt and human remains, and it had rose from the grave and attached itself to an innocent human girl centuries later.

Guilt’s phantom limbs released their hold as soon as I was back at Scarlett’s side, laughing as she attempted to evade me under the covers. I dragged her out and nearly force-fed her coffee, an act she pretended to hate.

“You love when I force things down your throat, baby,” I said.

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