Page 125 of Stalked By Seduction and Shadows

All of my attention snapped to him, all other thoughts melting away as an ache grew between my thighs. He watched my chest and then my neck, and I knew intuitively he was assessing how much my breathing and heart rate had picked up. Sick satisfaction leaked into his features as he hummed approval.

“If I were feeling extra cruel, or your offenses especially egregious, I would’ve dragged you right back out there and paraded you around for all to see.” He moved his hand down from my throat to my hardened nipples, circling each one as I trembled and arched into his touch. “I’d show everyone my beautiful whore, humbled and marked by her God. Perhaps I’d make you get down on your knees and service me in front of all of them too.”

It was all so fucked, but my body was in agony, flooded with untapped desire powerful enough to submerge the entire city. I angled up and looped my arms around Rune’s neck, locking my lips with his. He kissed me back aggressively, like my lips belonged to him and he was stealing them back by force.

All of this pent-up intensity, anger, and need spilled out of each of us, binding us together. His hands roamed my body, grabbing my ass before pressing me up against the wall and slipping a hand where I’d become slick with want for him.

I was so lost in the kiss—the taste of his yearning, conquering, unquenchable thirst for me—that I didn’t feel the sharp slice until a stream of warm blood trickled down my calf.

Rune pulled back, his eyes wilder than I’d ever seen them before. He went utterly still, rigid.

I’d bled in front of him before, when Snow and I were attacked. But this was different. Emotions were high, our lust tangled up in a dark web around us. I panted, attempting to calm my racing heart.

I glanced down at the thin trail of blood, the shadows that were pulling away from me slowly, as if reluctant.

“Rune,” I breathed, a touch of fear rising up from the part of myself with an actual survival imperative. All of those village myths and warnings came rushing back. For a moment, I saw that vampire in bloodlust who had torn into my neck.

I couldn’t back further into the wall if I tried.

“Don’t do that, baby,” Rune said, his voice low.

I homed in on his fangs.

“Do what?”

“Soak your blood with your fear when it’s already flooded with your arousal,” he said darkly.

“Maybe this will serve as a wake-up call not to find my terror so sexy.”

He laughed, but it sounded strained, his eyes flashing once more to my calf. “Unlikely.”

“How did you lose your ability to enter into bloodlust?” I asked, hoping the question would be a useful distraction rather than inflammatory.

When Rune’s hands shot out to rest on either side of me, I flinched on instinct. He suddenly sobered, collecting himself an inch.

“My mentor, Sadie. She tortured it out of me, at my request. She made me who I am today,” he said, a strange falter as he spoke, as if he feared he’d said too much.

Torture, violence, sex, death. It was all around us, inescapable.

“Rune, is all of this—” I stopped, looking at all the erotic and kinky gear around us. “Is this who we are? What we are to each other?”

Rune closed his eyes for a moment. He appeared to be holding his breath, distracting himself from my fresh blood.

“You already know my answer to that question. Ask me what you really want to ask me, Scarlett,” Rune said. “Politely, preferably.”

I glued my mouth shut.

“Enough of the games and the running and the fighting. You’ll have a lifetime of that, I promise you,” he said, his features softening as I remained quiet. “Tell me why you’re acting out, why you’re so panicked. Tell me what you want.”

Rune’s next movement was controlled, but it still had me jolting. He tilted my neck to the side, kissing my skin softly. Then he trailed back up, kissing either side of my lips as his body pressed into mine.

I didn’t think about where we were right now. I was back in a café reading his notes about poetry. I was in the room of music, underneath the painted cosmos.

“I don’t want other women to touch you,” I said, pulling a grin from Rune when my lip curled and eyes narrowed.

I inhaled deeply. My features relaxed. “I want to be yours.”

He grasped my face, inhaling in slowly.

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