“What list?” I asked.
“You don’t need to worry about that yet,” he said, a faux sweetness dripping from his words. “You’re safe. For now.”
My brain whirred. I kept expecting his fingers slick with my own saliva to hit their mark finally, but they never did. When I sensed him move away from me, I looked over my shoulder to see him casually leaning against his grand mahogany desk several feet away. His dark hair brushed the top of his forehead, and he steepled his fingers at his lips as he watched me in silence.
“Like I said, I’ll wait.”
Never in my life had I let a seduction get this far out of my control. He had all the power now, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to change it. At least not tonight.
I’d take back my power tomorrow. This was still a part of the plan. I needed to get as close as possible before I charged him with finding Isabella.
“You’re dripping on my carpet, Little Flame,” he mocked, and my cheeks grew hot. “You’re a needy little mess, aren’t you?”
I stared back defiantly as his shadows slithered around my feet, some becoming solid as they held my ankles in place now too.
“The longer you resist, the more convincing your plea will need to be in order to satisfy me.” He tsked. “I would only ever hurt and violate you after you begged me for it, you see.”
“You stalk me. How is that not a violation?” I spat.
Every part of my body burned. If I had my own shadows, they would have long since reached for him, pulled him back to me to put out the fire he’d stoked in my blood.
Conveniently, he stayed silent on this matter. He only stared back, that infuriating, self-satisfied smirk on his lips as he gazed not into my eyes, but at my exposed ass.
Motherfucker.
He was right. I was so wet that I was humiliatingly, horrifyingly dripping down my spread and restrained legs and to the red and gold patterned carpet below.
“Please,” I heard myself say, the word scraping through my throat like glass as I swallowed down my pride.
Vampire’s whore, a familiar voice whispered, and I shut my eyes tight.
“Insufficient,” Rune said.
Anger and shame held together the last of my crumbling defenses. Was this how my marks felt when I teased them, driving them to the edge of their desire only to yank myself away at the last minute?
“Tell me you want my touch, baby,” Rune said, his voice softer now even as he held firm and unrelenting.
I fought an internal battle, but one side was squashed with ease.
“I want your touch,” I finally said.
No sooner than the last word had left my mouth did Rune engulf me, his lips at my ear. “Perfect. You’re perfect,” he whispered, and Isabella’s cruel voice faded away completely.
I felt strangely emotional for a moment, his words holding so much genuine adoration that it shocked me.
But then his fingers moved between my thighs. Finally. I let out a cross between a gasp and a moan from deep inside of myself, the sound foreign to my own ears. His fingers skated from my wetness up to my clit, and I bucked from the intensity.
“Sensitive little thing,” he whispered, his breath warm against my ear. He tugged on my lobe with his teeth. Then he was back on my neck, kissing and sucking as I melted beneath his fingers.
I ground against his hand, and he let out a throaty mmhmm.
His praise helped to unwind the last threads of doubt in my mind. Still this unconscious block lingered, preventing me from experiencing the full brunt of satisfaction from his touch I desperately craved. I was too scrambled, too lost to hear anything but a low hum of bad, bad, bad, bad.
When I stopped grinding, Rune began to move his fingers with just the right amount of pressure and speed, making me jolt in surprise.
“Let go, Scarlett,” he whispered, as if he were speaking directly into my mind. “I want you to rid your mind of all thoughts but the ones I give you, all will but my own. Right now, you exist only to feel pleasure. You have no other purpose.”
He pulled his hand back, and I made a frustrated noise of protest.