Page 97 of Stalked By Seduction and Shadows

“You made a man disappear for touching me,” I reminded him, ice in my stare even as I slowly leaned back into pleasure.

Rune smiled. “And I’ll do it again.” He paused, leaning in closer. “I’ve already done it again.”

I faltered, searching his eyes as my heart tumbled over itself.

Rune lifted a shoulder with a sigh. “I don’t like how comfortable some of the patrons have become with you. How close they’ve gotten. You might be able to tolerate their wandering hands, but I will not.”

“Rune,” I said, but it came out like I was moaning his name.

He trailed the back of his hand across my cheek, a perfect juxtaposition of wrath and tenderness in his features. “You aren’t even aware of the threats I’ve eliminated while you’ve gone about your day. The monsters lurking in the shadows, waiting for you outside a shop or café. I enjoy making men tell me what it was about you that caught their eye before I remove those eyes from their skulls.”

I shook my head, not wanting to believe him—the depths of his obsession, the confession of violence committed in my name.

In a burst of movement, he removed the dagger from between my legs, covered my mouth with his hand, and impaled the trunk right next to my face. I screamed against his palm, and he bent to my ear.

“Shhh,” he consoled. He ran his fingers through my long strands of hair. “Get down on your knees.”

My heart hammered, my limbs jelly from the adrenaline spike.

“Now.”

45

SCARLETT

Isunk down to my knees. The vision of Rune standing over me was like facing a dark god, a being that didn’t belong in this realm. His shadows surrounded us, reaching for me in intangible tendrils of dark smoke.

“You’re so beautiful when you’re humbled before me,” Rune said, stroking the side of my head. “Listen to me very carefully, Little Flame.”

He tilted my chin up. “I have business to attend to that will take me away from you for several days. While I am gone, you will enjoy your remaining days of freedom, as you requested. You will carry your dagger, but know that you will never have to use it. I have ensured you will be safe. I should be back before the opera, but if I am not, I want you and the witch to enjoy yourselves. You will both be taken care of, your every desire satisfied.”

I’d asked for this space. It was beyond morally reprehensible that he followed me, demanded I let him claim me like I was nothing but a pretty piece of art on a shelf. Why then did my stomach drop at the thought of him no longer being close?

My focus finally broke, my eyes trailing down to the swell of his jeans above my head. I swallowed, still terrified of his impossible size. I quickly looked back up to his dark irises. His smirk turned dangerous, ruthless.

“Almost every desire. You know what happens to those who touch what’s mine.” He sighed. “Behave for me, okay, baby?”

The whiplash of his cruelty and his softness had me disoriented. I craved his praise just as much as I aimed to provoke his darkness. It was demented, these opposing drives to please him, test him, resist him, and submit to him.

When his thorny branches crawled from his skin and along the forest floor, thorns protruding and sharp, visceral fear had me nodding my head.

A tip of shadow reached my exposed leg, a thorn lightly scratching my skin and leaving a trail of pink in its wake. I wondered what would happen if Rune lost control, breaking my skin and letting the allure of my blood intertwine with his sexual arousal.

“Good girl.”

I wondered what it would feel like for him to feed from me. Every mortal I’d ever seen offer their blood only confirmed Snow’s description.

One long, full-body orgasm that you never want to end…

I was still pumped full of need from Rune’s teasing. My core throbbed, just as I knew Rune did underneath his black pants.

“Fuck me,” I said, before I could stop myself. “Please.”

There was a beat of silence.

Rune laughed. “Absolutely not.”

My mouth fell open in disbelief, my eyes swimming with betrayal that quickly transformed into indignation. He would not win this round.

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