Page 109 of Taken By Touch and Torment

Rune’s pulsing ceased, and he kissed my sensitive bud. His shadow slowly withdrew from me, wrapping around my stomach possessively now instead.

“Was that satisfactory, Little Flame?”

I couldn’t speak. Rune trailed a finger down the center of my chest. He grinned when he touched the nipple he’d tortured, and I squirmed.

“Oh, do you think I’m finished with you?” he asked, his voice deceptively sweet. “That’s so cute.”

He kissed my forehead. When I still had no words to give, he laughed and gracefully rose to his feet.

Head swimming and body weak, I pushed up to rest on my forearms and watch Rune pull off his clothes.

How was this man real? His body was sculpted into a weapon: tall, lean and with too many muscles to count. Whorls of shadow marked his fair skin, paired with those beautiful, deadly thorns.

“Don’t bite that lip, baby. Or I’ll be forced to bite it harder.”

I released my bottom lip, still staring at his looming, intimidating form. When his cock sprung free, my eyes dropped to a new focal point. It was a truly terrifying appendage.

“Fuck, Scarlett,” Rune groaned. He stared right back, his eyes scorching. “Do you even know what that does to me? To smell your blood surging with fear when you stare at my cock?”

“Um,” I croaked. I cleared my throat. His cock pulsed, and I swallowed. “I suppose I can see what it does to you.”

Rune stroked himself as he looked at me, and it made my core burn with heat all over again. It made me feel powerful, mentally and magickally—to see him just as insatiable as I was, unable to stop himself from acting on his lust as he stared at my body.

He pointed to the ground in front of him with his free hand. “Now, little demon.”

When I smiled, his eyes narrowed. I made a show of crawling to him, arching my back, delighting in the way he groaned and gripped himself tighter. My mind flitted to crawling to Durian, but with my focus on Rune—with my focus on how fucking good this felt—the flashback melted away before it could take shape.

I knelt in front of Rune, staring up at him as I arranged my features into faux innocence.

“Does my obsession taste good, my wicked succubus?” he asked.

Just that one word—my—made all the difference.

I nodded. “More please.”

Rune unleashed a low growl from deep in his throat. “If you get to feed from me, I think it’s only fair that you return the favor.”

I locked on his eyes, my body surging with a euphoric mix of terror, power, and desire.

Rune paused and pulled me to my feet. His grip on my chin was soft. “Check-in time. You do not actually owe me your blood. Do you still feel okay, and do you wish to proceed? We can go straight into aftercare, and I would still be the luckiest monster in the realm.”

His dominant mask dropped, revealing the man who merely loved me. I tiptoed to briefly brush my lips against his. I checked in with my body and assessed my own needs, something Belise and I had worked on.

“I’m only scared in a good way,” I whispered. “I want to keep going. Just—still no impact or blades for now.”

He nodded. “Baby, I would never forget your limits,” Rune said. “You’re safe with me, always.”

I wasn’t sure I even understood what consent was before I’d met Rune. Even sexual experiences that weren’t full-on assault no longer met the standards Rune and Belise had taught me. There had been far too many times I’d been pressured or coerced, where safety and limits hadn’t even made it onto the checklist of prerequisites. Deeper than men’s callousness, thoughtlessness, or straight-up negligence was my own ignorance about my desires and needs. I owed myself amends for all the ways I’d let myself down over the years. Yes, poor behavior was always the fault of the perpetrator. But never again would I willingly stay in situations that harmed me, sacrifice myself for another’s pleasure, or ignore warning signs.

Because of Rune, Snow, and my healer, I understood more each day what I truly deserved—and the kind of treatment I would never tolerate again. Not that I would ever have to. Because I belonged to Rune, and he belonged to me, and there was no safer place for my body and soul.

“Feed from me,” I said throatily, but underneath my words I said I love you, and I trust you.

Rune gripped my throat. “As if you have a fucking choice,” he said, and I knew that he was also saying, you always have a choice. You’re safe with me, and I love you, too.

I gasped as I struggled to breathe, and Rune’s shadows bound my wrists together in the front. He let go of my neck and lifted me into his arms bridal style, his shadows binding my legs now too.

When he carried me to his bed, it was as though we were overriding the first time he had claimed me.

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