Page 176 of Taken By Touch and Torment

Rune removed his sleek outer uniform jacket and pulled off his black undershirt. He made a motion for me to raise my arms. I was mesmerized by his bare chest, the whorls and thorns of shadow, his beautiful muscles.

Rune chuckled. “I’m sorry I can’t provide aftercare at this very moment, but I swear I’ll make it up to you when we’re home.” He pulled the shirt over my body, so oversized on me that it hung like a dress. “That’s better. My eyes are up here, baby.”

I slowly found his dark irises again.

“I know you’re riding all kinds of highs right now, but I need you to touch back down to earth until we’re out of here,” Rune said softly, his tone a mix of dominant and warm. “Can you do that for me?”

I tuned back in to the sounds of Durian choking on blood and Brennan spitting cruel insults. I wiggled my toes, reconnected myself to my five senses. I tasted salt from Rune’s fingers on my tongue, smelled his comforting, woodsy scent mixed with musk and blood.

Lillian’s dark power continued to slither under my skin, reminding me that we weren’t finished yet.

I remembered Sadie’s clarity spells, the smell of smoke from her bundles of herbs.

“I’m back,” I declared, fighting the floaty feeling of Rune’s venom in my system.

Rune searched my eyes with a smirk. “Good enough.”

As my brain came back online, so, too, did my anxiety. “Wait, who did you come with? Who did I kill?” I asked, grabbing Rune’s arm.

He shook his head, his features twisting into confusion before realization dawned. He placed hands on either side of my face to steady me. “I knew it was a trap, Scarlett.”

I only stared at him, his words not quite reaching me yet.

“I came alone. I knew they’d barricade me with too many strong fighters to take down in an enclosed space.” He dropped his hands back to his sides.

“You knew?” I squeaked. “And you still came?”

Rune smiled, shrugging a shoulder. “Of course, I came. You needed me.”

69

RUNE

“Imade you a promise,” I said, meeting Scarlett’s big blue eyes as she stared up at me. “Both of these men have fed from you, no?”

She nodded. “Yes, Rune.”

I melted. She was adorably subby right now, fucked into submission while covered in the blood of her enemies. The wicked temptress was riding the greatest high of her life. Yet she looked at me like I was her sun, her only source of life. She was such a good girl.

I stared possessively at her body, now marked with my cum and cloaked in my clothing. It wasn’t enough—it wasn’t even close. Heads needed to roll.

“Who first?” I asked her.

She pointed.

“Final words?”

Scarlett walked to Brennan. She looked down at his slumped form, the way he shook with rage and humiliation.

“You kiss like a dog,” she said, making me both chuckle and see red at the same time. “You’re no better than Durian. You were easy to manipulate, and even easier to bring to slaughter. You couldn’t see me through your own overinflated ego, and your blindness to my strength spelled your downfall.” She took a breath. “You disgust me.”

Brennan was quick to start speaking over her. “You filthy fucking demon,” he spat. “You?—”

My shadows made short work of his tongue.

Scarlett took a step back and crossed her arms, glancing up at me. “I’m done speaking to either of them. Closure doesn’t come from words.”

I nodded. “No, it comes from within. It comes from our actions.” I tilted her chin up, filling my eyes with warmth as I gave her the praise she deserved. “Your closure came from showing them your strength, your cunning. It came from your rejection of shame, your reclamation of sex and pleasure. It came from the resilience in your bones that humbles me, unlike anything I’ve seen in all my centuries. Let the flame that refuses to die be your closure, Scarlett.”

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