Page 127 of Every Shade of Shadow

I don’t like the phrase ‘ascended,’ and go? I can barely gather the energy to sit up, much less leave this chair. My limbs are weak and rubbery, my mind hazy from exhaustion and conflicting emotions.

He stands and approaches the chair, looking down at me. I’m utterly exposed under his verdant eyes, as if he can see straight into my soul. "You were exquisite tonight, little lamb. So beautifully helpless and receptive to my every desire."

He kneels, his fingers closing around my jaw and squeezing. Pain flares in the bone there, but my heart flutters at his cruel touch.

“Do you feel that? I fucked your pretty little mouth too. Can you taste me, in the back of your throat, my seed filling your belly, your cunt?”

I do.

Red heat rises up my cheeks at his praise. I want to tell him to leave me be, to stop gazing at me so intently, but the words won't come.

He reaches out to track a finger down my cheek. "You enjoyed it, didn't you? Submitting so fully to me. Exploring the depths of your passion. How did the shadows like that? You feel them, don’t you?”

I jerk away from his touch, anger and embarrassment a heady mix. This is going too far.

He laughs. “Ah, is that what you think?”

My lips move, but the words that come from them are ill-formed, infantile. “Let me go.”

Damien Darkwood has unlocked something dark and primal inside me, and I fear there is no going back.

Shadows dance across the stone walls. My body aches in places I didn't know could ache, sharply sensitized from the Professor's relentless attention. It’s going to take me days to recover from this.

With trembling fingers, I touch the tender flesh between my legs. It's swollen and slick, evidence of how thoroughly he claimed me. I squeeze my eyes shut, a sob catching in my throat.

If Sabrina saw me now, she would be so ashamed.

Or turned on, I consider darkly.

I should hate him for treating me like this. I should despise him for bringing me to the brink of madness and back again. But I don't. I crave his touch, his possession, the intensity only he can ignite inside me.

The memory of his cock stretching me open, filling me so completely I thought I might shatter, sends a pulse of heat through my core. I dig my nails into my palms to distract myself as arousal and confusion swirl inside me.

None of this makes sense. I've always been in control of my desires, able to satisfy my curiosity within reason—feeble as my attempts may have been. But Damien has shattered my restraint, exposing a part of me I never knew existed. A part that craves submission and ecstasy in equal measure.

He extends his hands. “You’re no prisoner, my pet. As I said, you’re free to leave.”

I stand but falter, trying again with a little more success even though my legs are like licorice strips.

I manage to stumble a few steps, collecting my coat from the floor. It requires a great deal of effort to put it on.

“What about Mortis?” I ask, my voice still weak.

The Professor nods. “In good time, my pet. For now, you need to rest.”

He stands before me unmoved and wearing a look of such neutrality I want to pound my fists against him in frustration.

He steps aside and I pass, that war within my head refusing to abate as I leave his chambers. I don’t think it’s going to stop. I don’t think my brain will accept the fact that my body needs Damien Darkwood. Because this is a fact now. Something I can’t deny or ignore. My whole existence is seeking out his attention.

For better or worse.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“Wait…”

His baritone echoes across the empty hallway when I’m just three paces from his chambers. There’s no light around me other than the beams coming from a flickering sconce to the right. I turn around to face him. There he is in all his naked, inky glory.

To my surprise, he enters the hallway, cock swinging with each step. Yes, it’s late, but that doesn’t mean much in Lumina. Someone could happen to pass by at any moment. In complete silence, he reaches forward and grabs my wrist.

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