Page 72 of Reign

He releases my arm. I inspect the teeth marks around the cut—just indents, he didn’t break skin—then hold it close to my chest. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Everything. Everything is wrong with me.”

“You need to leave.”

“Well, I’m not going to.”

“Chase, I’ve had it. With you, with these societies, with this goddamned school. Leave me the hell alone and let me—”

He walls me in, his hands slamming on either side of my head. “Mine.”

“You don’t—”

“What?” he pauses, reading my expression. “I don’t know what it’s like? To have someone ripped away like they didn’t have meaning in your life? All because someone else decided to make them disappear just because they could? I know what it’s like, Callie. It may not be the same, but that burning inside you because something vital was torn out of your skin…” His voice tightens. “It’s been taken from me, too. I know what it’s like.”

I search his eyes, finding nothing but shimmering blackness reflecting back at me. “Who?” I manage to whisper. “Who was taken from you?”

Chase glances at the open doorway, then cuts to me. After a few seconds, he growls. “My teeth marks surround Tempest’s cut. But if that’s not enough for you, I’ll use another blade to erase his mark, too.”

Breathing heavy, though I’ve taken no steps, I retort, “You’ve lost your mind.”

“How nice of you to notice.”

“Tell me what’s going on. Why you’re acting like this. You’ve never been so possessive. Territorial and … frightening. Tempest and I aren’t anything to be jealous of.”

Chase’s face comes close to mine. “Don’t ever use him and you in the same sentence again.”

I exhale a loud sigh. “Chase, I’m not about to become some sort of property dispute between you and your friend.”

“Then agree with me.”

“No.”

“Admit you’re with me.”

“Never.”

“You can keep your mind. Save your soul, even. But confess that your heart belongs to a Stone, and I’ll let you go.”

“N—” I falter. Damn him, he has it. He’s always had it, since the moment I walked into Briarcliff, glanced up into the Wolf’s Den, and found his eyes clashing with mine.

A distracting flicker of pleasure resonates in my brain, shockwaves of it coming from my core. I glance down in the small space between us, noticing his hand grazing my thigh and moving under my dress.

“Chase—”

His fingers push my underwear aside until he slips into my folds, his thumb pressing down on my clit. Circling. Massaging. Coaxing.

Moaning.

“Chase, I mean it…”

His nose grazes my jawline when I lift my chin, the back of my head clonking against the wall. Chase nips at my chin, then draws my lower lip into his mouth, sucking on it then biting down.

Chase catches my yelp of pain, groaning as he savors it and pulls me into a deeper kiss. I sink into his commands as his expert fingers play along my clit, pinching and tugging, creating zips of pleasure that tighten my body as I await delicious release.

My hips take up his rhythm, moving in his circles, angling for his fingers to go deeper, curl more, flick often.

He must hear my wishes, because his fingers do just that.

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