Page 44 of Romancing the Reaper

Not to mention he didn’t even ask me. He just assumed that it was fine because of his desperate need to own me, to possess me. Just pushed the ring onto my finger without a word of explanation. It’s enough to make my blood boil. Was it really asking too much to want him to at least ask me the question, to let me pretend to have a choice in the matter? He’s dictating my future with his silent domineering claim. Though, is that just fear and uncertainty? It must be. Isn’t it? All of those words that we say to one another when we’re having sex - they are real, aren’t they? I haven’t felt such a burning need toknowbefore this.

I can either take the ring right back off and throw it at him.

Or, he can explain himself right the hell now.

“What is this?” I ask softly.

Kieran’s brow furrows in confusion. “It’s a ring.”

I press my tongue into the roof of my mouth, steadying my instant irritation.

“Don’t fuck with me right now, Kieran. What does this mean?” I flip my hand around, showing the stone directly in his face. I can feel the words bubbling inside of me, and they likely won’t be kind. “Is this just another part of your little plan? A prop to flaunt around when you finally drag me out of this space?”

Panic won’t let the words stop coming.

“Is this real, Kieran?!” I demand, my voice wavering.

Keiran’s silent for too long. It’s making me doubt everything. Is he mad that I’m upset? Was he thinking that I was just going to take everything in stride again? What the hell happened to his face?! Does he think that I can’t see the blood oozing? Who the hell did he get into a fight with this time? There’s so much about all of this that I don’t know and part of me is scared to even ask what’s happening. Maybe it’s best that he keeps me in the dark… but what kind of life is that?

Kieran’s eyes are dark and unreadable and I think it’s going to actually drive me insane. I don’t think I can take it. Tears threaten. I’m too hormonal. I feel like my emotions are dropping on a dime and I have absolutely no control over them.

“Nothing?! You don’t have anything to say to me?!” I shout, my panic and nerves bleeding together and I can’t seem to stop them. “Did you even think to ask me? To see if this is even what I wanted? Are you too scared to give me the chance, Kieran? You don’t care what I want. You only care about yourself, and your feelings.”

The tears start to fall. I push off of the couch and sidestep him.

His silence is like a slap in the face and I can’t take it. I can’t seem to gather my composure. The thought of being pregnant and alone in this world of violence and revenge, is overwhelming. It’s one thing to be trapped in a situation like this, but it’s not just me anymore, is it? Maybe I need to come to terms with the fact that Kieran’s life as a reaper is just too dangerous. I shouldn’t expose a baby to these risks. I can’t imagine how scary it would be for a child to see their father coming home looking the way that he does right now.

Kieran doesn’t even try to stop me at first. I make it halfway to the bathroom before he catches up to me. His hand is soft on my elbow when he urges me to stop. He doesn’t force me to stop, not this time. I whip around to look at him better and his eyes flicker with something that I can’t quite place. Is it hurt? Anger? His jaw tightens before he finally speaks, carefully controlling his words. Each one comes out low and controlled.

“I will protect you, I promised you that I will. You are…” He trails off, seeming to struggle to find the right word. “You are my responsibility now, and everything that that implies.”

It’s not enough to convince me.

“You’re delusional if you think that you can control everything, Kieran. You’re just one man.” This time, I’m not even trying to hurt him when I’m speaking. I gesture to him and the physical state that he came home in. “Your life is chaos.”

The vulnerability that I got to glimpse of the other night flashes over his face, and I’m silenced. Just a flicker before the perfectly controlled veneer slips back into place over his features.

Then it’s gone, replaced by something darker that I feel the need to back away from. He crosses the room to me in an instant, grabbing my jaw and pulling my face toward his. “A chaos that you are now in with me. I am the only one in control of it, stop fucking fighting me.”

I shouldn’t look at his lips. I absolutely should not look at his lips. But I do. My body heats just having him next to me. So, I do the only thing that I can think of with him this close that might put some space between us. I just can’t think with him like this.

I bite him.

Only, Kieran doesn’t let go. He doesn’t pull away. He laughs. Right in my face as the blood I caused with my teeth runs down his chin. He wipes it with his free hand, and kisses me. A bright, fiery, claiming sort of kiss. I moan into his mouth, sagging into his arms. I can’t fight it, not when it feels so fucking good.

Kieran backs me up against the wall, lifting me with his hand cupped behind my thigh, urging my legs to wrap around his. It’s fast, and needy, how he takes me. He rips the seam of my pants clear open and pulls himself free from the confines of his pants. I can’t believe how hard he is. Risking it, I bite him again.

I swear, I feel him get harder as his cock brushes over the wetness of my folds, back and forth, teasing until I am sorely tempted to beg for what I want. But this isn’t about me, and he proves that. He wants to show that he’s in control, that I belong to him. I should fight him, but I don’t want to.

My hands cup his face, fingers raking down the sides just shy of cutting him again. He groans deeply into my mouth, and pushes inside me with a sharp snap of his hips. The pace is deep, and brutal. I swear my eyes roll back into my damned head. This might be my new favorite angle. I’m helpless to fight him, I am at the mercy of him as he fucks me up against the wall, hands under my thighs, lifting me and slamming me back down, brushing against that spot inside of me that’s making me see stars.

I want to say something, anything, but I can’t even seem to summon words, much less put them into snarky comments. Kieran’s lips trail heatedly down my jawline, and his teeth sink into my neck, and I cry out at the sudden sensation. It doesn’t hurt - it appeals to something primal deep inside of me that he’s awoken. Something that answers to him and him alone.

I can’t take it - I can’t, it’s too much - the friction alone is pushing me too high. It’s too fast of a climb and I don’t even have time to prepare myself before it all comes crashing back down aroundme. Kieran’s name is frozen on my lips as I grip him tighter with every part of me, squeezing and clamping my nails down into his shoulders as I fracture and break in a way that only he can make me do.

Like it or not, I am his.

I just don’t have to say it out loud.

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