Page 9 of Pain Run Rampant

I don’t turn around. I know if I do, I’ll come face-to-face… or face-to-chest with a still shirtless Invictis who is taking way more pleasure out of this than he should.

“You and I are bound,” Invictis’s voice speaks behind me. Or over me, you know, since he’s so damned tall. “We share everything, as much as I hate to admit it. Putting a door between us seems a little… silly, doesn’t it?”

A forced laugh comes from me. “Are you saying you want to watch me change, Invictis? Careful. That’s an awful human thing to want.” My hope was to mock him enough that he’d pull back and let me go into the bedroom, but it doesn’t work out like that.

The opposite, in fact. Sadly.

“Until you go mad and unbind me, I am trapped in this human form,” he whispers. “So, if you think about it like that, this is all your fault, isn’t it?”

I close my eyes and slowly turn around to face him. He stands so close to me the arm that holds my clothes brushes against his bare abdomen. I tilt my head back before I open my eyes and meet his stare. “Sorry for not wanting to die,” I whisper. “Then again, the one time you almost killed me, you ended up healing me, so—”

A muscle in his jaw tenses, and his smirk morphs into a frown. “A momentary weakness.”

I want to ask him how a weapon could be weak, but instead I say, “I could force you to step back and let me go through that door. I’m the one who holds all the power now, remember?”

“Ah, yes. How could I forget?” Invictis moves his tattooed arm between us, its golden form a mirror image to mine, glittering on his tanned skin. “I’m your weapon now. You could force me to step back and let you change your clothes in privacy. You could even make me roll on the floor like a worm, too—”

“What a good idea.”

Invictis glares as he lowers his arm. “But where’s the fun in that, hmm?”

Where’s the fun in that? Honestly, I don’t think any of this is fun, but as we stare at each other, practically breathing the same air, the command doesn’t come. I don’t tell him to step away and give me room, to let me put my new clothes on in peace.

What do I do? I play the same game he is. I’m the least modest girl around, and I’m going to prove it.

I duck under the arm he still has on the door and return to the small table in the front of the house. I set down my clothes on the corner of said table. When I turn around to face him, I see he’s still watching me, his haughty gaze narrowing, as if he’s unsure what I’m about to do.

I slip off my shoes, and I don’t do it fast. Every move I make is slow and deliberate, and I never break eye contact with him.

This is a challenge. He’s challenging me, and I can’t back down. Using our bond to force him away would be cheating. I can handle this asshole without resorting to cheating, can’t I?

I pull at the bottom hem of my shirt and take it off, letting the old, blood-stained garment fall to the floor. My bra has definitely seen better days. Women around here don’t even wear one, but I’m not going to give that up until it breaks.

The next thing I undo is the button on my jeans and then the zipper, and once they’re both undone, I bend over as I tug the pants down. I straighten up before stepping out of them. I step forward, one foot closer to Invictis.

He still stares at me, watching, waiting, not saying a single word. He knows he doesn’t have to.

The tailor made me new panties, although he called them undergarments. Frederick left long before we got to that point—a good thing, because I think the man would’ve exploded in embarrassment.

Invictis thinks he’s making a point, but in reality,I’mgonna be the one who’s making the damned point.

Without breaking eye contact, I reach behind me and take off my bra even though it doesn’t have to come off. I make sure to give him a quick smirk when it loosens and the straps fall off my shoulders. I pull it off me and let it drop onto the pile.

He doesn’t move. His gaze remains zeroed in on my face.

I hook my thumbs through my panties and loosen them until they slide down my legs on their own, and then I’m standing a few feet away from him, naked. Also the very opposite of modest, thank you very much.

I’m skinnier than I was before, more toned, with a few new scars to boot. A result of constant travel and fighting in combination with eating less processed food and less food in general. But it’s clear I’m still a woman. I have the hips and the tits to prove it, not to mention the lack of a dangling dick between my legs.

I don’t know how long we stand there, staring at each other’s face, before one of us breaks eye contact. And, hint: it’s not me.

Invictis’s blue gaze drops to my feet, slowly traveling up my naked body as he takes in my clothe-free appearance. He takes his time, too, studying me with a bored expression that starts to change into something else. I hear his breathing get harder, his bare chest moving a little more each time. He takes me in, all of me, every single bare inch of me, and he says not a word.

Out of all the things I could say, it’s like every smart remark refuses to surface, and the only thing I can do is stand there and feel his gaze on me. A flushing heat creeps up my cheeks, I don’t know why. It’s not… I mean, I’m just doing this to prove a point to him, that’s all.

He’s the one who breaks the spell. He steps forward, and in less than two seconds he’s in front of me, still locked oneverything below my collar bone. Invictis says not a word, but he doesn’t have to.

He doesn’t stand before me as an ungodly weapon. No. As much as he’d deny it, he stands before me a man, a man who’s struggling with himself each and every moment to contain himself.

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