Page 86 of The Beautiful Dead

The body at Domino’s feet was still twitching, lungs filling with water instead of air. The rain blurred everything, smearing the lines between life and death, but I could still feel it—the way violence coiled off him like heat.

Domino stood over the corpse, his chest rising and falling in deep, controlled breaths. The blood on his hands washed away under the relentless downpour, but it didn’t matter. I still saw it.

He lifted his head, feral gaze locked on me. His eyes pinned me in place, dark with possession, a hunger that had nothing to do with violence and everything to do with me. My pulse pounded, but not from fear. It was a force greater than gravity.

A shiver skated down my spine, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t. There was something magnetic about him, something that could shift tides and tear through cities.

Domino moved too quickly for my eyes to follow. His arm snapped out and wrapped around my waist, my chest slammed against his, the soaked fabric of my shirt clinging between us.

His nose traced along my throat, slow, savoring. I felt the sharp inhale as he breathed me in, like he was trying to fill every inch of himself with my scent. His chest expanded, a low groan rumbling from the depths of him. The sound reverberated through me, igniting something violent and all-consuming. It was the only warning I got before his teeth sank into my neck.

Pain and pleasure crackled through me like a live wire, chaos searing my skin. My breath hitched, my fingers digging into his arms as he sucked hard, as if he wanted to taste the very marrow of me.

“No one gets to look at you that way and live.”

His voice was a rough growl, vibrating against my throat. I barely registered the dead man at his feet—the Gallo who had let his gaze linger on me too long, who had spoken to me like I was something to be had.

I blinked heavy-lidded eyes up at him, my breath uneven. Domino’s gaze devoured me, swallowing every piece of me whole. In his eyes, I saw the same sickness that ran through my veins.

“You don’t leave the apartment without telling me,” he murmured, his grip tightening.

His bloodied fingers tangled in my hair, yanking my head back. My lips parted on instinct, but he didn’t wait for an answer. His mouth crashed onto mine, brutal and demanding. His tongue forced its way between my lips, claiming me. Owning me.

Teeth sank into my bottom lip, tearing my flesh. The taste of copper flooded my tongue, and instead of pulling away, I moaned, deepening the kiss. My blood mixed between us, shared, swallowed. I clung to him, needing more, needing everything.

The world blurred, and everything around us fell away, ceasing to exist, but I felt him. Through every layer of fabric, through skin and bone, through the very fabric of my being.

“Who do you belong to?” His voice was a brand, searing into me, leaving no room for doubt.

I swallowed the words he forced into my lungs, my tongue tangling with his. “You,” I gasped.

My arm wrapped around his neck, needing him closer. I wanted to fuse us at an atomic level. To carve away his flesh and bury myself inside his ribs. To leave a mark that would never fade.

I opened my eyes, rain dripping from my lashes, and that’s when I saw it—a shadow moving fast, a gun raised at Domino’sback. He tensed, already sensing the danger. Time folded in on itself. My body reacted before my mind had fully caught up. My arm snapped forward, and the blade left my hand, slicing through the rain-slick air, sinking into the man’s shoulder.

The unknown man staggered, cursing, trying to lift his gun and remove the blade embedded in his shoulder.

Domino spun, pushing me behind him. His muscles tensed, coiling like a beast about to tear flesh from bone.

The man tried to recover, his fingers spasming around the trigger, his eyes darting in my direction like he might still try for me—wrong fucking move.

Domino pounced. The crack of their bodies colliding was swallowed by the storm as thunder rolled above our heads. They hit the ground hard, a wet thud against the waterlogged grass. Domino was on top of him before the bastard had a chance to lift his gun again.

I watched, breath caught in my throat, as Domino lost himself. His fists struck bone with a wet crunch. The guy, who I assumed was another Gallo, fought back, barely managing to swing before Domino shattered his wrist. A strangled cry broke through his blood stained lips

Domino grinned. That look would have sent any sane person running, but not me. Instead of fear, I found life in his controlled savagery.

His hand closed around the man’s throat, his knee pressing down on his chest, pinning him. Blood spilled from his nose, bubbling past his lips, but the look in Domino’s eyes—that was what made the man go still.

A predator staring down his prey.

Domino leaned in. I couldn’t hear what he whispered, but the soldier’s eyes widened in raw horror before they flicked to me for a fleeting moment. With terrifying ease, he snapped his neck.

The light faded from his eyes as his body slumped to the ground. The image of Domino with two corpses at his feet was burned into my retinas.

The air was thick, heavy. The rain poured around us, but I couldn’t feel it anymore. Only him.Always, only him.

Domino turned to me, watching. Head tilting. Studying. Like I was something rare. Precious.

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