Page 142 of Born for Lace

As we drive off, I look out at the greenhouse, happy to know my nail file found a home and sad that I didn’t give Lucy a real chance at friendship.

Goodbye, Common Community.

One little death.

Goodbye, Lucy.

One little death.

Then,Lagos feeds his fingers through mine, resting them on his lap as he drives, and I look down at the way his hand encompasses mine.How we fit.

How mine fits.

His consumes.

ChapterForty-Five

Lagos

I fist the steering wheel with one hand and grip hers with the other.

She inhales deeply, her chest rising, holding, before falling with a heavy exhale. Dahlia sleeps against my naked side, her body swaying with the movement of the truck, her lashes fan over freckle-laced cheeks.

Focus on the road.

My mind prowls restlessly inside my skull. I am at war. Lost. Confused. My possessive and protective core has morphed into something darker.

Unforgiving.

And savage.

At first, the orders were simple. Obedience and submission were carved into my flesh over the past five months.

Kill her, kill Tomar, and retrieve the stolen Shadow baby for The Trade.

But in the compound?—

I was too reactive.

When they held her knickers in front of my face and sliced fillets from me, I only inhaled harder.

Too in love.

Too human.

For her…

Too hard to control even with the coil, so at three months, they changed their methods. Made me crazed. Used my humanity. Stroked my cock when I killed for them. Allowed me her scent when I obeyed.

A beast with a bone.

They distorted my memories, infiltrating my recall, planting doubt about Tomar and her, Robert and her. Men she is with, fucking, loving.

Too possessive.

I know now… They didn’t edge me to kill her—they edged me to obsess further. Obsess to the point of destruction.

Too volatile.

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