Page 131 of Shadow

I stared at her, my bottom lip trembling as I tried to control my emotions. The sick, fucked-up thing about this entire thing was that I wanted the world to know she was mine. I wanted to carve my name deep into her flesh so anyone brave enough to look at her would see me branded into her fucking soul.

I was sick.

Sick.

Sick.

Fucking sick.

Images Bryce had sent me flashed through my head. His head between her legs. His hands on her body. The way her face twisted in ecstasy as he made her come for him. I wanted him to see that she was mine. I don’t know why, but it just felt important. And not just him. I wanted the guys to know it, too, that this was final. That I wasn’t going anywhere. That she wasn’t.

But when her hand fell away, I pushed the blade into her skin. She let out a cry as her blood trickled out.

Something unfurled deep inside of me.

I couldn’t stop if I wanted to.

Her fingers twisted in the blankets. Her chest heaved. Her breathing was fast, and her body shook as I cut deeper into her skin, carving out the perfect S just above her hip bone.

I didn’t stop, even when she sobbed softly.

I moved to the I, the N, the F, the U, and the L.

Each letter was intricate and perfect. Unmistakable who she belonged to if anyone dared to look.

Her skin was pale, and she was damp from sweating through the pain, but I’d never seen her look so beautiful before as she stared up at me, her pretty eyes glistening with tears and blood dripping from the wound on her body that I’d given her.

The door to the bedroom opened, and Church came into the room.

I tensed as he stood at the end of the bed, his eyes focused on the knife in my hand before he looked at what I’d done to our girl.

I thought he’d kill me. Gut me with the knife for marking her.

Wordlessly, he crawled onto the bed and studied the wound, which still bled freely.

“You know what I love more than anything in this world?” He finally asked in a low, dangerous voice.

“What?” I replied, watching his eyes darken, and he leaned closer to her wound.

“Commitment.”

And then he pressed his mouth to the bloody mess and sucked against it. She cried out, her body arched at the pain, but he pushed his fingers between her legs and fucked her with them as he fed off her.

I knew Church wasn’t a novice to tasting blood or people, but to see him completely unhinged and slurping her down, only intensified the feelings inside me.

It took me a moment to figure out what I was feeling.

But when it did, I inhaled sharply.

Satisfaction. Burning, aching desire. Love.

So much fucking love and devotion that if I were a cartoon character, I’d have little hearts flying out the top of my head.

I placed the knife on the bedside table as Church continued to devour her, his fingers buried deep inside her drenched pussy, and held her arms down.

She thrashed, crying out, but I needed this. I needed to feel this with her.

Totally and completely fucked. That’s what this was.

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