Page 25 of Oh, Sacred Dark
Tyler’s surprise turned quickly into alarm as Roman cried out loudly, shielding his head.
“Please,” Roman begged. “Please, please, please.”
“Roman. What, what’s—”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to Iswear, I’m sorry.” Roman’s voice was muffled by his position and the pain thick in his tone.
“It’s okay. Whoa, hey, how about we—” Tyler tried getting closer, but Roman must have sensed it because he flinched away. “Fuck. Okay. Who do I call? Archie? Cross?”
With an eerie abruptness, Roman stopped moving. Slowly, like a prey animal trying not to be noticed, he raised his face. “No. Please, no one else.Please, Sir.”
It was at that exact instant Tyler realised Roman was in the middle of a Drop.
CHAPTER SIX
ROMAN
It was a wild, howling, animal of fear. A clawing form, senseless, blind, thrashing inside Roman like madness.
There had been so many times in which Roman had wished to die. They were always quiet moments—curled up in dark places, feeling the weight of being himself. But right then, with Tyler looming over him, a backlit shadow, a demon, Roman didn’t want to die.
Please, please, he didn’t want to die.
“I’m sorry,” the crazed creature inside him said. He couldn’t breathe, air all locked up inside his greedy, useless lungs.
Roman’s body had felt so much pain already. Had seen so many terrible things. And his soul—fuck, his soul—it was a rotten thing, mincemeat, churned scum, soot, smoke.
He’d always been so careful to hide his Drops from Doms. From everybody. There was something sickly twisted about the fact that they were worse since he had left his old coven. His ability to control them had lasted long enough for him to survive and not a moment longer.
Roman was tired. He was scared, and bad, and he didn’t want to be punished, even though he deserved it.
The way he had defied Tyler that day, refusing to follow his instructions and kneel on the ground—
Roman tried to muffle his cry as Tyler crouched in front of him. The Dom was saying something, but his voice was warped by the rushing blood in Roman’s ears.
A hand reached out. Roman trembled violently when it touched his arm, hot like a brand.
“I think you’re Dropping. It’s okay, Roman—” The words finally pierced through the tangled mess of Roman’s brain.
“I’m sorry,” Roman repeated. He hadn’t meant to Drop. He hadn’t meant to be bad.
“It’s okay. Roman, I promise you, it’s okay. We’re going to move to the bed, okay? I’ll—I’ll help you through it.”
Those last words sent a chill through his body. Sobs bubbled up his throat, wracking his lungs.
Fuck, he couldn’tbreathe.
The Dom was still talking. “It’s okay. It’s okay. Let’s get up, yeah? It’s gonna be okay.”
Roman wanted to resist, but the world was spinning. He was going to die if he didn’t please this Dom. He was going to crack open and everything he was would spill in fetid water on the floor.
Roman focused on making his trembling legs work, but nothing in his body seemed to be listening to him anymore. He wanted to scream, desperate—his skin and muscle and bone, that was all he had. It couldn’t fail him now.
Tyler was there suddenly, so close Roman could feel the unbearable heat of him. He wanted to plead for Tyler to give him one more chance. He could make his knees lock, he just needed a moment,please.
Roman was dragged to his feet, an arm clinched around his waist, and suddenly he was moving, floating through the air like a cloud of dust that landed in scattered patterns on the bed.
Tyler’s brown, creased face stared down at him. “What can I do? What do you need?”
