"He's gone," Patrick reports from the window, but I barely hear him.
"Leave us," I command, never taking my eyes off Kyra. "Don't come back until I call you."
Patrick nods and slips out through the back door, taking his team with him. Smart man. He recognizes when his boss needs privacy to properly celebrate a victory.
The moment we're alone, I pin Kyra against the wall beside the Christmas tree, my hands bracing on either side of her head. She looks up at me with eyes that are no longer innocent, no longeruncertain. These are the eyes of a woman who knows exactly what she's capable of.
"Do you have any idea what you just did?" I ask, my voice rough with need.
"I chose you," she breathes, her hands already reaching for my shirt. "I chose us."
"You chose to become exactly what I always knew you could be." I capture her mouth in a kiss that tastes like possession and power. "My perfect, ruthless queen."
She responds with equal hunger, her tongue meeting mine with desperate desire. When I pull back, her lips are swollen, her pupils dilated with want.
"I loved watching you destroy him," I confess against her neck. "Loved seeing you embrace the darkness inside you. You were magnificent."
"I felt magnificent," she admits, her voice breathless. "I felt... free."
"Because you are free. Free from the chains of being good, being nice, being what other people expect you to be." My hands slide down to grip her waist, pulling her flush against me so she can feel how hard I am. "Now you can be what you were always meant to be."
"And what's that?" she asks, though I can see in her eyes that she already knows.
"Mine. Completely, utterly, irrevocably mine."
I carry her upstairs to our bedroom. The same room where I first claimed her body, where I'll now claim her soul. She clings to me, her legs wrapped around my waist, already grinding against me with shameless need.
"I want you," she gasps against my ear. "I need you to show me who I am now."
"I'm going to show you exactly who you are," I promise, kicking the bedroom door closed behind us. "I'm going to fuck you like the dark queen you've become."
I set her down beside the bed, my hands immediately going to the hem of her sweater. She raises her arms without protest, letting me strip it away along with her bra. Her breasts are flushed, nipples already hard with arousal, and I can't resist leaning down to take one in my mouth.
"Victor," she moans, her hands tangling in my hair. "Please."
"Please what?" I ask, switching to her other breast, my teeth grazing the sensitive peak. "Tell Daddy what you need."
"I need you to claim me," she gasps, her voice raw with need. "I need you to fuck me like the killer I almost became. Like the woman who just chose your darkness over everything she used to believe."
This isn't just desire—this is a woman celebrating her own moral death, and it's the most intoxicating thing I've ever heard.
I make quick work of her remaining clothes, then my own, until we're both naked in the afternoon light streaming through the windows. She's beautiful, but it's a different kind of beauty now—sharper, more dangerous, infinitely more appealing.
"On the bed," I command. "On your back, legs spread for me."
She complies immediately, settling in the center of the mattress and opening herself to my gaze. The sight of her laid out like an offering, completely willing and eager, makes my cock throb with need.
"Perfect," I murmur, settling between her thighs. "Look at you, so wet and ready for me. Your pussy is dripping just from thinking about what you did to him, isn't it? My little sadist, getting off on breaking hearts."
"God, yes," she breathes, her hips lifting shamelessly toward me. "I loved every second of destroying him. And I love how hard it makes you to watch me be cruel."
I slide two fingers inside her, groaning at how tight and slick she is. "You feel incredible. So fucking perfect around my fingers."
"I need more," she pleads, her walls clenching around my digits. "I need your cock inside me. Please, Daddy."
The desperate edge in her voice breaks my control. I withdraw my fingers and position myself at her entrance, the head of my cock pressing against her wetness.
"Look at me," I command. "I want to see your face when I claim my dark queen."