Page 15 of Blossom in Shadows

Almost any other time, that sound would make me pause, but right now all I’m seeing is red and feeling the threat of someone who thinks they can take my woman away from me. Over my dead fucking body.

When we get to the desk, I spin my woman and grip the nape of her neck, my fingers tangling with her hair as I push her down. She gasps and whimpers, but it only makes my cock harder.

“Someone thinks they can take you away from me,” I grit out through my clenched teeth, my jaw tight. I push her down more firmly when she tries to wiggle out of my grip. “No,” I bark, “don’t fucking move, Zinnia.”

Her body stills and her submission has the fog clearing, but it’s not enough. It’s nowhere near enough. How the fuck could I have ever let her up in one of those cages? I was stupid. I was reckless.

That man thought he could put his hands on her. He called her a whore. She’s fucking mine.

“I’m yours,” she whimpers.

“That’s fucking right you’re mine,” I snarl, and she shivers underneath me.

I yank her skirt up to her hips and then tear her thong away from her body. There’s a voice in my head trying to tell me something, but it’s not nearly loud enough. I need to remind her. I need to show her. I need to feel her surrender because without it, I’m going to go out onto the floor of Sala and murder that man.

In cold blood.

I would do it with a smile on my face and vengeance in my heart.

It wouldn’t be the first time and it won’t be the last time.

The only thing stopping me right now is this woman in front of me. The woman I’ve claimed. The woman whose pain is so much like my own. The woman who has captured my heart.

“He thought he could touch you,” my voice is distorted with rage.

I use my free hand to pull my belt from my pants. I don’t even think as I bring the leather down across her ass. The welt there, my mark, comes up instantly and it cools something in me, but it’s not enough. It’s not nearly enough.

“Who do you fucking belong to, Zinnia,” I bite out the words as I bring the belt down on her again.

“You,” she shouts out as I bring the belt down.

Three welts, three lines across her ass. A reminder. A memory. A claiming.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

“I’m yours,” she sobs.

I drop the belt and smooth my hand over her ass. The way the ridges of the welts feel under my palm soothe something in me even more than her words and the way she gives herself over to me with ease. My mark.

I push my pants and boxer briefs down enough for my cock to pop free. While I kick her legs farther apart, I don’t let up on the grip I have on the nape of her neck. With one thrust, I slam my cock home inside of her.

“Elio,” she screams when I fill her and hit the end of her channel roughly.

She struggles against my hold, and it only makes me harder. I grip her hip and start to fuck her like a man possessed. Because I am.

It’s all for her. She’s possessed me. She’s bewitched me. She makes me lose my senses while the control I’ve made sure is iron clad for years dissolves. She destroys it.

With one look. With one sway of her hips. With one smile.

I fuck her like she did something wrong, even though with every beat of my heart I know it wasn’t her fault. She can’t stop being so damn gorgeous that it’s hard to tear your eyes away from her. She can’t stop the radiance which shines from her with each one of her movements.

It’s not her fault. I know it. But it is. It’s all her fault.

“You’re going to take it,” I seethe. “You make me fucking crazy, Zinnia.”

“I know,” she keens and tries to arch her back, but I hold her in place.

Her pussy gushes around me and bathes my cock in her sweet juices. I pump into her, never letting up. I can’t. She needs to know.

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