Page 76 of Corrupt Shadows

She ignores the correction. “Is ridiculous. I keep getting lost. I just want to sleep, and you left me there.” She balls her fists, and I sigh.

I grab the pack of cigarettes from my pocket and hand her one. Her shoulders slump, but she pulls it to her lips.

Her hair flies into her face again, just before she can light it. “Goddamn it.”

I slip the gray hair tie from her wrist and motion for her turn around. Her brows pinch together, but she turns anyway. Since letting out her powers, our bond has cemented. Her magic fused with mine, and soon she’ll be ready. Once the mirror is fixed, or another made, then I can execute my plan. I tilt my head. It’s ironic how the only person I have come close to liking is the one I need to sacrifice for my freedom.

No matter. I’ve waited too long to let anything get in my way. Even her.

Still, I can enjoy the time until then.

With gentle fingers, I pull her hair back. Evie slowly turns to face me. The corners of her mouth tip down, and her lower lip pokes out. She lifts her gaze to me and her expression clears, her former annoyance returning. “About my room?”

I slip my hands into my pockets, careful to keep my expression cloaked with boredom behind my mask instead of the emotion I can’t place burning in my chest. “You don’t have one.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You share my room.”

Evie throws her arms into the air. “What? No. First you tattoo me.” She yanks at her shirt, pulling the neckline down and displaying the swell of her mouthwatering breast. “And now you deny me some personal space? Where’s the human decency?”

I groan, and I can’t help but palm the erection tenting my pants as I stare at the tattoo. “My mark looks delectable on you. Next time I fuck your face, remind me to spear cum all over your gorgeous tits too. As far as human decency? You seem to have forgotten something, little one.” I wrap my shadows around her waist and pull her flush against my chest. “I’m not human,” I say, reminding her in a singsong voice.

“Demon.”

“Witch.”

Her shadows slip from her chest and join my shadows, and they curl around us. Evie’s eyes narrow at her magic’s display. “Fuck you.”

I smirk. “Gladly.”

She lights the cigarette and pulls in a deep inhale, all the while fixating her glare on me. “There are so many rooms here. I can have one.”

“You do not make the demands here,” I snap back. The idea of her going off on her own, where my brother can get to her, sends sweat beading on my forehead. “You will stay in my bedroom. There is no other option.” My upper lip scrunches up, and my gaze tracks to the vaulted ceiling.

“Have you found out anything about Gomez yet?” she asks and grinds her teeth. The cigarette calms her, but I can sense the withdrawals from those pills raising her anxiety to new levels.

“He is safe” is all I say, but I don’t know if he is. Saying it calms her, and I can’t have her panicking. She must think I have some ability to see into her apartment from here.

Our shadows cinch tighter around us, as if they enjoy the friction too. I shake my head. She does not deserve my godsdamn comfort, yet I pull her closer to me as she shivers against the cold.

Evie presses her palms against my pecs and shoves. I will my shadows to cooperate and allow us to separate. She closes her eyes for a moment, her tiny fists tightly squeezed by her sides. Evie opens her eyes, and if I were a weaker being, I would be frightened by the depths of darkness within them.

“The bed is yours,” I say, my voice so gravelly, it sounds like I swallowed a stone. “Stay here. Do not wander the manor without me.”

I pull away from the embrace. My molars grind together. I fucking hate how good it feels to hold her. Quickly, I give her my back, then step into the hall and lock the door behind me.

I flinch as a stab of guilt lacerates me. Maybe I’ve been too harsh on her. Evie has only been in the Shadow Realm for a day. She’s left behind everything she knows for an entirely new reality. She didn’t ask to come here, but I would have stolen her away eventually either way.

Being honest with myself is not a game I often play. Most days it feels as though I’m drowning in a swamp. The thick muck surrounds me as air bleeds from my lungs, but no matter how hard I try, I cannot reach the surface.

I desire her. All of her. Yet loathing surrounds my every thought of her. It’s difficult to think rationally about her when I know I have to sacrifice her to this realm and take away her freedom so I can have mine.

If I continue bashing my head into the wall to rid myself of her addictive touch, I will only end up with a cracked skull. And even that won’t kill me. I roll my eyes at myself, but my mad thoughts are too close to the surface for comfort.

She is my sacrifice for my freedom, and I’ve never understood the word more.

Unless my brother gets to her first.

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