Page 23 of Inescapable Darkness

“Rico Hunter.”

I slam my palm against the mat next to her head. She flinches, but the reaction is delayed by half a second, as if she had to tell her body to perform the movement instead of just reacting to it.

Taking her chin in a firm grip, I force her to keep her eyes locked on mine as I say, “Stop lying. I know you can feel the connection between us. I can see it in your eyes.”

She wiggles underneath me. And as if to reinforce my words, a jolt shoots through my body when her hips grind against mine. It makes blood rush to my cock.

Another wave of rage crashes through me because this girl is making me fucking crazy.

I want to strangle her.

But at the same time, I feel like her entire soul is calling to mine. As if there is a part of me that only she sees. Only she understands. And I fucking know that she feels it too.

“Please, I submit.” She taps her hand against the mat again and again, declaring defeat. “I submit.”

I want to grab her by the shoulders and shake her. Because I know that she isn’t submitting. Not yet, anyway.

When I at last make her surrender to me, fully and completely and for real, she will know it. Know in the depths of her very bones that she has no other shelter but me. That I alone am what stands between her and utter destruction. That she has no other choice but to obey my every command. That she ismine.

And then… then she will give me the answers that I need.

9

ISABELLA

Warm water streams down over me. Tilting my head back, I let it pour over my face and wash down my body. Apart from the sound of splashing water coming from my own shower, the shared shower room is silent around me.

I took my time undressing in order to make sure that everyone else in my class had mostly finished showering by the time I got in. Thanks to the Hands of Peace, I have quite the collection of scars and burn marks and other evidence of past injuries on my skin. I know that I’m not exactly the only person with scars at this university, but it’s better to avoid unnecessary questions if I can.

Dragging my feet like this means that I will have to practically inhale my lunch before our next class, and just standing here under the rushing water isn’t exactly helping my now tight schedule either. But after that damn sparring session with Rico, I need to get my head back on straight.

I know you can feel the connection between us.

That’s what he said. A connection between us. He wasn’t just demanding that I tell him who I really am. He told me that there is aconnectionbetween us.

With my eyes still closed, I draw my hands over my face and then through my wet hair while heaving a deep sigh.

If he only knew how right he is about that. About our connection. If he only knew how much I feel like I know him. How much I feel as if I’m seeing myself mirrored in his eyes.

Opening my eyes, I turn off the shower and then shake my head.

Gods above, this guy is going to be the death of me.

Maybe I should just bolt. Maybe I should just leave Blackwater and set up a fake life somewhere else. Far away from him.

But as I squeeze water from my hair, I discard that idea. I considered it that day when I first ran into him, but decided against it then too. Now that he has seen me, now that he knows that I’m here, he is never going to let me go. If I were to run, he would hunt me to the ends of the earth. And that would certainly draw the attention of the Hands of Peace. My only option is to make him believe that he is mistaken. That I am not who he thinks I am. But that is apparently going to take a hell of a lot more work than I had hoped.

I turn around and take a step away from the wall lined with now silent showerheads.

Shock pulses through me.

Actual,real, stunned surprise clangs inside my skull as I stare at the open doorway leading to the rest of the changing room.

Rico is standing there.

He is leaning one shoulder against the doorframe, and his arms are crossed over his broad chest as he watches me.

I suddenly become acutely aware that I’m entirely naked.

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