Priest and his Anarchist

Chapter 43

Chapter Forty-Three

luna

I follow behind Priest the entire way, ducking behind his forearm.

“It’s quiet,” I say, breaking the silence between the dragging of chains.

Corbin laughs.

I stop as Priest turns back to me.

“You’re such a bunch of stupid fucks. Who do you think I answer to, hmmm?” The light above us flickers, as Corbin lifts his head from between his shoulders. “I gotta say, I’m sure they scare me a hell of a lot more than you do. And that’s saying something since I’m sure it’s painfully obvious how terrifying you are.”

“Question.” I take the first step forward. “You keep talking about this entity.” Corbin’s smirk doesn’t fall.

I lean into his ear. “But who is left if I already killed Danny Dale, Moses Dale, and Jeremiah?”

Vaden chuckles when Corbin’s smile finally disappears.

I stand. “Now who’s the stupid fuck?”

Priest is still staring at me.

“Unless…” Everything slides back into place like a perfectly formed puzzle. I take one step. “Where was Darling when she wasn’t free, running around?”

Priest doesn’t move.

Another step. He’s directly in front of me now, and up this close, and with any other person, I know he’d just use the machete in his hand to take my head clean off.

His jaw bounces, but he doesn’t move. “What, Madness? Wanna ask something, fucking ask it.”

“I’d suggest not,” Vaden pipes up from behind. “I’d suggest you wait until we carry this sack of cum into the hole he crawled out of.”

“Walk. Now.”

When we reach the end, we climb the stairs that spiral upward. He pushes up at the manhole until the sun blinds us.

Grabbing on to his hand, he hauls me out, and I fall back onto my ass with a thud. I stop. The encasement of fuchsia pink roses vine and twist together in a sea of greenery. A perfect circle lines the grass, where small bench seats curve as if looking down. It smells of honey and musk.

“Where are we?”

Vaden lands with a thud. “The roses not give it away?”

I guess not.

“Took long enough…” The voice filters through the other side of the garden. He’s dressed in a black suit with the buttons undone.

He’s confusing. His face is masculine yet pretty, but the scar that cuts right across his throat tells a tale of torment. With wide-stretched shoulders, a height rivaling Priest and Vaden, and eyes that seem bright against his darker skin, I’m almost certain this man could have been a King with the rest of them.

“Yeah, we ran into a problem.” Priest ignores the wailing man at Vaden’s feet.

The man in the suit finds me and as soon as his eyes are on mine, I regret ever wondering what he looks like. Not because he’s scary, because I know scary. I’ve looked a monster straight in the eyes and begged it to love me.

Stupid.

“Luna Nox Rebellis…”

I retreat at the sound of my name leaving his lips. He holds my stare, and when I don’t answer, a wall of bare muscle blocks my view and my whole thoughts change. I don’t know if it’s because this is the first time I’ve seen it all in daylight or because I’m simply as stupid as I thought, but the intricate and fine line artwork tattooed over Priest’s back reminds me of?—

I take a step closer, desperate to see more.

“Now what? You gonna stash him in your dark room and tell him he’s a pretty girl?” The suited man raises a smug brow at Priest from behind his beer.

“Fuck you, Thorn.”

He laughs, and I do the math in my head. Archer Thorn, heir of Thornhill— Thornhill. Holy fucking days. I’m in Thornhill! This place has never been on my radar, mainly because I wasn’t sure if it was a myth. I mean, how many times do you have to hear about a town and not visit before wondering if it’s fiction.

“You sure you don’t wanna make the reception?” He gestures down to Corbin. “He’s already dressed to theme.”

Vaden laughs, tugging on the chain and nudging his head behind me. “Luna, love, we need to get you home.”

I land back on Priest, even though Vaden’s grip is tight around my arm and he’s practically dragging me backward.

Priest’s head shakes side to side before he turns back to Archer, who is still watching me.

“He’s creepy…” I finally turn around and copy Vaden’s footsteps.

“Yeah, keep it that way. We know what you’re like with the creepy ones…”

I shove Vaden in the shoulder and my chest warms. It almost feels as it used to be with him, before our lives changed. Once we hit the Bentley, he slams the trunk closed and rounds the end of the car. Vaden pulls out a cigarette, following my eyes and landing on Priest.

“You know he can fight for himself, right? Like the motherfucker is untouchable.”

I don’t move. “I know. It’s not that.”

“Yeah?” Vaden’s tone picks up as tobacco smoke puffs around my face. “What bothers you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Pretty sure you know.” Vaden keeps a safe distance from me. “Ask him the question I know you’re thinking.”

I finally turn to Vaden. “Will he lie?”

Vaden’s eye squints around the smoke. “Not anymore, so tread carefully.”

Not twenty-four hours earlier, I thought our lives were going to change for good. I thought Madison was dead, Priest was going to kill me when he found out that I wasn’t his first love, and an old friend in a top hat was chasing me.

I slam the door closed and stare up at the house. Dark walls and windows overlook the driveway, where the horde of cars are parked. Vaden moves past us.

“I’ll leave you both to….” His hands fly around the place. “Before you…” He gestures around us.

As soon as he’s gone, the heaviness of Priest’s eyes weighs on me. Stones crunch beneath his boots, but I don’t look away. I remain fixed on the window I spent three years of my life looking out. Hoping. Wondering. Praying that he wouldn’t kill me.

I smell him first. The whiff of cologne, mint leaves, and spice.

“Ask me, Madness.” His tone is a drum above a whisper. When I don’t answer, his fingers wrap around my chin. This time gentler. He directs my eyes up to him, bending my neck to do it. “Ask me.”

My heart fractures beneath my rib cage. “Is it you?”

“Nah. You can do better than that.” He lowers his hands on either side of my body, encasing me in the same way his darkness does anytime I’m in danger. Now I can’t run even if I wanted to. Which I don’t. All running does is guarantee a chase.

His head dips to the side of my neck and goose bumps snap over my spine. “Ask me.” He kisses the curve of my shoulder.

“Is it you that Corbin works for? Are you running the Ministry? Has it been you all along, and have you kept it from?—”

His lips are on mine and my world stops. I open for him and his tongue slides across mine as he tilts his head, deepening the kiss. His hips shift forward, pinning me to the car as his tongue laps over my own.

He catches my bottom lip with his teeth. “I expected you to ask me if I loved you.”

“Why would I do that? I know you don’t love anyone.”

He pauses, searching my face. He stops on my lips, and I look down at his, my insides turning to jelly when I see they’re still damp from our kiss.

“Oh, you know that, do you?” His brow hitches, but he leaves another kiss on my lips, this time lingering a little longer. “Second time you’ve been wrong today, Madness. I won’t give you a third.”

He turns his back to me, and I follow behind him like a lost puppy. The pounding of his boots up the steps stops when the front door swings open and Moose stands at the other side, his hair tied back and his suit freshly laundered.

Priest gestures to the car. “Put him in Wonderland.”

Wonderland.

“You need to fall.”

“He’s taken me to Wonderland four times…”

Moose squeezes my arm in passing, and I pat his hand before he drags Corbin back through the blanket of snow.

The chatter coming from the living room twists my stomach into knots. I haven’t seen anyone since the night they found out I was alive after Madison was taken.

Madison.

Priest stops before he gets to the threshold when he realizes I’m not following. Grabbing a plain shirt off a small table, he throws it over his head, covering his bloodied body.

He must see me hesitate, because he swipes the bottom of his lip, turning his head to the side for a moment before he’s directly in front of me. His eyes fly over his shoulder as he nudges his head to Vaden.

As soon as Vaden’s out of earshot, his words stop me. “Luna, look at me.”

I stare back at the spot where, not too long ago, I saw Priest nestled with Katie…Haley… Jamie? Shit. I can’t even remember her name.

“Luna.”

“What was that girl’s name who was here that night?”

“Haley. I threw her over the cliff of my pool.”

“Why!” My eyes widen.

As soon as he’s close, the air turns thick.

“Because she was the second Huntress they tried to stick on me. Look at me.”

“I am!”

His eyes turn to slits at my sass. I exhale even though I’d rather suffocate.

“Is Madison okay?”

“Yes.” The cushion of his thumb taps at my lip. “She’s going to be fine, thanks to you.”

“What’s happening, Priest? You need to tell me, or I don’t know what to go in there like.”

His mouth opens and closes. I trace the lines of them when his jaw bounces. “Pretty sure you can follow my lead, Madness.”

“Pretty sure I’ve been doing that since I was seven years old, and where did that get me?” I raise a brow up at him, my muscles aching from fatigue.

“You want me to answer that?” He raises both brows in challenge. The tip of his boot connects with my pointed heel. “’Cause last I checked, it got you right here. In the place where no one else can stand.”

My heart slows and my eyes close. “Walk. I’ll follow your lead.”

“Good girl.” He kisses my hand, leading me to the living room while I fight a yawn.

“Just to be clear, I’m not into the praise thing…”

“You don’t think I know that?” He smirks over his shoulder. “Why do you think I spent all your life bullying you?”

Now it is my turn to keep my mouth shut. I still am not sure what I’m about to walk in on. The more I try to unpack what happened tonight, the more confused I become, so I do the thing—the one thing—he has asked me to do.

I trust him.

I bang into something hard and my hand flies up to his back. “Ouch!”

“What the fuck is this?” Priest jerks backward, and panic rises in my throat. I knew it. We can’t all just be at peace. “I’m going to kill you.”

Oh shit. I sidestep away from the wall of muscle and follow his sight, preparing for the worst. Right in the corner of the family room is a tree with branches that touch the ceiling in a variation of black decorations—and Halen.

She smiles wide at us. “It’s Christmas, Priest! Stop being a grinch.”

Someone flips a switch and in a glitter of goth, the tree illuminates in an array of silver beads. Decorations style the room with a range of black wreaths, metallic chrome globes, and a Santa statue decked out in a black suit with tattoos all over his skin.

My teeth catch my bottom lip to stop the smile from spreading.

“See! Luna likes it!” Halen points to me, her green eyes bright, as if she’s seeing me for the first time.

“Yeah? Well, she hit her head pretty bad, so I wouldn’t take it to heart.”

“Aw. I’m wounded.” Halen pushes her brother out of the way, moving toward War, Vaden, Brantley, Bishop, and Stella. “Look,” Halen starts, her eyes falling with her shoulders. Tupac and Biggie rap in the background, the obvious scale of tradition and signature EKC balancing a thin line. “I’m really sorry, Luna. I thought you?—”

“—tried to kill you?” I cut in before smiling. “It’s fine. I would have been the same.”

“No, you wouldn’t have…” Halen mumbles. “But either way, I’m disappointed that I always held it against you. If that was something you did when you had—ya know—it still wasn’t fair of me to use your mental condition as a way to distance myself from you. I was, I guess, scared. I’m really sorry.”

Halen is a lot of things, I assume, since she isn’t only Bishop and Madison’s daughter, but Priest’s sister. I’d watched her over the years when I could, and she seemed strong, smart, but filled with emotions. I’d be lying if I said that didn’t worry me the few times that I had thought about her. The volatility of human emotions could be the downfall of the Kings if we weren’t careful, but times like this. When everything has been so dark and sad, is when we need the ones like Halen. The ones like Saint, Vaden and Stella’s mom, because they’re the ones who pull us all back into the light when things get to be too much.

The ones, I guess, like me.

“I forgive you, Halen.”

“Okay.” She shakes herself off, swiping two tall martini glasses from a tray when a waiter passes by.

Liquid ink floats in the glass. “What is this?”

“My brother’s soul. Thought you might like to see how it tastes before you, ya know, draw that shit home, but by the looks of it…” Her head tilts. “You’re with him whether you like it or not.” I choke on the drink, allowing the sugary cherry flavor to slide down my throat.

My tongue laps up the residue on my lips. Tequila. Well done.

“Not sure if that’s what this is.”

Halen rolls her eyes and mumbles something that sounds strangely similar to “You’re fucking lying” under her breath when bright red nails are around her stomach, and she’s being pulled backward and thrown onto the sofa.

I quickly take this moment to slip back out, the stench of death still fresh on my skin. My fingers trail the swirls and lines of frames as I make my way further down the hallway.

“I drew everything that held your attention for longer than a few seconds.”

“You’re really talented. Who knew…” I joke, and when his arms lock around my waist and he pulls me into his chest, I allow myself to relax into him. As if his existence puts mine to purpose. My laughter dies as I continue down, his arms still around my waist.

The sunflower.

“Black Beauty.” I look up at him, the sharp lines of his jaw tight. “When I was little, my mom took me to buy flowers for her new garden. I remember seeing these among the ray of bright yellow. Just…existing. I realized how much they reminded me of you. Luna, the opposite to the sun. Fitting.”

My heart pounds in my chest. “How old were you?”

He kisses my head. “Nine or ten.” It was after he met me.

Over the time, my heart has become a force that won’t stop in my chest. Every passing moment, every touch. I can’t escape the suffocating sensation that never fades, always sharp in my chest.

We stop at the final one. A black hole, the silhouette of a woman falling. It comes to me instantly. “When I thought I lost you.”

Turning in his grip, I search his eyes. “I’ve spent longer loving you than I have been alive, Priest. You’ll never lose me. Ever. I’m prepared to die before I’d walk away from you.”

He catches my lips with his, deepening the kiss while walking me backward. His knuckles graze my back when he lifts my shirt, before he shoves his bedroom door open and pushes me inside.

“Are we going to make them wait?” I ask, hiding behind my laugh.

“Do you even have to ask?”

Evie takes my hand gently, and I follow behind her as she leads me to the other side of the room, closest to where Madison is. There are too many things I want to say to her, to ask her, and I fear if I do it now, I won’t know when to stop.

When Evie walks, she does so with a confidence only she can carry. We both lower to a double sofa, and I tuck my fuzzy socks beneath my butt. Thankfully, I still fit the clothes I used to when I was a teenager and Priest still had them.

“When I was nine years old, I watched Priest kill someone.”

I reach for the cheese platter on the coffee table in front of us, rolling up a pinwheel of salami and cheese, I bite into it quickly before I say something I shouldn’t. “That must have sucked.”

God, Luna. Out of all the things to say. She’ll definitely hate me now if she didn’t already.

She bursts out a laugh, relaxing into the sofa and resting her hand over her belly. Her nails a contrast to her white top. Sighing, she swipes the tears from beneath her eyes.

“Man. You guys really are perfect for one another.”

Heat radiates over my left cheek and suddenly her presence becomes so obvious that I know she’s listening to us.

“Yes, it did suck. But I learned a very valuable lesson that day!” She pushes up and reaches for the grapes, popping one into her mouth. “That love had no currency. I loved him the same way I did before I saw that poor man get gutted from his belly to his throat.” Her words die on the end and her smile falls a little. “He doesn’t know that I saw him. I hid behind the trunk of a tree and cried. I don’t think I left until the sun was starting to rise that next morning. Something about me staying there made me think that if I just…if I didn’t leave, then I didn’t have to act as if I didn’t just see my best friend take a man’s life as if it was nothing. As if it was less than nothing.”

She shakes her head, and her long waves bounce over her shoulders. “The next morning, I walked home, and my father and mother were distraught. Bishop had put out an alert to find me and already had the better half of his friends out looking. Priest was there. I wondered how I would act, ya know, seeing him after witnessing that, but it all just felt insignificant because, well…love.”

I try to repeat the words she just said over in my head for them to absorb. “I wish I looked at love that way.”

“You don’t?” Evie asks, her head tilting. She leans up again. “But you love him, so you must.” Her eyes plead with mine as if searching for an answer.

Does she need an answer as to how someone could love Priest? Surely not.

I suck the salted meat off my thumb. Her eyes fall to the movement, but pause at something she notices on my hand before her brows pull in.

“I don’t think of love when I look at him.”

My eyes find him as if they know the lies I told. My heart cracks in my chest but I clear my throat. Even from this distance, the power he has over me is too much. I know that he knows that, and—movement catches my eyes. A dark shadow sits in the corner, his suit shirt rolled up at the sleeves.

Nate’s ankle is crossed over his knee, his other hand balancing a full glass of alcohol. Whiskey, no doubt.

He knows it.

“Luna…”

I shake my head. “I don’t think of love when I look at him because I can’t ever imagine a time where I didn’t love him. When I look at him, all I see is him. All of him. I can’t separate the two feelings because I don’t think I knew what love was until I knew what it felt to receive it from him.”

Evie clucks her tongue. “Well. That’s a long time to feel his love, especially from someone who everyone thought didn’t have it.”

“Yep!” I take a sip of my—whatever this is. “It has been a long two hours.”

We both look at each other before Evie bursts out laughing again, her head tilting back. She taps at my knee. “Good luck, girl.” She disappears behind me, and I’m left stuck, my eyes heavy and the weight of everything still hanging over my head.

I learned to compartmentalize. How to read a room full of criminals in less than two minutes. How to kill a man three times my size and frame the murder on the least suspicious person, but right now, even my strengths are waning the more time goes on.

I twirl my glass around the stem, listening to the lyrics of the song playing in the background. It’s not one I’m familiar with, but it’s catchy and slow, enough to distract me from my own self-pity.

Alcohol touches the pit of my stomach, the last bit of tension finally releasing in my neck.

“Thank you.”

My eyes slowly peel open when I hear her voice. So similar to when I thought she was dead.

Slowly, I turn my head to where she’s nestled on the sofa. Her face is bandaged up around her chin, all the way over her head, and her arm is in a cast that’s wrapped tight. Bruises swell over almost every inch of her face, and staples run up the side, disappearing beneath the gauze.

“I’m the one who should be sorry,” I whisper hoarsely, finally being met face-to-face with what she had to go through. “I wish—” I stop when my throat tightens. Agh! Things were much better when I didn’t care about hardly anyone.

“Don’t.” She shakes her head, looking down at her hands in her lap. “I’m just glad I’m still alive to see this.”

I look out in front of me and smile. The black tree is finally almost set up, after Stella snatches the remote off Vaden and pushes him into the fireplace. Her laughter swallows the music when his arm catches on fire, causing him to tear off his hoodie and stomp it out. Vaden snaps at her with a scowl, something about a reckless idiot.

“Yeah. I’ve never been much of a Christmas girl, but this is one that I might actually enjoy.” Madison laughs, but it turns to soft wailing before a hiss. “Dammit. Don’t make me laugh. Shit hurts.”

I wince.

“But I don’t mean this.” She lifts her partially good hand, the one holding the drink. She turns to me. “I mean, the day my son got back the only thing he could ever lose.” I blink back my shock.

Narrowing my eyes, I peek over at her lap. “Are you on strong pain meds?”

She laughs again before cussing under her breath and relaxing further into her chair. “It’s obvious why he’s so—Bishop—about you.”

I don’t bother asking her what she means about Bishop.

“But, and I say this with full sincerity, Luna. Be careful. I know my son, and I know he’s hiding things that I can’t imagine. He’s always put the EKC before all else. There’s just something there that I can’t seem to piece together.” Her words die on her tongue, and before she can say anything else, both Bishop and Priest are standing in front of us. Bishop scoops Madison up from beneath her, kissing her neck before slowly lowering them both back onto the sofa, this time with her cuddled into his lap.

Priest’s thigh presses against mine when he leans forward to grab the bowl on the coffee table, licking his thumb after he rolls out a blunt.

“You going to find the person who runs that piece of shit downstairs?” Madison asks, words directed at Priest.

His tongue dampens the edge of the blunt and images flicker behind the back of my eyes of what it feels like on my body.

In my mouth.

Over my scar…

“Don’t worry about it, Ma. I’ve got it.”

“And you’ll tell me if you need help?” Bishop probes, a silent conversation passing between them.

Priest doesn’t answer when he rests into the sofa. “Yeah. I will.”

Lie.

I breathe in the fresh air, closing my eyes before looking out in front of me. The lights of Riverside seem brighter tonight, what with the spray of red, green, gold, and pink lights that shine from the streets. Even this far in the distance, you can smell the spice of Christmas, the snow melting on pine cones, and the warmth of eggnog.

“I wondered where you went.”

I turn to River as she kicks off her heels and makes her way to where I stand.

“I had to get out of there. I’m going to suffocate on all the?—”

“—secrets?” River tries, an arched brow. “I feel you.” She lowers herself down into the pool and I follow her. “The question is, is it your secret or his that you’re worried about?”

Her words replay over. There have been times when I knew she was right. River is, if anything, wise.

“I can’t decide.”

“You can’t leave now.”

A smile touches my lips. “I know.”

I don’t.

There are no carols playing in this house, the slow bass of a Weeknd song drifting out to us. I turn in time to catch Stella being tossed over Vaden’s shoulder and hauled out of the living room. From outside looking in, you wouldn’t think of them all as they are.

You wouldn’t think of Bishop Vincent Hayes as a former ruthless kingpin of an organization so deadly that I can’t even wrap my head around. Right now, he looks like a loving husband holding his wife in his lap. Brantley’s staring up at Saint as she runs her hand over the side of his cheek. His eyes are closed and his face at rest. He looks like a husband being cherished by his wife. Nate and Tillie sit opposite, where Tillie is braiding Halen’s hair as she and Deacon play what I’m guessing is poker. War is near the billiards table beside the bar with Priest.

And then there’s him.

Just him.

My throat swells. He saved me from the Ministry, but he has no idea what he cost me.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and that same pain returns. The one that feels like a knife being forged through my ribs and torn out the other side.

“—As much as I want to go for a drive and chill out on the top of Mount River.” River lies back, staring up at the stars. “I hate that I know your secret, Luna Nox.”

My stomach falls again. “Thank you for holding it for so long.”

“Self-preservation.” It’s a whisper, and I hate that I’ve put her through this. River is my best friend. There’s no way I’d want to put her in the position she’s in right now—and has been—all this time. “Don’t allow it to hurt him, Luna. I beg of you.”

I know what she’s saying, but leave the words hanging in the air between us anyway.

Pushing up from the ground, I make my way back inside, heading straight for the bedroom. His bedroom. As soon as the door is closed, I lean against it and slide to the floor. Everything feels like too much.

The air closes in around me, and I fumble in my pocket, swiping away the tears rolling down my cheeks to send a text to my family in the group chat. I need to let them know I am okay, even if Priest had filled them in.

“Madness. Come here.”

I slowly peel my eyes open onto him, where he’s sitting on a single sofa near the window. His bedroom is a minimalist’s dream. Handless doors, frameless walls, and lights that turn on when you enter, everything is effortless.

“I can’t.” The words catch in my throat.

“Why?” he asks, but it’s not a question. More of a test.

“Because I can’t seem to shake this feeling that something very bad is going to happen.”

There’s a slight pause before the leather of his chair rustles and his footsteps pad across the carpet. He leans down to my level, placing his glass beside me. “You once asked me why I hated you.”

“I did?” I lean against the door, staring up at him. The lighting above him is lit dim, offering a casting of shadows over his face. I fell for the monster, so why am I expecting the prince?

“Yeah. You did. And I didn’t answer then, but I’m gonna now.”

The air in my lungs disappears. I’m afraid I’ll miss anything he says, so I remain still. Motionless. Shackled by his torment and darkness.

“I hated you because I couldn’t hate you. I hated that I couldn’t kill you. I hated that any time that I saw you, I felt shit that I’d never felt before. I hated that I was the one who always had control.”

I sit with his words, searching the dark pits of his eyes. Reaching up, I shift part of his hair away from his forehead, my eyes crossing when I try to trace the strands.

“Me, Luna. I was the one who held it together. The Club, Halen, Vaden—fucking everyone. They could never rely on me for the things they could with each other, but the one thing I had that I’d always be able to give them was security in knowing that I’d always be in control. I’d never make irrational choices out of emotion because I simply had none.” He snickers, swiping his lip. “Can’t believe I’m saying this shit right now, but I need you to hear it.”

The pounding of my heart is all I hear as I replay the words he just said. Shaking my head, the disbelief settles back in when the reality comes back.

“I had to share you, Priest. With Darling. How do you know you weren’t in love with her and not me?”

He hangs his head low, shaking it side to side. “You’re not listening to me.”

“I’m trying.” It’s probably the most honest we’ve ever been with each other. “I just…”

“Luna.” He pins me with a stare that has my thighs clenching. “That day in Aspen.” His mouth closes, and opens, and closes.

“You can’t do that,” I snap at him, pulling away. “You can’t say all of that and close up when you’re about to be honest with me, Priest.”

“This is by far the most fucked up marriage ever.”

I don’t argue with that.

He shakes his head before raising it back on me. Moments pass before he says the next words. “I planned to kill her that day.”

I pause. “What?”

“Not for the same reasons I’ve thought about killing you—multiple times—” he mutters. “But for real. She was deceitful, untrustworthy, and would fuck shit up for us down the track. She had no moral compass, and any chance she got, she was trying to kill the girls out of pure jealousy. She wasn’t a King. She was rage and anger and would cost lives, if not our own. I knew no one else would be able to do it, so I got close to her. Drew her in enough for her to think she was safe. That day…”

He pauses. His eyes narrow a moment before he continues. “That day, I was confused when I saw you. All that time and work I put into killing her evaporated when I saw Corbin with you, and you looked at me with—” He pauses again. “Well, that. I couldn’t. I just fucking couldn’t do it. I spent years going back and forth with myself to reason as to why. Why couldn’t I fucking kill you now?”

He stands back to his feet and moves to the bed, lowering onto the end. “I tried, though. I tried everything I had to entice the same feelings I did before I found you with Corbin. I never could. Any time you fucking looked at me, I just couldn’t. Do you know how crazy that feels for someone like me, Madness? A fucking look. ”

I crawl to my feet and close the distance between us, bringing my hand to his hair and running it down the back of his neck. He looks up at me like a wounded god, and in this moment, this very moment, I realize we’re not much different to the parents downstairs, that in every day we live, I want to be with him. Enough to risk my life.

He swallows and his neck flexes. I catch the ribbon tattooed over his shoulder and up the side of his neck. He tattooed my hair ribbon. “I do, Madness.”

“You do what?” I ask, lowering my forehead to his and burying my fingers in his hair.

“Love you.”

The words cut deep and I drop my lips onto his to stop the pain from erupting inside. He buries his hands beneath my skirt, forcing me over his lap while not breaking our kiss. Like a tangible hot wire of promises, he flips me over onto my back, tearing off my shirt and pausing, staring down at me for a moment. I wriggle off his jeans before reaching between us and catching the heaviness of his cock in the palm of my hand. All this life and the next, I’ve wanted this. Needed this. Lived in a fantasy that would never happen.

My thumb glides over the rim of his cock, and he hisses, biting my bottom lip into his mouth and tucking back.

“About to fuck you like I should have killed you, Madness.”

My hips buck upward, and he rolls saliva between his tongue, spitting on his cock. The weight of him is back as he slides inside. My body tightens, my hips rolling up to meet him. Full. Thick. So mine.

He kisses me, his tongue lapping with my own. Turning his head to the side as he slowly draws out before driving back in again. We’ve had sex before, many times at least, but never like this. Never missionary, never slow, and never with his arm over my head, pulled deep into his chest. In this moment, I’m safe. In this moment, it’s perfect. In this moment…

His fingers spread over the side of my neck as he picks up the pace. The building tension in my core threatening to explode. I grab him by the side of his neck as my breathing heightens.

“What’s the matter, pretty girl? Don’t wanna play a game?”

My face must fall because he laughs, flipping me over as he lands on his back. “I’m fucking kidding, Luna. Ride me.”

I roll my hips over him, adjusting my position by holding on to the muscles in his chest. Hard thrusts threaten the level of carnage that hovers below the surface. “Unless you wanna play….”

I bite his lip. “Not too far. I swear…”

His smile curves against my mouth, as his hand rests on the holster at my thigh. The sharp end presses against my throat, before sliding down my ribs.

My stomach twists tighter, my body building higher. The threat of falling over the edge right there. The first sting comes quickly, as if he’s testing it out, but I can’t stop because if I do, I’ll crash.

Catching my nipple between his teeth, the second sting hits me. This one a little longer. His hands are around my throat as he forces me up the bed until he’s sitting up. I lower my mouth down to his and ride him hard. His cock fills every inch, and I pinch my nipples and roll my hips at the third scratch in the same spot. Sweat slides down my spine as the fourth, fifth, sixth.

I moan, and he catches it, taking me deeper into forced, slow thrusts. “This is mine. Always has been, always fucking will be.”

Metallic taste slides down my throat, and I fall forward when my orgasm rips through me. He catches my weight as the room spins and my body jerks through it, before his fingers bite into my hips and he fucks me with a force so brutal, the crack of my stomach vibrates through me and tears prick the corner of my eyes.

“Luna, baby. Stay with me….”

I keep my eyes open, but they’re heavy. A smile touches my lips as another roll of orgasm pulls me under. His thumb is on my clit, circles slow and precise, before he flips me on my back, spreading my legs wide.

The cold brush of air is replaced by the warmth of his tongue. Memories of us fly through my head. Of him.

He circles his tongue over my clit and my body arches off the bed like the damn exorcist. The room continues to spin, my body worked up into throbbing tension that needs to release.

The fifth Jane Doe has been found, this time outside a cathedral in Riverside. Her body was found hanging upside down, cleaned out with the same strangulation marks around her neck. Like them, this one has no ID on her either. Seems these girls are just lost ones.

Images flash as his kisses get desperate and he continues to thrust his cock deep until I cave into the mattress. Coming in and out of consciousness, he bites down on the side of my jaw.

The intoxicating sound of our bodies slapping only gets hungrier.

Louder.

The primal urge to die in his arms outweighs any logic when his hand is on my throat, seizing any hope of breathing. His snarl is brutal as he empties inside of me. I’ve barely come down from the last when another snatches my soul. The tension, the lies, the hate, the love explodes around us both in heated breaths and when his weight pins me down, I sigh, massaging his head.

“The girls you took into the room.”

He freezes, and a yawn escapes me. Blood still oozing from the cut on my ribs.

“They were Perdita girls, weren’t they?”

He doesn’t answer. Remaining frozen in place.

“Yeah. Yeah, they were.” His answer toneless.

“Rabbit?” My voice drunk with sleep.

“Mmm?” He pulls me in close.

“Follow my lead, okay?”