CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Serafina
The night was quiet.
Everyone was asleep, saving their energy for tomorrow.
But I couldn’t sleep.
I can’t.
My body was on fire, the flame licking my skin, melting away the flesh.
I can’t… breathe.
Panic surged inside my throat and I blinked away the tears, trying to push away the memories.
Memories of my past. Of death.
So much pain… so much suffering… so much horror.
I pressed my palms against my temples, trying to push it all away, but they refused to leave me alone. Always chasing me, always betraying me.
“Stop,” I whimpered in the darkness of my room.
The wedding was tomorrow, the most important day of my life, the day I’d been preparing for since I was old enough to understand my duty.
I needed rest. I needed clarity.
But sleep seemed impossible with my mind racing, my heart pounding against my ribs like a caged animal desperate to escape this damnable hell.
God, I needed something to help me calm down or else I wouldn’t make it to tomorrow.
My gaze drifted to the small travel bag on the nightstand. Inside was a prescription bottle—strong sleeping pills that my doctor had prescribed me.
I hadn’t taken them before… but tonight, I didn’t think I had a choice but to take it.
I had to be at my best tomorrow. I needed to be the perfect bride.
With trembling fingers, I retrieved the bottle and shook one small, unfamiliar white pill into my palm. I hesitated only for a moment before swallowing down with a sip of water, wincing at the bitter taste that lingered on my tongue.
I waited, counting my breaths, forcing myself to be patient. Gradually, the tension in my muscles began to ease. My eyelids grew heavy and the memories that had tormented me faded, replaced by a pleasant numbness that spread through my limbs and my mind.
I climbed into bed, pulling the covers up to my chin. The pill worked quickly and all the anxiety in my body melted away, replaced by something gentler.
For the first time tonight, my thoughts slowed. The wedding preparations, the family expectations, even Adrian’s mocking face… all of it began to blur together, fading into nothingness as sleep pulled me under.
I drifted into darkness, grateful for the reprieve.
It was quiet for a moment. Slow. Peaceful.
But then something changed.
I woke up with a start, my body burning from the inside out.
Fire…
No… this wasn’t it.
This wasn’t the usual anxiety or fear—this was something entirely different.
My skin felt too tight, hypersensitive to every brush of fabric against my body. Like a tingling caress. Every nerve ending seemed to pulse with an unfamiliar hunger, an uncanny feeling of… untamed, savage desire.
I tossed the covers aside, my nightgown clinging to my sweat-dampened skin.
What was happening to me?
My throat was dry, my lips tingling in a way they had never before.
Fogginess clouded my brain and it was almost like my mind had disconnected from my body’s urgent demands. I pressed my thighs together, shocked by the slick heat I felt there.
This wasn’t normal. This had never happened before.
This wasn’t… my body… this wasn’t… me.
Images flashed through my mind unbidden. Adrian’s face, bloody and beautiful… his lips curling in that infuriating half-smirk. His hands on me at The Pit, spreading my legs, pressing his hardness against me.
“God,” I whispered, my voice hoarse and unfamiliar to my own ears.
The memory of how he’d felt—so hard, so insistent—sent a fresh wave of need crashing through me.
Oh God…
What was this?
How… what…
The thought horrified me even as my body ached for his touch. This wasn’t right.
I was getting married tomorrow. To his brother.
The room spun, dizziness taking over me.
There was something inside me, building to a crescendo… consuming—a need too strong, too primal to resist.
Before I could question my own sanity, I stumbled out of bed, my legs unsteady beneath me. The room blurred as I made my way to the door, my movements clumsy and uncoordinated. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I had to move, had to find... something.
A relief.
The hallway stretched before me, dimly lit and seemingly endless. My bare feet padded silently against the cold hardwood floor as I wandered, guided by an instinct I didn’t understand.
There was a voice echoing in my mind. Something telling me to stop, to pause, to think.
But there was a different whisper… urging me on.
My belly pooled with warmth and there was a fluttering in the pit of my stomach. A familiar feeling… something I had only felt once before…
At The Pit when he was pressed against me.
I found myself standing before a door, my hand raised to knock before I even realized what I was doing.
I knocked once before the door swung open.
It was dark, and a shadow loomed over me before my eyes finally adjusted.
Adrian stood there, shirtless, his sweatpants hanging precariously low, revealing the sharp cut of his hipbones and the trail of dark hair that disappeared beneath the waistband.
His dark hair was mussed as if he’d been tossing around. His eyes sharpened with surprise before they darkened as he took in my disheveled state.
“Serafina?” His voice was rough, deeper than usual. “What are you doing here at this hour?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. My lips felt impossibly dry, my tongue too thick in my mouth. I swayed on my feet, my vision blurring at the edges.
I licked my lips and Adrian’s gaze tracked the movement, his sharp jaw tightening.
“I...” I tried again, but my thoughts were scattered and impossible to gather. All I knew was the ache between my legs, my damp panties and the desperate need for relief.
Frustrated tears blurred my vision.
I instinctively rubbed my thighs together, trying to alleviate the feeling, but the pressure only made it worse. A small sound escaped me—part whimper, part moan.
A heaviness settled on my chest. What was wrong with me?
Shame coated my tongue. Mortification suffocated me. Desire blinded me.
Adrian’s eyes darkened further. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked, his voice dropping lower.
I don’t know… I can’t think…
I stumbled forward, my legs giving out beneath me. Strong arms caught me, pulling me against a hard, warm chest. Adrian’s scent enveloped me—clean soap and a musky cologne.
No, that wasn’t cologne.
That was his natural scent.
I wanted it all over me.
No…
I needed it all over me. I wanted to bathe in his scent.
My body responded instantly, arching into his touch. Please.
“I need...” I gasped, unable to articulate the desperate hunger devouring me from within.
The emptiness inside me was unbearable, a physical ache that demanded to be filled.
“Serafina,” he said again, my name a warning on his lips.
But I was beyond warnings, beyond reason.
My hands found his bare chest, fingers splaying across the hard planes of muscles, feeling the rapid rise and fall of his breath. His skin was hot against mine and his heart… it thudded against my touch.
I looked up at him, a tear sliding down my flush cheek. “Please,” I breathed.
His gaze never left mine as his jaw tightened and I could see the muscle tick. His hand came up to cup my face, his thumb brushing across my feverish cheek. My eyes fluttered closed.
“What have you done, Princess?” he murmured, his voice a dangerous purr. “What am I going to do with you?”
Anything.
Everything.
My world spun as Adrian lifted me in his arms and carried me inside his bedroom, kicking the door close behind him with his foot.
I was in his bedroom.
It should have scared me.
But it didn’t.
He gently dropped me on his mattress.
I was in his bed.
I should have been ashamed.
But I wasn’t.
All I knew was that I needed him. Needed his hands on my body, his mouth on my skin. Needed him to fill the emptiness inside me.
I was just… desperate.
My nightgown had bunched around my waist, baring my legs to him. Every part of exposed skin flushed with indecent heat.
“This is your doing,” Adrian warned, his voice dropping low. He placed one knee on the mattress beside my hips. “You came to me, you begged.”
I swallowed. Another tear slid down my cheek.
Adrian leaned over me, his breath feathering over my skin before he licked my tears. A fevered gasp escaped past my lips.
“Tell me what you want,” he rasped.
“You,” I breathed.
His hand trailed along my bare thigh before circling around my knee. A shaky breath rattled from my chest when he pushed my knees apart.
Thud.
I was going to combust under his touch, his gaze… in his embrace.
He pulled his head back and his stormy blue eyes met mine. A quiver ran down my body when his hand snaked up my thigh, his fingers brushing against my silk panties.
“Fuuuck,” he hissed when he found my arousal coating the fabric.
Oh, sweet hell.
He pushed my nightgown higher, over my hips. My body trembled as cool air hit more feverish exposed skin.
Adrian’s fingers gripped my panties and he pulled them tight over my mound, causing the fabric to stick to my wetness. The material wedged itself between my folds as he continued to tug and the friction made my body arch up from the mattress with a loud moan.
“There, there.” His lips brushed against my cheek again. “It’s okay.”
“Please.”
“Do you even know what you’re begging for, Serafina?”
No… My hips arched up again, seeking for his touch he was denying me. “Yes.”
“Fuck it.” His mouth slammed into mine. His tongue pushed past my lips, forcing its way in. His hands dove into my hair, holding me exactly how he wanted me as he took what didn’t belong to him.
The tension between us crackled and then exploded.
It was everything I didn’t realize I had needed. Dangerous. Tempting. Sinful.
It was utterly crazy, but I guessed I was insane then.
My hands came up to his bare chest. Adrian released a low grunt, the muscles of his chest tightening as I dug my fingers into his skin. My nails sunk into him.
My hips moved of their own accord, rubbing into Adrian. I felt him through his sweatpants. Hard. Long. Thick.