Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dash
The night air clings to me like a second skin, humid, thick, humming with anticipation.
Perfect hunting weather. And me? I’ve always been patient. Because prey tastes better after a chase.
I lean against a twisted oak, eyes narrowed through the slits of my mask as I wait for our girl to come dancing through the trees.
My cock’s already rock-hard from watching Wyck devour her like she was his last meal.
The way she melted in his hands, those needy sounds. .. fuck, I nearly came untouched.
It’s been too long since I fucked someone. Tried, yeah. But no one gets me off anymore. No one except her.
I’ve sampled her before, just a drop, but it was enough to ruin me for anyone else. Since that night at the pool party, my body’s betrayed me over and over. Other girls? Nothing. Couldn’t finish. Couldn’t feel a damn thing.
But Athens?
Athens is my fucking drug. One I’d overdose on gladly.
And I know I’m not as close to her as the others are. Not yet. But I want to be. I need to be.
She's chaos wrapped in curves, fire wrapped in flesh. A living, breathing puzzle I want to dismantle and rebuild from the inside out. I want her to bleed secrets into my mouth. I want to fuck her until the only name she remembers is mine.
She has no idea I watch her sleep every night, study the way her lips part when she dreams. I wait for her chest to rise and fall before I allow myself to close my eyes.
Because now... she’s mine to protect. Even if she doesn't know it yet.
And if she ever finds out about my past? The stepmother who made me her plaything. The way she let staff line up to take turns with me, and worse, with my sister.
If Athens ever learns that my father stood there, watching, pretending none of it was happening…
No.
I shove the memory down deep into the rot where it belongs.
"Get a fucking grip, Dash," I mutter under my breath. "Not now."
A shadow moves in the trees, followed by the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard, her laugh. High. Breathless. Wild.
She barrels out of the woods like a storm in bare feet, giggling as she runs. Wyck peels off to the left, leaving her open for the next Devil to catch her.
That Devil is me.
I break into a run. Branches claw at my arms, my mask fogging up from the heat I’m radiating. She’s fast, but I’m faster.
She veers right. Wrong move, Sweet Sin.
I lunge. My hand coils in her hair, yanking her back into my chest with a gasp and a scream that turns into breathless laughter.
“Gotcha,” I growl in her ear, one arm wrapping tight around her waist.
“No! Where are you taking me? Which one of you is under there?” she squirms, laughing, trying to pry herself free. Teasing me.
I grab her face with one hand and force her to look at me.
I shake my head slowly, my message clear: be still.
She stills.
“Good girl,” I murmur through the voice changer, walking her deeper into the woods. “You’re listening so well for me.” I let the words purr against her ear. “How should I reward you?”
She smirks. That wicked little tilt of her lips drives the breath from my lungs.
“I’m not a good girl…” she whispers. “I want you to punish me.”
Before I can react, her hand snakes between us, grabs my cock through my joggers, and squeezes .
“Fuck!” I hiss, almost dropping the voice modulator.
She bolts. Fast. Wild. Laughing as she disappears into the dark.
“Oh, you’re gonna regret that, you little sinner!” I roar after her, already sprinting. My body’s running on pure adrenaline and lust, every part of me aching to catch her, take her down, and show her exactly what she earned.
As I chase her, my thoughts race with her.
I want to ruin her in the kind of way that makes her thank me for it. I want her to know what it feels like to be seen, consumed, fucked so thoroughly that she forgets the name of every man who ever touched her before.
Because I’ll never be gentle.
Not with her.
I’m not asking for perfection.
I want the kind of love that tastes like blood and forgiveness, fire and fists, screaming matches and breathless orgasms against the wall. I want someone to choose me even when I’m unlovable .
And I don’t know if Athens can give me that… But I need to find out.
“You’re motherfucking right I deserve it,” I growl.
She screams again in the distance, but it’s playful.
Teasing.
She wants to be caught.
I don’t know what monsters haunt her sleep, but tonight we’ve drowned them in darkness and desire.
And by the end of it?
She’ll remember who came for her in the night.
And she’ll beg me to do it again.
The night wraps around me like smoke, humid, wet, thick enough to taste. And somewhere in the trees, my little brat is limping through the dark, high off pleasure and adrenaline, drunk on the illusion of safety.
She thinks she’s safe.
She thinks she’s in control.
She thinks she’s playing.
Cute.
“Come out, come out… wherever you are, Sweet Sin,” I rasp into the voice changer, letting the words curl like a threat.
A giggle echoes. Light. Breathless. Hiding panic.
“I love when you call me pet names like that,” she calls out, voice shaky, playful, but not fooling me. “Are you gonna give me what I asked for?”
Oh, I will.
But I’ll do it my way.
Moonlight streaks through the trees, painting the forest in silver. It’s enough to see the gleam of her skin, the sway of her hips in the dark, but I’m cheating anyway. Night goggles. She never stood a fucking chance.
“Ow! Son of a bitch!” she hisses, dropping to the ground to cradle her foot after stepping on a branch.
Perfect.
I don’t hesitate. I’m behind her in seconds, tackling her flat to the forest floor, her scream splitting the air before it shatters into laughter.
“Don’t say another word,” I growl into her ear. “There’s only one thing I want your mouth used for tonight, and it’s not screaming, unless it’s my name.”
She blinks up at me, heart racing, still trying to piece together which Devil I am.
“What’s your name?” she pants.
I lean close, whispering, “Diamond.”
Her lips curl. “Interesting name you’ve got there.”
“On your knees,” I command.
“Yes, Diamond,” she says with a mocking grin, but she moves anyway. She wants this. Wants me .
I step in front of her, grip her chin tight, and force her eyes to mine through the mask.
“You asked me to punish you. So I will. But you give me the word, and I stop. Got it?”
She nods once, serious now.
“Pick a safe word.”
“Nuts.”
A smirk tugs at my lips beneath the mask. “Nuts?”
“Don’t judge me,” she mutters, sticking her tongue out.
“You’ve got a mouth that begs for trouble,” I murmur. “And I plan to shut it properly.”
The playful light in her eyes shifts, darker, hungrier. That’s my cue.
I lift the mask just enough to expose my lips, dragging a kiss across hers. Then I shove her face gently away.
My hand tangles in her hair, and I pull . Hard.
She gasps.
“Quiet.” My voice slices through the tension. “You don’t speak unless I tell you to. Understood?”
“Yes, Diamond.”
I haul her to her feet, hand under her arm and fist still in her hair, backing her up against a tree. She’s breathing heavy now, chest rising and falling, nipples pressing against the fabric of her tank.
Good girl.
I strip off my belt and loop it around her wrists, securing her to the thick branch above her head. Then I drop to my knees and tug her sweatpants down.
She steps out of them willingly.
Naked from the waist down, with her legs spread and her body on full display, she lets me nudge her feet farther apart. Vulnerable. Wet. Fucking beautiful.
“You look perfect tied to this tree,” I murmur. “A filthy little thing waiting to be used.” She nods, barely breathing. “I’m going to punish your ass first. Then I’m going to fuck you so hard you forget your own damn name. You good with that?”
“Yes, Diamond,” she whispers, voice trembling.
Good.
I step close. Close enough for her to feel the thickness of my cock straining through my pants, brushing against her ass. She shudders.
I wrap her hair around my hand again, yank her head back so she’s looking straight into my mask. “You want this?”
She nods. “Please.”
“That’s all I needed.”
I dip my head, press my lips to the delicate shell of her ear, and bite. Not hard, just enough to hear her gasp. My mouth trails down her neck, sucking at the tender flesh, marking her like she belongs to me.
Because right now, she fucking does .
My free hand caresses the curve of her ass before delivering a sharp smack. She gasps again. I do it again. And again. Until her thighs are trembling and her breaths turn ragged.
She moans my name like it’s a prayer.
And I plan to be her god tonight.
I grab her chin again, forcing her to look at me once more.
“You said you wanted to be punished. You begged for it. Don’t start crying now, baby.”
Her lips part to say something, but I don’t give her the chance. I press two fingers between her legs, fuck, she’s soaked, and slide them in slowly, stretching her.
Her body jerks. But not away.
Toward me.
“Good girl,” I whisper. “Take what I give you.”
And she does.
Moaning. Bucking. Arching her back as her pussy tightens around my fingers. I pump them deeper, curling just right until her entire body tightens.
She's about to break.
And when she does?
It’ll be because I made her.
The taste of her lingers in the air, sweet and forbidden. Gentle sucks turned to savage bites as I dragged my mouth across her throat like I owned her. And maybe I did, in this moment, in this mask, under the cover of the hunt.
“I hope you didn’t think I missed these,” I whisper darkly against her skin, teeth grazing the bruise Wyck left just beneath her jaw. “Now you’ll wear mine alongside his.” I sink my teeth into the sensitive skin behind her ear, just hard enough to make her twitch and gasp.
I see what he did, painted her in a necklace of marks like she’s some trophy. But this? This is for me. For my pleasure. For my obsession.