3. Sirena
SIRENA
C hurch locked the door to his bedroom and didn’t come out all night. Mirage and Bryce left right after he’d gone upstairs. Mirage hugged me and told me to keep the faith. Bryce had simply squeezed my hand and followed Mirage out the front door.
Ashes stayed with Sin at the facility, and Stitches returned home later that night. I’d gone to Sin’s room to sleep because Cady was holed up in my room. We hadn’t been around each other much. She cried a lot and pushed me out. It was scaring me.
Overall, I was feeling really alone and guilty over putting Church in the position he was in. He’d told me I could choose, but I was beginning to realize maybe he had an idea of who I could choose, and Bryce wasn’t on that list.
I wouldn’t push it. Mirage assured me it would all work out in the end. I believed him. Always. This time would be no different.
I snuggled deeper into Sin’s pillows, inhaling the lingering scent of his cologne on the fabric, my heart aching because I missed him so much. Waiting to see him again was tearing me apart inside. Grateful that he had survived, I would wait for his return. The guys reassured me that he was fine and just needed to heal before coming home.
And Cady.
My poor sister. I prayed the atrocities Adam spoke of hadn’t come to pass. Based on what I’d seen, I wouldn’t be surprised. Adam knocking them out before they could even defend themselves sickened me. It showed exactly the sort of monster he was.
Neither regret nor guilt haunted me over his death.
Confusion did, though.
I wasn’t really myself that night. Or maybe I was. The lines had become blurry, and I needed to talk to someone about it, but whenever I tried, the words wouldn’t come.
Story of my life.
The important takeaway was that I didn’t know what was happening to me, and that terrified me.
I must have dozed off because I awoke to being jostled and pressure between my legs. I opened my eyes to find Church staring down at me.
Crinkling my brows, I gazed back at him through the dim moonlight.
“I’m upset,” he whispered, pulling out and pushing back into my pussy. I gasped but didn’t try to stop him.
“I don’t want him to take you from me.” He pulled out once more and slammed back into me. This time, it hurt, and I whimpered at the bite of pain he brought with his movements. He continued to fuck me, the vial of my blood on his necklace hanging low and brushing against my lips with every thrust into my body.
I made to touch him, but he let out a snarl and pinned my arms, all while continuing to rut into my body.
“Don’t touch me,” he husked out.
I hated that he thought I’d let anyone take me from him.
Angry, I fought back, thrashing beneath him until I’d rocked him off me. He fell onto his back against the mattress, and I wasted no time straddling him.
He stared up at me, his green eyes dark but filled with surprise. I grabbed his arms and pinned them over his head, and sank onto his cock, earning a soft hiss from him.
I held him beneath me, rocking on his dick, fucking him, and hoping he got my message.
He tried to move his arms, but I let out a snarl and pushed harder, picking up my pace on his cock.
A muscle thrummed along his jaw, his breathing heavy, until a soft groan slipped past his plump lips. His lashes fluttered momentarily before he snapped his eyelids open to stare at me. I came, dampening his groin and thighs, my own breathing ragged.
I kept riding him until he bared his teeth and let out a feral groan, his cock twitching deep inside me, his seed filling me completely. His body shook from his orgasm, all corded muscles and power.
Finally, he stilled, his breathing still heavy.
I leaned down and ran my lips along his jaw until I got to his ear.
“Mine,” I whispered into it, releasing his arms.
He didn’t hesitate. He switched our positions so fast my head spun. He loomed over me, his hand gripping my jaw tightly as he stared down at me.
“Say it again,” he said, his voice low and filled with darkness.
I stared up at him and licked my lips. “Dante. You are mine .”
“I will always only belong to you,” he answered back, his grip still tight on my face. “I made a vow to you, Sirena. If you try to fucking leave, I will find you. Don’t make me chase you. Not like that. Not for him .” He released my face only to move his hand to my throat, where he squeezed, a terrifying look on his face.
I saw his true monster. The one that couldn’t be called off once he had his nails embedded into his prey.
I wrapped my hands around his wrists and squirmed beneath him as he continued to squeeze my neck.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, his voice choked. “I love you, Sirena. So fucking much it’s ripping me apart inside. You’re it. You’re my girl. I already struggle so fucking hard with life, but you? I would set myself on fire if it meant I got to keep you forever.” A tear trickled down his cheek. “I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to be my father.”
He loosened his hold on me before abruptly yanking me to a sitting position and wrapping his arms around me.
“I love you so fucking much,” he rasped, his face buried in my neck. “I want to give you everything you’ve ever wanted. I don’t know how to do that. It’s the one thing I just don’t know.”
I held him back, finally understanding him a little more. He had so much trauma from being scared to love because it would be taken away from him that he didn’t know how to handle it when love was in front of him. All he knew was violence. All he knew was the hunt. The chase. The kill.
He pulled away, cradled my face, and stared down at me.
“Give me time,” he said, his brows crinkling. “If you-you want to try with Andrews, just…I don’t want to see it, OK? I don’t want to know about it. I want to live in this bubble where it’s just us. If you decide he’s a keeper, then we can talk about…more. Get to know him because I think he has many secrets.” He paused and swiped a strand of hair away from my face. “Just don’t fuck him, OK? Deal?”
I was so surprised that I blinked rapidly at him.
A tiny smile tugged his lips upward.
“Oh, specter. I’m not the monster you see me as. Not really. I am trying. It’s just hard for me. I guess I’m someone who needs to be eased into things. If we can do that, I think I’ll be OK.”
I reached out, tugged him down, and crushed my lips against his. He wasted no time kissing me back. Within moments, he had my nightgown off, and his dick buried deep inside me.
This time, he was gentle with me. There was no pain, only pleasure.
“I would die for you, Sirena. Over and over, if it meant your happiness,” he whispered against my lips as he made love to me. “I love you more than you’ll ever understand. And someday, I’ll put a ring on your finger and my babies into your belly.”
It was the first time he’d ever acknowledged marriage or children.
I kissed him again, letting myself go.
Dante Church didn’t know how deeply I was in love with him.
That needed to change. I’d just have to figure out how to prove it to him so he would never question it again.