Chapter 2 #2
Such a foolish thing to feel in my presence.
Her dark eyes lingered on mine a heartbeat too long, her lips parting slightly as if words were forming but dying before they reached the air.
She didn't understand yet what was happening between us, but I did.
The curse recognized its next victim before the victim ever could.
I smiled, slow this time, something new curling in my chest, something dangerous, something I hadn't felt in a long, long time. Curiosity. Fascination. An unfamiliar warmth that didn't belong in a place like this.
"Do you always stare so intensely at the monsters you hunt?" I asked, my voice carrying through the shadows of the manor's drawing room, where the wallpaper peeled back like dying skin and the floorboards creaked with memories of footsteps long silenced.
Bell squared her shoulders, that delicious tension returning to her jawline. "You're not a monster, Aurora."
"No? Then what am I?" I moved closer, savoring how her body betrayed her, the subtle step backward, the quickening pulse visible at her throat.
"A victim," she said, but even she didn't believe that anymore.
The curse had been my prison for so long I'd forgotten where it ended and I began.
But something about Bell made me feel like more than the sum of my vengeance.
The way she looked at me, like I was a puzzle she could solve, a woman she could save, it awakened a hunger in me that had nothing to do with the supernatural force flowing through my veins and everything to do with the ache beneath my ribs.
The manor shifted around us, responding to my desire. The walls inched closer, the ceiling lowered, the air grew thick with the scent of night-blooming flowers that hadn't grown in this realm for centuries.
"This place," Bell whispered, her gaze darting to where a shadow stretched impossible and twitching across the wall. "It's getting worse."
"Or better," I countered, stepping closer until barely a breath separated us. "Depending on what you want."
Bell was beautiful in her restraint, all coiled power and careful movements.
Those black sleeve tattoos covering her arms weren't just art but armor, hiding scars I could sense beneath the ink.
How many times had she cut herself open, trying to feel something real?
How many times had she bled to remind herself she was alive?
I wanted to make her feel alive in ways her blade never could.
"What I want doesn't matter," she said, her voice lower, rougher. "I came here to break your curse, not fall into it."
A smile crept across my lips. "Are you falling, Bell?"
"No." But her eyes dropped to my mouth, betraying her.
Outside the windows, the sky fractured like black glass, stars bleeding down the horizon.
Time worked differently here… stretching and compressing according to my needs.
I could make this moment last forever if I wanted, could keep Bell suspended in this state of wanting and denying for an eternity.
But I was growing impatient. Something in her called to me as loudly as my darkness entranced her.
I reached my hand toward her, slowly enough that she could have backed away. She didn't. My fingers found her short black hair, thicker and softer than it looked. I twined the strands between my fingers, watching her pupils dilate as my nails gently scraped her scalp.
"Your hair," I murmured, "feels exactly how I imagined."
Her breath hitched. "You've imagined touching me?"
"Every second since you arrived. Haven't you imagined touching me too?"
A flush crept up her neck, and I could taste her desire in the air… spiced and sweet and tinged with fear. Not fear of me, but fear of herself, of what she might do if she surrendered.
I leaned closer, my lips hovering just shy of hers. Her breath was warm against my skin, coming faster now. She smelled of danger and sage and something uniquely hers… a scent I wanted to drown in. The controlled hunter, the woman who broke curses and banished demons, trembled at my proximity.
"Aurora," she warned, but it sounded like a plea.
I closed the distance between us, pressing my lips to hers with all the hunger I'd accumulated in my nightmare prison. The kiss wasn't gentle—I didn't want gentle. I wanted to consume her, to mark her, to make her remember the taste of me when she closed her eyes at night.
Bell's body went rigid against mine, her lips unmoving as shock froze her in place. I could feel her mind racing, trying to reconcile her duty with her desire. One second passed, then another, her stillness nearly painful in its resistance.
Then her hands found my shoulders, fingers digging in as she tried to push me away. "We can't," she gasped against my mouth. "This isn't—I'm supposed to?—"
"Save me?" I finished for her, not breaking the kiss, speaking the words against her lips. "Or save yourself from me?"
Her grip tightened, but she wasn't pushing anymore. Her fingers flexed, indecision making her tremble. I felt the exact moment something broke inside her… a dam bursting, flooding her with want too powerful to deny.
Bell's resistance collapsed. Her hands slid from my shoulders to my waist, then around to the small of my back, pulling me against her with sudden, desperate strength. Her mouth opened under mine, her tongue seeking, demanding. The controlled hunter vanished, replaced by a woman starving for touch.