Chapter 60 Jasmine
“Once that glass is empty,” Sai murmurs, as Julien pours me another sliver of wine, “you’re going to run.”
I blink, then laugh, scrunching my nose. “What?”
I wait for the joke… but it never comes.
Sai isn’t wearing his smirk, Julien’s gaze keeps dipping into black, and neither of them answer.
My heart thuds as I take a slow sip, watching them over the rim of the glass. They never look away. Silent and still. Eyes locked on mine as I finish the wine.
The soft clink of glass as I set it down echoes louder than it should.
I huff out a laugh, trying to disguise how hard my pulse is pounding.
“I’m not running.” I try to sound flippant, but it comes out thin and breathy.
“You are.” Slowly, Sai’s fingers reach for my bare knee, brushing gently, just a skim, but the touch sparks something deep beneath my skin humming. “And we’re going to chase.”
I shake my head, a nervous scoff bubbling out as my gaze snaps to Julien—his expression cuts me dead.
There’s no smile or softness. Just hunger, barely restrained.
Sai’s fingers brush higher, along the edge of the slit. Higher. A whisper of contact along my thigh. A threat of more.
“And when we catch you,” Sai whispers, “you’re going to fight.”
I don’t laugh this time. I swallow, and Julien’s darkened gaze tracks the movement like he wants to feel it beneath his tongue.
“Fight?” I rasp.
“As hard as you can,” Julien says at last, voice so deep and rough it drags goosebumps over my skin. “Kick. Scratch. Bite. Make us bleed.” His teeth snap together on that word.
I glance between them, heartbeat thrashing in my ears as I try to pretend their ridiculous words evoke nothing. But there’s a part of me already preparing to run.
Then my eyes catch on the silver circle at Sai’s neck. Now he’s close enough to make out the words engraved there. Just two…
My breath catches.
Jasmine Nimur.
The low thrum of something primal curls in my chest. Possessiveness, maybe. Or even pride.
Sai’s eyes darken, smile growing feral. “Safe word.”
“Pit,” I breathe.
“Good girl,” Sai coos in a deep hum, his sapphire gleam cracking with black. “You say that, and everything stops. Remember that. Because when we catch you…”
His fingers trail under the slit, brushing over my hip, finding it bare. I couldn’t wear underwear with this dress. His hand stills, exhaling a pained breath at the discovery.
“If you catch me,” I whisper in a dare.
Darkness descends. All the shadows swell and their pupils explode, devouring the last pieces of colour.
Maybe that was the wrong thing to say. Or maybe it was perfect.
Because I want them like this.
Dark, raw—feral. Completely unhinged. Starving. Desperate.
In their truest, darkest forms.
“Run, Red.”
I wet my lips, then slowly push back my chair. The legs scrape against the floor, so loud in the thick silence.
They track every movement. Their bodies tense, all muscles coiled, ready to pounce.
But still, so eerily still.
I take one small step back. Then another.
The staircase enters my peripheral, but I’ll never make it up those steps fast enough. The chase would end before it even began.
No, I need to get out of their sight.
I keep moving, glancing over my shoulder to the extended living room.
I said I wouldn’t run, but now…
With one final look, one last breath, heart thundering as their heated stares rake over me—
I run.
I bolt into the room, past the corner sofa and the floor-to-ceiling glass panels. The forest flashes beside me in blurs of green and black, but I don’t stop. I don’t slow. I don’t look back.
I just run, and run until—
Another staircase.
I lunge for the banister, leaning into it as my fingers fumble with the straps of my heels. Hooking them off mid-step, I’m sprinting again—barefoot now—up the stairs, around the landing, towards the far end of the floor.
Another corridor. Another set of stairs.
It’s wide, dark. Empty.
Panting, I stare down at the dim space, then up the next flight of stairs.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before. The fear, the anticipation, the intensity… the thrill.
Heels dangling from my fingers, I take cautious steps down the corridor, keeping close to the middle, away from the edges cloaked with shadows I can’t trust.
I flinch.
A creak, somewhere in the distance.
Breath held, I freeze, waiting for it again.
It doesn’t come.
But something else does.
Goosebumps erupt over my skin, and my pounding pulse begins with new vigour, faster, louder and heavier because now…
I’m being watched.
I stare into the darkness ahead, I can just make out a bend, then another corridor. I remember this floor from Sai’s tour, I know what’s around that corner: his painting room.
That becomes my goal.
I inch forwards, careful, trying to pretend I can’t feel the torrid heat lapping at my back—
I take off.
But this time, it’s different. This time, I know I’m being followed.
I’m sprinting, trying to out run his scorching presence chasing just behind. But he’s not running, he’s taking his time.
Stalking.
Purposely letting me tire, letting me become defenceless prey.
But I can’t stop. I won’t. That deeper instinct kicks in, urging me forwards, past the burning ache in my legs and fire in my lungs.
I turn a corner, a new corridor stretching ahead, and then a row of doors.
One of them is Sai’s. It’ll lead me to a room adorned in canvases and paint. Maybe they’ll be another door? Or somewhere I can hide…
My hand reaches, fingertips skimming the handle—
I’m dragged into the shadows.
I scream loud in fear, panic, frustration. I was so fucking close.
His hand muffles the next scream and I thrash, throwing elbows and kicks until my arms are pinned behind my back.
“Look what I’ve caught,” he rasps against my ear. “Poor thing, thought you could hide in my room, huh?”
I buck against him, try to slam the heel of my foot into his shin. He dodges it easily, laughing. With my arms between us, my back to his chest, I can’t move.
And his hands are all over me.
Gripping my waist, slipping down the plunging neckline and then underneath to knead my breast. And his mouth. Devouring my throat in hot open-mouth kisses, then long, rough licks and sharp, hard bites just enough to leave a mark.
I keep fighting, trying to fight, but my body’s pressed too tightly against his, chest to back, hips locked. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt Sai’s physical strength and it’s overpowering.
He could do anything to me.
I could use my darkness… but I don’t want to. I want to feel it. All of it. Skin to skin. Breath to breath.
So I twist, and kick back and squirm, a frustrated growl breaking from my throat.
“That’s it, baby,” he murmurs, breath hot against my cheek. “Keep fighting me.”
His fingers run along the slit of my dress. I whimper when they slip beneath, over my pelvic bone, reaching my bare pussy.
“Don’t act like you didn’t want this.” His voice drops to a dark growl, fingertips skimming over my clit. “Wearing this? Completely bare beneath? You’re practically begging to be fucked—”
Crack.
“Fuck—” he splutters, grip loosening—
I’m running again, ignoring the pulsing ache at the back of my head.
Heels discarded, feet thundering against the floor, I sprint back down the corridor I just entered.
My lungs burn. My chest’s on fire. The staircase rises ahead—
Julien steps out of the shadows.
I skid to a stop, panting.
His eyes—black, endless—seem to drink in the dark. He doesn’t move. Just watches. Then slowly tilts his head.
That eerie, unnatural gesture makes me step back.
My chest heaves as I keep backing up, inch by inch, stealing a glance at the floor-to-ceiling windows. But there’s no reflection. No colours. Just blackness.
It wasn’t even dusk when I arrived. I just saw the forest. I know I did. Had I really been running for that long?
There’s only one light in the corridor, and Julien stands in front of it. Blocking it. Drowning the space in shadow.
I have to move. Have to retreat—
“Looks like you’re trapped, Red.”
I curse under my breath.
Sai’s voice tells me he’s closer than Julien. The crackle in the air. The tremble beneath my feet. All of it says he’s near.
I turn—
Lighting tears across the sky, illuminating Sai in a blaze of white. He slowly swipes the back of his hand over his mouth, smearing blood from his lips to the edge of his jaw.
He looks… terrifying, feral. Unhinged. Black eyes glittering as he smiles, teeth slick with red.
And fuck, I want him.
I memorise him like this. Even when the lightning ends and he dips back into darkness, I’m still staring. Desperate for another strike. So entranced, I almost forget the game, almost follow him into the dark… until the thunder follows and breaks the haze.
Sai takes one step forwards.
I take three back.
“Easy,” he whispers low, coated in a tease, like I’m some spooked horse he thinks he can tame.
“Get the fuck away from me,” I snap, trying to mask the unsteadiness of my breath.
Another flash of lightning. His smile widens—bloody and beautiful, because my defiance only feeds him.
“Aww, don’t be like that, baby,” he coos, that deadly smile never leaving his bloody lips. “We just wanna play.”
He steps closer.
I glance behind me. Julien still hasn’t moved, but he doesn’t need to, because Sai is herding me to him.
My eyes dart around the hallway. Can I get past Sai?
No way.
The glass? Too thick. The forest? Too dark and dense…
The dark. The shadows.
Like they hear me, the edges of the room begin to twitch, creeping inward—
“Don’t you dare fucking flit.” Sai’s voice is so predatory, so full of acidic rage, that genuine fear floods me.
I side-step, eyes flicking to the nearest shadow—
A gasp rips from my throat as fingers collar my neck from behind.
“Bad choice,” Julien murmurs in my ear, rumbling through me.
I’m thrown forwards, straight into Sai’s waiting chest and lifted as he flings me over his shoulder.