Chapter 18 #2
The sinister energy swirls all around me, filling me with anticipation and heat that should have no place after everything that has happened. The man shot my father, for God’s sake, although it’s so hard to care for a man who abused me his whole life.
“What should I have said, darling? Be mine, and oh, by the way, I killed my father because he was a perverted, sadistic fucker? And afterward, I wiped out his entire underground organization with some help? Would that have worked?”
When he puts it this way, it does sound ridiculous, and I hate it.
I could have gone my entire life without knowing anything about his past, blissfully oblivious, but it’s impossible now. The cat is out of the bag, and we have to deal with it.
His other hand settles on my hip, and he clenches it hard, earning himself another gasp.
“Or maybe I should have locked you up in the tower, forcing you to watch all the atrocities committed by me over the years and accept me anyway?” I still at this, and my heartbeat speeds up.
Just imagining him doing that sends trepidation and…
a weird sense of excitement, painting me as a rather stupid person.
“Ah, my darling.” He clicks his tongue. “You would have enjoyed it, wouldn’t you?
” He scrapes his teeth over my shoulder before biting on it hard, and I jerk in his embrace, my nails cutting into his arm and making him groan.
“Should I lock you up in my castle now, Wife? I caught you, and now I can do anything I want with you.”
Oh my God.
He’s right, isn’t he?
What’s wrong with me?
“Nothing, my darling.” I realize I’ve asked the question out loud. “You just know where you belong.”
Despite the heat, his confident and amused tone leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, and I elbow him hard. Orion huffs in surprise, which gives me the opportunity to slip from his grasp and spin around.
Removing the wet strands of my hair from my face, I glare at him and groan inwardly at how his white shirt plasters all over his magnificent muscles. My hands are itching to touch him again as a tremor rushes through me.
Focus, Diana!
“It’s not funny, Orion.”
Something flashes in his eyes, and his tone drops a few octaves, sending a cold shiver through me as another bout of thunder booms. “Believe me, Diana. I’m far from amused. You ran from me. Put yourself in danger. Made yourself vulnerable.”
“What choice did I have? I needed to think, to sort everything in my head, and I couldn’t have done that there. If you were honest with me from the beginning, none of this would have happened!”
“There is no justification or explanation for my actions because no matter who I kill, I still killed all those people. Did they deserve it? Yes. But it wasn’t for me to decide. We have laws for that, and I went against them.”
I feel like I’m starting to lose the plot here. “So you don’t think what you did was right?”
“Two things can be true at the same time. What I did was wrong, but I feel no remorse. In fact, I’d do it all over again if it ensured that the fuckers who kidnap and rape people stay six feet under.
” He rakes his fingers through his hair, and the veins in his forearms bulge as I curl my toes into the soil.
He takes a step forward, so I push back, holding his stare, which grows more intense as the seconds tick by.
“The last time I killed someone was a long time ago. It doesn’t change anything. ”
“You hurt my brother.”
“Calling that fucker a brother is a disgrace to every brother out there.” A beat passes. “Besides, he isn’t dead, is he? When punishment doesn’t fit the crime, I can be very reasonable.”
Hysterical laughter bubbles up in my chest at this, and I manage to keep a tight leash on it. I don’t think he’d appreciate that right now. “And you think that makes it all better?”
He shrugs and takes another step toward me. “You have to accept this part of me.”
“And if I don’t?”
As he continues to move forward, I retreat farther back until my spine connects with a harsh surface, and Orion splays his hands on either side of my head, trapping me between the oak tree and his hard chest. The heavy rain continues to pour on us, and its leaves serve as a shield from the outside world.
Water drips on us and dumps us even deeper into the abyss of his creation.
Swallowing, I lift my chin and ask again, “And if I don’t? What would happen then?” Another swallow as nervousness hits me. His answer is vitally important to me, and it would define the trajectory of our relationship. “Would you keep me against my will?”
“I’d let you go.” I still at his roughly spoken admission, though tension radiates from him, charging the air around us.
“It would go against my very nature to do so, and I’d probably have to ask my cousins to keep me away from you.
Still, I’d do it. Forcing you to be with me would mean I’d be just like my father.
I’d never subject any woman to such a fate, let alone the one I love. ”
Warmth zips through me from head to toe as an unfamiliar feeling of happiness fills all my cells. This is the first time I’ve heard anyone say that they love me.
Orion loves me. My husband, whose past is dark and complicated, loves me.
Letting me go would mean I could do anything, including reporting him to the police.
They say we pay for the sins of our fathers, that their hideous crimes smear us, and it might take us a lifetime to atone for all the atrocities committed by them.
And even that might not be enough for society to forgive us, for simply bearing the same name.
Our fathers seemed to have been dictating our lives for so long, their upbringing shaping many of the choices we’ve made over the years.
Even our marriage is the result of their selfishness and greed, but at least they did one good thing. They brought us together, and I’m going to use this chance to my advantage.
Our fathers’ ultimate defeat would be our happiness because our love is stronger than their hatred toward us.
A single tear slides down my cheek, and Orion wipes it away with his thumb, brushing it softly before cupping the side of my neck and tipping my face up as he leans closer, his lips inches away from mine. “What’s the verdict, darling?”
I place my palm on his scarred cheek, tracing the rugged skin with my fingers, and my heart contracts, thinking about all the physical pain he had to endure.
Yet somehow, he never truly succumbed to the darkness to the point of leaving me no choice.
Whatever he wants, he gets, but not at the expense of my needs.
We still have a lot of things to talk about. I want to hear everything from him because I think it’s important that he shares this with someone who would accept all his flaws.
That can wait, though.
Gathering all the courage I possess, I utter the words I’ve never said to anyone else for fear of being rejected. For not wanting to give him a weapon that he can use against me to crush my soul. “I love you.”
He rests his forehead against mine as the rain pours over us, and my free hand clutches his shirt.
The rhythm of his rapidly beating heart matches my own.
“Thank you.” His hand skims lower, and a gasp slips past my lips when he wraps it around my throat and pushes his pelvis into me, his hard-on pressing into my center, and the fire instantly awakens in my veins.
My curves mold to his muscles as his scent pollutes my lungs.
Orion’s possessive and furious words serve akin to silk sliding all over me and slowly trapping me in his sensual net.
“You ran away from me, my beautiful Wife.”
His lips brush against mine, and I open my mouth to receive the much-needed kiss, only to huff in frustration when he clicks his tongue, barely giving me a lick.
“Oh no, darling. You haven’t been a good girl today, have you?” Tightening his hold on my throat, he tilts my neck to the side and latches onto the skin of my exposed shoulder, and a moan escapes me.
Pleasure and pain mix, shooting sensual arrows straight to my clit, and my core clenches when he thrusts into me, the soaked clothes becoming unbearable against my sensitive skin while goose bumps pop all over me in the anticipation of his lust.
“No, I haven’t,” I reply, my voice hoarse while his other hand reaches the top of my dress and yanks on it until he frees my bare breasts. He cups one of them, his thumb rubbing over the pointed peak, driving me insane. “How are you going to punish me for it?”
I gasp when his hand flexes around my throat, almost cutting off my oxygen supply, and he slams me harder against the tree, causing excitement to envelop me. An odd sense of thrill cruises into me in the dark, where Orion is my one and only focus.
He grips my breast, and I rise to my tiptoes as the heat blazes in the pit of my stomach, the pressure building.
I seek friction, but I whimper when he sways back, not giving me what I crave so much.
“Maybe that should be your punishment, darling.” His lips travel from my shoulder to my cheek until they reach my chin, then he nips on it, and my core dampens.
“Me denying you your pleasure so you’d never question the fact that you’re mine. ”
“No, no,” I groan in protest, tugging on his shirt so he’d get closer to me, despising any space between us.
“You. Belong. To. Me.”
With that, he covers my mouth with his, swallowing my moan, our tongues entwining as we lock in a kiss that’s hot and reeks of possessiveness, need, and relief. The kiss is a statement in itself. It shows we belong to each other, that my husband is mine.
No one else gets to have him, and the territorial feeling makes me almost dizzy as I throw my head back, the angle allowing him to deepen the kiss as he explores my mouth, stamping his ownership all over me.