“Fix me,” I begged. “Fix what he has done.”
The sharp sting of his hand colliding with my cheek startled my senses.
“Talk of him again while I’m inside you and I’ll truly make you hurt,” he growled.
My pulse jumped at the threat.
He continued to fuck me like he was trying to break me, splitting me with his cock until I began to wonder if it could be too much. I felt so raw and so tender inside, his blood burning the soft flesh of my channel with every rock of his hips. Every thrust was more intense, hitting nerves with more ferocity than ever before. I yearned to know how far it could go and looked up into Vidar’s penetrating stare, urging his violence. As if he could hear me challenging him, the corner of his lips curved with enthusiasm.
He pulled out of me, throwing my leg down and turning my whole body over until I was on my stomach. I could feel his fingers digging into the flesh of my hips as if he wanted to devour me. Turning my head, I watched him position his cock against my tight, back entrance. Slickened with his own blood and my arousal, he began to push inside, stretching me around his girth with slow, careful strokes. I twisted my fingers against the sheets, my nails tearing at the cotton as he filled me.
“Fuck, Dahlia,” he rasped, thrusting slowly. “You’re so fucking tight.”
I lost my breath, my toes curling as he pitilessly claimed another part of me as his own.
He leaned over me, pressing the full weight of his body against my back as he rocked. His hand came around, clutching my chin and forcing me to look back at him.
“Tell me what you feel,” he said.
“You,” I whimpered, tears stinging my eyes. “Only you.”
He pressed his mouth to mine, kissing me hard and deep as he tormented me with his hard length. The burn in my core started to spread, exposing more nerves to the intensity of Vidar’s assault. Every thrust was felt from my stomach to my toes until my clit was burning with pleasure, despite the lack of attention. I moaned into Vidar’s mouth, lifting my hips toward him with encouragement. He moved faster, slamming against me like he was trying to drive me through the bed.
“Every part of you,” he said into my ear. “Your body. Your soul. Your heart. I will settle for nothing less. Every fucking part of you belongs to me and me alone. I’ll slay every single fucking one of your demons to keep you.”
My clit fluttered at his words. He truly had left nothing else to be taken by another. I felt like shattered glass, all broken and sharp edges that Vidar was happy to cut himself on just to prove he could take me. My body began to fall apart at that. My release detonated in my core and exploded across every inch of my body. I shookunder Vidar’s weight, new sensations rippling through me that I’d never felt. The tenderness left behind by the hemsbane yielded something I’d never experienced. It was dizzying. All consuming. Overwhelming in the most terrifying and wonderful way. I gasped before my breath was robbed by the blinding pleasure.
Halfway through what was the most exhilarating release I’d ever felt, Vidar ceased, plunging deep as a breathless groan tore through his throat like he’d just been relieved of a great pain. It was feral and raw like a man emerged victorious from battle. The waves of our shared pleasure seemed to feed back and forth between us, prolonging the intensity. And when it finally began to fade, I felt as if my soul had been stripped and laid bare. Whatever weak and abused armor I still had was burned away, leaving a confused and trembling part of me unprotected. Tears filled my eyes and when I was finally able to get a breath, it came to me in a quivering whimper that sounded nothing like me. I tucked my arms under myself, guarding what was left of the woman I wanted to be as my soul broke to pieces.
Vidar shifted, keeping just enough of his weight on me to make me feel safe from the outside as I shattered. I pressed my eyes shut, hiding.
“Dahlia,” he panted. “Look at me.”
His tone was gentle, a stark contrast to the commanding voice he’d been using, like he was coaxing me from my burrow. I could hardly catch my breath. Every time I tried, I could hear myself sobbing, consumed by everything I had refused to feel in the days passed. I felt naked in too many ways. Vidar had always found ways to get past my defenses, but never had I felt as if he’d stripped it completely. I felt cold. Vulnerable. Afraid. Without my armor I was weak. Pitiful. A minnow on a hook.
“Dahlia,” he whispered again, his fingers stroking my cheek.
Gradually, I opened my eyes, my lashes soaked with salty tears. The sight of Vidar staring back at me instantly soothed my nerves. The man was powerful and terrifying… and when I needed him to be, he was nurturing. I was able to catch my breath at the realization that, no matter what, no matter how hellish things got, he would protect me. And I would protect him.
“I feared he had taken every part of me,” I sniveled. “I feared that I had become nothing but a corpse, my soul in ribbons after his torment. I feared there was nothing of me to return to you, but you… you make me feelsomuch. He has not taken everything. I promise you.”
“You are never beyond my reach. I will learn every path back to you, no matter what, and I will find you.”
Slowly, I found my rhythm again. My body started to relax against the bed, my muscles wonderfully sore and spent. Vidar gently wiped the tears from my cheeks before he stood, taking a wet cloth from his wash bowl near the wall before returning to the bed. I stilled myself as he began to wipe away the blood and spend between my thighs, cleaning the hemsbane-laced stains away as best he could before cleaning himself as well. Then he lay down beside me and pulled me against his chest, cradling me in his arms. I molded myself against his body, letting full breaths of air reinvigorate my chapped lungs. He began stroking my hair with his fingers and the sensation, I realized, sang all my nerves to sleep. He’d n never touched me like that. No one had.
“I don’t want to lose you,” I whispered against his neck.
“I know you don’t,” he said back to me. Shifting, he lifted my chin until I was looking up at him and then stroked his thumb over my scar. “We sealed our fate that day, you and me. We’re tied together, no matter what.” Leaning in, he pressed his lips to my forehead. “Now sleep. I will not leave your side.”
“I miss you in my dreams,” I admitted. “I don’t even want to close my eyes.”
A hint of his devilish smirk graced his features before he ran his thumb across my lips. My nipples tingled at the scent of his blood and, not thinking, my tongue slipped out to lick a small taste of him off his fingers.
“Will it hurt you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “If I were to feed on you,” I said, reaching up to take his hand. “But all I need is a taste and I am no stranger to hemsbane.”
I flattened my tongue against the abrasion on his palm and gently licked upward, lapping up what was left of his blood. It stung going down my throat, like I’d just eaten the seeds of a hot pepper, but I knew it would pass. Hemsbane was a deterrent, many times, but unless consumed in higher amounts, it would only irritate me and I was beyond willing to endure that to feel closer to Vidar again.
