“Maybe. But what do you care? I’ve watched you finger that slutty little hole between your legs in this very graveyard when you thought no one was looking. Now be a good girl and lie down for your lord.” My eyes narrowed as I took a menacing step toward her. “Or would you prefer I make you?”
Chapter Eight
Rayven
My blood frozeand melted all in the same heartbeat as Belial took a purposeful step toward me. It was almost frightening, how utterly handsome the demon lord was, wrapped up in powerful muscle, scarred flesh, and luxurious fabric that he wore with perfection. Especially with the blood smattering his antlers.
Creepy.
But in true goth girl fashion, it didn't bother me one bit. If anything, the fact that he'd just brutally eviscerated a soul for the simple crime of touching my dress only enhanced the whole thing.
"Lie down," he commanded again, his voice raising so that it echoed through the graveyard.
My skin prickled with how eerilystilleverything was. It was as if every creature, flora and fauna, held their breath in anticipation of what the Lord would do if I disobeyed him.
Nobody disobeyed the Lord of Bones’ orders, not unless they wanted to suffer the consequences.
But that's exactly what I wanted.
Or would you prefer I make you?My entire body pulsed hot at the question we both already knew the answer to.
Yes. Force me.
I didn't say it out loud. That was against the rules of the wicked little game we were playing. If I wanted him to stop, I'd use my safe word, and this would all end. Otherwise, he'd keep going, no matter how much I screamed or fought him.
He took another step forward, his mouth snaking into a brutal grin that promised all sorts of depraved fun once he caught me.
And he would catch me.
He always did.
Turning heel, I launched into a full sprint in the opposite direction. He could have used his magic to teleport in front of me before I'd gotten so much as a step away, but I knew he liked the chase. We both did.
Excitement in the form of my racing pulse thrashed in my ears as I heard his heavy steps on the ash-laden stone, trodding after me at an unhurried pace. "Run as fast as you can, little human. And make sure you don't get hurt by anything lurking in the maze. If I find even a scratch on you that I didn't make myself, I'll redden your ass for allowing something to harm my most precious treasure."
Shit. I was familiar with the twisting hedge maze. It was more like a muddy swamp, filled with all sorts of horrors, and many of those creatures didn't have the wherewithal to understand that I was the queen. Bolting through the cemetery gates, limbs reached for me again, snagging at my hair, my dress.
Belial rumbled a gravely sigh behind me. "Not off to a great start, little human.”
I rounded the corner, veering down an offshoot path in the maze. Thorny brambles shot from the undergrowth and stretched into the opposing hedge like trip wires. Whether it was Belial's influence or something else, I wasn't sure.
Whatever it was, someone wanted to see me spanked and humiliated.
I jumped over the brambles and ducked under branches, sliding through the mud like you'd slide down a slick hallway in socks. This wasn't my first rodeo. I'd been chased through this labyrinth before. This time, the circumstances were different. I'd more than survived this maze, I'd conquered it, and earned the Lord's dark heart in the process.
Hells, now I was every bit the owner and keeper of this place, just as much as the Lord of Bones.
Suddenly, moving too quickly for me to react, a thick vine shot out from the brush and encircled my ankle. It jerked me right off my feet and sent me hurtling into the mud. Luckily, it was soft and free of anything sharp, leaving me unscathed, but my dress was ruined. "Shit!"
I scrambled into a sitting position, pulling at the vine, but the harder I tugged, the tighter it cinched around my ankle.
Belial rounded the corner in a dramatic appearance of swaying antler jewelry and skeletal arms reaching for him from the hedges.
"Aw," he tutted. The arrogant smirk he wore was as frustrating as it was sexy. "Caught in a snare already? I'll admit, I'm disappointed. I thought you'd give me more of a chase."
It's not like I didn't want to be caught. I wanted very much for whatever came after my inevitable capture. But I didn't want to make it easy for him. The harder I made the wolf work for his meal, the more he’d enjoy it.
Without even thinking, I summoned Belial's magic on instinct, and the vine was sliced clean through in multiple places, as if diced by an invisible cleaver. I gaped at the severed vine, the individual sections wriggling in the mud like worms.
