Hot breath grazes the back of my neck before the lights burst on. I tear myself from the spot, scanning the room as paint explodes into view. Glossy enamel splatters the walls—Pollock chaos—wet-looking in the light, dripping, almost red.
In the dark, they disappear completely.
“You can’t run away from me.” Another whisper rolls across the space, low and predatory, sliding cold fingers down my spine. A breathless smile curls onto my lips, and I push myself deeper into the endless corridors.
The entire room beats like a heart—light to dark, dark to light—each shift so abrupt that time itself becomes stroboscopic. Within moments, the space begins to synchronize with me—the hammering of my pulse, the sharp pull of my breath, the sweat prickling across my skin. Every time I think I’ve put distance between us, the lights vanish again, plunging me into the void.
It feels like my life without Dante. Every attempt to escape ends in darkness swallowing every scrap of color.
A flash sparks, and I catch him—a tall silhouette at the end of the hall. His movements appear in jagged cuts, not because hemoves that way, but because I only see him in the single frozen frames of light.
The place reminds me of a rave without music. A glitched dream that decided to become architecture.
I try pulling in slow breaths, steadying the shake under my ribs, but it’s useless. The relentless flicker disorients me, turning my limbs into numb echoes. I feel like I’m running when I’m still, standing when I’m moving, my own body betraying me in the shifting light.
He’s no longer trailing behind me like a shadow. He’s hiding now—close. Unbearably, impossibly close.
I spin through the room like I’m caught in a storm, every nerve straining to predict where he’ll appear next. The blade strapped to my thigh should make me feel prepared, but instead, I feel stripped bare.
Exposed.
I know the moment he reaches me, my brain will fog over, smothered by him until I’m reduced to something soft and useless, a helpless noodle who forgets everything.
A low, dark chuckle drifts through the air, brushing over my skin. My adrenaline spikes, flooding my chest with a sharp, burning rush.
The lights flash on again. A punch of anxiety strikes me hard, and I break into a full run. Sweat slicks down my back, and my wings itch where they rest against me, sparking a stupid wish—that they’d turn real, carry me into the air, let me escape and taunt him from above.
But we both know I wouldn’t. Not when the swelling headache of everything he makes me feel clenches around my mind. His emotions choke me, grip me with both hands, while some tiny shard of my consciousness scratches at the heavy fog I fall into whenever he’s near.
“I’m going to catch you.”
My eyes widen. I twist sharply and bolt in a different direction. The hallway erupts in red light, a pulsing heartbeat of color, and I dash through it—right into something solid.
It takes a moment for my mind to catch up and realize I’ve lost the game.
“Gotcha.” His voice is a breath against my ear right before his hands clamp around me. I scream before my sound folds into his warmth and the musky, intoxicating scent that envelops me. He lifts me clean off the ground, and my legs hook around his waist without thought, my body betraying me instantly.
A jolt of pure thrill sparks through my veins. I giggle breathlessly, the echo stretching it into something dark, something feral.
But the sound cuts off when Dante slams me against the wall, the impact rattling straight through my bones. Instinctively, I cling to him, gripping tighter as the moan caught in my throat turns into silence the moment his mouth crashes against mine.
The kiss is brutal. His tongue drives into me, claiming space, tasting, provoking, dragging every breath from my lungs. His hand fists in my hair, tugging hard enough to send a bright sting across my scalp, guiding me where he wants me, how he wants me.
I can only gasp into his mouth while he devours me whole.
I tighten my legs around him, pulling him in, my hips rolling instinctively against his body. He freezes for a heartbeat, his breath turning ragged as I grind again, each movement sending sharp, electric flickers of pleasure racing through my nerves.
The lights flare on in a burst of vivid violet, washing over his face, catching the hunger in his eyes as he holds me tight, dazed by whatever holds we have on each other.
“I can’t stay away from you,” he rasps.
I still, my gaze locking with his, letting his confession sink into the burning spaces between us. Slowly, deliberately, myhand slips down between his legs. I rub the thick bulge straining against his pants, rolling my eyes at the friction before I grab him, rough and sudden, and the dark, guttural moan he releases shoots straight through me.
I smile as I keep rubbing him, leaning in until my breath ghosts across his lips. “Then stay with me.”
A shiver rips through him at my words. His tongue flicks over his lower lip, a reflex he doesn’t control, just as the room drops into total darkness again.
My breath parts on a quiet gasp when he forces me back down onto my feet. His hands clamp onto my shoulders, pushing downward until my knees touch the chilled floor.
