“What?”
“You heard me.”
I stare at her, my heart pounding in so many places it’s hard to pinpoint just one.
Her eyes dance across my face, painting every divot and line with an appreciation that can’t possibly be real.
“Strong. Powerful.”
“Mirror, Devil. Look in the mirror.”
It feels like the worst form of torture, having to drag my eyes from the woman beneath me to the reflective walls of her bedroom. To see the full extent of the damage I did to myself, the signs of a desperate madman clinging to every inch of my reflection.
Wide, bloodshot eyes. Messy, too-long hair.
I look like the animal my stepfather branded me. The label I struggled to carry until the day I covered it up with ink and a false sense of security.
The weight I’ve avoided carrying for this very reason.
“Go on.”
Blonde hair melds with mine as Calista wraps herself around me, a vicious creature promising to protect my own.
“Strong. Powerful.”
A flinch hits me when she tilts my head. Exposes my neck to the mirrors around us, the cool cast of light illuminating the damage I left behind.
Red, furious skin screams through the tattoo on my neck, the wolf who used to fight back hanging on by a thread. His eyes look different than I remember, the anger that fuelled me for so long now a hollow glow.
It’s going to be a bitch trying to cover this up.
I blow out a breath, wishing the collar around my neck didn’t look so raw and fucking vulnerable.
“You missed one, baby.”
She presses a kiss against the wound. Molds the soft pad of her lips around the claw marks, sucking each one gently before removing the ache with the stroke of her tongue.
I stare at our reflection in the mirror, the imperfect fold of our bodies and the uneven textures that shouldn’t be so sensitive to touch. It’s a mural no one would ever want to see, the broken boy being coddled by the monster who makes him feel like a man.
It’s Calista’s strength that keeps me from looking away. Her resilience and willpower that bleeds into my skin, settles itself deep in my bones and makes a fucking home.
More tears slink out but it’s hard to feel embarrassed when someone else catches them.
“And so fucking beautiful.”
Her eyes crinkle with a genuine smile, the kind of smile that makes it hard to remember there was any pain in the first place. She praises me with her mouth and then her pussy, taking everything I have to offer and then a little bit more.
And I give it to her.
Every scar. Every fractured piece.
I hand it all over, letting our words fall second to sex because throughout it all one thing remains true.
Good boy, bad boy, I’ll be anything Calista Drache wants.
Just so long as I’m hers.
Chapter 46
