She didn’t hesitate to accept it. “I’m Eva.”
Eva.
Eva.
Eva, Eva, Eva, Eva, Eva,my mind replayed over and over while my fingers lingered around hers, unwilling to let her go yet.
“That’s a beautiful name. It suits you.”
Soft. Delicate.Breakable.
Her cheeks pinked further, and she laughed quietly, tugging the scarf closer. “You’re very kind for someone I nearly knocked flat, Alek.”
My name on her lips did something violent to my chest.
“You didn’t,” I said smoothly despite the frantic beating behind my ribcage, the one that insisted I take her innocence and taint it with my sin. “I wasn’t watching where I was going either.”
“Still, I’m sorry. And grateful for the scarf. It’s really warm, and I can tell the fabric is expensive.” Eva giggled. “I mightaccidentally forget to give it back to you. No one’s ever given me something so nice.”
The thought of Eva walking around the city with something of mine—something to claim any little part of her that I could—made my cock harden in my pants. I wanted to use that scarf to tie her to my bedposts so she could never leave. I wanted to do a lot of things to this woman.
Like make her mine.
My soul had been marred by shadows for over a decade, controlled by demons who wanted to hurt the world around me. But Eva? I wanted to find out what she looked like when her light was smothered by my darkness. I wanted her to be trembling and sobbing for mercy. I wanted her to be so addicted to me that she would do anything for another taste.
In the minutes I had known her, my soul had become obsessed. It didn’t care who or what she was. I craved her. And when I craved something, I would doanythingto have it.
I reached forward and cupped her cheek with my hand, stroking her soft, petal-pink lips with my thumb. The sudden touch shocked both of us, though I couldn’t bring myself to stop, and apparently neither could Eva, whose breath hitched.
Yes,I thought.I want you breathless for me.
“They’re fools,” I mumbled.
“For?”
“Not giving you what you deserve.”
But I could. I had an entire empire at my disposal—hotels, bars, clubs, property management, shipping and logistics, weaponry, and many more. If I had to call upon that empire to get her, to serve her properly, I would.
Eva swallowed. “And how do you know what I deserve, Alek?”
I leaned forward, preparing to find out if she tasted how she smelled—like vanilla with a hint of sugar, warmth in winter. Something soft I could bury myself in.
But a laugh behind us made her blink before pulling back, looking apologetic. I wanted to kill whoever interrupted us. Iwouldkill them as soon as I pulled her to me and finished what we never got to start. Their blood would coat my hands while I took her to the underworld with me—the Persephone to my Hades.
“Sorry. I’d better get back to my friends. We were having a snowball fight. They’re probably starting to get worried.” Eva turned to look at the only other couple in the park, yet instead of going over to them, she frowned.
“What is it?” I asked.
I took a closer look and noticed her “friends” were not worrying, but making out against a tree. Her nose wrinkled, disappointment thinly veiled with amusement.
“Wow. Traitors.”
“They seem occupied. Is it like that a lot with them?”
She shook her head. “Well… no. Not really. Mia is my best friend, but this is our first time meeting Carmelo.”
Eva gave me a fake smile, and I’d never hated the sight of something more. It stirred something restless in me, something sharp and yearning to kill someone to bring back the real one.
