I nodded, and he stepped forward with the velvet box balanced in his hands. “For you.” He revealed what lay inside.
An impossibly delicate gold chain, liquid in the light. A small black teardrop pendant hung from its center—understated, elegant, heartbreakingly beautiful.
“Damien—” My voice caught. “It’s—”
“Yours,” he finished for me.
I brushed my fingertips over the chain, before finally dragging my gaze to his. “It’s perfect.”
Relief washed across his features. He lifted the jewel free. “Something to remind you of me. Of our promise to each other.” His voice dropped. “A promise that doesn’t end. A collar that stays.”
My breath hitched.
“So let me ask you one final time.” His eyes held mine. “Do you, Emma Sinclair, agree to become my submissive?”
“Yes,” I said on a breath.
His smile broke wide as he unclasped the hook. I turned, sweeping my hair over one shoulder.
“With this symbol,” he said quietly, fingers brushing my shoulder with the faintest tremor, “I promise to protect you, care for you, support you… help you reach every goal you set for yourself, and then some.”
The chain slid across my skin, feather-light, raising goosebumps in its wake. The clasp clicked—a small, final sound. My heart ached around the enormity of it.
This was nothing like what Candace had. This was the opposite—a cage with the key always in my hand.
“And in return.” His voice steadied. “You’ll be mine. Mine to hold. Mine to kiss. Mine to guide.”
I touched the pendant where it rested in the hollow of my throat. Small, yet infinite.
I waited for the panic. The walls. The instinct to run.
Nothing came.
When I turned back to him, his face had changed. Something glimmered there, incandescent and barely contained.
“Absolutely perfect.” He traced the chain with his thumb.
A smile spread across my face—wide and true. The look he gave me was proof I’d made the right choice. That the leap into this unknown world—strange and nerve-wracking and somehow exactly right—had been the sanest thing I’d ever done.
I rose onto my toes, looped my arms around his neck, and kissed him. He froze for half a second, then melted into me, his mouth opening, his tongue meeting mine in a deep, aching rhythm. His hands spread across my back, pulling me closer.
When I finally broke the kiss, his eyes were wild, filled with joy and something deeper: the terrifying certainty that we’d crossed a line we could never uncross.
His grin turned wicked, as he scooped me into his arms. A breathless laugh escaped me as I clung to his shoulders. Anticipation coiled with every step toward the bedroom.
Not a puppy.
Instead, something far more dangerous.
Chapter 37
***
Emma
We tumbled into bed together, peeling away layers between desperate kisses until we were nothing but bare skin and racing pulses.
The world narrowed to touch—skin dragging against skin.
