“You mean like Annika does?”
“Sorta. I play with couples, women. I don’t date.”
“You really sound like Blaize. Is she the same? With the pain?”
“Blaize is more of a pleasure domme, although she’ll dip into certain things. She likes making her partner feel intense pleasure, mixed with a little pain. Impact play. Temperature play.”
“Forced orgasms?”
She nodded. “Overstimulation is her favorite. She likes to see her sub cry and beg, but she'll keep pleasuring and pulling orgasms until she’s pleased or the safe word is used.”
“How does it help her?”
“The control. In a scene, Blaize is in control, focused, and only one thing can break her focus.”
“My safe word.”
“Yes. I’m not saying if you fully submit to her she’ll crack, but it will ease some of her tension, and the aftercare can benefit her as well.”
“I want her to stop being strong all the time. Is that a bad thing to want? I want her to fall apart and know that I will catch her.”
“Blaize is not the type to wear her heart on her sleeve. She doesn’t process emotion like she should, and it leads to irrational behavior.”
I scoff, but laugh it off. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“She’s going to try. It took her hurting you to get it through her thick skull, but she genuinely feels horrible for what she did to you. You’re good for her. She needs your stability.”
“I am far from stable, Hunter.”
“It’s your love, Kadence. She hasn’t had feelings like this since Olivia, and she looks good happy. You make her a better person.”
My heart fluttered. “I want to be enough for her.”
“You are, Kadence.”
CHAPTER 36
BLAIZE
My fists ached as I dislocated this fucker’s jaw after the fifth punch to his face. He used to be a rat for Elijah and the Vandals, but once things went south, he turned on them. There were no leads on who the traitor could be, and I didn’t like being in the dark.
The funeral was brutal. Even if Zachary didn’t blame me, the intense hatred radiating from Layla’s sister told me Ashtin sure blamed me for everything. Layla was far from religious, and Ashtin made a mockery of it. Everything Ranger and Sin wanted got booted the moment Ashtin landed in Westhaven. Ashtin threw in her religion and disrespected Layla’s final resting place.
I heard a deafening crack, and the man screamed. The rage coursing through my body could be enough to sustain a nuclear power plant. I wanted fucking answers. I was sick and tired of someone trying to ruin me by hurting those I cared about.
My mind wandered to Kadence as I stepped toward my torture table. What would happen once people knew I was with her? I loved her, but she would be used against me. She was my weakness, even when I tried staying away from her. I was almost destroyed when I lost Olivia and Charlee, and I still struggledwith that heart-wrenching loss daily. If I lost Kadence because someone wanted power, I wouldn’t survive again.
I ran my fingers along the side of my favorite dagger, looking at the whimpering man. How long would it take for him to squeal like a fucking pig if I started peeling his skin and cutting off extremities? His eyes grew wide as he struggled weakly. He wasn’t fighting like I wanted him to. But I didn’t care.
“You’re the biggest rat in this state, Tony. Tell me what I want to know.”
He coughed, groaning at the pain that hit him. “Please, Blaize. I don’t know!”
“You’re a goddamn liar!” I plunged the knife into his thigh, nowhere near any major artery. I didn’t care what it took, I would find this bastard.
He screamed in agony, hyperventilating. “Eli had a twin.”
He stopped me in my tracks, and I looked at him, fuming.A twin?“What are you saying?”
