Page 80 of Hellebore

The words ignite something feral and desperate inside me. I push her down onto the thick rug, my body covering hers completely, and kiss her with violent, consuming hunger. My sun. My light. She is not darkness. She has never been darkness. I will not allow the shadows that live in me to claim her too.

“Drystan—” She turns her face away, pushing gently against my jaw with trembling fingers. “I need to ask you something.”

I force myself to still, though every muscle in my body screams in protest. My cock strains painfully hard against my pants, throbbing with the need to sink back into her heat, to lose myself in her again and drown out the horrors she has just laid bare. My breathing comes ragged and uneven. I clench my jaw until pain radiates through my skull, fighting the overwhelming urge to rip her clothes off and claim her right here on the floor until nothing else exists.

“What?” I manage, the single word rough and strained.

She looks up at me, eyes still red from crying but now steady with quiet determination. “Did you kill anyone else because of me?”

I take a slow breath and stare into her beautiful blue eyes. “I did.”

Her body shudders violently beneath mine. “Who?”

I swallow once, the taste of truth bitter on my tongue. There is no point in hiding it anymore.

“Luke and Jacke,” I say, voice low and steady.

“Luke?!” she snaps. Her knee slams hard into my stomach. I grunt and push up onto my knees as she scrambles backward across the rug, sliding away from me in panic. “Why did you kill him? He wasn’t doing anything wrong!”

A cold, humorless laugh escapes me. “Nothing wrong? He treated you like something disposable. He never cared about you. He couldn’t even make you come.”

“How did you know—” Her mouth falls open in horror. “Those fucking cameras. How long were they there? And—” Disgust and fury twist across her face. “Luke was nice. He never hurt me. I can’t believe you killed him. And Jacke? The guy from the club?”

“I told him you were mine that night,” I say, rising slowly to my full height. “I was there, Briar. I was the one who caught you when you fell.”

Her breathing turns rapid and shallow. Her hands begin to shake. I watch her legs shift, muscles tensing as she prepares to run. The sight only makes the hunger in me sharper.

“You?” Realization crashes over her features. “Oh my God. You were there—wait. I passed out and Jacke left. Why did you kill him? Nothing happened.”

I smirk, dark and slow, as I tower over her. “Oh, baby. You passed out because I drugged your water and your wine. I was already inside your closet, waiting for you. I was not going to let another piece of shit touch you.”

She gasps, her hand flying up to cover her mouth.

“Briar,” I continue, my voice dropping into something colder, more feral. “I can make you come harder than anyone ever has. I can be gentle when I choose to be. But this—” I gesture down my body. “this is who I really am. I’m not your prince charming. I’m the nightmare that’s been watching you for ten years. I’m the devil who drugged you, the devil who will kill anyone who ever touches what’s mine.”

“No—” she whispers into her palm, voice trembling.

“Yes, my love.” The last threads of restraint snap. “After I dragged Jacke to my car, I came back to you. I tasted you for the first time while you were unconscious on your bed.”

Her hand drops. For a split second, pure terror floods her eyes. Then she lunges to the right, snatches the iron poker from beside the fireplace, and surges to her feet. In the same breath she thrusts it forward with desperate strength.

The sharp tip pierces just under my ribs on the left side. White-hot pain explodes through my body. I grunt and lean forward, wrenching the poker from her hands before yanking it out of my flesh with a wet sound.

“Fuck—” A dark, unhinged chuckle rumbles from my chest despite the blood soaking into my shirt. “That hurt, my love.”

She doesn’t hesitate. She bolts, bare feet pounding down the hallway as she runs deeper into the mansion.

I stand there for one heartbeat, blood dripping from the wound, the beast fully unleashed now. Then I smile, slow and terrible, and start after her.

She will never escape me again.

Chapter Twenty-Four

BRIAR

Irun down the long hallway, bare feet slapping against the cold stone floor. When I reach the front door, I wrench at the handle with both hands, but it refuses to budge. Locked. Of course it is locked.

Shit. Shit. Shit.