Chapter 128
Lirael
Just before the doors, he leaned in close enough that his breath stirred my hair. "If you try to run," he murmured, his voice a dark promise that sent ice down my spine, "I'll make sure everyone in this room knows exactly what you are. That Damian Gray's perfect executive is really just a runaway experiment I was kind enough not to return to Genesis."
My blood turned to liquid nitrogen. That fucking—
The threat wasn't empty. He'd burn down everything I'd built just to get me back under his control.
"You're insane," I whispered, but my body had already stopped resisting.
"No. I'm just done pretending I'm going to let you go."
He pulled me through the doors into cool evening air, deeper into the garden until we were hidden behind a rock formation. Only then did he release my wrist, but he positioned himself between me and escape, making it very clear I was trapped.
I rubbed where his fingers had left red marks, watching him with the wary attention of prey trying to predict a predator's next move. My heart was still racing, my palms sweating, and every instinct screamed at me to run even though I knew it was pointless.
"What do you want, Sebastian?" I asked, proud that my voice didn't shake even though my hands were trembling.
He laughed, but there was no humor in it—just bitter acknowledgment. "What do I want?" He took a step closer and I pressed back against cold stone. "I want to know why you saved my life just to disappear before I woke up. I want to know why you're letting Damian parade you around like you belong to him."
His voice cracked slightly on the last words, and he stopped, jaw working as he struggled for control. When he spoke again, his tone had dropped to something raw and dangerous.
"I want to know if you felt anything that night, or if saving me was just another transaction. Another debt to be cleared so you could walk away with a clean conscience."
The accusation hit like a punch to the gut, and I felt something crack in my chest that I'd been working very hard to keep sealed. My nails dug into my palms hard enough to draw blood.
"You don't get to do this," I said, my own voice rising despite my efforts to stay calm. "You don't get to act like I'm the one who did something wrong when you kidnapped me, collared me, hunted me through the fucking city—"
"And you bit me first," Sebastian interrupted, his hand moving to his neck. "You marked me, Lirael. You drew my blood and took it into your body and created a bond that goes both ways, whether you want to acknowledge it or not."
"I did what I had to do to survive," I shot back, but we both heard the lie in it.
"Liar." His eyes flashed gold again as he closed the remaining distance in one fluid movement.
And then his mouth was on mine.
For a heartbeat I was too shocked to react. Then his hand came up to cup the back of my neck, fingers tangling in my hair, and the kiss turned from claiming to something darker, more desperate. His other hand found my hip, pulling me against him hard enough that I could feel every line of his body through our clothes.
I should have fought. Should have used my magic or kneed him in the groin or done something. Instead I stood there frozen while my brain short-circuited, while every nerve ending lit up with sensation I'd been trying to forget for two months.
His teeth caught my lower lip, not quite gentle, and I gasped against his mouth. He took advantage immediately, deepening the kiss with the kind of hungry intensity that suggested he'd been starving for this. For me.
I tasted copper—my own blood where his teeth had broken skin—and Sebastian groaned low in his throat when he tasted it too. The sound did something terrible to my self-control. His thumb stroked the bite scar on my neck and my knees went weak, my body betraying every lie I'd been telling myself about being over him.
His hand tightened in my hair, angling my head back, and I felt his other hand slide from my hip to the small of my back, pressing me closer. Every point of contact burned through fabric, and I was suddenly, viscerally aware of how much stronger he was, how easily he could—
No. Fuck this. Fuck him.
I shoved against his chest with everything I had, channeling magic into the push. Sebastian stumbled back several steps, eyes gone full gold and breathing hard. His lips were wet with my blood and for a moment we just stared at each other, both of us breathing like we'd run a marathon.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?" I demanded, my voice shaking with rage and something I refused to name. I wiped blood from my lip with the back of my hand, my other hand pressed against my chest where my heart was trying to break through my ribs. "You can't just—you don't have the right to—"
"I have every right," Sebastian cut in, his voice rough as gravel. "You're mine, Lirael. That mark on your neck proves it."
Something inside me snapped like a wire pulled too tight. "I slept with you to save your goddamn life!" The words came out louder than I'd intended, echoing off stone. My hands were shaking so badly I had to clench them into fists. "That's it, Sebastian. We're done."
Sebastian demanded, taking another step forward while I stepped back until stone hit my spine. "Why did you risk everything to save me when you could have just let me die and been truly free?"
The question hung between us like a blade, and I didn't have an answer that wouldn't expose exactly how much I was lying to myself. My throat tightened and I felt the sting of tears I absolutely would not let fall.
So instead I lifted my chin and met his eyes with all the defiance I could muster. "I don't owe you shit anymore. Whatever you think we had—"
"Had?" His laugh was sharp enough to cut. "Baby, we're just getting started."
Before I could react, he moved again. Suddenly I was pinned against the rock, his body pressed against mine from chest to thigh. One of his hands caught both my wrists, slamming them above my head with enough force that I felt the impact in my bones, while his other hand went to my throat—not choking, but his thumb pressed against the bite scar with deliberate pressure.
My breath caught. I twisted violently in his grip, trying to get leverage, but he had me completely trapped. "Let me go, you fucking—"
"You want to pretend you don't feel this?" he murmured against my ear, his breath hot against sensitive skin. His thumb stroked the scar in a way that made my pulse jump traitorously. "Fine. Lie to yourself all you want. But your body remembers, Lirael. "
Heat flooded through me—rage and shame and something infinitely more dangerous that I refused to acknowledge. I managed to get one leg between us and drove my knee toward his groin with all the force I could muster.