Chapter 77 – Shadows in the Dark pt 2

Chapter 77 – Shadows in the Dark pt 2
Matt’s grip dug harder across her mouth, his palm smothering the cry that begged to tear from her throat. His face lowered closer, his words a poisonous hiss hot against her cheek.

“You think you can just leave me? You think you can run off and play house with them, like you weren’t mine first?” His tone cracked with fury, every syllable soaked in obsession. “You’re my wife. Mine. That piece of paper we signed doesn’t disappear just because you got it into your head that you wanted to be free.”

Kori’s lungs burned with the effort of trying to breathe beneath his weight. Panic clawed at her chest, but beneath it, a different heat stirred—rage.

He pressed down harder, his thigh pinning her legs in place, his eyes gleaming in the dark as they flicked lower to where the blanket had slipped. His gaze lingered, oily and invasive, making her skin crawl.

“Look at you,” he whispered, almost reverent, though his words turned sharp as broken glass. “Spreading your legs for him like some cheap little slut. I can smell him on you. The Alpha. You think he loves you? Think he’ll protect you when this all comes crashing down?” He let out a bitter laugh that sliced through the darkness. “You don’t belong here. You never did. You belong to me. You always will.”

The weight of his body was suffocating, but it was the words that stabbed deepest.

Kori’s mind screamed no. She wasn’t his. She hadn’t been for a long time. But the weight of memory—nights of whispered cruelty, of hands that took instead of gave—slammed into her like waves.

Her heart pounded, rage and terror colliding, leaving her trembling beneath him. She could feel it in her bones—he wasn’t going to let her go. Not easily.

And worst of all… he believed every word he said.

Matt’s breath came ragged, his body trembling against hers—not from weakness, but from a frenzy she recognized all too well. His palm clamped down harder over her mouth, his eyes wild as they bore into her.

“You think you’re clean after what you’ve done with him?” His words dripped with venom, his voice rising in an unhinged whisper. “No. You’re tainted now. You’re dirty. That mutt’s dirty little whore.”

The words cut sharper than a blade. Kori’s lungs heaved against his hand, her heart hammering so violently she thought it might shatter her ribs.

Matt leaned closer, his lips brushing against her ear as he snarled, “If I can’t have you, then no one will. Not him, not those wolves, not anyone. I’ll make sure of it.”

The blanket slipped further as he shifted his weight, exposing more of her skin to his hungry gaze. His eyes flickered down with a twisted fascination, like he was memorizing what he was about to destroy.

“You think you can leave me and find happiness?” His tone cracked, the dangerous edge of obsession spilling free. “I’ll end you before I let that happen. Better you die mine than live his.”

Her mind screamed against the terror flooding her system, flashes of Megan, Frank, and Jared flickering through her thoughts like desperate anchors to keep her from drowning.

But staring into Matt’s eyes, Kori knew one thing with bone-deep certainty—he meant it.

If she didn’t act soon, he was going to kill her.

Matt’s grip trembled against her face, his breath coming hot and sour as his tirade spilled out of him in broken, jagged pieces.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen!” he hissed, eyes darting wildly as though he were trapped in some fever dream. “You weren’t supposed to touch them. None of them. You were mine. You were supposed to stay mine while you were here. That was the plan. No one else was supposed to touch you!”

His voice cracked, a raw, guttural sound that made Kori’s stomach churn. He wasn’t even talking to her anymore—he was lost in his madness, replaying whatever twisted scheme he thought he’d been following.

His hand slipped down, no longer tight over her mouth, drifting toward her throat as his gaze raked over her body with ownership instead of desire.

Kori’s heart thundered, terror crashing into fury so sharp she could barely breathe. That slip of his hand gave her the chance she needed, and she took it.

“You left me first!” she spat, her voice hoarse but powerful, ripping through the fog of fear.

Matt’s head snapped toward her, eyes flaring wide at her words, but before he could tighten his grip again, Kori bucked her hips with every ounce of strength she had. Her body exploded upward like a spring unleashed, twisting against his weight.

He wasn’t ready.

Matt lurched, balance snapping, and with a violent shove from Kori’s legs, he toppled sideways.

The sound of his body hitting the floor cracked through the silence like thunder. A loud thump rattled the night air, the vibration running through the bedframe beneath her.

Her body screamed in pain from the strain, and a sharp cry tore from her lips before she could hold it back.

That split second of relief vanished in an instant.

Matt was on her again.

The thump hadn’t been enough to stop him—only enough to enrage him. He surged upward from the floor with a speed that chilled her to the bone, his hands crashing against her body before she could roll away.

Her cry cut short as his palm slammed across her mouth again, smothering her voice, pressing the air from her lungs.

“You think you can fight me?” he snarled, face twisted in rage as he forced her back down against the mattress. “You’re mine, Kori. You’ll always be mine—even if I have to break you to prove it.”

The weight of him crushed the air from her chest, her nails clawing against his arms in desperation, her mind screaming for a way out before it was too late.