Kyle's voice slipped through the door, rough and cold, in Russian-a language I didn't understand but had learned to fear. It wasn't just the words; it was the tone. There was a seriousness there to his words that made my chest tighten.
Judas had never reacted like this before. He was always in control, always coldly amused or calculating. But now, he stiffened behind me and his body went rigid against my back.
His fingers were still buried inside me and they suddenly stilled. And then, slowly, torturously, they slid out of me, leaving an emptiness that matched the sudden shift in the air. The warmth of his touch turned into a harsh grip around my bicep as he pulled me up with him, the water around us sloshing violently.
He stood towering over me with his skin glistening with water, but it wasn't his usual domineering confidence that terrified me now. It was something else entirely. His eyes, once burning with lust and control, were now dark, unreadable-like the calm before a storm.
"Ты не предашь меня, птичка, не так ли?" he murmured softly, his voice so calm it felt like a blade against my skin. "You will not betray me, ptichka, will you?"
The first part of his sentence I couldn't understand but the second one, my blood froze.
My heart stopped, and I stiffened, just as his fingers had. Betray him? Why was he asking me this now? My mind raced, trying to find the reason. Did he find something? Did Kyle say something?
"What... what do you mean?" I stammered. My throat felt tight, dry. His gaze bore into me as if he were trying to peel back my skin and see the truth underneath. I swallowed hard, the unease settling in my bones. Why was he asking me this? Did he know something?
His thumb, still wet with water traced my jawline with a chilling gentleness, but the danger in his touch was unmistakable. "Do you know what betrayal feels like, my little bird?" His voice was low, a velvet whisper that sent a shiver down my spine. "It's not just the knife in the back... it's the moment before-the second where everything is perfect, and you think you're safe. That's when it hurts the most. When you realize you trusted someone... and they ripped it all away."
He tilted his head, the slightest smirk curling his lips, but his eyes… they were void, hollow pits of darkness. "I've crushed men under my heel for less. Broken them until there was nothing left but dust and bone. And you... you're so delicate. I could snap you in half without blinking."
I swallowed hard, my throat burning. He stepped closer, his chest almost pressing against my aching breasts, and I could feel the heat radiating from his body. The air was suffocating between us, his presence overwhelming, like he was trying to consume me whole. His hand moved to my throat, his grip tightening just enough to remind me how easily he could end me if he chose to.
"You see, ptichka," he continued caressing the nape of my neck. "Loyalty is everything to me. I don't share. Not my power, not my blood, not you." His thumb pressed against my pulse, feeling the rapid beat beneath my skin. "I need to know that your heart beats only for me, that your every breath is because I allow it."
I gasped, my eyes widening as his words seeped into me like poison.
"Because, baby girl..." His lips brushed my ear, and I felt the sharpness of his teeth against my skin. "I've built this world around you. You are my creation, my obsession. And if you betray me, if you ever think you can take what is mine and give it to another..." His grip tightened just enough to make me gasp for air, panic flickering in my chest.
"I will not kill you, ptichka." His lips curled in a wicked smile. "No, death would be a mercy. I will break you. I will make you beg for an end, and I will deny it. Again, and again. Until all that is left of you is the pieces I choose to keep."
I trembled under his touch, my breath hitching as I stared up at him, terrified and yet... trapped by him. The way he looked at me, like he owned me, like I was nothing more than a puppet for his pleasure and rage, it made my heart race in ways I hated to admit.
"Do you understand me, fenochka?" he asked softly, his tone deceptively gentle. "I need to know, here and now, that you are mine. That no matter what happens, no matter what you feel... you will never leave me. Because if I even think for one second that your loyalty wavers... I will burn this entire world down. Just to watch you fall with it."
I shivered, my knees weak beneath me. His hand loosened on my throat, but he didn't let go. His fingers trailed down my neck, across my collarbone, like he was tracing his ownership of me into my skin.
"I won't betray you," I whispered, my voice barely audible, shaking with fear but drenched in the truth. I couldn't afford to lie to him. I didn't dare.
His gaze softened for a fleeting moment, and then he smirked, the devilish gleam back in his eyes. "Good girl."
He stepped back slightly, but the tension still coiled between us, thick and suffocating. His eyes roamed over me one last time before he turned toward the door. Kyle waited on the other side, but I could feel the shift in the air-something was coming.
"Get dressed," he ordered coldly, his back to me now. "We have business to take care of."
I stood there, frozen, trying to catch my breath as he walked out, leaving me with nothing but the echo of his words.
Judas didn't say a word as he grabbed the fluffy bathrobe hanging by the side of the bath and wrapped it around me. His movements were slow, deliberate, tying the knot at my waist with a gentleness that made my skin crawl with confusion. This wasn't him. Not the Judas I knew-the one who toyed with me, controlled me, pushed me until I broke. He was acting… strange.
He picked up a comb, running it carefully through my wet hair, before grabbing the hair dryer. The low hum of it filled the silence, but inside, my mind was screaming.
Did he know?
Did he find out I was planning something with Ivan? Or worse, my secret meeting with Luvius? No. He couldn't have. Because if he had, I wouldn't be standing here right now, wrapped in a warm bathrobe with him gently drying my hair. He'd be ruthless. Unforgiving. I'd be lying in a pool of my own blood if he had any inkling of what I was plotting.
But still, something had happened. And I didn't know what.
I watched him in the mirror as he continued to comb my hair, his eyes focused but distant. He was so calm, too calm, and that terrified me more than anything. His hands were steady, methodical, as if none of this meant anything. But then, just as he finished, our eyes met in the reflection.
My heart stuttered. The air left my lungs in a rush. There was something in the way he looked at me, something dark and unreadable. My hands trembled slightly, barely noticeable, but enough for me to feel the weight of fear settling in my chest.
And then, without warning, his hand circled around me from behind, his fingers gripping my chin, forcing me to keep eye contact with him in the mirror. His face lowered, his chin resting on my shoulder as his breath fanned across my neck.
I could hear my heart hammering in my chest, a rapid, unsteady beat that echoed in my ears. But Judas? He was calm. Too calm. That it made my heart erupt in chaos.
His thumb brushed over my lips, pulling my bottom lip down slowly, his gaze never leaving mine. He watched me with a kind of hunger, but it wasn't the usual raw, desperate lust. No, this was something deeper. Darker.
"Such a beautiful little thing you are," he whispered as he dragged his thumb along my lip again, teasingly. "So fucking naïve and breakable. I could keep you like this, watching your lips tremble under my touch, for hours."
He let out a low, dark chuckle, his lips ghosting over the shell of my ear. "But you'd get impatient, wouldn't you? You'd want more. You always do. Just like now… when my fingers were buried deep inside you. You were so needy then, weren't you?"
I swallowed hard, the tension in my body growing unbearable as his thumb continued to torment my lip. His other hand moved to my waist, slipping under the robe, his fingers brushing over my bare skin. His scent-dark, musky, intoxicating-filled my lungs as he leaned closer, his lips grazing my neck.
"But the thing is, I do not want to break you anymore," His voice was like a whispering devil in my ear. "Don't give me a reason to." His tongue darted out, licking the corner of my jaw, sending shivers down my spine. "Don't make me a monster you're afraid of."
His hand slid up to cup my throat from behind, the pressure just enough to make my breath hitch. I could feel his hardness pressing against me through his pants, and my body tensed in response, both terrified and… God, why was he saying all these things now?
"I could fuck you right here," he growled, his thumb pulling down on my lip again, his other hand tightening on my throat. "Right in front of this mirror. Make you watch as you fall apart for me again and again. Make you beg for more."
I trembled, unable to stop myself from reacting to him. The mirror reflected everything-the fear in my eyes, the twisted pleasure in his. He sniffed my hair, breathing me in, like I was some kind of drug he couldn't get enough of. His grip tightened, and my breath stuttered.
Just as I thought I might break under the weight of his touch, he pulled back, his fingers loosening their hold on my throat. I gasped, sucking in a breath as he stepped away, the sudden absence of his body against mine leaving me cold.
He walked toward the door, not bothering to look back. "Be a good girl for me," he purred.
And just like that, he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him. I stood there, staring at my reflection, my body still trembling from the intensity of it all. My heart was still racing, and my mind? My mind was spinning.
What the hell just happened?
Something had shifted, something was wrong, and Judas knew something. But what? What had Kyle told him? I could feel the cold tendrils of dread wrap around me as I stared at the empty space where Judas had just been.