Page 62 of Hellebore

I step back, holding the black hellebore between us.

“I’m insane?” My tone drops into something low and venomous. “I wasn’t the one who swallowed poison just to escape me.”

She’s still shaking. I place the flower carefully on the chair and her eyes follow every movement, wide with terror.

I move fast and she screams.

Grabbing her waist, I spin her around and slam her front against the cold stone wall. Her bare breasts press hard into the rough surface. She gasps, the sound broken.

“I bet you’re soaked,” I growl against her ear, my breath hot on her skin. “I know you crave the danger, Briar. That’s why you ate the cake. That’s why you wanted me to fuck you while you were unconscious and helpless—mine to ruin.”

“I—” Her tone cracks into a whimper as my hand slides down her stomach and dives into her sweatpants.

I find her cunt bare and dripping. One finger presses firmly on her swollen clit.

“Drenched,” I hiss, satisfaction curling dark and vicious in my chest. “Your body doesn’t lie, even when your mouth does.”

“Please—stop,” she begs, but her hips twitch, pushing back against my hand.

I chuckle, the sound is cruel as I tighten my grip on her delicate throat, feeling her breath catch.

“You say stop, but your greedy little cunt is grinding on my fingers like it’s begging for more.” I circle her clit slowly, feeling her tremble. “You want to come all over my hand, don’t you, my love?”

“No—” The word dissolves into a needy moan as I push one thick finger inside her tight heat. She clenches around me instantly, slick and scorching.

I thrust deeper, curling my finger against that perfect spot while my thumb keeps tormenting her clit. Her nipples are flushed and hard, scraped red from the rough stone. Every time she tries to pull away, I press her harder against the wall, controlling her completely.

“Look at you,” I growl, lips brushing the shell of her ear. “Pressed against stone, dripping down my fingers while you tell me no. You were made for this. Made to be ruined by me.”

I add a second finger, stretching her, pumping faster, feeling her walls flutter and squeeze. Her moans grow louder, more desperate. Her thighs shake. She’s so close, right on the razor’s edge, so I stop, and pull my fingers out completely, leaving her empty and aching.

A broken sob escapes her.

“Not yet,” I murmur, bringing my soaked fingers to her lips and pushing them inside her mouth. “You don’t get to come until I decide you’ve deserved it.”

She whimpers around my fingers, tasting herself, eyes glassy with frustration and dark need.

I smile against her neck, teeth grazing her skin.

“See you later, my love.”

Chapter Eighteen

BRIAR

The sound of the heavy door locking echoes through the cell. A sob tries to claw its way up my throat, but I swallow it down, pressing my back harder against the cold stone wall.

My heart is hammering so violently I can feel it in my teeth. Between my legs I’m still soaked, my pussy throbbing with an aching, empty need that makes me hate myself.

My clit pulses with every heartbeat, begging for the release he denied me. Even now, my body is traitorous, warm, wet, and desperate for the man who just had me pinned against a stone wall.

But my mind is screaming.

He will kill you here. This is how you die, alone in the dark with a monster who calls you ‘my love’ while he breaks you.

Why does my body scream for him to come back? Why am I clenching around nothing, remembering the way his fingers stretched me, the way his hand tightened around my throat until stars burst behind my eyes?

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but it terrifies me more than he does.