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“What is it you need?” I teased, breath fanning against the oozing puncture marks on her neck before looking into those piercing blue eyes.

“To forget,” she whispered, leaning her forehead against mine. Her voice was so quiet, so broken and full of pain. Pain that I wanted her to never feel again.

The bond tugged between us, pulling me towards her the way the tide did the moon.

I stood in one brisk movement. Her legs wrapped around me and her mouth took mine. She rolled her hips against me, grinding with desperate need as I tore at my trousers with one hand. My other hand clamped around her waist, holding her exactly where I wanted her.

I gripped my cock and pushed against her entrance. Every second that I was not inside her seemed like a waste of breath.

I pressed my cock against the soft flesh of her entrance, the sleek heat giving way as I pushed inside her.

A broken noise scraped out of me as she tensed, inner walls fluttering around my cock as I paused halfway.

“Gods, it’s so fucking big,” she breathed, voice needy as she squirmed. My hands tightened on her hips, keeping her firmly in place so I did not spill inside of her.

“You can take it, love,” I promised, voice low.

I gathered myself before snapping my hips forwards, driving into her until I was fully seated. My vision darkened, the primal part of me fighting for dominance from the pleasure.

My head tipped back, a rough moan dragging from my chest. “Fuck.”

Her nails raked down my back, sharp enough to bite, and the sting only fed the hunger already tearing through me.

I rolled my hips, trembling with restraint as I took her slowly.

“Harder,” she demanded, her voice breaking as my grip tightened on her. “Fuck me harder, Rythos.”

The dark thing inside me grew, the part of me that needed to spill her blood breaking free. She wanted harder. I would give it to her.

I drove her back against the wall, the impact knocking the breath from her as I tore the thin fabric from her body. My control slipped with every movement, every sound she made, every way she clung to me like she needed this as much as I did.

My mouth found her skin as I lost myself to the feeling of her. Soft and yielding and completely, dangerously mine.

“You like that, don’t you?” I rumbled against her peaked nipple. She moaned, lost in the pleasure of my cock. “Answer me.” I could feel the way her body tightened, how every breath caught, how she trembled on the edge of unravelling.

“Yes,” she gasped, head falling back against the wall. “Break me, Rythos. Don’t stop—please don’t stop.”

“Such dirty words for a pretty little mouth,” I growled as her legs tightened around my waist.

Her body clenched hard around my cock before it shattered, her nails digging into me as she came apart. I took her mouth, sliding my tongue against her and swallowing ever whimper she gave.

The bond flared between us, sharp and blinding, dragging me under with her as pleasure crashed through me in a wave I couldn’t fight.

She quivered beneath me, nails clawing into my flesh. Every movement dragged a low, rough sound from my chest. Warmth spread through me, blinding me as I spilt into her.

Her lips moved against mine, desperately and languid. It tasted like bittersweet anguish. The bond flared with a sadness that felt so bone deep that my chest ached.

She broke the kiss before I was ready, pulling back just enough that her nose brushed mine.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, eyelashes fluttering as she fought back the tears shimmering in her light blue eyes. My eyebrows drew together as my thumb caught a single tear that spilt over her flushed cheek.

“I will save you,” she said, her voice breaking. “No matter what it costs.”

Something cold slipped into my chest and spread through me as regret flooded through the bond.

“I am the one that is supposed to be sorry, love. Whatever you did, we will fix it,” I reassured her softly despite the rage rising inside me.

Her breath hitched as if she could sense the monster lurking beneath my skin. For a heartbeat, she said nothing.