Page 170 of Somno Slave

I take my first step toward her, and her back immediately hits the one-way glass. Her fingers spread against it like she can shove her way to freedom.

“Get back!” It’s strangled and so fucking delicious. I love the way her voice wavers, the way her knees visibly tremble now. “I mean it, Deogal—”

Hearing her say my name does ugly things to my self-control.

“Come on, Doctor,” I murmur, “don’t look so surprised. You’ve been waiting for me.”

Her eyes widen, pupils blown dark, her whole body locking for that tiny, perfect second before panic takes over. I see the scream building in her throat before it ever reaches her mouth.

“What did you think about the photographs?” I flash a grin. “Did they make your pussy wet?”

I move before she can let out another noise. Two steps and I’m there, crowding her back until the glass presses cold and hard against her spine. She makes this small, broken noise, half gasp, half yelp, and folds into herself like making herself smaller might save her.

Not from me.

She looks at me like I’m the Devil. And God, I want to see how much further her fear can go.

“Don’t—” She whimpers.

“Don’t what, Doctor?”

Her cheeks burn red, eyes pricking with tears. “Don’t hurt me.”

“Don’t hurt you.” I say the words slowly, carefully, feeling the way the syllables shiver on my tongue. “But you let them hurt me.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

Rheda

The reaction doesn’t start in my head.

It hits lower. Sudden. Violent.

My stomach drops hard enough to make me sway, the meaning of his words arriving a second too late to stop what they’ve already done. They’re less like sound, more like impact.

Fear kicks in violently. The weight of the situation claws down my spine.

“No, I didn’t!” My mind kicks in a beat later. “I didn’t—”

The blackness in his eyes shiver as though they have a mind of its own.

Something thuds behind me. The first impact doesn’t sound like anything I recognise at first. It travels through the room before it reaches my ears, a deep, concussive force that rattles through my body. Then it comes again, louder this time, and I understand.

Someone is trying to break in and failing.

I twist and shove past Deogal, straight for the door. My hand slams around the handle and I yank. Nothing. I pull again, harder, shoulder driving into the metal, panic already climbing into my throat. The lock doesn’t even react. It stays dead.

My breath catches.

I glance over my shoulder.

He’s still there. Just standing near the glass, watching me. Smiling like he knew exactly where I’d run.

“No.” I back away from the door and bolt for the other side of the room—for the door he came through. I hit it too fast, fingers fumbling for the handle, dragging, pulling, twisting. Locked.

“No, no, no—” I slam my fist against it once. Twice. Three times, the sound cracking through the room, sharp and desperate. “Open the fucking door—”

“So desperate to leave, Doctor?” He coos, voice hot against my neck. “Didn’t you miss me?”