Page 116 of Depraved

Alyx leaned her head back and to the side, staring up at me from over her shoulder. “Promise me you’ll kill every son of a bitch who laid a hand on Neon.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

GRANITE

I’d seen and done a lot of fucked up shit in life, and nothing ever surprised me. I was hardly ever caught off-guard. But right there, while buried balls deep inside the sweetest pussy I’d ever had, the words that came out of her mouth shocked the fuck out of me.

I pulled my dick out of her and winced, hating that I no longer had her heat wrapped around me. I stepped back, my cock half hard and my mind completely zoned.

“What did you say?”

Alyx turned around, not caring in the least that she was naked—that we were both naked. Her blue eyes had become steel, her cheeks no longer having a healthy pink glow. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I want you to kill them. I want you to make them pay for what they did to Neon.”

I bit the inside of my mouth, and my eyes narrowed as I tried to figure out how her switch got flipped from naïve ballerina girl to vengeful vixen. I didn’t like it.

I grabbed my pants off the floor and started to pull them on. “Don’t go there, Alyx.”

“Go where?”

I zipped my pants. “Don’t go to that place where the only thing you care about is revenge.”

“It’s only right for them to pay for what they’ve done to her. So why not?”

“Because,” I snapped then clenched my jaw, pulling my lips in a straight line. “That’s where I am, and believe me, it’s no place for someone like you.”

She lifted a brow. “Someone like me?”

“Yeah, Alyx. Someone like you. Take it from someone who knows. Revenge has the power to eat you alive. It can make you all rotten inside.”

“That’s what she is, you know?”

I cut my gaze to her.

She rubbed her hands up and down her naked arms. “Rotten. That’s what Neon is now, on the inside. Rotten. Broken. Shattered.”

A single tear slipped down her cheek, and I wondered how many tears this woman had cried because of me—because of what I had done to her, ripping her away from her life and thrusting her into mine. But even though she had cried countless tears, it wasn’t a weak woman standing in front of me now. She was strong, resilient, and the fact that she was still fucking standing proved to me she was more than a petite, underweight ballerina girl.

She was mine. Her need for blood just solidified it.

I brushed my fingers through my thick curls and swiped a palm down my beard. “Say you’re mine.”

She crossed her arms. “Granite, that’s not what we’re talking about here.”

“Say it.”

She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, staring at me.

“Say it, Alyx. Say it right here, right now. Say you’re mine, and everything changes this very minute.”

“What do you mean?”

I stalked forward. “Say. It.”

For the longest time, she remained still, looking up at me, scrutinizing every contour of my face. I could practically hear the wheels turning in her head as she tried to figure me out. But she’d be sadly disappointed once she realized I wasn’t the type of man who could be figured out or puzzled together.

A few seconds ago, she seemed so determined and strong, but with every step I took toward her, I could see in her eyes how her courage slowly waned. I loved how I intimidated her, how easily I made her lose control. Yesterday she hated me. Today she let me fuck her. God, it thrilled me to the core, never quite knowing what to expect from her. There was nothing as boring and tedious as a predictable woman. Alyx was everything but.

Still beautifully naked, Alyx stood frozen on the spot, and I reached out and eased the back of my hand down the side of her face. The bruise she had around her eye from the night we took her was gone. No one would ever touch her again or mar her flawless skin. Not while I was breathing.