Page 77 of Coal Hearts

Naked.

Kneeling.

Subservient.

Her captured beauty shattered my black-tainted mind.

I couldn’t stop sick fucking possession whipping through me.

Mine.

She’s mine.

The way she kept her legs glued together. The way she cupped her full breasts. The way her honey skin flushed a delectable red as she tried to hide from greedy eyes. She tipped her chin down, blocking her face with a curtain of raven hair.

The hint of a tattoo I’d seen back in the nightclub ran down the length of her spine. Delicate and narrow, it looked like a wand capped with a gemstone. The gemstone cast out flecks of flowers, stars, and raindrops, cascading down her ribs before scattering into nothing.

She was beyond stunning.

Undoubtedly the most gorgeous creature I’d ever seen, and I would never get her out of my head.

Never.

The expensive selection of clothes I’d found in the suite’s wardrobe bit into me with teeth. I felt trapped. Imprisoned. My flesh sizzled beneath the white shirt and black shorts as hunger so violent, so savage blazed through me.

I’d never felt anything like it.

Never buckled beneath the primordial need to thump my chest, tear out the hearts of competition, and claim a girl I’d only just met.

I wanted her more than I’d wanted anything in my godforsaken life.

I wanted to grab the leash that’d been snapped onto her collar, land on my knees behind her, and sink myself so deep, so damn hard inside her, she knew exactly who she belonged to, not just for now, but for fucking always.

“Ah, Henri. There you are.” Victor threw me a grin, his hand twining in the leash binding Ily to him. “I wondered if you’d gotten lost wandering the corridors.”

It took every shred of my control.

Every damn strength as I swallowed back the monstrosity inside me and pasted on an uncaring grin. “I admit I got lost once or twice.” Striding toward him where he sat at a metal table with a half-eaten almond croissant and a forgotten coffee before him, I rested my hands on the back of a spare chair. “You’ve spared no expense in the suites and living quarters, but the corridors remind me of some ancient prison with their oppressive stone, arrow slits, and burning torches.”

Fuck, Ri.

Don’t insult the man.

I tensed, hoping I hadn’t said the wrong thing, but Victor merely laughed. “If Ily had permission to talk right now, I’m sure she’d tell you that that’s exactly what I fashioned my hallways off. Linlithgow Palace to be exact.” He gave me a conspiratorial smirk. “It was a dream of mine to fashion a place where only the deepest, darkest blackness can survive. For example...” He smiled at the beaming sun. “We sit outside on this gloriously sunny day, yet...head downstairs to the dungeons, and you would think you were in a world where no light exists at all. A place where no one can see what we do. A place with no judgement because there’s no light in which to condemn. A perfect metaphor...don’t you think?”

I couldn’t reply.

I hadn’t paid any attention to his disgusting bragging since the moment he’d hinted Ily had been disciplined.

Her head slowly lifted when I didn’t speak.

Her sunshine eyes met mine.

I choked on a surge of fury as my gaze landed on her cheek.

No longer flawless.

Her cheek bloomed bright red with the clear indication of four fingers and a thumb, casting her in punishment.