Page 140 of Black Sea

Because of my weakness.

Assaulted by a fit of rage, I spun around and shoved Mornon away with all my strength. He stared at me with a hint of amused surprise, his nostrils flaring.

“Get out of my mind,” I ordered imperiously.

A ghost of a smirk twisted his lips. Unable to bear the sight of him and the inner turmoil he was stirring in me any longer, I marched into my room. I had just crossed the glass door when he seized me by the hair so brutally that I cried out.

“Do you think I’m just in here, Elf?” he growled, gripping the back of my skull in his hand, the pressure so much that I realized he might shatter it in the blink of an eye. “I am in your flesh.” He traced his black fingers over the exposed part of my chest at the square neckline, pressing as if he wanted to cut into my skin. “In your bones.” He moved his hand over my breast, squeezing so hard I gasped from the intense mix of pain and pleasure. “In the air you breathe.” He ran his fingers down my belly and between my legs, pressing his palm against my pubic area, the fabric of my skirt dampening from my arousal. “And you’re dying to feel me everywhere.”

“That’s not true!” I snapped angrily, clutching his wrist with both hands to pull his fingers from my sex.

He swiftly grabbed me around the middle, holding me so tightly against himself that I couldn’t move to break free. “Don’t lie, Nauriel,” he warned. “Not to me. You can’t.” His hand moved from the back of my neck to my throat, wrapping it in a way that was both possessive and threatening. “I sense everything about you. I listen to every moan of yours. I see the thirst for power in your eyes. I give your soul what it longs for.”

I drove my nails into the backs of his hands until they pierced his skin, but he didn’t even seem to notice. “You know nothing about my soul,” I snarled.

“I am your soul,” he replied in a low, rageful tone, his breath so scorching against my cheek that it felt like it was burning it. “And you need to stop hiding from me and accept that you can’t stop me. You can’t stop this.” He took my chin, turning my face toward him, then claimed my lips.

No, he mauled me.

He was a beast who ravaged my mouth, his tongue sliding over mine as if mimicking intercourse, his teeth clashing against mine in the heat of the moment.

I tried to fully turn around to return the kiss with equal passion, but he wouldn’t let me, pressing himself against me with his whole body. I could only lift one hand to run my fingers through his hair, tugging when he bit my lip, causing his groan to blend with mine.

I only realized we had reached the bed when I bumped into it. I then climbed onto it on my knees, spreading my legs to the sides of his so he could rub himself against my buttocks, now at the ideal height for his groin.

A moment later, he grabbed the collar at the back of my dress and tore it in half with a firm tug, leaving my back completely exposed. He forcefully pushed me forward, causing me to land on my elbows on the mattress. Afterward, he climbed onto the bed, propping himself on it with one knee and one fist, leaning over me as his other hand moved from the base of my spine up to my shoulder blades.

I shivered when he pressed his fingertips hard against the spot where the arrow meant for him had pierced me.

“You have already proven that you would die for me,” he said softly, his voice laced with lust.

I turned my head to declare through gritted teeth that he was wrong, wrong, wrong. But as soon as I met his burning gaze, I lost all my will, bewitched by the lunar glow that made his beauty even more sinister.

Mornon took his hand off my shoulder, holding it in midair with a slight sneer. “And I,” he continued as black claws extended from his fingertips, “love seeing your blood on my hands.”

His claws descended on my skin.

Flesh tore along the entire length of my back.

And I didn’t scream in pain but in pleasure.

I sensed Mornon’s smirk as he lowered himself onto my arched back, beginning to lick the abundant blood rivulets, sucking to make it surface even more.

And I couldn’t keep quiet. I moaned as if seeing and hearing him drink my blood were the most erotic experiences I had ever had. I was out of breath, infected by the immense arousal he was building inside me.

I clutched the blankets, pressing my butt against his crotch. His hand covered mine, and I instinctively opened it so he could intertwine his fingers with mine, crushing them against the mattress. He reached under my torn dress and roughly squeezed my breast while he ran his teeth along the deep scratches, almost as if he wanted to spread them even further to taste the fresh tissue.

To chew me piece by piece.

To devour me and show me who I really was.

I was a creature of darkness, twisted and eager to bleed for the one I belonged to, from whom I could no longer hide, who had now inexorably taken me.

And together we were the embodiment of the darkest passion’s fury.

“Stop . . .” I panted as the feeling of his tongue grew so intense that everything around me started to spin slowly.

Mornon took his hand off my breast and moved it to my nape, his fingers threading through my hair and making me shiver. “Tell me what you want,” he whispered in my ear.