Page 161 of Pareidolia

And when he comes up on his knees, he doesn’t have to ask for what he wants. My shadows spill forward and slide down the back of his pants, finding his clenching hole and delving inside him. I fill him from both sides and set a ruthless pace that doesn’t give him a chance to breathe, to think, to do anything but take everything I can give.

My fingers dip down, wrapping around his neck—it’s intoxicating, the feel of me stretching his throat to its limits, the way I can feel my cock glide in and out. I can feel myself inside him and I ride that sensation until we’re both on the edge and his body spasms from its inability to breathe.

His body clenches around me, his cry muffled from the way I fill him. Aspen comes hard, his body twitching and spasming, the deprivation of air, the fact that he’s so close to dying yet again seeming to make it all the better for him.

My little monster comes choking on my cock, on the edge of death and drowning in me.

I follow him as he sucks me harder, taking me to the back of his throat and gagging as I orgasm. It feels so fucking good, so right to fill him up with me, to mark him on the inside and out. It’s so much that it dribbles down his chin when it floods his mouth, mixing with the blood on his chest.

He swallows around me greedily as I pulse in his mouth, taking every drop I give until he’s struggling, choking, gasping on it, until I’m sure some of the liquid is in his lungs, taking root and finding a home in the depth of his breath.

I want to be in all of him.

I finally pull back with my fingers still tangled in his hair. His lips are swollen and his eyes are dazed. There’s a stain on the front of his pants that mingles with the blood.

“Look at you, filthy little thing. Finding pleasure without touching yourself…” I run my fingers through his hair, maintaining my hold on his throat to keep him upright. I stroke his pulse as it calms, then help him to stand. Aspen sways the second he’s on his feet, falling into me and dropping his head to my chest.

He’s drunk on it—on pleasure, on emotion, on the kill. Drunk on terror and desire.

He’s beautiful like this.

“You truly were made just for me, weren’t you?” The wonder in my voice is new too. Reverence.

A possessive feeling that only seems to escalate with every beat of his heart.

Aspen lets me pull him up and into my arms, his body limp and relaxed. He doesn’t even bother to move his head from my shoulder when he speaks.

“Need to do something with the body.”

For once, his concern holds at least a little weight. People don’t venture deep into the forest, but there are those who come to the edges—children who play on dares, who camp and tell scary stories about the monster that lurks in the trees.

“I’ll take care of it.” And I would. I just have no intention of doing that until I get him settled. I don’t take him back to the cabin, that’s too far. It only takes a few minutes to get to the fire tower, to lay him on the bed so I can look over the mess he’s made of himself.

He’s covered in blood and cum, the black of my spill still streaking and dribbling down his neck and chest. The glow of his arm and tattoo are softer now, proof that the shadows are content after a feast.

I step closer, running my thumb along his lower lip and bringing it up to swipe with my tongue.

He watches me with careful eyes as I lick my finger clean before slipping out of the tower. It doesn’t take long to fly back to the body and carry her so deep into the trees that no one will ever find her bones, let alone realize that she’d been stabbed instead of devoured.

I expect Aspen to be asleep when I get back, but he’s sitting up in bed. He’s only half bothered to wipe himself clean, and he doesn’t say anything as I step into the room.

He just holds his hand out to me, the soft glow of his fingers the only light in the darkness.

I follow that light and crawl onto the bed beside him, dragging him against my chest and letting my mind fill with the soft, steady beat of his heart as he falls asleep.

For the first time since I felt him, Aspen feels at peace.

CHAPTER 24

ASPEN

Two weeks pass, and the hunger that drove me back into the woods and back to Nox’s arms doesn’t resurface.

In those two weeks, he doesn’t leave the cabin, he doesn’t leave my side.

In those two weeks, Nox barely lets me stand without following me to another room.

Every night, he crawls on top of me, thrusts inside me.