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I reached out and punched Cain in the face, surprising him with my left hook. His chiseled, clean-cut jaw jerked to one side, just before I nailed him in the chest with my high-heeled shoe. It fell off under the impact, which was probably for the best, because Cain grabbed my ankles in either hand, his face suddenly set.
Unceremoniously, Cain flipped me over so I was half-hanging off the bench, my one wrist still anchored in the chains.
“I love the spirit,” he deadpanned, right before he slapped my ass with his hand. He pushed my skirt up, his touch sending sparks flying down my spine. “This is quite the slutty outfit for the Demon’s virginal daughter. I like it…a lot.”
His short fingernails raked over the skin he’d just reddened, sending a shiver up my spine, before his tip pressed against my core. I caught glimpses of the guys and of familiar faces in the crowd from the Sphinx, but I was too distracted by the heat coursing through my body, between the connection between Cain and me, to pay enough attention to read their expressions.
I should have been angry at having anyone watch us.
But I loved having Cain grip my throat and turn me over again, the way his eyes went heavy-lidded as they swept my breasts in the corset. He straddled me, his hands gripping my wrists, harder than any restraints.
Cain’s lips swept over my throat, rousing desire everywhere he touched. I tried to shrink into the bench, to pull away from him, but I couldn’t force myself away, even knowing I should look unwilling for the crowd. For Cain, most of all.
But I wanted him, and my hips rose, and there was no denying the connection that sizzled between the two of us, dangerous, fiery bonds that seemed like they could burn the whole world. His tip brushed against my wet heat, and he groaned in my ear, the sound private even though nothing else about this was.
He shoved inside me, rough and brutal despite his size, and I wrenched back against him as he set a punishing pace. His tip seemed to slam home deep inside me, and he filled me so much that I burned in both good ways and bad.
There could have been no one else in the room, because all I could see was him; he filled my senses, with the spicy scent of his cologne, the heat of his body against mine, the sense of him filling me and surrounding me and pinning me down. His blue eyes bore into me, but they weren’t icy anymore; they were bright and blue as the sky, no matter how dark everything was around me.
My channel began to pulse around him, so hard that it hurt when he was already so big, and I let out a moan that was half a scream. “Cain…” I begged, not knowing what I even wanted. I wanted him to stop and I wanted him to keep going forever.
“Mine,” he answered with a faint smile that no one else could see, his handsome face close to mine. “Now everyone will know.”
“Good,” I managed, my voice ragged. “Hopefully I won’t have to beat any other girls senseless.”
“Oh, I hope the fun’s not ending now.” Despite the banter, his lips were tight, a faint tick starting in his cheek, as if he were holding himself back.
Then he exploded inside me, following me over the edge.
I fell back against the bench.
“Party’s over,” Pax called to the crowd. “You’ll have your video proof delivered within the next few minutes. Tell your friends about the change in management.”
Cain walked away from me as if I were nothing. It was probably for the sake of his reputation.
But maybe it wasn’t.
It was Stellan who gathered me up in his arms and carried me away to the back. I let my head rest on his shoulder and tried to conjure up the exact sensory details of the man who carried me in the labyrinth. Had it been Stellan?
“Just so you know,” Stellan said quietly, “the cameras only captured Cain’s face. For their leverage. But from the angle… no one will know it was you. Since Cain only pushed your skirt up, his body hid yours, too.”
His kind tone surprised me.
“It’s not like my reputation matters anymore,” I said breezily.
Stellan cocked his head to one side, studying me. He looked at me as if he looked right through me. Cain did too, but it was different with both of them. Cain studied me as if he could see through to my soul because it was the mirror image of his. Aurora, chasing the same darkness he did. Stellan looked at me as if he saw right through all my jaded edges to the girl I’d been–as if she were still alive at the core. Delilah, kissing him in the rain.
“It matters to me,” Stellan said. He leaned in and kissed my forehead, and something about that felt more intimate–and angered me more–than Cain’s public display.
Chapter23
Aurora
The next day, I lay in bed still thinking about that kiss, and how one tender kiss from Stellan could leave me feeling shattered in a way that rough sex strapped down never could. Cain’s rough handling made me feel as fierce and vicious as he was; Stellan’s kisses burned straight to my soul and reminded me of the tender, tongue-tied girl I used to be with him.
I’d gotten revenge on Cain and Pax and Remington–as complicated as revenge had grown in all those cases–but I hadn’t punished Stellan.
And he was the one who had started this all.
