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Did he just growl? “I read about it in a romance book. Katya and Kristoff sitting in a tree...”
16
KRISTOFF
Those books were going to be the death of me. She was perched on my lap, grinding up and down my dick. To say I was in pain was an understatement.
“Oops.” She giggled.
I gently shoved her aside, giving myself breathing room when she put her head on my shoulder.
“You smell so nice,” she said with a sigh.
She smelled better. Like citrus and strawberries. Something I shouldn’t even be noticing.
“Katya, if you don’t stop that, I’m going to…” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It didn’t help. When I opened my eyes, I found her staring at my mouth.
Her little tongue swept over the bottom of her lip, and I wanted to bite it. Her lips reminded me of ripe cherries. She was drunk as a skunk but she was also fucking adorable, and it felt right to have her in my arms even though deep down I knew it was all kinds of fucked up. I didn’t deserve her, not even close.
I remembered the day my mother had died. That moment in time was seared into my brain like a warped John Pollock painting. Then, like in one of Katya’s beloved fairy tales, the evil sorcerer had come along to make me an offer and send me on a quest. I’d taken the offer, paid my dues, my mind geared to one thing only—revenge. I hadn’t wanted anything else since then. Until Katya.
A part of me hated her for almost making me doubt my resolve. The other part, which was still somewhat human, was obsessed with her. It wanted to consume her so she would be as close to me as my next breath. However, I could never be the man she needed me to be. What was the devil without a pitchfork, a shark without razor-sharp teeth? Useless and eventually dead, that’s what.
She shimmied her butt and got comfortable on my lap. I stifled a groan.
“You’re killing me, Ekaterina.”
She placed her hands on my cheeks and looked me straight in the eyes. Her lopsided smile was like a beacon in the night.
“Remember when you all shaved off your hair?”
I remembered. In her first year with us, she had a cancer scare. She’d been moping around the house looking gaunt and sickly, refusing to see a doctor. All the men knew about her being in remission. As always, Damon had done his due diligence about the mansion’s newest resident. When Katya shaved her hair off one morning, my heart had nearly stopped. I would never forget the vision of her standing at the kitchen table, pretending everything was well in her world.
I’m not sure what made me do it. Perhaps it was the way she’d held her head high, giving life the finger. Or maybe it was the defiance in her eyes daring me to ask her why she’d done it. Either way, I’d gone into the bathroom and shaved off my hair. My inner circle, the Bloody Ones, had followed suit, all going for a buzz cut.
“Are you ready to see a doctor now?” I had asked.
She’d nodded. “I am now.”
Getting rid of her hair instead of waiting for a doctor to tell her she had cancer again was an act of taking control. What little control she had once the chemo started again.
We were alike on that front; we both liked control over our lives. The difference was, I craved it about her life as well as my own. The hunger to own her, possess every inch of her body, seize her heart, and encapsulate her soul grew every day. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take without breaking. How much longer I’d be able to punch a bag, giving it my energy and exhausting myself, so I wouldn’t simply take what she offered me. The only thing keeping me from that madness was the miniscule sliver of humanity I had left in me.
This was what I had to look forward to, I realized. One day, some man would claim Katya for his own. If she lived that long, which I would make sure of. I had already set a plan in motion to eliminate Sokolov’s threat against her. It was only a matter of time. Then she could be free, start her life the way she wanted to, with whomever she chose. She would eventually forget about me. Find a man who could give her what she wanted. Or one who she thought could give her that.
According to Jake’s phone records, he considered Katya a challenge. The soon-to-be crippled asshole had even made a bet with his fraternity brothers on how fast he could get into her pants. He would pay for that bet. Nobody could play with Katya and get away with it.
Something dark took control of my body. My hands went up to her back and slid down the zipper of her dress. Her eyes softened, though she kept on riding me.
The possessive demon inside me urged me to mark her, claim her for my own. The rational part of me knew I couldn’t. My monstrous side? It painted horrifying pictures in my mind of what I would do to any man who would touch her. Carnage was too tame a word for it. I had been called a lot of things, but passive or tame wasn’t among them.
I pulled down her zipper. The body of her dress was next. My breath hitched when I exposed her breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her hand went to my fly, but I pushed it away. This was about her pleasure.
I teased her nipples, and she arched her back in a silent demand for more. My lips latched onto a nipple and I sucked on it. My dick cried out for release, pushing against the fabric of my pants, but I kept myself at bay.
“Aah…”
Her little gasps were like music to my ears. I grabbed her hand and pushed it underneath the hem of her dress. Her eyelids fluttered.
