“Sin.” A strangled whisper from her lips that turned me into a demon. Because I needed to hear it again. I needed my name always on her mind, on her tongue.
I released the pressure at her neck and she gasped, but I stole her breath again by kissing her hard and biting her bottom lip until I drew blood. She moaned and opened her mouth, the coppery taste mixing with her sweetness as I took everything from her.
Her blood was honey on my tongue, and her pussy heaven on my cock. I was never free, not until I was here with her. Just the two of us. Just her locked in a cage with the beast who lived inside me. She was unafraid. Even from the start, from the moment I’d seen her, she had been a piece of steel that I railed on, beat, and tried to break. She would never break. Instead, I’d shattered against her like glass against a stone.
Her tongue snaked inside my mouth, and I wrapped my arm under her back. I wanted to feel every bit of her skin I could, to meld her into me until we were one—my darkest elements wrapped in her light.
“Touch me.” I growled against her lips and moved to her neck. She obeyed, her nails streaking down my back, the pain heightening the pulse in my cock.
I thrust into her and stayed there, pushing against her deepest parts as I rocked my hips. She clawed my ass as I bit her shoulder, sinking my teeth in until I almost broke the skin. Pushing my hand between us, I stroked her clit with my thumb as I thrust deep.
“Come for me. I need to feel you.” I dragged my teeth up her throat and rested my forehead against hers. “Give me all of you.”
We panted, our breaths mingling as we surged into each other. Her body tightened and my cock thickened even more.
“I’m there. I-I’m coming.”
“Say it, Stella.” I shoved harder into her as her walls clamped down. “You know what I want.”
“Sin. I’m yours.” She repeated my name.
The sound was the richest aphrodisiac, one that sent my hips into a frenzy as I came, my release ripping through me as I shot deep inside her. I grunted as she moaned, her pussy still spasming as I emptied everything I had into her, coating her with me.
Her lips were swollen, the bottom one red and angry from my bite. I grazed my mouth across hers gently, the need to hurt her momentarily extinguished. I let go of her hair and put my palm to her cheek. She answered by wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me into a possessive kiss. Her tongue sought and took, and I was more than willing to give. I’d already given her everything.
I pulled away so she could take a breath. So much emotion flitted across her eyes, but mostly the one that spoke to my soul. The small flame of something I’d tried to stamp out, to destroy. Somehow, it burned still. For me.
“I love you, Sin.”
Her words were a balm and a barb. Just as she had always been both.
I slid out of her, hating the loss of her tight warmth. I dropped onto the bed next to her and pulled her to my chest. She lay her head over my heart. Could she feel my fear in its rapid beat?
I had to stop it all. To bottle my feelings back up and stow them away. Was it even possible anymore? “I have to do things, Stella. I have to hurt you. The spring trial.”
“I know.” She said it as if it were simple, as if me harming her were as normal as the sun shining or the breeze blowing. “And now I know why.”
“I have to win.”
“Yes.” She nodded against me. “We have to win.”
I clenched my eyes shut. “You don’t understand.”
“I do.” She craned her head back to look me in the eye. “I will do anything to keep Teddy safe. Just tell me what to do. Tell me about the trial. Give me the rules. All of them.”
“They won’t help.”
“Then what will it hurt? Tell me.” She pushed away from me and sat back, pulling the sheet to her neck.
I wanted to yank her back down and cover her body with mine, but I stayed my hand.
Her jaw was set and she cocked her head slightly to the left. I knew the look—it meant she wasn’t going to relent, no matter what I said or did. Her stubbornness was beyond even my comprehension.
I took a deep breath and let out a shuddering exhale. “The trial has to do with some sort of physical contest. I believe Cal’s year was an obstacle course that turned into a grueling competition for the Acquisitions.”