Leon quietly shut the door behind us, glaring around the room as if it personally offended him. “Never thought I’d find myself creeping back in here again. Hate this room.”
“Were you in here often?”
“Once or twice, and that was too many. Kent had a thing for administering punishments while he was lounging around in here. I suppose it was a relaxing pastime for him to magically break a few of my bones when I fucked up his orders.”
It was grim to imagine such a luxurious space being used for something so sinister. It was even harder to imagine Leon under someone else’s command: he had so much power, so much overwhelming strength that the thought of him being ordered around by a mere human sounded ludicrous.
But even a powerful demon could be broken with pain.
Everything in here looked expensive: the modern glass and steel chandelier overhead, the black marble fireplace beneath the massive flatscreen, the huge painting in a gilded frame above the bed. It depicted a woman standing in the midst of a stormy sea, her arm outstretched with a dagger pointed toward the sky. Black tentacles were coiled around her arm, as if to grasp the knife with her. It looked like it could have been painted in the Renaissance, beautiful and dramatic. But it wasn’t a weapon.
Nothing in here looked like a weapon.
The open window showed only our reflections until I passed by it, and a floodlight flickered on below, illuminating a large section of the lawn. Motion caught my attention, and as I stared, I saw something dark and skeletal creep back among the trees.
They’d followed me here. Of course they had. I couldn’t shake these monsters no matter where I went.
Leon’s arms wrapped around me from behind, and his teeth nipped at my ear as he whispered, “Why are you afraid of them lurking around, when you know the most dangerous thing in this house is me?” He turned me in his arms, nudging up my chin with his fingers. “And I’m on your side, lucky for you.”
Goose bumps crept up my spine with my back turned to the window. I hated knowing they were out there. I hated this constant feeling of being hunted. “Are you?”
He frowned. “Excuse me?”
“Are you on my side? Really?”
His expression grew serious, almost angry. His playful smirk was gone. “What the hell gave you the idea that I wasn’t, Rae?”
I bit my lip, shaking my head. “You plan on leaving again, don’t you? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do if I don’t find something here to protect myself. Those things won’t leave me alone.” I tried to look back out the window, but Leon caught my face and wouldn’t let me look.
“I came back,” he said. “Doesn’t that count for something?”
“It’s temporary,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. But I was scared, and I’d been keeping all my fears and frustrations quiet because who the hell was I supposed to talk to about it?
Who would understand, besides him?
“I don’t do temporary.” His voice was a snarl as he tucked his hands behind his back. It felt like a warning now, when he did that. His hands were clasped away, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to touch me. It was an indicator of his self-control, an effort not to do too much before I was begging for it. “You have forgotten — you’re mine, Rae. Frankly I should punish you for daring to suggest otherwise.”
My mouth had gone dry, but my pussy hadn’t. It was heating quickly at his words, swelling in anticipation. I ran my tongue over my lips, realizing just how foolish I’d sounded. These weeks of loneliness and fear had gotten to me, and I’d missed his attention more than I could ever say. I’d missed his fire, his brutality, his absolutely immoveable certainty that I belonged to him.
I needed that assurance now, desperately.
“You won’t punish me here,” I said. “In Kent’s own bedroom, you wouldn’t dare –“
“You think I wouldn’t?” His voice had dropped dangerously low. He stalked around me as I stood there, heart pounding with the rush of pushing him. I wanted a reaction, and if challenging him would get it, then that’s what I’d do.
“What if you’d caught me in here a few months ago, Leon?” I said, resisting the urge to turn as he stalked behind me. He’d managed to wipe from my mind the fear of the monster lurking outside, turning all my attention to him and what he was doing.
What he planned on doing.
“What if,” he murmured, then chuckled. “What if, indeed? Are you trying to suggest, that if I’d caught you in here while I was still in Kent’s service, I would have caused you harm?” He brushed his fingers across the back of my neck, stroking through my hair, his claws sharp as they scratched lightly over my skin. “You underestimate me, Rae. Kent never even would have had to know I’d caught you here. But I still would have had to punish you, if only to teach you a lesson about sneaking into places you shouldn’t.”