Page 147 of Creeping Lily

Blood runs in rivers down my chest, pooling at our feet, streaking her pale skin where I press her against me.

“Lincoln—” she starts, voice breaking.

“Don’t call me that,” I snarl against her mouth. My lips crash into hers, punishing, desperate, like I can devour every ounce of fear she has left. Her taste cuts through copper and rage, and I tear at her clothes until the fabric gives way in my fists. Wet cotton rips like paper.

She gasps, bare skin colliding with mine, hot water slicking every inch of her body. Her nipples pebble against my chest, and I groan into her mouth, my cock hard, aching, pressing into the seam of her thighs.

“You sent me away,” she whispers, breath ragged as her hands clutch my face, smeared in blood and water.

“So you wouldn’t see this,” I rasp, grinding into her until she whimpers. “But you’re gonna feel it. Every fucking bit of me.”

I lift her, her thighs locking tight around my waist. My cock slides against her drenched slit, heat scorching me even through the water. She claws at my shoulders, nails sinking deep, and I hiss, slamming her back against the tile.

“Titan—”

“Say it again.” My teeth graze her throat, biting down hard enough to bruise. “Say my name while I ruin you.”

“Titan,” she sobs, and it’s the only prayer I’ll ever believe in.

I line up, no hesitation, and slam into her in one brutalthrust. Her cry tears through the steam, her walls clenching around me so tight it borders on pain. My fingers dig bruises into her hips as I drive into her again, again, harder, until the sound of flesh and water echoes off the walls.

Her head knocks against the tile, water plastering her hair to her face. I bite her lip, blood mixing with the kiss, my tongue fucking her mouth while my cock pounds her open.

“You’re mine,” I growl, every thrust a vow. “Not his. Not anyone’s. Mine.”

Her cunt squeezes me like it agrees, like it’s starving for me, and I lose the last shred of control. I fuck her savagely, hips slamming, her cries turning to broken moans as the shower sprays red-tinged water down our bodies.

I drop my hand between us, fingers finding her clit, rubbing hard, ruthless. She jerks, cries out, nails carving red lines down my back. Her pussy clenches, choking me in heat, and I know she’s close.

“Come for me,” I snarl against her ear, pumping into her like I’m trying to drive her into the wall. “Drown with me.”

Her scream rips through the bathroom as she shatters, body convulsing, cunt milking me until I lose it. I bury myself deep, spilling into her with a roar, grinding hard, desperate to keep every drop inside.

The water hisses, steam rising, but all I feel is her trembling around me, her sobs against my throat. My arms lock tight around her, holding her like I’ll never let go.

I bite her shoulder, sucking bruises into her skin, staking my claim with teeth and come and rage.

And when the tremors fade, when her breathing evens against my chest, I finally whisper the only truth I have left.

“I killed them for you. I’ll kill the world for you. You’re mine, Lily. Only mine. Forever.”

75

LILY

Lincoln wrote me a letter.

That he never sent.

Even thinking the words feels wrong, like I’m holding something that was never meant for living hands. The paper is soft with age, fragile around the edges, almost translucent where it’s been folded and unfolded so many times. I can picture him hunched over it in some nameless room, rereading his own words in the dark, fingers smoothing the creases as though they could anchor him to me. Words meant for me, but hidden, hoarded—like a secret he couldn’t risk releasing into the world.

But it isn’t the paper that undoes me. It’s the seal.

Not a lipstick kiss, not the soft whimsy of a fool in love. No—Titan sealed this letter with his fingerprint pressed in blood. His blood. A covenant instead of a promise. A vow scrawled in red that says more than ink ever could. My stomach twists as I touch it. It feels like a trespass, like prying open a tomb. If I break this seal, I can never go back.

When he gave it to me, his voice had been steady. But hiseyes—God, his eyes. They betrayed him. They carried the weight of every word inside these pages.

“Read it before you decide,”he told me. “Decide if I’m worth your life, your future, your peace. Whether you stay or go, Lily, I’ll be there. Even if you never want me, I’ll haunt the edges of your life. You’ll never be alone again.”