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The demolished state of the dining room grated on my nerves.

Once my heart and mind settled, I hastened to my office in search of solace.

Sconces on the corridor walls bullied the shadows in the corners, yet the darkness overcame the light.

Always hungry, always whispering, always watching.

I moved at a languid pace, regardless of the dark. I welcomed it. I was home in it.

Secured and blissfully in my study, I settled into the chair at my desk.

The swirls and grooves in the wood grain followed senseless patterns, and I tracked them, memorizing them.

I palmed the edge of the desk where a chip in the wood provoked memories of accidents and forgiveness.

My father’s voice echoed in my mind, a ghost whispering consolations and confidence.

The pain in my chest tightened. A weakness that clung to every sinew and vein in my body.

It was an echo of loneliness that mocked my current predicament.

That despicable grief did nothing to sway the restlessness poisoning my body, urging me to move, to hunt.

An itching under the skin that made me impatient, aggrieved by the feeling of want burning in my core.

I blinked, and I was suddenly pacing in front of a cold hearth. Each thump thump thump of my paws on the floor magnified the troubled thing burrowing between my ribs and mutilating my insides. Hazy grey lights slanted through the window, casting long, uncanny shadows across the office.

She disrespected me. That damn fragile creature doesn’t understand gratitude. I showed her mercy by allowing her to keep her life, allowing her to stay here, and what do I get in return? Frustration and blatant disregard. To defy a command so contemptuously—she was… she was maddening!

I paused mid-step. Static muddled my brain, and my tail whipped back and forth as the restlessness mutated into prickling anxiety. My internal impulses begged me to seek her out. A frantic and borderline feral necessity billowing into an agonizing affliction.

She had stormed out of the dining room. Fleeing from me.

I winced and returned to pacing.

Where had she gone? Where was she?

Inferni weren’t known for mercy. Devious, deranged, and depraved, surely. That disposition reflected in my current state of mind .

The idea of her being caught and cornered by a subject of my land struck me so brutally I was propelled into motion.

Wood screamed in complaint when I tore the office door open, the sound of rattling and creaking hinges following me down the halls.

Disheveled and barreling along the night-drenched corridors, I would have been a startling sight for any wayward Inferni.

The vastness of my hunger repulsed me, but I was a beast possessed.

Why put myself through this for a human woman with no name and no answers to crucial questions?

She was, in her entirety, a captivating puzzle.

Every facet of her was a piece meant to be unraveled and discovered.

She didn’t belong here. But she had come to me, paradox or not, so she was mine.

As the lord of Infernus, I had every right to claim her.

Air whistled through my fur, amorphous shadows teased at my limbs as I rushed by, and tapestries billowed behind me as I tore down the halls on all four.

Resentment surged in me upon realizing she had me behaving as unprincipled as the lowest Inferni imaginable.

It didn’t stop me from chasing her scent from the dining hall to the garden.

I hadn’t expected to find her quivering on the verge of a panic attack in the garden.

Hadn’t expected her prey animal fear or the tears rimming her eyes.

And hadn’t expected how I’d wanted to hold her until all was right in the world again.

Or how I’d wanted to keep her for myself when she passed out.

Instead, I reluctantly, hesitantly, summoned Thayer to take her to her room. My arms had tightened around her, and I snarled before finally convincing myself to hand her over to the gloomthreader.

She was mine. Under my protection. But as much as I wanted to stay by her side, I needed to investigate. A palpable trail of dark magic drifted through the garden, and I remained on high alert.

Sniffing, digging, prowling around the castle grounds turned up nothing. No sign of what had frightened her or tracks of any wayward creature on my land. But her fear, her words, had been real.

Something of a magical nature was tormenting her.

Minutes melded into hours as my rage and concern cooled to a manageable simmer. I patrolled the garden, chest heaving, blood still racing. It had barely been two full days since the woman appeared in my life, upending my rational senses.

A woman with no name. Perfect circumstances befitting the mystery that surrounded her.

Even her human nature was an enigma. She didn’t behave like one, not entirely.

Her hesitation with which utensil to use could be explained away, but she had also grabbed at food with her bare hands and stuffed her face like a starving animal .

Fuck if that didn’t intrigue me. She was so odd—yet compelling.

And maddeningly infuriating. The woman induced an insatiable appetite within me. The scent of her roused intense and sudden flashes of lust. My body temperature rose to a fever pitch, simply recalling the shimmering dress clinging to the luscious curves of her slender form.

As much as I’d practiced self-control, something about her caused my Inferni instincts to blow through my logic.

She was fresh and new, a glowing flower begging to be plucked.

The force of my desire was appalling, horrifying to the extent her presence overrode my discipline.

I couldn’t understand this compulsion or the obsessive thoughts that followed.

Only when she wasn’t around, clouding my mind, could I recognize the absurdity of my reactions to her.

It was wholly disproportionate to anything I’d experienced in my entire life.

Later in the night, when I’d dismissed any threats around the castle, I had every intention of returning to my study or my own rooms. But my mind was full of her, and my blood burned with lingering concern.

As if pulled by an insensible force, I stalked through the castle like a feral thing on the hunt.

My entire body trembled as I reached her door, hand shaking as I twisted the handle. A rush of air escaped me, and my chest deflated upon finding her huddled in the center of the bed. A white rose petal wilted and collapsed.

World-ending relief washed through me.

Safe and secure. As she should be.

I could provide that for her—forever.

Memory of my earlier— tantrum —made me wince, a low growl vibrating through my chest. A more tangible situation than the one in the garden, and one I should have managed better. I wanted to woo her, not worsen her already upturned life.

Look at her… I would kill for her, maybe even die for her.

Her luminous sky-blue hair fanned out around her head, falling in waves with a few errant curls interspersed.

A gossamer cornflower blue night gown adorned her still frame; thin straps over the shoulders dropped into a low v-neckline accentuating the expanse of her chest and upper swells of her breasts.

Each breath lifted them, perfectly perky, with nipples peaked in the cool air.

The gown ended at her upper thigh, showing off a heart stopping length of skin as smooth and pale as cream.

Halfway across the room, my foot caught on something soft. I picked up the crumpled scrap of lace, turning it between my fingers. Undergarments…

Her underwear.

My heart thudded an uncomfortable staccato against my ribs.

Tha-thump. Tha-thump. Tha-thump.

With each passing second, perhaps even an eternity, the vile monster of obsession and hunger curdled inside me. Teeth gnashing and claws mauling me from the pit of my stomach to the base of my throat. I wished I could vomit it up and rid myself of this odious craving.

A heady, musky scent clung to the lace. I shoved my nose further, inhaling deeper.

It wasn’t enough. I rubbed the fabric bearing the smell of her sex across my face, marking myself with her.

It wasn’t enough. I lapped at it, the sweet musk and lace soaking with my saliva as I laved my tongue over the fabric.

It still wasn’t enough. I shoved it between my teeth, sucking the essence of her cunt down my throat.

A gentle sigh cracked through me, and I jolted.

She was still asleep, breathing slowly. When she remained motionless, I stepped closer, clutching her underwear in my fist. My shadow stretched across her body, submerging her light in my darkness.

It wasn’t enough

An inferno of heat roared to life in my chest, and molten lava coursed through my limbs. Hand shaking, I uncurled my fingers, reaching for her—

As soft as I remember.

I’d had Inferni females in the past. Lovers come and gone, flesh to be fucked for the night and discarded upon the dawn.

Lust I knew, and I understood—or thought I understood.

Nothing compared to the inexplicable tide of feelings tearing me apart from within.

Sundering my very foundation with such a visceral reaction.

None of them had ever been as soft as her.

My presence expanded and filled the room, drenching every corner in my pheromones and the natural essence of my scent.

Still, she slept, kept under by whatever trials and fears exhausted her before her arrival.

More than some random magic and a portal, her fidgety nature and inconsistent heart rate described the story of a runaway.

She had escaped from something, and I would be her refuge.