Page 25 of Grotesque

T he earth was spongey beneath my feet as I flew across it, into the waiting arms of the crooked trees. My palms were scratched and burning from my fall, stinging all the worse as my nails bit into them, fists clenched as I ran like my life depended on it.

I felt it the moment Corban started to pursue me. A great sweeping shadow of dread shrouded me, threatening to pull me down despite the extra kick of adrenaline. Perhaps he was Death after all, a reaper come to steal my soul.

Branches tugged at my hair, one scraped my arm and then another was slapping me across the face as I hurled myself forward.

Of course Corban could leave the house.

I’d seen him standing in the yard once, after all, hadn’t I?

But no, like the first idiotic girl to die in a horror movie, I’d taken it literally when he’d said he was a part of the manor.

Fear nipped at my heels, urging me faster.

I had no idea where I was going or how large the forest was.

I just knew that I couldn’t stop. Once I did, once he grabbed hold of me, I was lost. Not just because he would win this game, but because I had a feeling that once he did, I’d never escape his clutches again.

Not that I really wanted to – he wouldn’t even have to take my soul, if that was what he was after. I would give it to him willingly.

The ground shifted beneath me as my foot landed in a soft patch of moss, my ankle twisting as momentum careened me forward and down.

I hit the ground with a cry, barely catching myself on my palms, shredding them the rest of the way.

I threw my head back, biting my lip to stifle the sob of pain that threatened to tear out of my throat.

Utter stillness enveloped me.

I held my breath to better listen. There was no trace of nighttime birdsong, not a single insect chirped.

Even the wind had died. There was absolute silence.

I knew creatures went quiet when a predator was close, but surely, I would be able to hear him.

Corban was huge, he would be loud. Then again, he was magic.

I probably wouldn’t be able to hear him unless he wanted me to.

I gripped the base of the tree beside me as I tried to right myself. Blistering pain wrapped around my ankle, but I forced weight onto it, testing it gingerly. I let out a shuddering breath and started hobbling forward. There wasn’t time to waste when I knew my twenty seconds were already up.

I was alert to every snapping twig, every shifting shadow as I crept forward, but there was no sign of Corban. It didn’t matter though, I could feel him there with me in the darkness. Every hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

A patch of soft light filtered between the trees up ahead, a beacon leading me out of the maze. A neighboring property? I stepped out from between the final trees and came to a jarring halt.

“No,” I said, spinning back around to find the tree line now well behind me.

Ahead of me stood Glamis Manor, in all its glory.

Each window glowed with warm light, as if to mock me.

I might have been running through the woods blindly but I knew I had been running straight.

There wasn’t any way for me to have completely turned myself around, and stumbled out into the field, only yards away from where I had entered the forest minutes before.

“What the fuck? This isn’t possible.”

A patch of darkness moved. Out of the shadows cast by my car in the driveway, spilled the tall form of a man.

Corban. He looked perfectly composed, his brow free of sweat and clothes finely pressed and tailored.

Had he chased me at all, or had he been waiting until I ran straight back into his arms?

“You’re only able to leave Glamis when I allow it,” he said.

My stomach dropped. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

He tsked. “No need to fear dove,” he said prowling forward. “I only intend to keep you here for our games. Which—” he plucked the front of my shirt, “—I’ve won again.”

“You can keep me here?” I breathed.

“Of course I can.” His eyes glimmered like rare jewels. He reached for me, one hand wrapping around my throat and the other lacing through the back of my hair. “I can keep you wherever I like. Put you in any position I want.”

How did something so violent sound so sexual coming out of his mouth? I knew he could smell the moment my arousal hit by the slow upward curve of his lips.

He slid his thumb over my mouth, the edge of one of his long claws catching my lower lip.

“I love the way you play with death. How you invite it in so willingly. Tell me, will you allow me in?” His talons trailed down my throat to the front of my shirt.

It sliced apart like silk beneath his touch.

“Will you beg for me as you did last night, and the night before?”

His cool skin drew an involuntary shiver from me as he slid his palm over one of my now exposed breasts.

His iron grip held me still, not that I tried to get away.

I could fight, as my wiser, more rational self instructed, but we both knew I would always give into Corban.

Like Rosaline, I’d had a taste of him and needed more.

“Yes,” I said hoarsely. “Please, Corban.”

“Again.” He twisted my nipple between his thumb and forefinger. I rose up on my toes, trying to release the pressure from the sharp pinch of his nails.

“Please.”

Swirls of darkness entered his eyes. The bite of his claws found their way into my scalp.

“Please!” I gasped.

“Please what,” he hissed.

“Please fuck me.”

In a fatal swoop he pulled my face up to his and pressed his cold lips to mine. I laced my arms around his neck as his hands dropped to my ass, and he hoisted me up. I wrapped my legs around him, latching hold to him with equal savagery.

He was like a drug. So powerful that a simple taste was all it took for him to spread throughout my bloodstream. Corban was an addiction I’d always lose the battle against.

One second, we were in the field and the next I heard his boots on the front porch. Warm light spilled around us when the front door opened and he walked us into Glamis’ familiar embrace.

He set me down and the moment my feet touched the floor I was tugging at his shirt. He grabbed me by my waistband and yanked me flush against him.

“Take these off, now,” he growled, ripping his shirt free from my grasp. It disappeared like smoke. Like it had never been there to begin with.

Fuck he was beautiful. Corban was so unbelievably perfect it ached to look at him. Perhaps Rosaline had been right and he was an angel, one that had fallen from grace.

I wasn’t thinking, just following my instincts when I leaned forward and ran my tongue up his smooth chest. A low groan rumbled from beneath my mouth. I toed off my shoes and wrapped my hand around his cock as he pushed his pants down.

Corban’s cock was as beautiful as he was.

It was long, longer than any I had seen in person or even in porn, and its girth was something to behold.

It was a wonder I’d been able to take him in my throat last night.

I felt a sense of pride as I stroked down, down, down and then back up, twisting my palm over the glistening head.

I took a step back, giving him a gentle tug before letting him go.

I retreated to the bottom of the stairs.

All traces of humanity had fled his slanted eyes. There was nothing but a predator standing naked before me, muscles taut and cock twitching.

He was looking at me just as he had the first time we met and all the times since. Like he wanted to devour me. Slowly, I hooked my thumbs into the waistband of my underwear and pushed them down, along with my shorts, kicking my socks off so I too, was naked.

“Come and get me,” I said.

Fire lit behind the pale green of his irises. I turned and sprinted up the stairs.

I’d barely made it to the landing when he grabbed me from behind and pushed me down, his broad chest slamming into my back. We fell to the ground in a heap in front of the giant gilded mirror.

I caught his eyes in the reflection when he sat up, keeping a hand on the middle of my back. He wrapped his other hand around his cock and angled it down. At the first brush against my entrance, he let out an animalist hiss. “Wicked, wicked, Sorcha. You’re absolutely soaking.”

I shifted my hips up, trying to push him inside. The head of his cock parted me and I let out a shameless moan. I needed him now . He leaned over my back once more and took purchase of my hips. With his face pressed against my cheek, his gaze locked with mine in the mirror, he slid inside.

My mouth gaped at the intrusion in a silent plea. More? Stop? Never stop?!

“That’s it,” he praised. “Look at you.” He eased farther in until my silent pleasure finally made a sound, and I groaned, throwing my head back into his shoulder.

“Fuck you’re big,” I said.

“I know,” he said kissing my cheek. “And you take me so well. First your mouth and now your perfect little pussy. You’re doing so good. I need you to take a little bit more so I can fuck you properly.”

Hysterical laughter bubbled in the back of my throat. There was no way he could slide any more of his cock inside me. I gasped when he thrust forward. “Corban!”

A dissatisfied hiss left him. “That just won’t do.”

“Won’t…” I started. “There’s nowhere else for you to go!”

“Shh,” he crooned. “It’s alright.” Corban rolled his hips back and then forward slowly. A deep rumble hummed within his chest.

“You’ve got to– fuck!” Something between sharp pain and white-hot pleasure ran up my spine when he bottomed out.

He encircled my waist with one strong arm. “That’s exactly what we are doing.” He shifted his hips and thrust so hard the sound of his flesh smacking against mine echoed down the hallway. “That is what I am going to do to you all night.”