Page 31 of His Trick

But hearing my name on his puffy, busted lips…

It broke me.

Iran out of the woods. So fast, I felt like the fucking morons being hunted. It didn’t matter that I had the mask and stupid leather pants on.

I am his prey.

No. I would not be anyone’s fucking prey. Ever.

The maze spat me out into the night, but I swear I still felt him clinging to my body. My skin buzzed with leftover adrenaline, and my jaw ached from the way I’d been grinding my teeth so damn hard. Hell, my cock was still heavy, aching, like his mouth hadn’t fucking drained the hunger out of me, despite the pathetic rhythmic spasms traveling through me.

It should’ve been simple.

He was the one on his knees, choking until he turned blue, gagging on my thickness, and obeying every demand. I should’ve felt like a king. Instead, it was just a fucking itch that I couldn’t relieve, no matter how hard I scratched. No matter how much I bled. His eyes, that fucking delvish smirk, and the way he hadn’t broken…it all rattled inside my brain, crawling like spiders under my ribs.

By the time I saw Xanthy waiting near the firelight, her face all sweet and glowing with that stupid trust in her dark eyes, I wanted to tear something apart. She didn’t deserve the storm inside me, but she was the only one dumb enough to step into it.

She was my shield.

I couldn’t lose my shield.

Somehow, Carrington saw me for me, but no matter the months together, Alexandra Harding was still as blind as I wanted her to be. Carrington was right about the reason he saw me.

We are the same.

“Shiloh!” Xanthy ran at me, her pliable body smashing into mine as she looped her arms around my neck like I was her hero.

Her perfume, the scent of flowers and sugar, wrapped around me. She was too damn pure, too soft. I needed something raw that would strip the taste of him off my tongue and body.

I kissed her hard, rough…enough to bruise.

“Oh. Did you miss me, Baby Boy?” She gasped, and that fucking pet name made me growl into her mouth.

My hands grabbed at her waist, her hips, dragging her closer like I could drown Carrington’s ghost in her warmth.

“Ow, Baby. Slower. We can’t do this here, silly.”

She whimpered when I bit her lip, but she didn’t pull away.

Loyal little Xanthy. Always eager to please me.

I should’ve softened like she’d asked. Obeyed her cries, knowing others were watching us. There was a heat in the room.The way the masked figures had their bodies turned, but no less still, watched.

I should’ve given her the boy she thought she loved. But Carrington had left a hole inside me, and now I was bleeding my darkness.

“Shiloh.” She breathed when I shoved her against the rough wood of the wall.

Her wide eyes searched mine, looking for the tenderness I couldn’t give her.

Instead, I dragged my mouth down her neck, biting harder than I meant to, doing my best not to fuck her. Abuse my aching cock again for the night. Wondering how I would even get an erection at this point.

Unless it’s for him.

Fuck no.

The demons in my head were ruthless, worse than my father. I couldn’t handle my thought patterns. I kept marking her like I could stake a claim that would blot out her arrogant asshole of a sibling. Her fingers trembled in my hair, her body torn between clinging and pushing me back.

It only pissed me off more.