Page 37 of Peripheral Vision (Tethered in Darkness Duet #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Three

FLETCHER

T he taste of blood greets my tongue as I swipe my thumb along the corner of my mouth, feeling the wetness of the wound there.

My little viper thinks she knows the beast beneath the surface but has no idea what’s coming for her.

I give her a few moments of a head start before I pursue her, and this time I’m not holding back.

My stride carries me in the direction she ran, and it isn’t hard to find her.

Her footsteps are so damn loud that I can hear them echoing in the night, each one a defiant beat against the silence that has settled around us.

She’s fast, but not fast enough. It doesn’t take long for me to spot the back of her figure darting through the trees.

I know that if I could hear the heartbeat in her chest that it would be as erratic as the wild energy surrounding her, giving into her most depraved desires.

She knows what I am, she’s seen the monster beneath the surface, and she still chose to run knowing that a predator seeks to hunt his prey.

Her breath comes in sharp gasps as I close in on her, mingling with the rustling of leaves underfoot.

The distance between us is narrowing, but I’m going to let her think she can outrun me for just a little longer.

Because we both know that when I do catch her, I’m never letting her go.

A twig snaps under her foot and she looks back, a mistake on her part.

Her eyes widen with fear and resignation, and with a growl rumbling from my throat, I leap at her, ready to take what’s mine—but she stops suddenly, throwing my trajectory off as I avoid barreling directly into her and roll to the ground instead.

She gives me a defiant grin before taking off again, knowing that she is only going to rile me up further.

Like she wants to rile me up further. She’s testing me, pushing my limits, daring me to catch her.

She thinks she knows what will happen when I do, but I plan to show her that she doesn’t.

She’s faster than she was before, I’ll give her that, giving it her final push.

But I’m faster still. I give chase again, the night blurring around me as my focus sharpens.

My legs eat up the distance between us and this time when she looks back at me, there’s a slight curl to her lips.

My little viper is amused at the stunt she just pulled.

I launch myself forward and this time I grab her successfully, pulling her into me in a smooth movement that stops our forward trajectory.

My grip around her waist is tight and there is a part of me that wants to see the way her skin bruises from my touch.

She glares up at me, chest heaving, with a defiance I haven’t seen in her yet, but knew was always lurking beneath the surface.

“You think you’re in control, little viper?

You’re not. But I will show you what happens when you’ve made a mistake, and you made a very big one.

” My voice is low and dangerous. But before she can respond, I tilt her chin up, forcing her to meet my gaze.

Her pulse races beneath my fingertips and I know she feels the shift in the air.

“All these times you think you’ve been running from me, as if I haven’t been the one giving you the chance to do so.

But now you’ll face the consequences of thinking you could ever escape my grip.

” My lips crash against her in a violent and desperate wave.

It isn’t tender or soft or patient. She won’t get that with me.

But she will get absolute consumption. My hands hold in her place as I deepen the kiss, walking her backward until she hits a tree, leaving her no place to go even if she wanted to.

But I know she doesn’t because I can feel it in the way her body is pressed against mine.

Her tongue battles with my own for victory, lost in our desperation for one another. I slide my hands below her legs and lift her up and she wraps them around me instinctively. “Say it,” I growl. My voice is low and guttural. “Say you belong to me.”

“I belong to no one.” I nip at her lip and she yelps.

“Try again.” My grip tightens along her ass where I’m holding her against the tree.

Her breath hitches in a way that can only be caused by me. The way she stops breathing, the defiance and desire swirling in her eyes as she leans into my ear and repeats, “I belong to no one.”

I tighten my grip on her, lifting her higher and pressing her into the tree with more force.

The evidence of my own desire is not a secret.

“You do, you just need me to show you. There won’t be an inch of you unclaimed by the time we’re finished here.

And you won’t ever need to look at another man to fulfill your needs ever again. ”

She doesn’t break eye contact, but I can see the tension in her and feel it in the way she shifts around me, as though seeking friction. She’s not immune to me, no matter how much she fights it. Her lips curl into a sly smile. “You think it’s that easy?”

I smirk, brushing my lips across her neck.

“I don’t think. I know.” And before she has another opportunity to distract me from my very obvious mission, I take her lips in mine once more.

She moans into my mouth as I grind my erection against her center.

Her fingernails dig into my shoulders, a delicious mix of pleasure and pain as her resolve continues to crumble beneath my touch.

Her breath comes in ragged gasps as I pull from her mouth again and trail kisses down her neck, nipping and sucking at her pulse point.

One of my hands roams up her side, taking her shirt with it as my thumb finds the hardened peak hiding beneath her bra.

“That won’t do at all,” I say as I slowly set her down.

She lets out a whimper from our loss of contact. “Patience, little viper.” I chuckle .

Reaching into my back pocket, I brandish my knife, still garnished with the blood of her attacker.

The metal gleams as the moonlight hits it, and I hear the slight intake of breath from Dylan as I slowly route its way to the notch in her collarbone.

I haven’t forgotten what she’s endured tonight, which is exactly why I’m doing this.

To give her back her power and to see just how far she’s willing to go.

I wouldn’t do anything without me benefiting from it as well.

“If you want that jacket to remain in one piece, I suggest you remove it.” Her hand trembles slightly as she draws the zipper down and takes it off, dropping it to the forest floor.

Beneath it she’s wearing a blue crop top that rides just above her belly button.

“It’s a good thing you won’t be needing this anymore, either.

” She won’t be wearing anything like this again so long as I have something to say about it.

I have no issue making other men disappear just for looking at her.

I grip her shoulder, pulling her shirt away from her body as I slice a hole through the collar.

I hold my knife up, indicating for her to grab it because I’m nowhere close to done with it.

And when she does, I grab her shirt on either side of the cut, and with little effort tear it down the center, revealing a simple black bra.

I hold my hand out but she shakes her head.

“No, you can take this off like a normal person.

“I’ve already told you, normal is boring.

Now give me the knife.” But instead of doing what she’s asked, just like I should have guessed, she stands her ground, aiming it at me.

“If you wanted it rough, all you had to do was ask.” I don’t give her an inch, placing one hand at the base of her neck, wrapping my fingers around her throat, and grabbing the knife by its blade, the sharp edge biting into my skin as blood starts to well.

Her eyes widen. “You’re insane.”

“Tell me something I don’t know, sweetheart. Now are you going to listen, or are we going to do this the hard way?” Her grip loosens from the hilt and I take it from her.

“What about this has been easy?” she whispers as I turn the blade toward her and slice through the material of her bra in three quick cuts, the material floating to the ground. Only then do I fold it and return it to its place in my pocket. “You’re still bleeding.”

Turning my palm over, I inspect the slow but steady flow of blood from the wound.

“It’s a good thing your skin makes the perfect canvas, then.

” Her jaw drops in protest but I’ve already shoved her so that her back is firm against the tree, pressing my palm to the swell of her breast, enjoying the feel of her skin with nothing between us.

I roll her nipple between my forefinger and thumb, watching the way her skin pebbles beneath my touch before taking the hardened peak between my lips.

“You’re disgusting,” she breathes, her hand going to my hair in contradiction.

I suck and tug and bite, drawing out the sensation and her breathy moans, before kissing a path down her stomach, blood following in my mouth’s wake.

I stop just above the waistline to her jeans so I can unbutton them before pulling them, along with her panties, down her legs.

She doesn’t try to stop me. “Still think you don’t belong to me?

” She glares down at me, and I bite the inside of her thigh as she hits me.

“That only makes me harder, baby.” I don’t give her a chance to respond before shoving my face into her pussy and sucking on the little bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs.

She cries out in pleasure, all the fight leaving her body.

As my tongue attacks her clit, I ease her legs from the tangle of clothes at her feet before positioning her knee over my shoulder, allowing me a deeper angle.

“This is the only time you will ever see me on my knees. And only ever for you.” I resume lavishing her with my tongue, before thrusting a finger inside her pussy.

She gasps at the intrusion, her body clenching around me in response.

“Fuck, you’re dripping. That for me?” Her body undulates on my hand, her wetness coating it the way it’s coating my chin.

She looks fucking exquisite at my mercy and tastes like everything I imagined mine to be and more.

The more I work my finger and my mouth against her core, the tighter she gets.

I know she’s getting close so I add another, and that seems to do the trick.

She comes undone, shaking and trying to pull away as I drink her in, her gasps coming out a mixture of pure bliss and pain.

When she comes down from her high, I remove my mouth and fingers from her before sucking them clean and standing up, stretching the ache out from my knees as she starts to drop to her own, but I stop her.

“There will be time for that later, I need to be inside of you—now.” And it was true, the ache in my cock was becoming unbearable.

Time stands still as I pull my shirt and hoodie over my head in one go.

I unbuckle my pants, making a show of taking it slow so I can watch the way her pupils dilate in wait.

The way her tongue darts out to wet her lips in anticipation.

I pull my pants and boxers down, my cock springing free.

She can deny that I don’t know what desires lay under that pretty skin of hers, but just as I was right about her pupils dilating right now, I’m right about that too, and I can’t wait to prove it to her.