Page 65 of Pretty Ruthless Monsters: Complete Series

When he speaks at last, his voice is raspy, and the sound of it goes straight to my core. It brings back visceral memories of him at the club, pressed tight against me, growling low in my ear.

“You look good on your knees,” he says, his gaze sweeping over me. “Very good. Like you belong there.”

I swallow hard, a shiver going through me just from those words. He hasn’t even touched me yet, and I can already feel myself slipping deeper into the way things used to be between us.

“I missed this.” The words fall from my lips before I have time to consider them or snatch them back. “I missed you.”

Phantom. The release only he could give me. The closeness I felt in those moments.

I don’t say all of that, but judging from the look on Killian’s face, he knows exactly what I mean. His eyes flash, and his hand shoots out like lightning. He leans down just enough that he can get a good grip on my hair, holding it tight in his fist.

My scalp stings with the force of it, pinpricks of pain and pleasure coursing through me from his rough handling.

“How much?” he rasps. “How much did you miss me? Miss this?”

“I—” My throat goes dry as I try to speak, and I have to swallow once and then again to try to get my voice working.

Killian yanks my head up even harder, and tears spring to my eyes from the way he’s pulling on my hair. He drags me up onto my knees and makes me look up at him, his face just a few inches from mine.

“Did you miss the way I take you apart? Did you miss the way I don’t give you any choice but to come undone for me?”

Fuck .

I shiver all over just from the way he’s talking, my body responding to him the way it always has. There’s no sign that he’s going to relent until I answer his questions, and honestly, I wouldn’t want him to.

Phantom was unyielding. Unless I used the safe word, he wouldn’t stop. And that’s Killian all over. He’s making that clear in the way he acts now, not letting up until I do what he wants. Just the knowledge of that ramps my arousal up another couple notches until I’m burning for him.

“Tell me, siren,” he breathes, using the name he always called me back at the club. Back then, I just assumed it was because we were hooking up anonymously. No names. No faces. But now it sounds almost like a term of endearment. “Tell me how much you’ve wanted it.”

“So much,” I admit in a choked voice, swallowing hard. “So fucking much, you don’t even know. I fucking—I dreamt about it, in the times between when I saw you at the club. I tried to get myself off, thinking about how you would use me. But it wasn’t the same.”

“I know.” He nods, his dark brown hair glinting in the light. “I know it wasn’t the same. I know you couldn’t get yourself off the way I can. You can’t ruin yourself the way I can ruin you.”

There’s something about the way he says it that makes me realize he’s not just bragging. He’s speaking with first-hand knowledge, like he’s seen me trying to get myself off the way he would do it.

That should piss me off, this reminder that he’s been in my house, been watching me for longer than I knew, but instead it just sets me on fire even more.

Because he knows.

He knows exactly what I need and how to give it to me.

There’s a satisfied look on his face as he takes in my reaction to his words, and the corners of his lips turn up into a small smile.

“I’m going to make sure you get what you need tonight,” he murmurs, leaning in closer. “Open your mouth.”

I hesitate, and his fingers go even tighter in my hair for a second. His other hand grips my jaw, hard enough that I know it’ll bruise if he digs in much more. He doesn’t repeat himself, but I know that he’s demanding my obedience and he’s ready to force me to comply if he has to.

As tempting as that is, I open my mouth, letting my lips part for him.

Killian leans back just a bit and then spits right into my open mouth. The sound of it is harsh, and I flinch a little, surprise rushing through me before the heat takes over again.

“Swallow it.”

I do, my throat working and my face burning from the degradation.

Nico and Atlas are still watching, both of them silent for the moment. If it wasn’t for the fact that I can feel their gazes burning into the back of my head, I might have thought they’d left, giving me and Killian this moment alone.

But there’s too much tension in the air for it to be just us, and Killian glances over my head for a second before flicking his eyes back down to me.

“Should we show them?” he asks, and the sound of his voice is so fucking touchable in this moment. It glides over my skin, making me shiver. “Should we show them how we did things at the club? Let them see just how you like it?”

My heart pounds at the prospect of it. The things Phantom—Killian—and I did at the club were private.

Just for us. But Atlas and Nico are a part of this now, and the secret is out.

The thought of them watching Killian take me apart makes my pussy throb with arousal, and I can’t resist the promise of how fucking hot it will be.

So I nod in silent agreement.

Killian’s eyes turn even more heated, almost pure black from how dark they are. He releases my hair suddenly and turns to leave the room, leaving me blinking after him.

I have no idea where he’s going, but I don’t move from the spot where he left me, still on my knees on the hardwood floor. He comes back a few minutes later, his footsteps quiet on the stairs, and as he re-enters the living room, I realize he’s holding something in his hand.

My breath catches as I recognize what he has. It’s the skull masks that the Princes wear sometimes when they do jobs—the faces etched with skeletal images that match the ones on their helmets. He also has my mask from the club.

“How did you get that?” I ask, although it’s a pointless question. I shouldn’t be surprised anymore by how many little things Killian knows about me, or by how closely he observes everything I do. Of course he knows where I keep that mask.

Killian doesn’t answer, probably realizing the question doesn’t need a response. He just hands it to me with a hard look on his face.

“Put it on.”

My hands tremble with adrenaline and arousal as I do it, settling the mask on my face. It feels more revealing than it usually does. At the club, it’s meant to hide my identity, to work almost as a sort of shield.

Here, it’s just revealing more about what Killian and I got up to, giving more away than it hides.

But when Killian pulls one of the skull masks on, I couldn’t care less. Every part of me is zeroed in on him and the way he looks in that mask.

I know he’s still Killian, still the man who lives in my house and is Nico’s and Atlas’s best friend. But with that mask on, the lines are completely blurred. In this moment, he’s Phantom, standing in front of me, transformed completely into the man from the club.