Page 18

Eighteen

The apartment was dark when I stepped inside, but the warmth was already waiting for me.

Lingering.

I closed the door softly behind me, locking it with hands that still trembled from whatever had happened back at the restaurant. My legs felt weak. My pulse was erratic. My body was thrumming with an energy that wasn’t mine.

I knew I should have been scared. I should have been furious.

But all I could feel was heat curling around my ribs, pulsing deep between my thighs.

The warmth purred, thick with satisfaction.

You were so good for me, Sunshine.

The whisper came from inside my mind, thick with satisfaction. I sucked in a sharp breath, pressing my fingers to my temples. No. No, this isn’t real. This can’t be real.

But it was.

It had been real at dinner.

It had been real when my body wasn’t mine.

I stumbled toward the couch, collapsing onto the cushions before I could stop myself. My skin felt too tight, like I had been wound up so tightly I might snap apart. My breathing was uneven, my fingers twitching in my lap.

What is happening to me?

The warmth hummed, almost amused. Like I had asked a silly question. Like it already knew.

My head tilted back against the couch, my body sinking into the fabric as exhaustion finally pulled at me. I felt wrung out. Used. Stretched thin and buzzing with something I didn’t understand.

I needed sleep. I needed to think.

I needed to?—

Heat pooled against my neck. Soft. Lingering.

My breath caught.

The sensation trailed lower, invisible hands pressing against my collarbone, drifting down my sternum. Slow. Teasing. Familiar.

My thighs clenched on instinct, my breath leaving in a stutter.

You don’t need to think, Sunshine. I’ll take care of everything.

A whimper slipped from my lips before I could stop it. No. No, this wasn’t happening again.

But my body was already betraying me.

My arms went slack. My legs shifted, parting just slightly. The warmth poured into me, slipping through every crack, flooding every nerve until I couldn’t tell where it ended and where I began.

My breath hitched as something brushed between my legs—soft, patient, knowing.

The cold slipped in, coiling around my limbs, pressing against the heat.

She needs to rest.

The warmth shuddered, flickering. The sensation between my legs disappeared in an instant, replaced by a creeping chill.

The air around me tightened, the oppressive heat of Sun’s presence curling back, resisting. The warmth returned, firmer this time, pressing down over my body like an embrace.

The warmth bristled, its presence flaring brighter, possessive.

She needs more than rest. Look at her. She’s starving.

The tension coiled in my chest, pulling me in two different directions. The warmth urged me forward, higher, deeper?—

The cold coaxed me back, lulling, steadying.

The cold was patient, relentless.

She is exhausted. She needs sleep.

The warmth rumbled deep inside me, tempting, coaxing.

She needs to be fed.

A sharp pulse of heat flickered through me, curling at the base of my spine. My body arched, a soft whimper spilling from my lips as my thighs squeezed together.

The heat wrapped around me, teasing, unrelenting.

You want me to stop? Really?

The cold tightened. A ghost of fingers brushed against my forehead, a featherlight touch pressing my body deeper into the couch. A silent command.

The cold pressed into my thoughts, steady, unyielding.

Let her rest.

The warmth growled, the heat surging one last time—before it pulled away.

My limbs went limp. My mind drifted. A thick fog curled around me, pressing down, soothing.

A truce.

The last thing I felt before I slipped under completely was the faintest pressure against each of my hands—one warm, one cold.

MOON

She went still. Soft.

Sun exhaled sharply, irritation glowing against the edges of my awareness. I ignored him, watching as her breathing slowed, her lashes fluttering once before she fully surrendered.

“She needed rest,” I said.

Sun huffed, fingers tightening around her wrist. “She needs more than that.”

He wasn’t wrong.

She did need more.

But not yet.

Not while she was still too fragile, too hazy to understand what we are or who she was becoming to us.

Sun shifted beside me, impatience vibrating through the shared space between us. He wanted.

But so did I.

I lifted her other hand, my thumb ghosting over the delicate pulse in her wrist. Such a fragile thing.

Sun leaned in, pressing unseen lips to her knuckles, glowing against her skin. “You’ll be so sweet for me,” he whispered, his voice a molten promise.

The cold brushed against her palm, my own claim colder, deeper. “You already belong to us.”

She sighed in her sleep, her fingers twitching?—

One in the light.

One in the dark.

And between us, she would be devoured.

Her breath hitched, a tiny gasp that echoed in the silence of her slumber. I felt it as keenly as if it were my own—the sharp intake of air, the way her back arched ever so slightly from the cushions of the couch. I watched, my silver gaze fixed on the rise and fall of her chest, as Sun whispered his sweet nothings into her ear.

He started with her hand, guiding it with a tenderness that made her moan low in her throat. His touch was fire, a slow burn that spread across her skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Her fingers trembled as they traced the contours of her body, dipping into the hollow of her throat before drifting lower.

I, on the other hand, craved a different response. My control was a dance on the edge of a razor, a delicate balance between ecstasy and agony. I led her other hand, my whispers a dark melody in her mind, urging her to pinch and tug at the taut bud of her nipple. The harshness of the sensation drew a whimper from her lips, her body bowing off the couch as she rode the line between pain and pleasure.

Her sides were next, my influence carving a path of scratches that bloomed like crimson roses against her porcelain skin. Each mark was a testament to my presence, a branding that claimed her as mine. The contrast of the sting against Sun's gentle caresses had her writhing, lost in a sea of conflicting sensations.

And then, with exquisite timing, our hands—hers, yet not—met at the apex of her thighs. Sun's touch was a tease, a soft circling that coaxed her higher, while mine was an insistent demand, a fierce rhythm that drove her further into the madness. The dual sensations had her grinding helplessly against her own fingers, the friction building to an unbearable crescendo.

Her every whimper, every moan, was a symphony to our shared ears. Sun's glow intensified, a radiant beacon that threatened to consume her, while my shadows deepened, a cool respite from the inferno he stoked within her. We were two halves of a whole, a yin and yang of pleasure that held her captive between us.

The end was near. I could feel it in the trembling of her muscles, in the way her breath came in ragged gasps. Sun's voice was a constant murmur, praising her, urging her on, while I whispered darker encouragements, reminding her of the exquisite pain that accompanied true pleasure.

Together, we pushed her over the edge. Her orgasm ripped through her, a fierce maelstrom that left her shattered and panting, her body limp and sated on the couch.

She was perfect.

Flawed, yes. Vulnerable, undoubtedly. But in that vulnerability was a strength that had drawn me in from the start. She was a puzzle I needed to solve, a song I ached to hear in full. And she was mine.

Ours.

I leaned in, my silver eyes reflecting the moonlight that filtered through the window. Her breathing was steady, a rhythm I could slip into with ease.

I began with a whisper, a soft sound that wound its way into her dreams. Her eyelids fluttered, a sign that she was descending deeper into the realm where I reigned supreme.

"Listen to my voice," I crooned, the words resonating in the quiet of the room. "You are safe here, in the darkness with me."

Her body relaxed further, her mind opening to my influence. I moved closer, my fingers brushing against her temple.

"You trust me," I murmured, the command weaving itself into the fabric of her subconscious. "You know I will never lead you astray."

A small sigh escaped her lips, her agreement given freely in the vulnerable state of sleep. I smiled, a rare occurrence that pulled at the cracks in my face. It was a risk, this manipulation, but one I was willing to take.

"From now on," I continued, my voice a silken thread that bound her will to mine, "you will only find your orgasm at our command."

Her brow furrowed slightly, a fleeting resistance that I soothed with a gentle caress. "You are ours, Dawn. And we are yours. This is how it should be."

The words echoed in the space between us, a vow that sealed her fate to ours. Her body shuddered, a silent acknowledgment of the promise she had just made, even if she was not fully aware of it yet.

I pulled back, giving her the space she needed to process the new bond that had been forged. Her breathing remained even, her face a picture of peaceful repose.

The night was ours, and as I watched over her, I knew that we had just taken the first step towards ensuring that she would never stray far from our grasp. She was bound to us now, in ways that went beyond the physical.

And when she awoke, she would carry the weight of that truth with her, a constant reminder that she was no longer alone in the darkness.

She was ours to cherish, ours to protect.

Ours to keep.