Page 165 of Serpent In White

“Have you?” My heart thumps from my chest into his while I suck his pulse.

He nods. “Sometimes… when I’m all alone…”

Returning my face to his, I suck hard on his lower lip while he tells me in his mind,I stuff my fingers inside myself and wish it was you. My brother…

I whine out loud, hoarse and trembling. This is what he does, and he does it so well. He gets to me. Everything about him…

“You are meant to be mine, brother or no brother.” I thrust my erect cock into his. “We could share blood and I would still want you desperately. I can’t help it. I’ve always been…”

“Lost to you,” he finishes my thought. “I’m sorry, baby.”

“Why do you torture me so much?” I breathe at his throat, sucking and biting to leave him purple. Marking him so everyone knows he’s mine, even though he can’t be. “Why do you tempt me, knowing I can’t have you the way I want?”

Our panting breaths echo off the walls. Drake strains his muscles, lifting himself so he can squirm into me.

“Youcan, though,” he murmurs. “You could. The girl was right… It’s been my fault.”

My movements slow. “What?”

“I’ve been convincing you we could never be more than secret lust,” he admits softly. “For years, I’ve pulled away, making you think we can’t be together. But it was becauseIwas afraid. Because… you’re too good for me, Darian.”

I back up, a strange foreboding crawling through my insides as I gawk down at him. His cheeks are pink, like his lips, puffy from our kisses, his broad chest moving with unsteady breaths. He’s the most beautiful beast I’ve ever seen…

“You… You’ve been manipulating me.” My forehead lines. Drake blinks. “The girlwasright… It’s been you all along. You’re the reason I’ve felt so insecure. You’re the reason I married those girls. To escape my feelings for you.”

Hurt and anger weave together in my heart as I stumble off of him. But he scrambles on top of me, this time pinning me down.

“Darian, please,” he insists, holding me while I struggle against him. “Listen to me. You have to understand where I was coming from…”

“No. I don’t give a fuck,” I hiss. “All I’ve ever wanted was you, and you’ve done nothing but run from me!” My voice raises as I shout up at him, the tension from the last twenty-five years finally erupting like a long dormant volcano. “Pushing me into Lars’s arms, then convincing me I needed to marry, to give the Regnum an heir. It’s been you all along, hasn’t it?? Whispering in their ears!”

I keep fighting against his hold, but he’s using all his weight to keep me beneath him.

For the first time, I’m seeing the truth. His thoughts are on display. No more hiding, no more blurring it out toprotectme. To subdue me.

Drake’s brows zip with his guilt, his shame, as he moves his lips up to my ear. “I’m so sorry, baby. I never wanted to hurt you… To make you feel like loving me was wrong.”

“But that’s exactly what you did,” I snarl. “Now, get off me.”

“No.” He stays planted over me while I try to wriggle free.

“Get off me, Drake! Now.”

“No, please. I need you to forgive me.” He kisses my jaw, my neck, my throat.

The feeling sends chills rushing across my body, but I’m so angry with him, I don’t want it. “Drake, stop.”

“You love me, I know you do,” he whispers.

And it triggers something in my mind.

A flashback I’ve tried so desperately to bury.

Himon top of me, my hands zip-tied to the headboard.

Hislips drag over my throat while he spreads my legs. “You love it, I know you do…”

Fear clutches me, burns my limbs, smothering me from the inside until I can’t breathe.