Page 27

Chapter

Twenty-One

Bloom

Forbidden Fruit

F ire seared my flesh.

My own screams filled my ears as I watched flames engulf my body at the stake. The scent of my burning hair, the crackle of my blistering skin—every detail horrifically vivid. Agony liquefied my bones.

A thunderous roar split the sky. Rain fell like divine mercy, dousing the flames.

Too late.

Nero Ravencrux’s face swam above me, those fathomless eyes wide with…horror? Hunger? The world dimmed before I could decide.

I woke choking on a gasp. Phantom fire still licked at my nerves. My heart battered my ribs like a caged beast. My nightdress clung to my sweat-slicked body, the fabric pasted to every curve.

Across the room, Sindy’s silhouette rose and fell with even breaths, her soft snores a counterpoint to my ragged panting.

Moonlight bled through the tinted window when I finally crept to it. Outside, the Obsidian Wilds sprawled beneath the silvered night, beautiful and brutal as the dream that still lingered in my veins.

The murdered women’s stares pressed against the window glass, a silent jury of red-haired ghosts. Their unspoken demand clawed at my bones: Speak for us. Don’t join us.

A conspiracy of ravens swept past the tower, cawing in warning. The Obsidian Wilds was calling me. No—not the forest. He .Ravencrux’s summons thrummed in my blood, transcending logic, awakening my primal need.

My body heated in longing. Before I knew it, I was throwing a cloak over my sleeping gown. My bare feet flew down stairwells of their own volition. I was out of the tower in no time, night air cooling my fevered skin.

Earth and iron and crushed pine filled my nostrils as I followed the familiar path.

Then I saw him, his silhouette cutting through the darkness. Moonlight silvered his raven hair and the broad planes of his back. Power lived in that body, not fleeting mortal strength but the kind that predated civilizations. The kind that shaped worlds when stars were born.

He turned. Shadows curled around him. That devastatingly beautiful face stole my breath away, and I took a ragged breath into my lungs.

Just an immortal , I reminded myself. But when his unwavering gaze locked onto mine, reason abandoned me. My heart once again became a wild creature throwing itself against its cage.

If this man was a killer, I was already doomed. Because standing there, bathed in silver moonlight and madness, I realized a terrible truth:

I’d walk willingly into his arms even if they led to my grave.

“Come to me at last?” His voice poured over me like molten honey, eyes holding the heat of a dying star.

I didn’t stand a chance.

This unnatural need, its intensity, its singularity, terrified me. I’d never burned for anyone before.

The night wind hissed through my thin gown, finally bringing sense with its chill.

“This is a mistake,” I breathed, stepping back. “I shouldn’t be here.”

He lunged before I could take a step. One moment apart, the next, his arm banded around my waist, pulling me flush against him. A spark traveled straight to my core, drawing a gasp to my lips.

“Never a mistake,” he growled, pulling me against his sculpted chest. His heat burned through my cloak, branding my skin. Every touch brought delight that bordered on pain. My body arched against him instinctively, craving more contact, more pressure, more of him.

The faces of those dead women flickered behind my eyelids.

“Did you…” The words clogged my throat.

He cradled my jaw, his winter-green eyes reflecting the white moon. “Did I what, my flower?”

“Did you—” I tried again, and the accusation crumbled like ash on my tongue. Some unseen force seemed to stifle the question, as if speaking it would irrevocably shift fates and unravel a fundamental truth too terrible to face.

My throat closed until I forcibly redirected my thoughts.

I shook my head. “Nothing. Just…it’s a bad idea to come here.”

His thumb traced my lower lip. “Why is it a bad idea, flower?” he drawled.

I stared at him incredulously. “Have you forgotten that you’re a professor and I’m your student? It’s wrong and dangerous for us to keep doing this!”

“It’s not wrong, little flower, and we’ll keep doing this,” he said, his rich, silky voice caressing me. His fingers tilted my face up. “The Wilds answer to me. No one will know.”

I trembled. Perhaps just once. Perhaps this hunger would fade if fed.

A shadow, large and swift, darted at the edge of my vision. The hellhound? Was it prowling for Nero, keeping others away?

“We can’t fight this,” he said, his hand sliding over my breast through the thin fabric. My back arched at his touch, a quiet moan slipping out. His thumb circled my nipple, teasing it to a hard peak. “You feel it too. You want me just as much. This is fate.”

I didn’t argue. The pull between usdid feel inevitable.

“It’s only sex,” I managed between moans of pleasure, more to convince myself than him. “The craving will fade. The madness will pass.” Maybe if I let it burn itself out, I could return to something normal, if normal even existed at Forsaken Academy.

He laughed, low and smooth. “Is that all it is?” His lips grazed my earlobe, sending a shiver of sensation through me. “Try to get me out of your system. If you ever succeed, I’ll let you go. But you won’t. Not now. Not tomorrow. Not in eternity.”

His hand slid between my thighs, pressing against the damp fabric of my panties. I sank into his touch, seeking more.

“So wet, so ripe,” he murmured, fingers tracing the proof of my desire. “So ready for me.”

Every stroke of his fingers sent a jolt through me, as if my body existed only to respond to him.

He circled the aching spot with slow, deliberate precision, stoking the heat coiling tight inside me.

My head dropped back against his shoulder, throat bared to his mouth.

His teeth skimmed my skin—a threat or a tease?

The night deepened around us, shadows thickening as if drawn to the heat between us. The air hung heavy with the scent of desire—mine, his—the forest itself pressing close.

I twisted my fingers into his thick hair, pulling him nearer as his scorching touch turned relentless. Above us, the stars smeared into streaks of light as pleasure coiled tighter inside me, a wave cresting.

“Let go.”His teeth scraped the pulse point at my throat, possessive.“I’ve got you, little flower.”

For a breathless moment, I feared I’d shatter into a thousand pieces in his arms. This craving was too sharp and too much. He kissed me deeply, swallowing my cry of pleasure.

When my knees steadied, he spun me to face him. His gaze burned, hunger undimmed.

“Sebastian is a viper,” he said, the sudden change of subject jarring me back to the present.

The shift was abrupt, but pleasure still hummed through me, emboldening me.“He said the same about you.”

Nero’s eyes darkened, searing with territorial rage.“You’re mine and no one else’s.”

I should have been afraid. Instead, his possessiveness sent a thrill through me, one I refused to acknowledge.“Bit early for that, isn’t it?”My voice stayed light, mocking.“I barely know you,Professor.”

And he was still my top suspect. The only thing that gave me pause was how obvious the evidence seemed. Nero could break me without effort. If he wanted me dead, I’d already be gone.

His smile was a dark promise.“Then I’ll fix that.”

My pulse stuttered. He’ll desire me until he doesn’t, then he’ll dispose of me like the others. The thought invaded my head, cold and merciless.

“Touch you, and I peel their skin inch by inch,” he growled, the low vibration traveling straight to my marrow. “Sebastian? I’ll snap each bone before finishing him.”

Sebastian’s warnings echoed in my skull— violent past, predator, killer . Yet staring into those glacial green eyes, feeling the promise of brutality in his touch, my heart only beat harder, my body hummed, and my blood heated.

What was fucking wrong with me?

I lowered my gaze to his hands, those skilled, powerful, and beautiful hands that had mapped my body like sacred ground. The same hands that might have strangled women wearing my face.

“Way to darken the mood,” I murmured instead. “I guess romance isn’t your strength.”

He chuckled, his thumb grazing my lower lip. “You want pretty words?” His smile turned feral and sexual. “I’ll give you pretty screams instead.”

His mouth claimed mine in a searing kiss, fingers working on my bundle of nerves with cruel expertise, stoking the fire between my thighs until I trembled.

His bruising kiss grew more possessive, consuming me.

He tasted of storm and smoldering embers, of power so old it predated names.

Every drag of his lips was a demand, every flick of his tongue a conquest.

I molded my body to his, arms locking around his neck like chains. We were already fused hip to chest, yet some desperate part needed him closer still. Knew this hunger was devouring me whole.

And still, I couldn’t get enough of him.

He’d awakened something feral in my blood, something that thrilled at his teeth on my throat, his hands mapping me like territory to be claimed. When he looked at me with those green eyes, when his caress left me gasping, morality blurred to ash.

Let this be my ruin.

His long fingers curved around my neck and squeezed, cutting off the air with just enough pressure to make my vision fracture at the edges. My body arched toward him in a shameless plea.

“You crave this, my flower,” he murmured against my pulse, his rich voice laced with roughness.

My body was on fire. My thighs clenched, every nerve alight. The dangerous pressure should have terrified me. Instead, it evoked a hunger so deep it felt like coming home.

“Enough?” His fingers flexed, just shy of brutality.

The confession tore from me, my shame lacing with desire. “N-need more.”

A paradox—I had asthma, yet I was certain Nero choking me wouldn’t trigger it.