Page 87 of Scarlet Wars
She refused. She fucking refused.
The moment the words left her mouth a weight I hadn’t known I’d been carrying unclenched from my ribs, like someone finally cut the rope around my throat.
“And then,” she went on, oblivious to the sudden wash of relief flooding me, “as if that wasn’t already completely out of line, he looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘You’re mine,’ like I was some kind of prized possession.”
I clenched my jaw so hard it felt like my teeth might crack. She was nothis. Where the hell did he get off telling her she was?
But fuck, she wasn’t mine either…
She rose from my bed and walked over to the window, her back to me as a bitter laugh escaped her lips. “Who even says that?”
My hands curled into fists. It sure as hell shouldn’t have been James.
“I mean,” she said, spinning back toward me, laughter edged with something raw, “not even you—with all that alpha-hole energy you ooze—would say something as caveman-like asthat.”
My pulse spiked, my heart pounding hard enough it echoed in my ears. Her eyes found mine, and the genuine curiosity there nearly knocked me flat.
Was she asking me…? Did she want to know if I would ever call hermine?
Fuck me. Did she realize what kind of fuse she’d just lit? Did she have any idea what it would mean if I answered her honestly?
My body moved before I could even think, instincts overriding any reason I had left.
I let my words drip with a growl, dark and raw, as they left my lips. “If you were mine,” I began, as I took a slow step, drawn to her like gravity itself was dragging me closer, “I wouldn’tneedto say it. If you ever needed a reminder, I’d have you sitting on my face, my tongue buried inside of you, coming over and over again until you screamed my name so much, it’d be the only one etched in that beautiful mind of yours.”
Her lips parted, her eyes wide with shock at my rough words.
But I could see the battle within her, torn between disbelief and the pull of what I was saying, like she couldn’t decide whether to run or lean in closer.
I took another step, my voice dropped even lower, raw and possessive. “If you were mine, I’d worship every inch of your body, every thought in your mind, every beat of your soul. I’d sink my teeth into that flawless skin of yours, leaving my mark on you, so every time you looked in the mirror, you'd see the proof. My claim on you—mystamp—branded into your flesh."
Her pupils dilated, her chest rising and falling faster now, her body betraying her. She liked it… She liked the way my words were unraveling her. Desire flickered beneath the surface, barely concealed, and it only fueled the fire roaring inside me.
I took the last step, standing now dangerously close to her. I could almost feel the heat radiate off her body. “If you were mine, I’d fuck you so hard, drive my cock so deep inside you, so often, you’d feel me with every step you took, so deliciously sore, you wouldn’t be able to forget me even if you tried.”
She didn’t speak, couldn’t speak. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard, the sound of her heartbeat filling the charged space between us. The power I had over her in this moment was intoxicating, and the more she trembled, the more I wanted to push her further, to see how far I could go before the line between control and surrender shattered completely.
“I’d have you begging for me. No teasing, no holding back. Onlyme, giving you exactly what you crave, and you knowing no one else could ever come close.”
I leaned in slowly. “If you were mine, I wouldn’tneedto tell you that…” My lips ghosting over the shell of her ear, my breath hot and low. I felt her shiver, that sweet quiver of anticipation as she waited, helplessly, for the next words to fall from my lips.
"But I still would," I whispered, my voice dark and intimate, like a promise.
The tension between us was a tight, pulsing thread that I could feel pulling us closer, threatening to snap. For a moment,I let it hang, savoring the way her body reacted to every word, every breath.
She was unraveling, losing control, and it made me go insane with need.
But before I could give in, before I pinned her against the wall and followed through on every dark thought flooding my mind, I forced myself to step back.
With every ounce of control I had left, I turned on my heel and left the room, my heart hammering, my blood roaring with everything I wanted but couldn’t have.
Not yet.
EMMA
Holy crap on a cracker.
What. The actual. Fuck. Was that?
