Page 16 of The Shadow Sanctum

“Come on, baby.” I swat the inside of her thigh.

“I can’t.”

“You can.”

“I can’t.”

Blowing out a harsh breath, I throw the crop down, spear my hand through her hair and yank her into my chest. My hand slips between her legs, and I start to rub. “Tell me.”

Her body presses harder against me, her legs spreading, but she doesn’t answer.

“Come on, Luna. It’s time to be my good girl now. Do you want to be my good girl?”

Her breathing shallow and eyes clenched shut, she nods.

I rub a little faster, a little harder. “Hmm?”

“Yes.”

I open my mouth, ready to push her, but she cuts me off with two words that make my hand pause and my lungs stop working.

“Yes, Daddy.”

CHAPTER 6

LUNA

The silence that follows is deafening. It amplifies the frantic beat of my heart against my ribs, each thud a countdown to Sawyer’s revulsion.

Burning welts crisscross my back as a fiery reminder of the riding crop, but there’s a chilling hollowness settled in my core that makes my blood run cold.

Sawyer’s hand has stilled between my legs, and his arm around my torso, once a comforting weight, has turned to an iron cage.

I can’t think of a time when I’ve been more afraid.

Not during my first fight in the arena.

Not while my head was underwater for my purification.

And selfishly, not even when I realized my bloodline could be wiped away if my efforts for securing new breeders failed.

The longest moment of my life passes, only to be met with another. Sawyer doesn’t speak. He doesn’t move.

He’s disgusted.

I am sick. I am ugly. I am repulsive.

I close my eyes as a tsunami of shame builds above my head, ready to swallow me whole, rip the skin from my flesh and pluck my bones one by one.

I’m sorry, I would say if I could find a voice. Though I’m not sure what I’d be apologizing for. For turning his notoriously weak stomach, I suppose.

I didn’t mean that, I’d follow it up with. As if I merely misspoke.

I should leave. He should leave, and for the very first time, I genuinely want him to.

He’s sly. He’s resourceful. He could make it.

Sawyer’s hands settle on my hips, turning me. My eyes squeeze shut. Childish, maybe, but I can’t bring myself to look at him when we’re face-to-face.