Page 104 of The Beast Who Begged Me

“You swore to me, Dami. I wanted to know what you’d do when I wasn’t giving you an order.”

He knew what I intended. I didn’t know that when I brought him in here. I thought I was getting away with it. And he lay there watching me stand in the doorway, believing there was something in me that might make me turn back.

I don’t know how he could stand it. I can barely stand it myself, knowing what I planned to do.

“I thought you could keep your word,” he says. “And you did.”

I look down at our hands. “I don’t want you to go to that place again.” I need him to hear that much. Letting go of this won’t make King any less dangerous.

Or me any less afraid.

“I know.” He draws me closer until his forehead rests against mine. “I’m going anyway. But I’m still yours, Dami. I still belong to you.”

I close my eyes. He doesn’t speak, just gives me time to find my peace with it.

“Alright,” I say at last. It takes another breath before I can manage the rest. “But you need to understand that I belong to you, too.”

His hands tighten on mine. I stay there until I trust myself to move, then pick up his shirt from the floor and hold it open for him. “Better shower before you go.”

He smiles, finally. “Yeah. You better join me.”

The car is idling outside, Vito’s face lit by the dashboard. Beyond the open front door, it’s dark, and the cold is brutal. Vito knows to drive around for a while, allow me time to get to my post before taking Caligula to the Obelisk.

I just want this night to be over.

“Dami.” Caligula closes the door so that anyone watching from outside won’t see what he’s doing as he works the ring off his finger. “Here.” He puts it in my palm, the snake head turned toward me. “Keep this safe for me.”

I close my fingers around it. His hand already looks wrong without it, and I want to put it straight back where it belongs. But he can’t take it into that hellhole, and this, at least, will be a physical reminder of him.

My other hand goes to the nape of his neck, and for a moment I just hold him there. He waits, looking up at me, while I try to find something I haven’t already said.

But I can’t drag things out any longer. I already made my choice upstairs when I let him leave that safe room, free.

“I’m not ordering you,” I say at last. “I can’t.” I have to force myself to finish. “So I’m begging you, Caligula. Come back to me.”

He winds his arms around my neck and kisses me once, firmly, then hugs me before stepping away. “Three hours, Dami. At most. And then we’ll have Sammy home.”

I nod and I let him go despite every instinct screaming at me to pull him back into the house.

I stand in the doorway until Vito pulls away, then close it against the cold. The ring is even colder in my fist, and I have to make myself turn toward the garage, to do the smart thing, the planned thing, instead of running after him.

Upstairs, the safe room door is still open. I left it that way on purpose.

CHAPTER 33

CALIGULA

The townhouse shrinks behind us and then is gone. I have no phone. No ring. Everything that matters is back in that house—but at least I know that Dami is taking care of it.

And I have his marks on me to prove that he is still protecting me, too.

I press my fingers to the bite on my shoulder, harder and harder the more it hurts, using the pain to steady myself.

And then I press my thumb against my bare finger where the ouroboros ring should sit. I haven’t been wearing it long, but my hand feels so light without it. It’s strange how quickly you can get used to a thing.

We’re in the smaller car, one of the new ones that Dami bought. God knows how much money he showered on the renovation of my grandfather’s townhouse—my townhouse, I remind myself. And not just mine. It belongs to all of us. To Dami, Rosa, Vito—and Sammy. They are my family now, and that’s why I’m doing this at all.

This new car still smells fresh. In the rearview mirror, Vito’s eyes find me. Then the road. Then back to me.