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“No?” Vesper echoes, his thumb tracing a slow, agonizing circle over my racing pulse point. Fuck. Why do I want him to bite me there? “Then why did you run, my needy, defiant bird? Did you want to see how fast I would catch you?”

A low, trembling breath leaves my throat. I hate how well he reads me. I hate that every dark, twisted word he whispers goes straight to my cock like an aphrodisiac.

“Tell me, Bellamy; did you want me or my cryptid to chase you?”

I wanted… I wanted to get out. It’s the thought that comes to mind, the one I should say out loud, but it isn’t the answer that escapes.

“Both,” I pant, my hips grinding backward, pressing my ass against the growing length in his pants. Heaven help me, I wanted both of them to chase me.

Vesper lets out a sharp, feral intake of breath at the motion. His other hand drops down, sliding across my hip and pressing flat against my stomach, pulling me tight against his frame until there isn’t any space between us. I can feel how hard he’s getting.

What the fuck am I doing?

This is insane. Why does he feel this good? And why the hell do I crave more?

Vesper breathes into my ear. “You’re on my territory, in my woods, running from my shadows, and covered in my scent. Those pathetic mortals out there can’t even see you, only a few feet away. Look at them, Bellamy. Open your eyes and watch them search for a ghost hidden in the darkness.”

I slowly force my eyelids open. Through the translucent, crackling magic wall, Jake sweeps a flashlight across the trees. The bright beam washes right over us, but to them, we’re nothing more than a trick of the fog and the shifting shadows. They’re this close, looking right at us, yet completely blind.

Gregory steps out from behind a redwood. I inhale sharply, shoving my whole body against Vesper.

A voyeuristic thrill I never knew I possessed travels down my spine. I’m wrapped in the arms of a demon, hiding in plain sight while my abusive ex searches the dark. Excitement strikes me like lightning.

Vesper inhales again, breathing in my arousal. “Fuck.” The word leaves his lips like a barely audible confession. He thrusts his body against mine, one dangerous hand keeping me bound at the throat while the other begins exploring. It’s as if he’s losing control. Cold claws slip under the hem of my sweater, whispering over my skin in a torturous climb until a sharp point grazes my nipple.

Precum gushes from my hard tip.

“You’re fucking deranged.”

“Yeah, well, you like crazy. Don’t you, little bird? You want me desperate and unhinged for you,” he growls.

Gregory’s head whips up, meeting my eyes. I freeze.

At the same time, Vesper tugs at my nipple. That’s when I realize Gregory still doesn’t see me. Did Vesper drop his magic enough to be heard? My hips buck backward on instinct, seeking friction, seeking the monster at my back. A choked cry of pure frustration escapes my lips. He hasn’t even touched my dick, and yet I’m so close to the edge I can fucking taste it.

Vesper’s sharp fangs scrape the pulse point at my throat. With a brutal kick to my boots, he forces my legs apart, his tail snaking up my thigh in a tight, possessive slither that climbs tantalizingly higher. My vision blurs, my body trembling with a feverish desperation I’ve never felt before.

“Please,” I sob out, the word slipping past my teeth before my brain can stop it. “Please, Vesper… I need you.” I have no idea what I’m saying. Need? Need what? Images fill my mind. I need Vesper’s cock, his fingers, his bite. Anything. Or maybe everything. I just need Vesper to ruin me for anyone else. To mark me, to claim every inch of me right in front of the pathetic piece of trash I used to call a boyfriend.

Gregory’s head tilts to the side as if trying to hear me. Did he recognize my whimpers? Can he smell the arousal heavy in the air?

Vesper’s free hand wanders slowly down my stomach, sliding lower until his fingers hook into the waistband of my pants. “What do you think, Bellamy? Should I keep going, right here while your ex watches?” The top button pops open with a sharp click, slicing through the quiet and ringing in my ears while his dark shadows keep me trapped.

My heart races even faster. Gregory is still standing there, head cocked curiously as he studies the swirling shadows. He has no idea that there’s an iron gate only three feet away or that I’m shoved against it.

“Yes,” I whisper into the cold night air. “Don’t stop.”

At my words, a sudden rustle off to the left causes the shadows to fracture. The Devil Dog steps out of the gloom, its massive form coiling before it leaps straight toward us. A sharp strike of panic hits me—a fleeting thought that the beast is going to tear into my skin—but mid-air, its body dissolves into liquid shadow and flows seamlessly back onto Vesper. Along Vesper’s forearm, the dark markings I once mistook for tattoos begin to swirl and pulse as the cryptid settles beneath his flesh. I glance over my shoulder, catching the exact moment glowing blue fire sparks to life inside the eyes of the wolf pelt.

Vesper tugs my jacket off, letting it drop unceremoniously onto the ground by his boots. His tail coils around my waist, the sharp spade tip catching under the hem of my sweater to drag it upward. I pull the sweater over my head and toss it aside, completely oblivious to the biting cold as my nipples harden further into desperate peaks. Vesper growls low in his chest, his hands hooking into the waistband of my pants to yank them down over my hips.

My hard cock springs free. Vesper wraps his long fingers around my length and begins to pump, setting a slow, deliberate rhythm. I instinctively thrust forward on a ragged gasp, but his tail and shadow tendrils catch me mid-motion, locking me in place. Vesper’s touch is intoxicatingly heavy, burning right through my skin.

A loud moan leaves my throat.

Gregory takes another step forward. Holy fuck. He heard me; why else would he be searching the shadows between us?

Gregory’s nostrils flare before his hand drops to his crotch.