Chapter 19

I hurried back to the safety of my home, my heart still pounding from the revelations I’d uncovered. The heavy silence of the house enveloped me as I stepped inside, but I knew he was there. He always was. I’m beginning to think he’s like a house cat, always waiting for his favorite person to come home.

Before I could prepare myself, I felt the wall at my back, his body heat against me, and saw the rage in his eyes. His hands gripped my arms, fingers digging into my skin. He let out a low, animalistic growl, a warning that sent shivers down my spine.

This wasn’t the usual anger I’d come to expect from him. This was something deeper, sharper. It was fear—fear of what I’d discovered, fear of what this second killer meant for both of us.

I felt a spark of defiance amidst my own mounting terror. “You’re afraid,” I said, my voice steady despite the chaos inside me.

He didn’t respond, but his eyes blazed with a mixture of emotions: anger, fear, and something else I couldn’t quite name. His grip tightened, and for a moment, I thought he would hurt me. But instead, he pulled me closer, his face inches from mine, his breath warm on my face through the holes of his mask.

His eyes darkened, and his grip on my arms tightened. I could feel the anger rolling off him in waves, but it was tinged with something else—a possessiveness that horrified me.

His gaze fell to my abdomen, and his hand followed, gently cupping my lower stomach. He seemed almost hypnotized as he stared. A strange sensation coiled in my chest, a mix of fear and confusion. What was he thinking? Why was he looking at me like that, like there was something fragile beneath his palm?

I opened my mouth to ask, to voice the questions swirling in my mind, but before I could speak, he was tearing at my clothes, his eyes blazing with a primal, possessive hunger that left me breathless. I didn’t understand. What did he want from me? My heart hammered wildly as he yanked the fabric away, his touch rough and urgent. Whatever it was, the intensity in his gaze made my pulse quicken with a mixture of dread and something far darker.

“Stop, you’re hurting me!” I cried out as he ripped my shirt, aggravating the injuries that were still healing. But he didn’t stop. He was like a force of nature, unyielding and relentless. Panic surged as I tried to comprehend the sudden shift in him. I struggled against the onslaught of sensations—the rough scrape of fabric against my skin, the way his eyes never strayed from my stomach.

And then it hit me.

He wasn’t just looking at me—he was fixated. His touch, his gaze… it all centered on one place. A cold chill crept up my spine as the pieces clicked together. My mouth went dry.

He wanted to claim me, to mark me in a way that went beyond flesh and bone. He wanted to keep me tied to him in the most permanent way possible.

My blood ran cold as the truth settled over me, a dark, terrifying revelation: He wanted to make me his—completely. To fill me. To make me bear his child.

I struggled against him, but it was no use. He was too strong.

“Please, Grayson, stop—” My words trailed off as I realized the futility of my protests. His eyes were fixed on me, intense and wild, and I knew he wasn’t going to listen.

“Y-you can’t,” I stammered, my heart pounding. “I can’t get pregnant. I have an implant.” Even as I said the words, I knew they were a futile attempt to push him away, to create a barrier between us.

His eyes narrowed, and for a moment, he froze. Then, with a growl, he pushed me back against the wall and pinned me there. I struggled against him, but it was like fighting a storm.

“No… more… hiding,” he growled, his voice hoarse and strained. It was as if the words were being torn from his throat.

I watched, petrified, as he produced a knife and sliced it into my arm with deliberate, slow movements. He dug deep, his fingers probing, and then I felt the implant being ripped from my flesh.

It was a visceral, shocking moment. I felt violated, enraged, and scared all at once. I struggled against him, but it was no use. Grayson was determined to claim me completely, to erase any barrier between us.

As the implant was removed, I felt a dark thrill mixed with my fear. I was his now, completely and utterly. There was no escape, and a part of me—a part I hated—craved this possessiveness, this all-consuming obsession.

His eyes roamed hungrily over my exposed skin, and I felt the full weight of his desire. It was like being caught in the path of a hurricane, all-consuming and utterly devastating.

I saw the evidence of his need pressing against the fabric of his jeans, and it sent a jolt of fear mixed with an undeniable thrill coursing through me. My instincts screamed at me to run, to escape the overwhelming intensity of his hunger despite the knowledge that I knew better. So I did. I turned and bolted, my heart pounding in my chest as adrenaline surged through my veins.

But Grayson was always faster. He caught me effortlessly, his arm like a band of iron around my waist. Before I knew it, I was bent over the arm of the couch, my breasts pressed against the cold leather, my back arching as he positioned himself behind me.

He entered me with one sure, powerful thrust, and I felt myself stretched and filled to the brink. There was no tenderness in his movements, only raw, primal need. He was brutal and relentless, each stroke of his cock igniting a fire within me that I couldn’t control.

I clawed at the cushions, trying to pull myself away from him, but it was futile. He grabbed my wrists and pinned them against my back, holding me in place as he continued to fuck me with a savagery that should have terrified me. And it did, but it also ignited a part of me that I had never known existed that longed for him to fuck me harder and faster. It wanted him to make me hurt.

“Please, don’t come inside me,” I begged, my voice desperate and pleading. But even as the words left my lips, I could feel the tension building inside me, a tide of pleasure that was rising higher and higher with each passing moment.

And then it happened. I came far too quickly, my body convulsing around his as wave after wave of ecstasy crashed over me. The sensation was so intense, so overwhelming, that I gushed, coating his cock with my wetness. It triggered his own release, and I felt him pulse inside me, his hot seed filling me as he continued to thrust with a relentlessness that bordered on madness.

As the aftershocks of my orgasm rippled through me, a thought flickered through my mind, hazy and indistinct.

Is it really so horrible to have Grayson’s child? 

The idea took root, and I found myself unable to come up with a single reason why it would be a bad thing. At that moment, with my body still quivering from the force of my orgasm, it seemed almost… right.

I stopped fighting him. Instead, I relaxed into his embrace, my hips moving in time with his as I pushed back against his cock. The pain in my pelvis was still there, but it was overshadowed by the pleasure that coursed through me with each powerful stroke.

Grayson shifted slightly, and his jeans now rubbed harshly against my sensitive clit, the friction driving me wild with desire. I could feel another orgasm building within me just as fast as the first but stronger, and more intense. And as I came, my body clenching around his, I surrendered myself to the darkness that was Grayson Hale.

There was no more fear, no uncertainty, only the raw, animalistic bond that existed between us. It was exhilarating, a dance with the devil that left me both breathless and utterly consumed.

And as Grayson finally stilled behind me, his cum filling me once more and his body slick with sweat with his breath coming in ragged gasps, I knew that there was no going back. I was his, completely and irrevocably. The thought should have scared me, but all I felt was a sense of rightness, a connection that went beyond the physical and into the very depths of my soul.

Grayson pulled out of me slowly, and I felt the loss of him immediately. But he didn’t leave me alone. Instead, he lifted me into his arms and carried me to the bedroom, his movements surprisingly gentle.

He laid me down on the bed and stretched out beside me, his hand coming to rest possessively on my still-flat abdomen. And in the silence of the night, with the man I both loved and feared holding me close, I finally allowed myself to embrace the twisted destiny that awaited us both.