Chapter 35

The Shadow

S he’s nervous. Fidgety. Whereas before, she could hardly look at me out of fear and hatred, and now it’s because she remembers how many different positions I fucked her in last night.

My dick legitimately hurts. I don’t think I’ve ever fucked so much in one night, but I’d keep going if it wouldn’t literally send me to my knees if I got hard right now.

I bowed for Addie several times last night, worshipping her pussy just like I promised. But this time, I’d be bowing from pain and praying for my dick not to fall off.

Addie and I are leaning against the railing on her balcony. It’s an unusually warm day as we near winter, so we both decided to enjoy it.

She sips her coffee, her hair tangled and frizzy from last night and blowing gently in the breeze. I think my hands were in her hair so often, the strands had dried while wrapped around my fingers.

We stayed up until dawn with either my cock, fingers, or tongue filling up one of her holes at all times. We only managed a couple of hours of sleep before my phone started ringing.

Another video was leaked last night, and my headspace is too fucked up to work the tension out of Addie’s muscles.

Dan had said they believed they apprehended the person leaking the videos, but they were obviously wrong. Whoever they are, they’re incredibly fucking brave, and I’m very curious how the hell they’re doing it with the Society watching.

I was at Savior’s yesterday, which means the video could’ve been from the same night I attended. The very same goblets used in the videos were used that night… and now I’m sure they were filled with an innocent child’s blood.

While I was drinking overpriced whiskey, shooting the shit with a man I have grown to loathe, a kid was dying, his blood draining into chalices for deranged men to drink.

Buzzing energy forms beneath the surface and it takes effort to keep my bones from jumping out of my skin.

I need to get away from Addie.

Because if she gives me attitude or her usual hatred, I don’t think my response will be what she deserves.

Sensing my growing anger, she sets the coffee cup down on a little table with a dead plant on it.

I point at it. “Baby, if you can’t keep a plant alive, how are you going to keep our babies alive?”

She smacks my chest. “Calm down, Zade. No baby talk, I don’t even like you like that.”

I grin, but her expression turns contemplative, a tiny frown tipping the corners of her lips down as a crease forms between her brow.

“Do you ever wonder about Gigi and her stalker and find it strange? Maybe even far-fetched?”

When I tilt my head, signaling my confusion, she licks her lips and starts fiddling with the belt on her purple robe.

“You already know my great-grandmother had a stalker. One that she fell in love with. And now so do I. Living in the same house and…”

“Falling in love?” I finish for her, keeping my face blank so she’s sure I’m not teasing.

She glances at me and gives a slight lift of her shoulders, but she doesn’t deny it. Cop out, but I let it go.

“It just seems crazy and… I don’t know, impossible, I guess.”

I lean down on the railing and tilt my head up until I catch her eyes. Once they snag onto mine, they’re anchored. The breeze ruffles her hair again, the cinnamon strands dancing in the wind.

“Do you think you’re a reincarnation of Gigi, Addie? And that I’m a reincarnation of Ronaldo? We'll never really know, will we? It’s highly unlikely but not impossible. But I can’t say I don’t like the idea of it.”

A little snarl takes over her face. “You just like the idea of stalking me for several lifetimes.”

This time I do smile, and the dilation of her eyes has my cock growing stiff.

Fuck, stop it. It hurts.

But when her tongue darts out, wetting her lips, I no longer give a fuck about the pain.

My hand snaps out, grabbing the back of her head and bringing her in close. She gasps, her pink lips parting, and in this moment, all I want to do is slip my cock past them and watch them wrap around me. I’d walk on glass if it meant getting to fuck Addie’s mouth again.

She struggles, but I hold her steady, her hands planted on the railing to support her weight. Her purple robe is draped open, but not enough to expose the bite marks I left last night on her tits.

“You’re right. I do love the sound of watching you for lifetimes.” I drop my voice low, as deep as I want to shove my cock inside her. “I also love the possibility that I have fallen in love with you in each life. Fucked that sweet pussy of yours and made you fall in love with me as much as I am with you. What did I tell you, little mouse? That you couldn’t escape me. If it’s real, then I’ve chased you across time and space, and you’ve never been able to get away.”

She gapes at me, seemingly speechless for several moments before she gains her wits. “You don’t even know if that’s true,” she whispers. “Or how many lifetimes you’ve stalked me for.”

I grip her hair and twist until her ass is flush with the metal rail. Her hand grips mine, nails scoring my flesh as she fights against me, but it doesn’t deter me from bending her backward over the railing, the tips of her toes scarcely touching the floor.

“What the hell, Zade?!” she screeches, her smoky voice breaking from fear. But my little mouse stills, her chest heaving. And it’s then that I nearly break.

She trusts me.

“Hush, baby,” I murmur. I keep one hand firmly lodged in her hair while my other hand glides across her stomach. I hover over her and inspect every curve and detail that makes up the face of the woman I’m madly fucking in love with.

Even with her eyes rounded in panic, she’s the most enthralling creature I’ve ever laid eyes on.

My fingers trail across her freckled cheekbone, down her jaw, and to her neck. Her breath catches, and her pulse thunders. I can’t help but smile, pleased by the reaction I draw out of her every fucking time I touch her.

I trail my fingers down to her parted robe, those bite marks on her tits now on full display. A low hum gathers in my chest, building to a growl when I pull apart her robe further until it falls completely to the sides, baring her creamy flesh and those rosebud nipples.

They tighten in the cool wind, and my mouth waters with the need to bite down on them.

“My little unsuspecting mouse, living each life without any knowledge of what’s to come. Not knowing that I’m yearning for you, watching in the distance until I make myself known.” I drag my lips across her collarbone, trailing up the column of her throat towards her ear. “For centuries. Both of us wearing different faces, inhabiting different bodies. But the same souls, colliding over and over, until this planet decides to crumble and our souls have nowhere else to go.” I hum in amusement, enjoying the quickening of her breath.

“Can you imagine it?” I ask softly.

I pluck a nipple between my fingers, another low groan vibrating my chest. She shivers beneath my touch, her little pants desperate and breathy.

“Can you imagine what it would feel like to have my love for that long?”

She swallows, her eyes pinned on the water beyond the cliff as a shaky breath loosens past her lips. “Do you know what it sounds like to drown? That’s what it would feel like,” she says, her voice husky and uneven.

“Tell me, baby. What does drowning sound like?”

“Like the first breath of air after being trapped underwater. It's a sound of both pain and relief. Of desperation and desire. When you’ve gone so long without oxygen, that first breath is the only thing that makes sense, and your body takes it in without permission.”