Dark Need by Clarissa Wild

Chapter 46

April

As Soren dragsme all the way through the forest, away from the huts, the rain begins to pour down from the skies. We’re getting drenched, but he doesn’t seem fazed at all. And even though I’m happy to get as far away as I can from these people … something doesn’t sit right.

And it finally dawns on me what might be happening.

I couldn’t understand a thing of what they were saying, but I knew it was important, judging from the look on Soren’s face.

And when he dragged me away from that place … all I felt was relief.

But as he clutches my hand and pulls me all the way to the beach, I stop and let my hand slide from his.

“Are we allowed to leave?” I ask him, my lip quivering. “Just like that?”

He nods, but the storm raging in his eyes is hard not to notice.

“It came at a price, didn’t it?” I say, telling myself I’m only shivering because of the rain.

He nods again but then turns around and continues walking toward the boat I just escaped from. I follow in his footsteps, hopping onto the boat as well while he pushes it offshore.

“What was it?” I ask, grasping my bag tight. When he doesn’t answer me, I yell, “Soren! Tell me what it cost us.”

He looks up at me with the rope that kept this boat on this island still in his hand as we slowly drift away.

Raindrops drip down from his beard onto the deck. “I am never allowed back in.”

I suck in a breath, and it hitches in my throat.

He’s been excommunicated.

Ostracized by the people who raised him.

“I … I’m s—”

Suddenly, he smothers me in his chest, his arms enveloping me with warmth.

“Don’t you dare say it,” he growls, looking down at me. “Don’t feel sorry for me.” He tilts my chin to make me look at him, and he swipes away the single tear that dares to cross my cheeks. “You saved me.”

His thumb brushes past my lips as I lean into him, wishing I could make things better. But he’s in this trouble because of me.

“To them, I was merely a fighter who failed.”

“But it’s because of me—”

“I’m alive because of you,” he interrupts, clasping my face with both hands. “You made a choice … And I made mine.”

The look in his eyes is so full of hurt and pain, and I wish I could take it all away.

“But I need to know,” he says, his forehead leaning against mine. “Did you mean it?”

What does he …? Oh.

My cheeks instantly turn red as a beet.

“I … I …” I can’t even say it out loud. I could say it in front of all those people. But when it’s just him?

“I understand if it was a lie to—”

“Kiss me,” I say.

It takes a few seconds to register, but when it does, he instantly smashes his lips on mine. An explosion of fireworks goes off in my heart, butterflies fluttering in my belly, making me feel like I have wings.

His kisses are sweet and tender but so dominant, like he wants to devour me whole, and I wouldn’t even mind.

When he stops for a moment of air, I know for sure, and I whisper, “I love you.”

His brows twitch. “No one has ever said those words to me,” he says, his voice low and gravelly, like he’s both utterly confused and intensely turned on by the idea. “I’m not a lover. I’m a fighter. Someone who hurts. Who tortures. No one loves me. I was born to kill.” He clutches my face with both hands. “Tell me why.”

It’s almost like he doesn’t believe me. Like he couldn’t fathom deserving love.

“You chose me. You chose my happiness over your own honor … your own life,” I reply. “And that … means everything.”

His face softens, and for the first time ever, I don’t see him as the man who stole my virginity or my heart.

I see him as the man who gave me his, willingly, knowing it would cost him everything.

I see him as the man I could die for because he did the same for me.

“I love you,” I say, letting the rain pour down on me without a care in the world. “And no matter how much I tried hating you, I can’t.”

A filthy smirk forms on his lips, and a short but raunchy grunt that pushes all my buttons spills out. He plants one hand firmly on the small of my back while grabbing my chin with the other, then smashes his lips on mine.

He only pulls away for a second, leaving me desperate for more. “Say it again.”

“I love you.” Every time I do, it becomes more natural, more like it was always supposed to be this way.

He grunts in a satisfied way, making goose bumps spread on my skin. “I like it, Kitten. I like it a lot.”

I bite my lip and purr against his beard. “I might grow to like you calling me Kitten.”

A devilish smirk forms on his face as he pulls me closer. “Good. Because you are … mine.”

* * *

Soren

After April’staken care of my wounds with some supplies on board the ship, we sail back to the mainland, and with the last remaining money stuffed away in April’s bag, we got a shoddy flight back to her homeland. We were lucky the villagers handed her bag back to her.

I’m reluctant to be back on the soil where the House also stands. Tobias will not be happy with me being back here.

“What are you thinking about?” April asks as we sit on a bus together.

“The House,” I reply.

She looks up at me while twiddling her thumbs. “Do you want to go back there?”

Is she worried I might leave her?

I lift my hand and run my index finger across her cheek. “I go where you go.”

She puts her hand on top of mine. “I don’t want you to regret it.”

I lean in. “I do not regret anything when it comes to you.” I raise a mischievous brow, which makes her giggle in such an attractive way that it makes me want to eat her out right here on this very fucking bus.

So I lean in and plant possessive kisses on her cheek and neck until she pushes me away.

“Stop,” she whispers. “What if people notice?”

“I don’t care,” I groan into her ear, touching her between her legs.

She swats my hand away. “Wait until we get off the bus.”

I sigh out loud with frustration as my dick was already getting hard. I thought torturing people and fighting to the death was hard, but being denied the very thing I crave the most? That’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to resist.

“When will the bus stop?” I ask.

“When we get to our destination,” she replies.

“And where is that?”

She looks up at me while rubbing her lips. “Home.”

I frown. “You mean your home.”

Her cheeks turn all rosy in the same way they do when I kiss her, and it makes my cock twitch. “Our home.”

I bite my lip as I wrap one arm around her shoulder. “Our home?”

“Where else are you going to live?”

“Are you sure?” I grab a strand of her hair and tuck it behind her ear. “Because if you say yes, there’s no going back.” I lean in to whisper into her ear, inching closer and closer. “I’ll be there every hour of the day.”

When my teeth bite her earlobe just a bit, she immediately grabs my knee, squeezing hard.

It’s all I need to know.

All I need to live.

Her willingness to please.

And my need to devour.

A deadly, toxic combination that can only end with one thing … us completely tangled in her bed.

And as the bus comes to a stop, I grab her hand and storm out, headed straight for her home. I still remember where it is from the last time I was here in this town, and I move purely on memory and instinct.

“Why are you going so fast?” She laughs, clutching her bag so she doesn’t drop it.

But only one thing is on my mind right now, and it isn’t whether she can keep up. She fumbles with her keys when we reach the house, which gets on my nerves.

“Hurry,” I growl.

She finally shoves them into the lock. “Eek, if you pressure me, I’m going to drop them.”

She pushes down the door handle, but before she can step inside, I lift her in my arms and kick it open farther. She shrieks from the surprise as I carry her over the edge and bring her inside.

“What are you doing?” She gasps.

My cock twitches again at the sight of her pretty pink nipples that peak as they brush my chest, and I grunt in response. “Taking what’s mine.”