I look away, racking my mind. “His ring. A horrible snake thing with evil green eyes that he wore on his little finger.” The flashback of that dreaded ring sends a shudder through me, so much so, I jerk on Danny’s lap. Only when I settle and toss the image away do I realize he’s trembling too. I shoot my eyes to his. He looks like he’s in a trance, staring straight through me. White as a sheet. “Danny?”
He shakes himself back to life, but his eyes dart. “A ring?” he murmurs, a million lines creasing his forehead. “When did this happen?”
“Ten years ago,” I murmur, wondering where that time went. It’s a blur of sex, abuse, and despair.
“And you’ve been with Nox since?”
I nod, remembering his face when I was handed over. I knew evil when I saw it. I knew in that moment my life was over.
“Anything else?”
I shake my head, my frown giving Danny’s a run for its money. “Are you okay?”
Disappearing into my neck, he hugs me fiercely. “It’s hard to hear. And that’s a deplorable thing for me to admit when you’re the one who’s been through it.”
“It hurt me when you shared your past too,” I say to ease him, though it’s nothing but the truth. Between the two of us, we’ve seen and experienced horrific shit, and that has molded us into the people we are today. Twisted people. Now we can be twisted together. But he needs to know why I bailed on him when his house was attacked. He needs to know I wasn’t leaving him, but had simply lost all hope. “When I let go of your hand, when I wanted to die, it wasn’t that I didn’t want you. It was because I couldn’t see a way out. A way for us. A way to keep my son safe. I didn’t want anything to happen to you. All I’d brought was destruction and danger and—”
“Rose?” Danny says, my name hot against the flesh of my neck. “Our future together will make up for our torrid pasts.”
I smile, though I’m not sure that Danny can be right. There will always be an empty space within me. I will always wonder where my son is and how he’s doing. And in a sick way, I will miss my place in Nox’s world, because there will be no pictures anymore. There will be no rewards. “He doesn’t want me to have a future. I’m his property. He owns me.”
Danny releases me and pushes me to my back on the bed, settling on his side beside me. “He is dead.” A delicate fingertip draws a straight line between my breasts to my belly button and circles carefully, stemming the bullets of ice that broke out as a result of his promise. “This time next week, there will be no Nox.”
Such a lethal vow shouldn’t comfort me. It shouldn’t fill me with peace and hope. But it does.
I might never meet my flesh and blood, but at least he’ll be safe. Finally safe.
I glance down my body to his hand on my tummy. Gifted hands. Killing hands. My life is in them.
I turn and push him to his back, climbing on top of him and reaching for his arousal, stroking it a few times to full hardness. His arms splay limply on the pillow above his head, and he exhales as I sink down slowly onto him. Each inch I take, more peace finds me, until I’m flung into bliss that only Danny can help me find. I’m once again immune to the feelings my cruel existence has dealt me. There’s no despair, only hope. There’s no suffering, only gratification. There’s no loss, only gain. There is only Danny.
And belonging to him is the best thing that could happen to me.
Chapter 23
DANNY
* * *
With every advance into her body, I battled to find the calm I needed and not let the fuel fan the flames of my rage. I didn’t want my soft and careful taking of her to turn into a brutal fuck. I forced myself to control the primal, animalistic need to reinforce to her, to me, to everyone, that she belongs to me. She panted down into my face, small, delicate wisps of air that added another layer to the heat burning me from the inside out. Her whimpers of my name held a need that physically pained me. My vulnerable, fragile warrior. She doesn’t need to be strong anymore. But I want her to be.
When my climax hit, the earth moved, and Rose exploded above me on a cry that momentarily dented my anger and realigned my focus on her. I watched her face twist with pleasure. I suppressed my own roar, gritting my teeth, just so I could hear her nonsensical mumbles. I pulled her down and ran my nose through the glistening sweat on her neck, inhaling it in, feeding myself with everything I could get from her.