Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
They end up in my bedroom. I take Elodie’s second crutch and lean on it while I lurk outside the door, eavesdropping.
Lucy doesn’t waste time on small talk. “Do you know what happens tonight?”
“Yes.” Elodie’s voice is soft, muffled by the door.
“And you understand the rules?”
“Loyalty to Fraternitas or death,” Elodie recites what I’ve taught her.
Lucy’s voice lowers. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes.” Elodie clears her throat and repeats louder, “Yes.”
There’s a long pause, and Lucy says, “I gave your friends the rest of the afternoon and night off. They’ll be at Club Empire. But not the ritual after. Understand?”
Elodie murmurs something, and then the door opens, and Lucy comes out. She sees me and snorts, wheeling close enough to nearly run over my toe.
“So glad you could visit,” I tell her. “Come again.”
“I will.” She pauses halfway to the door, taking a gander at the TV. “Is this the one with the lumberjack who saves Christmas?”
I nod, hiding my surprise that Lucy knows the plot of a rom-com.
“Kaiser told me it was good. Maybe I’ll come watch one with you sometime.”
I leave Lucy to let herself out and go to Elodie.
She’s sitting on the bed. Her hand is at her throat, absently playing with the ribbon there. I don’t even know if she’s aware she’s doing it. I sit and take her hands in mine, then push her to her back.
She goes willingly. She’s used to me maneuvering her to a prone position so I can edge her.
I flip up her sweater dress and inspect the gusset of her panties. They’re damp but not soaking. Not yet.
Elodie sucks in a breath when I very lightly run my thumb up and down her inner thigh. “You spoke to Lucy about tonight.”
“You were listening, weren’t you?”
I don’t bother to deny it. “You said you were sure about the ritual.”
“I better be.”
I stop touching her until she explains, “I’ve found that in life, one choice flows from another.”
“And that means?”
“It means I’m sure about you. And that makes me sure about the rest.”
The front door bangs open, and Elodie jumps. I press my palm to her sex, grounding her before flipping her dress back down and helping her up. “Your friends are here. They’ll get you ready.”
Elodie
Honey, Daria, and Angel all come and help me prepare. I hear them enter the penthouse, and their loud voices ring out, and then fall to a hush when Kaiser greets them.
Jaeger opens the bedroom door for them, and they all troop in. Once he shuts the door, they get loud again.
“We got the night off,” Honey cries happily. “Lucy said so.”
“She told me,” I say. “She was just here.”
“Lucy was here?” Daria looks around, wide-eyed like Lucy might magically appear.
“You’re so obsessed with her.” Angel gives her a playful push.
“Shut up, I am not,” Daria says so vehemently that I raise my brows. I make a note to study her interactions with Lucy next time I’m at Inferno.
Honey sets up her makeup case and starts prepping my skin while peppering me with questions. “Was that Jaeger’s brother at the door?”
“Yes. He’s always hanging around now.”
“Doesn’t he hate you?”
“He’s come around.”
Daria plops down on the bed next to me with enough force that Honey scolds her. Angel pulls out a bag of dark chocolate.
“So. Tonight. He’s claiming you?”
“That’s the plan.” I ignore the little flutters in my gut. My nerves are eclipsed by the needy pulsing in my clit. All the work Jaeger put into edging me has seen to that.
I’ve kept my promise to him and haven’t run. He’s healing up faster than me, but I have crutches now. In theory, I could get away.
After tonight, it’ll be too late. I’ll be bound to him. I’ll enter his world and let the darkness close over me.
Because of Jaeger, the shadows don’t seem so scary anymore. He loves me, and I love him. I’m no longer prey to anyone but him, and that’s only when we play our game.
With him, I have protection and a safe place to land.
With me, he has rom-coms on the couch. A home. Someone who cares for him and loves him as intensely as he loves me.
Angel had asked me what I’d do if I weren’t afraid, and now I know.
I’m not afraid anymore.
The drive to the collaring ceremony goes by in a blur. Jaeger edges me to a frenzy in the car and leads me in with his fingers shackled around my wrist. He whispers that some elita ceremonies require the Fraternitas member to fuck his chosen in front of everyone. But he won’t do that because he doesn’t want anyone to see me naked. “No one but me.”
My friends are allowed to come to the club to watch the first half of the ceremony, the part that’s held at Club Empire. They don’t understand everything about this dark world, but they’re here to support me, and I love them for it.