Chapter 4

FREYA

There was something about Luca that made me lose all control of myself whenever he touched me. I mean, he’d nearly just killed a man, and there I was making out with him in a bathroom.

He pulled my lower lip into his mouth and sucked. I moaned loudly.

“Luca,” I whimpered.

He groaned. “Keep saying my name like that, ~il mio amore~.”

He brought my earlobe into his mouth and bit down softly, then moved his lips down to my neck to suck, leaving several hickeys behind.

He ground his hips against mine, hitting me in just the right spot, and I gasped, my head falling back against the mirror behind me.

I saw stars—real stars.

“Luca!” I yelled.

How could he make me feel so good without even taking off a single article of clothing? This man had to be some sort of sex god.

There were people pounding on the door, probably worried about me being alone with the psychotic man who had nearly killed someone…

But we were both too wrapped up in our euphoric feelings to pay attention to anything else.

His lips found the spot on my neck he’d been kissing earlier, and my body had a literal convulsion as he sucked on it and licked it.

I ground my core into his hips as if I were some animal in heat—

Until blinding-hot pain shot through my system as something sharp suddenly plunged into my neck.

I screamed and tried to shove him away from me, but his arms only held me tighter to his torso.

“It’s okay, ~bella mia~,” he said. “It’s almost over.

Turning my eyes to the mirror, I saw a long syringe plunged into my neck. Then, just as swiftly as it had gone in, Luca pulled the long needle out.

But I only had a moment of respite. Because as soon as he’d dropped the syringe into the little airplane trash can, he pressed something metallic to my skin.

The pain was white-hot and all-encompassing. It felt as if my skin was being burned away, leaving only flesh beneath. But right as I thought I would pass out from the pain, it turned into something else.

Warm pleasure ran through me, and I let out a sigh of relief and then a moan.

~Wow, this is the best thing I’ve felt in my entire life.~

I was overcome by the sudden need to be closer to Luca and to never let him leave me, even though he was sticking what I now realized was a glowing hot brand into my neck.

I ran my hands up his chest, to his shoulders, and then around his neck.

I pulled his chest into mine and wrapped my legs around his hips. My forehead rested on his shoulder.

Luca slowly pulled the brand from my neck, then bent down to lick the wound he had just made and ran his hand up and down my back.

I leaned back to look at him. His eyes weren’t fierce anymore.

“You branded me,” I said. My eyelids were drooping, and all the energy starting to leave my body.

Luca nodded. His expression looked pained.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I had to.”

I nodded my head as if I understood, but really, I had no fucking clue what was going on. I felt drunk.

“That’s okay,” I slurred out, patting his cheek lightly. “Just don’t do it again, okay?”

He smiled. “Okay.”

I smiled back. I touched his face with both of my hands, squishing his cheeks together. “Wow, you’re pretty. Like ~really~ pretty…”

He laughed. The sound made me happy.

“Thank you. I’m glad you think so,” he said.

I giggled. “I’m glad you’re glad I think so because I really think so.” I smiled at him.

My head dropped onto his neck.

I decided I wanted to keep kissing him. I pressed my lips to his neck, trying to move them the same way that he had against mine.

He groaned deeply.

“No. No, stop,~ il mio amore~. No more kissing today.” He moved me away from him.

I pouted. “Why not?”

He smiled and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, then ran his thumb over my cheekbone. “Trust me, there will be plenty of kissing later. You need sleep.”

I yawned at the thought. ~Sleep.~ Sleep sounded good. Not as good as kissing, but close. I nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder again.

“Okay,” I said, nuzzling into his neck. “We can kiss when I wake up?”

He laughed again. “We can kiss as much as you want when you wake up.”

The thought made me happy, and I sighed. ~Okay, then.~

He tightened his arms around me and rubbed his nose right where he’d just branded me. I shivered.

~Huh.~ That felt good.

“Go to sleep, Freya. I’ve got you.”

My vision began to fade, a random jumble of images flashing through my mind.

Luca’s monstrous strength.

His irresistible touch.

The feeling of his brand pressing into my neck.

His beautiful eyes that sometimes filled with that bottomless pit of dominance.

I could only think of one thing as sleep overcame me.

~What have I gotten myself into?~