Chapter 24: Chapter 24

REYNA

I had to go back to Rose’s quarters to pick up the little bundle of clothes with food inside, which I’d hidden before I entered the underground room earlier this evening.

I lit a candle and snuck into the tunnel. Today I walked faster, still not used to the eerie silence and darkness of the tunnel.

I was careful not to run into any of the maids or men who lived in the servant quarters part of the castle.

“Kitten,” Casvan called out before I even got close to his cell.

That one word was enough to send my heart thumping. It was uttered in a deep, growly voice that touched places I had never explored before.

I stepped into his view, directly in front of the barred iron. I thought he would be angry with me because of our heated conversation.

But there was no anger in his voice. Suddenly, that changed—he growled loudly.

“How did you know it was me? It could have been anyone,” I asked. Surprisingly, I wasn’t afraid of his growling.

“I scented you,” he said. He wasn’t moving, still sitting in the dark at the far corner of his cell.

“Oh.” I bit my lip. “So it’s really true that you can smell people’s scents.”

“I can tell you exactly what you smell like, Princess,” he growled. “Right now you reek of another male, his scent is all over you.”

My mouth parted in shock and embarrassment, my eyes wide.

“You can also smell that?”

“You should have washed off his scent before you came here, Kitten. Now…now I have his scent, and I’m going to enjoy gutting that bastard.” The vehemence and possessiveness in his voice told me he meant it.

~Does he think I had sex with John?~

“No, you misunderstand, I didn’t have sex with John. He was our muse, and we practiced a lesson. He’s the first man…”

I rambled, then I remembered he’d just said he would kill John. And why on earth was I trying to explain myself to him? To this beast?

Whom I’d only known for a few days. Sure, we’d shared a couple of kisses, but none of it was real.

It was just a dream and he wasn’t even my friend, but my enemy. And this had been the Marlenian way.

This was how all the Roses had been taught. Why should my training be different? Why was it even wrong, and yet deep down I knew it was, even if I didn’t understand why.

“He’s the first man… What?” he demanded. Now on his feet, he was coming toward me, his chains rattling as he moved.

“Tell me,” he ordered, his glowing eyes so intense, changing from green to red just like that first day. My entire body was suddenly warm, reacting to his growls, his voice.

I couldn’t break free from his stare. I didn’t know when my lips parted and I began to answer his question.

“He’s the only man I’ve ever seen naked and touched for the first time.” Though it hurt, it was something I hadn’t experienced before.

The beast growled so deep and low, I took a step back. But I couldn’t stop my body’s reaction. Instantly, my breasts became fuller, my nipples pebbled so hard they ached, and I was shockingly soaked.

~Seriously! This has got to stop.~

“Fuck, come here, kitten, I need…” he groaned and tried to take a step toward me. He growled irritably when the chain ended, and he looked at his chain with murder in his glowing eyes.

I was sure if the chain was a man, he would have ended him.

“I need to touch you, stroke you until you’re so wet for me you’ll be dripping. I need to make you come for me. I need to taste you and remove his scent from your skin.”

I sucked in a shaking breath. I would have liked that—just the idea of his hands on me, the way I’d seen Sabrina do to John, was making me press my thighs together.

“Did he touch you, and stroke your smooth, lush body?” The beast’s voice was hard; it sounded as though he was fighting for control. I gulped and shook my head.

“No, I’m the one who touched him,” I whispered.

Casvan growled again and his face looked pained. He gritted his teeth and asked, “Did you kiss him?”

“Yes.” He was silent after I said that.

“I’m going to bathe in this man’s blood. It would be the first thing I did after I broke free,” he growled, making my walls clench with the raw possessiveness in his voice, even though it sounded horrible.

“What? You’re just going to kill him?”

“Absolutely. Did you like it? His kiss?” he growled.

The kiss was terrible, and I never wanted to repeat it again. Seeing Sabrina do it had made me curious, but it wasn’t for me.

Maybe the problem lay with me. But that couldn’t be true—when Cas kissed me in my dreams, it was so good it made me wet.

“No, I don’t ever want to do it again. It hurts,” I told him honestly.

“Oh, Kitten,” he drawled, all the anger in his voice gone.

He tried to take another step, but his chains didn’t yield.

It was like every time he forgot about the chains and only remembered them when he wanted to come closer to me.

“I’m glad the bastard was doing it wrong. I’m going to teach you how to kiss properly. With me, you’ll feel good. My kiss will give you pleasure,” he said. He licked his lips, sending my heart reeling.

His eyes were so bright, the look in them intense, that I felt hot all over.

My heart was pounding; the thought of his mouth on mine didn’t repulse me. Instead, it made me wet, because I already knew how it felt—at least in my dreams.

He suddenly growled, nose flaring.

“You like the idea so much you’re dripping from it. I can smell it. Where would you like me to kiss you, Kitten? And how would you like it—soft and gentle, or hard and passionate?”

My breathing had turned heavy. I wanted it all, but I was also so scared, conflicted.

Was it okay for me to want him? Was it wrong? He was a beast and I was a human.

Wait, did he just say he could smell me?

God, I didn’t know what was happening to me.

I already knew sneaking in to meet with him when I was forbidden to do so was wrong and punishable by death.

But I couldn’t control my body’s reactions to him, and the incessant gnawing inside my heart that pulled and twisted, calling me to him, was something totally out of my control.

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly.

“You don’t know if you want me to kiss you, stroke and lick you, give you so much pleasure that you’d scream in ecstasy?”

The problem was I wanted it all. I couldn’t help but imagine the pictures he was painting in my head.

I was unknowingly moving closer to him, pulled by an invisible force.

“Where would you lick?” I asked curiously, my voice low and hoarse.

He groaned, his eyes glowing red.

When he finally spoke, his voice was guttural, deep but low.

“Your mouth. Those luscious lips—I would suck on them, lick them, kiss you thoroughly, show you how a real kiss should be.”

“Then?” I whispered, my chest rising with every breath, my eyes half-lidded as I imagined him doing just that.

“Then your breasts. I would lick them and suckle on your nipples, tease them until they are so hard they ache, for me.”

“They already do—ache, I mean,” I said, shocked at my confession. His sharp inhale told me he was too.

“I wish I could see them now. I wish I could suck and lick you right between your thighs, where you are wet right now.”

I shifted on my legs, pressing my shaky thighs together. My fingers were clutching the iron bars so hard they ached.

His inner glow, which had been dim earlier, was suddenly sparked to life; it illuminated his upper body.

“Just a little more, Kitten. Step closer, let me show you how pleasurable a kiss could be,” he growled.

I trembled. I wanted that—no, I needed that.