Page 37 of Secrets Of Blackwood

She moans softly, her back arching, offering herself to me. Her innocence is a balm to my scarred soul, her trust the ultimate aphrodisiac. I worship her with my mouth, tasting the sweetness of her skin, reveling in the soft whimpers that escape her lips.

“Damien… please,” she pleads, her fingers digging into my shoulders.

“Patience,” I growl, even as I ache to be one with her. But this moment is sacred, and I will not rush it. She deserves everything I have to give and then some.

When I finally sink into her, it’s a homecoming, a merging of two souls that were always meant to be entwined. We move together in a rhythm as old as time itself, each thrust a testament to the love that has grown between us despite the darkness that once threatened to tear us apart.

“Damien!” Her cry shatters the night as she clings to me, her body trembling with the force of her climax.

I follow soon after, my name on her lips the sweetest benediction as I find my own release, pouring all of myself into her.

In the aftermath, we hold each other tight, unwilling to let go. The world beyond this garden fades away; there’s only her and me, and the undeniable truth that we are bound together, now and forever.

“Whatever comes next,” I vow, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “we’ll face it together.”

And I mean every word. Whatever obstacles may come, whatever shadows may loom, I will fight for this love, for this woman who has become my everything. Lily is my heart, my soul, my redemption—and I will protect her until my very last breath.

11

Chapter Eleven

The flickering light of the hallway casts long shadows that dance upon the walls, and I stand amidst them, a specter caught between fear and anticipation. The pulse throbs in my throat, each beat a drumroll to the impending clash. This corridor, with its peeling wallpaper and musty scent, has become an arena where my fate hangs in the balance.

Damien emerges from the darkness like a tempest given form, his towering presence filling the space with palpable tension. His gray eyes, usually so guarded and distant, now blaze with an intensity that sets my skin aflame. As he locks eyes with Alexander, I feel the electric charge of their silent battle for supremacy.

“Alexander,” Damien’s voice is a growl, low and dangerous, “why can’t you leave her alone? What sick pleasure do you get from tormenting Lily?”

There’s a raw edge to his words that sends a shiver down my spine. He moves with lethal grace, every inch of him radiating a fierce protectiveness that should frighten me, yet it ignites something entirely different within my core.

I watch, breathless, as Alexander meets Damien’s glare unflinching, the air between them charged with animosity and something more, something unsaid that crackles like static. Even now, as they face off, I’m drawn to both—the darkness in Damien and the deceptive allure of Alexander. My body aches with a confusing need, the memory of past touches and whispered promises weaving a tangled web around my heart.

“Because she deserves better than you,” Alexander retorts with equal venom, his green eyes sparkling with challenge.

Their exchange is a dance of dominance, their words slicing through the thick atmosphere, raising the hairs on the back of my neck. I want to intervene, to cry out for peace, but I am rooted to the spot, a silent witness to this display of raw masculinity.

“Better?” Damien laughs without humor, stepping closer to Alexander. “You think you’re better for her? You’re nothing but—”

“Enough!” I finally find my voice, the word tearing from my lips as I step forward. But they are locked in their own world, a maelstrom of fury and unresolved tensions, and I am just a ghost haunting the fringes of their reality.

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Alexander’s smirk cuts through the dim light like a blade, his emerald eyes glinting with malice. “You really believe you could ever be enough for her?” His voice slithers through the air, heavy with arrogance. “Lily was always a trophy waiting to be claimed, and you, Damien… You’re just a broken toy pretending to be a man.”

I feel Damien’s rage before I see it, the temperature in the hallway seems to spike, an unseen fire crackling beneath his skin. The muscles along his jaw twitch, his stance rigid.

“Say that again,” Damien growls, each word laced with a dark promise.

I’m caught, a ship amidst an emotional tempest, watching the two men who have upended my world. My heart races—each beat a plea for reason to drown out this madness. Damien, with his brooding intensity, has awakened a fierce passion within me, a yearning for a connection far beyond the physical. And Alexander, despite his cruelty, still holds a piece of my past, a fragment of my naïveté that clings to the hope of what might have been.

“Ah, there’s the beast.” Alexander’s taunt slices through my thoughts. “But what good is your strength when you don’t even know how to cherish her? When all you can do is scare her with your uncontrollable temper?”

“Scare her?” Damien steps closer, his gray eyes now stormy skies about to unleash their fury. “She knows I’d never hurt her, unlike you, who finds pleasure in twisting her kindness into pain.”

My name on their lips feels like a caress and a cut, leaving me raw and exposed. The hallway closes in around us, the walls whispering secrets of desires and fears, the shadows dancing to the rhythm of my racing pulse.

“Is that so, Damien?” Alexander’s gaze flicks to me, and for a moment, I am the prey caught between two predators. “Tell me, Lily, whom do you fear more? The devil you know,” he gestures to himself with a wicked smile, “or the devil you don’t?”

Before I can muster the courage to speak, Damien’s hand finds mine, his grip a lifeline anchoring me to the here and now. His touch scorches, yet soothes, a reminder that I am not alone in this confrontation of hearts and egos.

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