Page 105 of Villain

The pain was bad, but it was nothing compared to the fear.

This wasn’t the person who coaxed him into comfort over the video feed. Or even the man who’d stood by and watched as his friend pounded Nix’s face with his cock. There was nothing sweet or collected in this, a version of Lake that seemed undone, cut off from that tight control he was so famous for.

That wasn’t the only part that scared Nix, though. Bites were…ritualistic. Old. Practically unheard of in present society, but the meaning behind the action was glaringly obvious, even if Nix couldn’t quite understand the why of it.

Hadn’t he been promised this would all end on Demons Passing?

Then why…

Lake released him all at once, stepping back and rubbing his hand across his mouth. The move smeared blood across his face, and he watched as Nix slid to the ground before crouching in front of him. He pulled the material of the torn shirt out of the way again to inspect his handy work, humming to himself, an unmistakable glimmer of self-satisfaction in his green eyes.

“That’s going to scar,” he announced. “I marked you in a way that can’t be ignored. Not even by Yejun.”

Nix flinched and protectively lifted his arms in front of his face when Lake moved his hand to touch him. Even with everything else that had been done to him, this was by far the worst. He’d never been truly injured by another person before, and knowing it was someone like Lake, someone powerful and stronger than him, made it ten times more frightening.

He wished he’d stayed locked in the stables instead. That would have been better. So much better.

Lake shushed him and gently lowered his arms, keeping a hand over one of Nix’s wrists so it remained in his lap. “Don’t be afraid, Songbird. It’s over.”

“Please,” Nix squeezed his eyes shut, hating how pathetic he was being yet unable to stop himself. “Please.”

“I won’t hurt you anymore,” he promised, easing his knees down to the ground so he was caging Nix in. Carefully, he captured his chin, tipping his face up before his lips brushed against Nix’s, featherlight. “Shh. Don’t cry.”

“You don’t get to say that,” Nix stated, but he didn’t push the other man away. “You don’t get to touch me like this after doing that to me either.”

“I’ll touch you how I please,” Lake corrected, but there was no anger in his tone now, his voice still trying to soothe. “You can blame that precious cousin of yours, Nix. She’s the reason we’re both in this position now. She forced our hands.”

“Liar.”

“You can’t tell Yejun about her yet,” he warned. “This will be enough to keep him from killing you, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try and make your life a living hell. There’s only so much I can do to stop him from that.”

“Liar,” he repeated with more venom. Now that the pain was starting to turn into a dull throb, his anger was returning full force.

“He’s my best friend,” Lake said, as if that should explain everything.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened, and a middle-aged man dressed in a security uniform stepped inside, pausing the moment he spotted them across the room.

“Get out,” Lake ordered, not even bothering to turn to face him.

He hesitated briefly, then seemed to realize who Lake was. With a muttered apology, he stepped back and slammed the door shut, sealing the two of them in the room once more.

“I’ll tell him myself once I figure out the best way to put it,” Lake picked up the conversation as though the interruption hadn’t happened. “Promise you won’t say anything, Nix.”

“And if I do?” There were still tears in his eyes, making his vision blurry, but he stubbornly glared through them at Lake. “What? Are you going to bite me again?”

“You know why I had to do that.”

“No, I fucking do not.”

He sighed. “You’re native to this planet. You know.”

Nix didn’t want to go there, and frankly, he didn’t have the mental strength to do so at the moment.

“The only good thing about all of this is we’re after the same person,” Lake said then. “The same one who recruited your cousin. You wanted revenge on them, remember?”

“I wanted revenge on whoever hurt her,” he corrected.

“That wasn’t us.”

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