Page 89 of Creed

A curse rises to my lips, but a keening noise escapes me instead as I pant. He smiles, a devil’s smile.

“We can’t have you coming too soon. You still have a punishment to endure.”

And call me twisted, but I’m looking forward to that as much as the reward at the end.

Chapter 27

Creed

Seeing Sophie, with herarms tied above her head, her stunning body arching toward me, her beautiful face emanating with need… makes me feel like a powerful god.

I reign over her just as much as she reigns over me. But in this life, more importantly, I reignwithher.

As much as this is to punish her—in the best way possible—for denying us, I have another important purpose.

I’m breaking down the last of her resistance. Stripping her bare, metaphorically speaking, to remind her that she needs me. That her body, heart, mind… hersoulneeds mine as much as mine needs hers. And even though she has been mine before—and her body is remembering that it belongs with mine—I also need this reminder stamped on her mind, heart, and soul, just like the angel wings with her name curled amongst the feathers is stamped on my skin.

Together, we can conquer and defeat any adversary or barrier that tries to come between us.

I told her previously that there’s no turning back. I meant it then, even after she created the distance between us; there is no other for me. Even if she had resisted us forever, there would never be another. Sophie is it for me.

And here, right now, is more meaningful than our future marriage ceremony, which will bind our love in the legal and societally accepted ways. Because this is the primal and raw binding of the two of us.

“Since you laid eyes on me for the first time, have you been with another?”

Her eyes fly to mine, filled with emotion—most of which is so much love. “No.”

I take a step closer.

“Have you wanted another?”

She shakes her head. “No.”

I take another step closer.

“Have you touched yourself, angel?” I switch tactics to keep her on her toes.

Her cheeks pinken. She’s tied to my bedpost, panting in need, yet her innocence still pokes through. “Yes. With thoughts of you.”

“You touched what is mine?” I rumble.

“It’s mine, first and foremost.” Her chin rises in defiance, then her eyes drop. “Even though I denied us, I still wanted and needed you.”

I approach her, tilting her chin so she looks up at me. “You’re right; your body is yours first and foremost, and I would never take that choice from you.”

Her trust and belief are all that meet my words.

“I need you to say the words, though, angel. Why you denied us.”

“My family…” She squeezes her eyes shut, and a tear slips onto her skin. “They wouldn’t understand my choice.”

“And now? What has changed?” My lips are a feather touch on hers as I brush them back and forth.

“I’m putting my needs first,” she whispers. I pull back slightly, and where I thought she’d look destroyed by that admission, she looks determined. “Choosing a future with the man I love. Trusting him to stand by my side to help me make my family understand and accept my choice.”

“The man you love?”

Her eyes, like molten dark gold, lock on me. “Yes. The man I love.”

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