Page 98 of Haunted

I ignore the shocked murmurs rippling through the assembly, focusing only on the woman in my arms, whose eyes are wide with anticipation.

I carry Mira to the Dias, her legs wrapped around my waist, her heat surrounding my cock with every step. The entire assembly watches our approach. Nineteen observers, thirteen hunters and their prey, all focused on us with rapt attention.

When I reach the center of the platform, I set her down on her feet and lower myself onto my back. I look up at her flushed face. “Ride me,” I command, my voice carrying clearly through the silent chamber. “Show everyone how well you take my cock.”

Mira’s cheeks burn crimson at my words, her eyes darting nervously around the room before settling back on mine. I can see the conflict playing across her features—embarrassment warring with arousal as she realizes what I’m demanding of her.

“Xavier,” she whispers. “They’re all watching.”

“Let them watch,” I growl. “You’re mine now. For a full year. Show them exactly what that means.”

Mira’s breathing quickens as she positions herselfover me and braces her hands against my chest, sliding down with a satisfied moan as her inner walls clench around my shaft almost instantly.

Slowly, deliberately, she lifts herself until only the head of my cock is all that remains inside her. Then she sinks back down with a whimper that echoes through the chamber, taking me to the hilt.

“Good girl,” I praise, watching the flush spread down her chest as she establishes a rhythm. “Now, faster.”

Mira’s movements become more confident with each rise and fall of her hips. Her embarrassment transforms into bravado. A warmth settles over me as her newfound exhibitionism takes hold and she soars. I feel her growing wetter with each movement, her arousal coating my shaft and balls as she rides me with increasing abandon.

The sound of skin slapping against skin mingles with her breathless moans and my own growls of approval. Around us, the assembled crowd watches in rapt silence, some of the other hunters visibly aroused by the display.

“Tell them who you belong to,” I demand, my hands guiding her movements as she bounces on my cock.

“You,” Mira gasps, her head falling back as pleasure overwhelms her inhibitions. “I belong to Xavier Blackwood.”

The declaration sends a surge of satisfaction through me. She’s mine now, completely and utterly mine, and everyone in this room knows it.

38

MIRA

The taxi’s vinyl seats stick to my bare legs beneath the short black dress Xavier gave me.

Twenty-four hours.

That’s what we get to collect our things, make arrangements, and say goodbye to our old lives before we disappear into whatever our hunters have planned.

Cora sits beside me, staring out the rain-streaked window at the blur of streetlights. Her red hair falls like a curtain between us, but I can see her hands trembling in her lap. The silence stretches between us, and it feels like a barrier we may never overcome.

I can’t stop replaying the moment her father saw her on Dominic’s lap with two other men fondling her. The way Mayor Pike’s face went from white to red with rage. The sound he made—somewhere between a roar and a broken sob—when he realized his daughter had been hunted by not one, but three men.

And Cora sat there, Dominic buried inside her.

“Cora,” I whisper, unsure that she will even hear me over the taxi’s engine.

She doesn’t turn toward me. “Don’t.”

“We need to talk about what?—”

“I said don’t.” Her voice cracks on the words. “Please, Mira. I can’t... not yet.”

The taxi hits a pothole, jostling us together. Cora’s shoulder brushes mine, and I feel her flinch away as if my touch burns. The guilt in my stomach twists painfully.

This is my fault. I brought her into this. My investigation, my need for the truth, my reckless decision to sign that NDA—it all led to this moment. To Cora, broken and silent beside me, to her father’s horrified screams echoing through that dining hall.

“Where to, ladies?” the driver asks, glancing at us in the rearview mirror.

Cora gives him her address in a hollow voice. I add mine after a moment’s hesitation, though I wonder what the point is. In twenty-four hours, Xavier will collect me. In twenty-four hours, this version of my life will come to an abrupt end.

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