KESTER.
When a devil falls in love, it’s the most hauntingly beautiful thing ever. And you should be terrified, for he will go to the depths of hell for her.
I never planned to be obsessed with Kasmine. It happened beyond my will, like a sickness that crept into my veins and took root in my very soul. Sitting by the bathtub, carefully washing her delicate skin, I realized there was nothing more satisfying than this moment.
She had protested when I carried her into the bathroom, murmuring weak objections, but I ignored them because I wanted her to get used to this. She’d be seeing more of it from now.
Her body was like my temple now, and I craved to worship it in every way possible while branding her with my mark.
The thought alone sent a sharp pulse of hunger through me as my cock jerked in response, my self-control slipping for a fraction of a second, but I sucked in a breath to steady myself. She had gone past her limit as a first-timer. It would be cruel to take her for the third time today. She had to recover.
“Hey…” I broke the awkward silence between us. She turned her gaze from the distant spot she had been staring at to look at me, “Is the warm water helping with the pain?”
She hesitated, then nodded, barely meeting my eyes. She was clearly too embarrassed to hold my gaze for too long.
Her shyness made my chest tighten. She was so damn adorable it hurt.
“Good. You’ll feel better before the day ends,” I murmured, massaging the body wash into her skin, taking my time, memorizing the feel of her beneath my hands.
“I can barely walk,” she stated the obvious.
“I know. That’s why we are taking the day off from the office today. I’ll nurse you to wellness,” I told her.
“We?” She asked, confused, “No. I’ll be fine at home alone. You can go to the office,” she urged.
I chuckled, amused by her naive assumption that I could just leave her like this. “Why? Scared I’ll end up fucking you again?” I teased, watching with satisfaction as her cheeks turned a delicious shade of red.
“Stop it, Kes. Don’t use such words around me,” she looked away, and I saw the way her throat bobbed as she swallowed nervously.
“Why not? We did more than use the word all night… We actually ‘did’ the word,” I murmured, dipping my head closer to hers with a wink. “Or… does it turn you on?” I whispered, and she stiffened at my closeness. I caught the flicker of something in her eyes-something she was trying so hard to suppress warm desires.
She didn’t need to say it. I already knew.
And gods help her because I had no intention of stopping if she made me start.
I felt like a child at heart around her. I just wish she’d see what she was doing to me and reciprocate just as I wanted her to.
Her hair was soft, silken strands sliding through my fingers as I massaged some shampoo into her scalp. The fragrant lather bubbled between my hands, my fingers moving with a tenderness that would have shocked anyone who knew me.
“I’ll take care of you today, okay?” I murmured, my eyes fixed on her, soaking in every delicate feature, every flutter of her lashes. “I’ve told the maids to prepare some food for us. If there’s anything else you need, just tell me, and it’s yours.”
She rolled her eyes, clearly not pleased with what I was saying, the gesture almost endearing.
“Something wrong?” I arched a brow, amusement curling my lips.
“Was this how well you treated June the other day you were with her all night? Hmm?” she snapped, her eyes narrowing into slits that could cut through my very soul, and it was everything I could do not to laugh, “The day you spent the whole day at home with her?”
My chest tightened. So, my little game had gotten to her?
I felt a surge of satisfaction at her jealousy-it meant that despite her protests and self-denial, she still cared.
I scoffed, “What do you care, Mine?”
Her cheeks flushed, that beautiful blush that always made my pulse quicken. “I don’t care,” she shot back, her voice laced with irritation. “I’m just reminding myself not to feel special with this whole ‘special treatment’ you’re trying to pull together.” She turned fully to face me, water droplets clinging to her lashes like fragile crystals. “Because I know you don’t care about anyone, Kester.”
Her words hit me hard, but I brushed it off. I leaned in, letting my gaze burn into hers, my fingers still buried in her hair. “Don’t mistake my carelessness with others as indifference towards you,” I said in a dangerously low tone, “You are the exception, Kasmine. The only fucking one.”
She scoffed, but there was a quiver in her lip, a slight tremble in her breath. “You can’t just do this-pretend like I’m the only one when you keep proving otherwise. Besides, this…? Us?” She gestured between us, “It is never meant to go beyond the walls of this bedroom.”
I stiffened, and my fingers, which were trailing down her neck, stopped midway, making her shiver despite the warm water. I hated to hear that, and she knows it. Why did she always have to shatter my heart with those words?
Why the fuck would she think we can never be?
I wrapped my fingers around her throat, just enough to keep her eyes locked on mine, which were burning with rage, “Do you think June could make me feel what you do? That she could consume my every thought? Every waking moment?” My voice was low and unsteady. “You own me, Kasmine. You’ve ruined me for anything or anyone else.”
She swallowed hard, the movement pressing against my palm, but I squeezed tighter. “Kester…”
“Stop doubting the lengths I will go for you,” I growled, my voice rough with the torment twisting inside me. “With you.”
Her lips parted, but she hesitated, her eyes screaming things her mouth refused to say. Instead, she tore her gaze away, looking at the water swirling around us. “I will turn twenty-one in less than three months,” she murmured as if trying to convince herself. “I’ll get my mate, Kester. This-” she swallowed again “-this will end. You just have to enjoy it while it lasts. I will only belong to one man in the future, and that will be my fated mate.”
A slow, eerie silence followed.
Then my heart shattered into a million pieces while I stared into her eyes.
My hands trembled, and agony slithered through me. A growl rumbled in my chest.
Why did she make me feel one thing this minute and say another the next?
The thought of having another man around her sent me spiraling into a darkness I had no escape from.
I inhaled sharply, struggling to steady myself, but the agony was unbearable. My vision blurred at the edges, not with tears, but with pure, seething possession. “Mine…” I rasped, my voice almost unrecognizable, “Don’t ever say that again. Please.” I whispered.
I felt like finding the Moon Goddess and making sure to find out who Kasmine’s fated mate would be so I could kill him with my bare hands before they ever get the chance to meet. Because I’d kill him either way as soon as they meet, and it would hurt her more then.
And gods help me if it ever turns out to be Jake because I’d skin him alive.
“Why? The truth hurts?” She smiled bitterly, “This is why I can never love you, Kester. I will never let myself love you, no matter how tempting it is.”
It was like a knife driven into my chest, twisted, and left there to rot.
“Mine…” I called in a croaky voice, and this time, she clawed at my hand. Her face turned red as she was losing breath.
I didn’t realize I still held onto her throat. I had been too lost. Too wrecked. Too fucking broken by her words.
I let out a breathless, humorless chuckle, loosening my grip but not letting her go.
A tear slid down her eye… I saw the pain in her eyes. A pain that spoke of a longing that was out of her reach.
The pain in her eyes mirrored my own, but she was too damn stubborn to admit it. “You have to stop this, Kester,” she whispered, “You have to stop feeling this way about me.” More tears slipped down her cheek, and it hit me like a death sentence. I hate to see her cry.
Stop?
It was too late to stop.
I was past the point of salvation.
“I can’t,” I whispered, voice hoarse with a thousand unspoken emotions. “I won’t.”
Her chest rose and fell rapidly; her lips parted in disbelief.
“I don’t just want you, Kasmine,” I continued, my forehead pressing against hers while my voice broke. “I need you.” I cupped her face, my thumb tracing her cheek, her tears soaking into my skin. “This is beyond lust. Beyond desire. You’re in my blood, in my fucking soul. You belong to me.”
I breathed her in, my obsession, my weakness, my ruin.
“Please… love me back,” I begged in a broken whisper. “Please.”
She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply, and when she opened them again, it was like she had stitched herself back together. “Kester…” She exhaled my name, barely a whisper, and I searched her eyes, waiting for the words she would say like a sinner waiting for his death sentence.
“Yes, Mine?” I replied, urging her to speak.
“I want to be left alone.”
Pain ripped through my chest, searing, unbearable.
That was all she had to say?
I scoffed. My grip on her face loosened, my hands dropping to my sides as if all the strength had drained from me. My lips parted, but no words came.
What was left to say?
She had already sentenced me to hell, but I wasn’t willing to stay there.
I turned to leave but halted by the door, looking at her from over my shoulder.
“I hope fate never touches you,” I whispered, my voice coming out like thick smoke, “Because the moment another man dares to touch you, the moment you let him lay a fucking hand on you…” I clenched my fist, watching the way she shivered.
“…I’ll rip him apart.”
Her lips parted, shock flashing across her face.
“That’s a promise.”