CH.49

Serena trailed behind Knox through the plush hallways. Her head was hung low as the mortifying scene she'd inadvertently stumbled upon replayed vividly in her mind.

She couldn't expel the lurid images of Killian and Seven entangled in a passionate gang bang feast.

That raw, intense show burned into her consciousness no matter how hard she tried to shake it off.

Serena found herself inexplicably and intensely drawn to the man leading her whose unmistakable aura of danger and smoldering desire seemed to radiate from his very being, surrounding him in an intoxicating force that commanded the air itself.

Her eyes traced the contours of his broad, muscular back and his confident, predatory stride that exuded an almost feral power barely restrained.

There was something about this mysterious man that both scared and tempted her, wanting his hands on her body despite her fear. Something so alluring that she followed him blindly, without question.

‘Oh lord… What games are you playing with me?’ Serena muttered internally.

Her pulse thrummed harder with each step, aware of his proximity. The scorching waves of heat rolling off him in a way that threatened to consume her utterly was unbearable.

His very presence seemed to electrify the atmosphere around them, tendrils of menace and eroticism crackling through the charged air.

“Master. Would you and the lady like to eat your meal right now?” A feminine voice questioned in a foreign language, accompanied by hasty steps.

Serena tilted her head to see an older woman approaching them from behind.

“Bring it up!” Knox responded tersely in the same language. He sounded as though he was speaking with all of his remaining willpower when he said those three words.

“Yes, Master.” The woman bowed and hurried away.

Serena tried to remember where she had heard that language before as Knox led her to his private lounge.

The moment the door thudded shut behind them, Knox had Serena pinned against the wall, caging her in with his powerful arms and legs as he stared down at her with those molten amber eyes.

Serena gasped at his abrupt movement.

Their ragged breaths intermingled as his chiseled chest brushed against her with each labored inhalation.

The air between them was thick and heady with an undercurrent of arousal that left Serena dizzy and lightheaded.

The earlier erotic display had awoken something primal within her core - a simmering, ravenous longing that threatened to consume her utterly as Knox's heady, intoxicating blend of musk and spicey scent invaded her senses.

Serena yearned for nothing more than to surrender herself to the raw, animalistic passion that sparked and sizzled between them at that moment. To have him take her hard against that wall, to lose herself in the searing heat of his powerful embrace.

'Oh heavens! What sin have I committed to deserve such punishment?' Serena screamed internally.

She could feel the rigid planes of his body pressed against her, the solid weight of him pinning her in place, and a part of her ached to give in to that primal hunger - to allow the raging inferno within to consume her.

But there was a flicker of restraint in Knox's eyes... a hint of hesitation that suggested he was mindful of the night he had roughly and savagely claimed her. The night in which details still remained a fragmented, elusive blur in Serena's mind.

Knox's head dipped lower, his nose brushing along her flushed cheek to the spot where Diana's mom had scratched her during that ugly confrontation.

He trailed his way down to the delicate crook of Serena's neck, his breath coming in a low, guttural grunt as he inhaled a deep, ragged breath - taking in her soft, feminine scent.

Serena shuddered involuntarily, a breathy whimper escaping her lips as the heat of his breath fanned across her sensitive skin.

She could feel the throbbing, insistent ache building between her thighs in response to his overwhelming proximity and the undeniable air of smoldering desire that seemed to radiate from his frame in waves.

Despite the lingering resistance still coiling in her core, some deeper, more primal part of her was responding to Knox's potent masculinity. Her body seemed to have a mind of its own, betraying her with each trembling breath and the molten heat unfurling low in her belly as he nuzzled against that tender stretch of flesh just above her collarbone.

One of his smooth hands came up to cup her jaw, his thumb brushing along the seam of her lips with a scorching caress that made her breath hitch in her throat.

Serena's eyes fluttered closed despite herself. Her senses were overwhelmed by his masculine scent and the solid weight of his frame pressing her back against the cold wall.

She could feel the rigid evidence of his arousal prodding insistently against her belly, could hear the low, guttural rumble building in his chest as his thumb traced the fullness of her bottom lip with intent.

The charged tension hung taut between them until the spell was abruptly broken by the maids bearing dinner on ornate silver trays.

“We are here to deliver your dinner, Master.” They chorused in fear of disrupting something they probably shouldn't have done.

Without even daring to lift their gaze, they quickly set the dishes on the glass table and fled out of the room with their tails between their legs.

Knox clenched his jaws, releasing her from his grasp with all the restraint he could muster.

“Come!” He motioned for her to take a seat on the plush leather sofa that dominated the room.

Serena's heart was still thundering from their sensual encounter, her skin still tingling with the phantom caress of Knox's powerful frame pressed against her own yet she forced her legs to move toward the sofa.

A disorienting sense of surreal unreality washed over her. This entire situation felt like a fever dream as if she could wake up at any moment to find herself back in her mundane reality.

Knox lounged across from her, his long muscular legs outstretched as he regarded her with an inscrutable, piercing gaze. He radiated an air of quiet power and supreme confidence, of being utterly in control of his domain, and Serena felt herself inexorably, helplessly drawn to his flame like the eternal dance of moth to light.

"Questions?" His deep rumbling baritone seemed to reverberate through the charged air between them, the rich timbre shivering deliciously down her spine.

Serena swallowed hard, struggling to gather her whirling thoughts amid the maelstrom of desire and confusion roiling within her.

"W-who are you?" She breathed the burning question in a hushed whisper that cut through the scorching tension.