CH.73

Serena slowly drifted back from the hazy edges of unconsciousness. Her body was still quivering with the aftershocks of her shattering release.

She felt utterly boneless and wrung out, like a rag that had been twisted and rung dry.

Serena became aware of the thick heat still sheathed inside her, of the sticky evidence of his own climax coating her inner walls and trickling down her thighs.

Slowly blinking her eyes open, she found him looming over her smaller frame with a look of dark, primal hunger etched across his chiseled features.

His amber eyes seemed to glow with banked embers in the low light, the crimson and gold swirling in a mesmerizing vortex.

His dick was still achingly hard, pulsing heavily within her convulsing walls as if he hadn't just erupted his release mere moments ago.

A cold shudder of apprehension slithered its way down Serena's spine, causing the fine hairs on her nape to bristle in response.

The intensity of Knox's stare felt almost tangible, like a physical entity that held her captive within its clutches. It was as if she were a deer frozen in place by the blinding glare of an oncoming vehicle's headlights.

There was something profoundly different about him now, something that set off a series of warning bells in the back of her mind.

The man looming over her bore no resemblance to the one who had just carried her to peaks of ecstasy she'd never scaled before.

His handsome features were contorted into a mask of malevolence, and he radiated an aura that sent icy tendrils of fear snaking through her veins.

The atmosphere around him had undergone a drastic transformation; what was once warm and intimate had morphed into something cold and ominous.

"K-Knox...?" Serena's voice quivered as she uttered his name. But he offered no response. He remained eerily still, physically connected with her yet his eyes bore a terrifying look that made her blood run cold.

His gaze reminded her chillingly of a predator poised on the brink of pouncing on its unsuspecting prey.

She felt like nothing more than a hapless creature awaiting consumption by this ravenous beast lurking within him.

Serena tried to say something again but before any words could escape past her trembling lips, he leaned closer.

Then a surge of excruciating pain erupted from the crook of her neck, obliterating any hope for coherent speech.

Serena tried to scream but all that emerged was a strangled whimper. Her body convulsed violently as she strived desperately to snap Knox out of whatever trance he seemed trapped in. Yet no words would come out.

Serena could feel herself fading away with each passing second. Foaming saliva bubbled at the corners of her mouth as her body began to spasm violently.

“K-Knox!” She manged to choke out one last time. And then everything plunged into darkness. Her body slumped back on the mattress with no breath left in her.

She was dead!

It was only then that Knox seemed to regain his senses and recoiled from Serena's now lifeless form.

He looked down at her with wide, disbelieving eyes, his mind whirling in a desperate attempt to make sense of what had just transpired.

Knox frantically cradled Serena in his arms, lightly tapping her cheeks in an attempt to rouse her. Then he unleashed his magic, letting it cascade over her in waves, hoping fervently that it would breathe life back into her. However, all his efforts were futile.

His face turned ghostly pale and he clutched his chest where an unfamiliar emotion began to stir within him.

Was it disappointment? Or perhaps fear?

‘Weak earthlings!’ A voice dripping with scorn jolted Knox out of his stupor.

It was the same voice he had heard earlier after the failed assassination attempt on Serena's life. And then a horrifying realization dawned on him. He had momentarily lost control during their intimate moment, providing this unknown entity within him the opportunity to surge forward and harm Serena.

"What have you done?" Knox demanded through his teeth. Silence greeted him instead. There was no response from the being that seemed to have disappeared from his consciousness. It felt like he was chasing shadows or hallucinating about hearing that voice.

Desperation gnawed at Knox as Serena's body grew colder by the second.

He needed to act swiftly or risk losing her forever. Since nothing he had tried so far worked, there was only one solution he could think of. It was a risk but one he was willing to pay the price.

Time froze for a split second, the world around Knox grinding to a halt. Then everything began to move in reverse at a blistering pace.

The air whipped past him as if being rapidly rewound, furniture and objects blurring in his periphery.

Knox felt the energy draining from his body as the rewind effect accelerated. Memories and sensations flowed backwards through his consciousness like a river reversing its current.

The pleasure and passion he had experienced with Serena just moments ago was abruptly unraveled, their tangled bodies untangling, the sweat and heat of exertion dissipating.

The dizzying reversal finally slammed to a halt, depositing Knox at some earlier point in time.

Knox's focus snapped back to reality as if pulled by invisible strings.

He found himself suspended above Serena, her lips parting and closing in a frantic appeal.

"Yes!" Serena cried out without hesitation, mindless in her craving for him at this point.

She was practically delirious with need, her hips undulating shamelessly in a bid for friction. "Please...I need you inside me! I need to feel that thick cock stretching me wide! Destroy me!!"

A jolt of realization hit Knox like a bullet. He had managed to have been transported back to the moment before he succumbed to her pleading request and took her completely.

His body recoiled from hers abruptly, landing him on his feet next to the bed.

His head tilted back as he ran his fingers through his hair, wrestling with what had just happened.

A shaky breath escaped his lips before his gaze fell back onto Serena.

Her face was flushed from the countless climax he had drawn from her with his mouth moments ago, but now her lips were pressed tightly together in clear disapproval.

"Why did you stop?" She questioned him sharply, her eyes narrowing at his arousal standing proudly between them.

Was this man seriously going to leave her hanging after igniting such a flame within her?

Knox could only stare at her silently. His mind was spinning from their intense encounter which seemed like it belonged both to the future and past simultaneously. The memory of their intimacy still lingered in every nerve of his body.

Knox quickly snapped out of it. He yanked on his pants then tenderly draped the quilt over Serena’s naked form before straightening up again.

Serena watched in disbelief as he strode towards the door. One thought kept ringing in her mind: he was leaving for another woman.

A familiar pain twisted in her chest. “Are you going to her?” she asked, struggling to keep her voice steady.

Knox paused with his hand resting on the doorknob. He drew in a sharp breath, trying to maintain his composure.

“You’re not ready for me!” he replied bluntly.

With that, he turned the knob and stepped out of the bedroom.

His body nearly buckled under him as soon as the door shut behind him. He held tightly on to the wall and tilted his head down cough up a mouthful of blood.

His complexion was deathly pale. Darkness swirled around him like a tempest while peculiar mark on his right-side ribs glowed a vibrant gold.

But just as his body was about to cave in, Seven suddenly materialized wearing only his underwear.

The urgent patter of frenzied footfalls echoing through the stairwell followed. It grew louder until Killian burst into view.

His usually composed appearance was a distant memory, replaced by an image of pure chaos.

A vibrant red brassiere hung like a misplaced halo atop his tousled hair while a stark white thong was haphazardly slung around his waist.

His arousal was still evident, peeking out from the side of his makeshift underwear. Sweat glistened on his bare skin, each droplet reflecting the harsh light in the corridor.

He sprinted towards Knox and Seven with wild eyes and disarrayed hair sticking out at odd angles.

His face was etched with deep lines of worry.

"What in ecstasy’s name happened here?" He blurted out. "Weren’t they finally having their long awaited reunion and now it's like World War III broke out!" His words tumbled out in a rush.

Seven scowled at Killian's unconventional attire and chaotic state. "You couldn't have taken two seconds to make yourself look less ridiculous?"

Killian looked down at himself as if noticing his state for the first time and shrugged nonchalantly. "Screw that! We've got bigger fish to fry." He gestured wildly towards Knox's limp form. "We need to get him help!"

Together they hoisted Knox between them, each taking on half the burden of their friend's unconscious form as they moved towards the private infirmary hidden within their fortress-like home.

Just as they made it into the concealed elevator - a technological marvel disguised behind what anyone would assume was just another wall - two familiar figures appeared seemingly from thin air.

They were that of Enzo and Meredith.