The cottage door shut behind them with a soft thud, cutting off the false twilight of her space. Lexi exhaled slowly, stretching her arms over her head, her boots echoing faintly on the polished floor.
Her gaze swept the interior of the big cottage and lingered on the neatly arranged supplies. Everything she had thrown carelessly into her space was now ordered perfectly—snacks lined like soldiers on the shelves, clothes folded and stacked, soaps and lotions lined up by scent, even the shoes paired and stored where they belonged.
Lexi's lips curved into a smile of satisfaction. Obedient little space. Knows how to treat its mistress well.
She turned to Derek.
He stood by the door, broad-shouldered, silent, still smeared with the gore of the day's hunt. His chest rose and fell slowly, his inhuman stillness at odds with the tension rolling off him.
Lexi's smirk sharpened.
"You look dangerous tonight," she murmured, strolling closer. "Blood all over you, jaw set like stone… no wonder the dead run toward you only to die. Even I might be afraid."
He said nothing. His gaze burned through her, unwavering, following every sway of her hips.
Lexi chuckled softly and brushed past him, her shoulder grazing his arm in passing. "Lucky me, you only kill for me."
She vanished briefly into the bedroom. When she returned, she wore a fitted black crop top that revealed the taut line of her stomach, paired with dark pants that hugged her hips and thighs.
Her damp hair spilled down her back, gleaming under the warm lamplight, and her skin carried the faint sweetness of cherry blossom lotion.
She leaned against the doorway, watching him, then slowly dragged her fingers down her bare stomach. "You looked," she teased, her voice low and knowing.
His jaw ticked. His eyes flickered—just once. But it was enough.
Lexi pushed away from the door and sauntered toward him, her smile dangerous, sultry. "You killed so beautifully today. It was so thrilling watching you rip skulls apart while keeping me untouched? You were… magnificent."
Her hand lifted, fingers brushing across his chest, leaving faint traces of lotion over the bloodstains. "Do you know how much I love pushing you, Derek? Making you burn beneath all that control?"
Her words dripped like honeyed poison, daring him, taunting him.
His hand shot up, closing around her wrist with a grip that made her breath catch.
"You keep testing me," he said, voice low and vibrating like restrained thunder.
Her smirk widened, her lips brushing his jaw. "Do I? Or do you love it?"
Then he snapped.
He moved in a blur, dragging her flush against him. One hand tangled harshly in her hair, forcing her head back, while his mouth crushed down on hers.
Lexi gasped, smirk shattering, as his kiss consumed her—rough, scorching, unrelenting. She tried to speak, to taunt, but every word was swallowed, silenced beneath the force of his mouth.
He kissed her until she lost her footing, until her knees trembled. When she clawed lightly at his chest, he caught her wrists in one large hand, pinning them above her head against the wall. His grip was immovable, his body pressed into hers, caging her completely.
Lexi arched against him, testing, teasing, but the wall at her back and Derek's sheer strength left her trapped.
He kissed her more deeply.
She whimpered, her lungs burned, her mind spun. Every time she tried to turn her head, to smirk or whisper something wicked, he caught her lips again, his tongue forcing silence, his mouth relentless. He gave her no chance to regain control.
Her wrists strained in his grip, but she wasn't fighting—she was trembling. Trembling because again, Derek was not just obeying. He was dominating.
When she tried to lift a leg against him in mock defiance, his free hand slid down and caught her thigh, lifting it high around his waist. The motion forced her body to cling to his, pressed tightly against the wall.
Her breath hitched.
"Derek…" she whispered, voice breaking.
He silenced her with another burning kiss, his grip on her thigh unyielding, his strength crushing yet careful. He held her weight as though she were nothing, her body suspended between the wall and his power.
Her other leg followed instinctively, wrapping around him.
Now, she was caged completely—her wrists pinned, her legs trapped, her lips swallowed.
For once, Lexi had no words. Her smirk, her endless teasing, all of it crumbled beneath the sheer force of Derek's intensity.
He kissed her until she lost all sense of self, until her sharp mind fell blank, until all that remained was the shiver in her body and the desperate way she clung to him.
He did not rush. He did not relent. He drowned her in fire, his strength overwhelming yet precise, never hurting her even as he pushed her to the edge of breaking.
Lexi gasped for air when he finally pulled back, her lips swollen, her chest rising and falling in frantic bursts. Her wrists slid uselessly against his iron grip, her legs trembling where they clung to him.
Derek's forehead pressed against hers, his voice low and dangerous. "You talk too much."
Her lips curved weakly, her voice a trembling whisper. "And you… kiss too well."
His eyes darkened. Crushing her lips again before she could form any word.
Time dissolved into heat. He held her pinned against the wall, wrists locked above her head, his strength an unbreakable cage.
Every attempt she made to tease him, was cut off with another ruthless kiss. Every sound she made was stolen, every breath devoured.
Her strength drained beneath him. Her body quivered, her thoughts scattered, until she could only cling to him, lost beneath the storm he unleashed.
And still, he never hurt her. His inhuman power, terrifying and raw, remained under his control—for her. Always for her.
When he finally let her wrists go, they fell limply around his neck. Her head tipped back against the wall, her lips parted, eyes glazed. She had endured his intensity until she had no strength left.
She had lost.
And she loved it.
Later, as she lay on the bed in the cottage, her lips still swollen, her body still trembling faintly, Lexi pressed her fingers to her mouth. She could still taste him, still feel his heat.
Her smirk returned, faint but wild. "My knight," she whispered into the dim room. "My monster. My silence."
For the first time in a long while, Lexi had not just played the game. She had been consumed by it.
And it thrilled her to her core.