Chapter 3: The Shadow's Grip

My heart leaped straight into my throat.

The brass door handle clicked violently, turning all the way to the right. In a fraction of a second, Damian’s eyes narrowed. He didn't panic. With a swift, effortless movement, he grabbed my waist, lifted me clean off my feet, and dragged me behind the heavy silk velvet curtains draping the floor-to-ceiling balcony windows.

He pinned me against the glass, his massive body completely shielding mine in the narrow shadow. He placed one broad, hot palm firmly over my mouth, his thumb resting against my jawline to keep me silent.

"Not a sound, little bride," he breathed directly into my ear, his tone so low it was almost a sub-audible vibration.

The heavy mahogany doors swung open.

Through the narrow slit in the curtains, I held my breath, watching through the shear fabric as a sleek, electric wheelchair rolled smoothly into the master suite.

It was Lucian.

He was alone, sitting upright with his hands resting quietly on his lap. He paused in the center of the room, his dark eyes scanning the empty bed, the unmade sheets, and the open bathroom door. The silence in the room was so thick you could hear the faint hum of his wheelchair motor.

"Valerie?" Lucian called out. His voice was quiet, raspy, and lacking the fierce, terrifying command of the man who had touched me in the dark.

My heart was hammering so hard against my ribs that I was certain Damian could feel it pressing into his chest. Damian stood mere inches from me, trapping me against the cool glass of the balcony window. His chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm, his eyes fixed intently on his twin brother through the curtain gap.

My skin burned everywhere our bodies touched. With Damian’s palm covering my mouth, I could smell the heavy scent of rain and cedar lingering on his skin. Trapped between the cold glass behind me and the suffocating heat of my husband's brother in front of me, a traitorous shiver ran straight down my spine.

Lucian waited for another moment, his gaze lingering on the scattered silk ribbons of my wedding gown left on the carpet. A strange, unreadable expression passed over his pale features before he turned his wheelchair around and backed out of the room, letting the heavy doors click softly shut behind him.

The moment the lock clicked, Damian released his hand from my mouth.

I gasped, drawing in a sharp lungful of air, my chest heaving against his chest. "Are you insane?!" I hissed, my hands coming up to shove against his broad shoulders. "If he had seen us…"

"He didn't," Damian cut in smoothly, his grip on my waist tightening rather than loosening. He leaned in closer, his dark eyes burning into mine with an intensity that made my breath hitch. "And even if he did, what do you think he would do, Valerie? Challenge me?"

"He is your Don! Your brother!" I whispered fiercely, trying to wriggle out of his grasp, but he was like an iron wall. "Why are you doing this to him? Why are you doing this to me?"

Damian lowered his head until his lips brushed against the curve of my neck, right over the dark mark he had left there earlier. He took a slow, deliberate bite of the sensitive skin, making me gasp softly and arch my back against the window.

"I am not doing anything to you, little bride," Damian growled against my skin, his hand sliding down my back to cup the curve of my hip, pressing me firmly against the hard, undeniable line of his arousal through his trousers. "I am giving you what that cold room couldn't give you. What he can't give you."

"Stop..." I whimpered, though the heat spreading between my thighs completely betrayed the word. "You're playing a sick game."

"Is it a game?" Damian asked, his thumb tracing the swollen line of my lower lip. His gaze dropped to my mouth, heavy with explicit promise. "Last night, when I had you crying out in the dark, you didn't call it a game. You took every inch of me, Valerie. You loved it."

My face burned crimson. "Because I thought you were my husband!"

Damian let out a dark, low laugh that vibrated straight through my chest. He leaned in, his lips hovering barely a millimeter above mine, his breath hot and intoxicating.

"Then close your eyes," he whispered darkly. "Imagine it's dark again. Imagine I'm your husband."

Before I could pull away, his mouth claimed mine in a fierce, possessive kiss.

It wasn't gentle. It was a hostile takeover. His tongue parted my lips with ruthless authority, tasting me deeply, drinking in my soft gasp. My mind screamed at me to fight him, to push him away, to protect whatever dignity I had left, but my body traitorously melted under his touch. My fingers tangled into the soft hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him closer as a low moan escaped my throat.

Damian groaned into my mouth, his hands sliding inside my satin robe, his warm, calloused palms sweeping up my bare thighs. He lifted one of my legs, hooking my knee over his hip, pulling my core flush against his throbbing length. The friction through his dark trousers was so intense it sent a wave of liquid fire straight down my spine.

"See?" Damian rasped against my lips, his breathing as ragged as mine. "You can lie with your words all day, Valerie. But your body doesn't lie to me."

He slid his hand between us, his fingers slipping beneath the thin fabric of my lace panties, finding me instantly slick and burning for him. He drove two fingers deep inside me without warning, drawing a sharp, loud scream of pleasure from my throat that I barely managed to smother against his shoulder.

"Damian... please," I sobbed out, my toes curling inside my slippers as he set a fast, relentless pace with his fingers, hitting that exact, sensitive spot that made my head spin.

"Tell me who owns this body," Damian growled in my ear, his thumb working in hard, rhythmic circles over my core. "Tell me, Valerie."

"You..." I choked out, completely lost in the overwhelming tide of sensation, my hips thrusting against his hand in dark, shameless desperation. "You... ah!"

My climax hit me like a sudden freight train, my inner muscles clamping down tightly around his fingers as wave after wave of intense pleasure washed over me. I buried my face in the crook of his neck, trembling violently in his arms as he rode out the wave with me, his chest heaving against mine.

Damian slowly withdrew his fingers, trailing them up my thigh before leaning down to kiss the shell of my ear. "Good girl," he purred softly.

He smoothed down my satin robe, stepping back to give me space, though his dark eyes never left mine. He looked utterly satisfied, arrogant, and completely in control.

"Get dressed," Damian said, his voice returning to that cool, authoritative tone. "Lucian wants you downstairs in the library in twenty minutes. He has papers for you to sign regarding the marriage settlement."

I stood there, leaning against the glass, my legs trembling, my chest heaving as I watched him turn toward the balcony doors.

"Damian," I called out, my voice raspy.

He paused, looking over his shoulder.

"What happens if I tell Lucian the truth?" I asked, gathering the tiny remnant of my courage. "What happens if I tell him that his twin brother is sleeping with his wife?"

Damian turned his head fully, a slow, dangerous, bone-chilling smile spreading across his face.

"Try it, Valerie," Damian whispered softly. "And find out what happens when the shadow takes over the throne."

With that, he stepped out onto the balcony, sliding over the railing into the morning mist, vanishing as fast as a ghost.