All Chapters of His Mask, My Sin: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Chapter One: Stalker However, the first sound I consciously noticed that evening was the sound of breathing that was too close, too regular to be my own. Behind my door, came-but the beat, mellow, as if someone just stood there, just stares I became catatonic, pretending to sleep, my eyes locked on the slice of light entering through slits in my window treatment. It had put out thin lines like scars all over the ceiling. The beating within me was so in sync with this power that I swear people outside were listening to the beating of my heart. Breathing ceased after the thirtieth second. The corridor was quiet. And then, in an instant, it disappeared again from sight. It had been happening for weeks: late-night sounds, mysterious gifts turning up on my desk, and the growing impression that I was being spied on when I turned my back. “I wanted to believe it was just paranoia, but the gifts kept on coming. Roses, photos of myself in silhouette, an inscription in beautiful

CHAPTER THREE This was a low blow, but it somehow struck me all the way back to my backbone. I stood there, feet several inches from the door, breathing frozen in mid-chest expansion. Again, the cell phone vibrated in my hands, the number appearing on the black screen: “Do. Not. Open. It These words vibrated in my sight until my heart beat in perfect time with them. I swallowed. “Ez A second knock. "Slow," "Methodical," just like the masked man at the funeral home. And then, of course, there was "the voice, the voice that was Ezra’s." "Aiden. open up." I could sense my hairs rising on the back of my neck. My feet appeared to be just a shade unwilling to move any closer. In fact, the house was too quiet, too tight, in the kind of house whose walls are holding its breath. A flash of lightning outside, bright, hard, and for that moment, the corridor behind me was reflected in metal light. It was then that I saw it reflected in the bend of the door handle: It is a tall shadow, s

CHAPTER FIVE — THE MARKINGI don’t sleep.Ezra doesn’t either.We sit in the living room as the storm presses against the windows, wind clawing at the glass like a creature trying to get in. The lights flicker every few minutes, casting long, sickly shadows across Ezra’s face. He keeps glancing toward the door like something on the other side is whispering his name.He’s restless in a way I’ve never seen.Coiled.Wired.On the edge.And the whole time… he never stops watching me.“Aiden,” he says softly, “come closer.”I’m already sitting beside him, but he pats the empty space right at his side, eyes dark and unblinking.I hesitate.Just a second.His expression fractures—hurt, sharp, defensive all at once. “I’m not going to hurt you.”“I know.”And I do. Mostly.But fear is a slippery thing. It comes from shadows you don’t see.I move closer.Ezra’s shoulders ease by a fraction.His hand rests on the back of the couch behind me—close but not touching. Like he’s holding himself back

“I—I didn’t mean to—” My hands shake violently. The air around me still feels wrong, heavy, charged, like the echo of a scream that never fully faded. “You’re hurt. Let me help you.”Ezra drags himself backward an inch, teeth clenched. “You don’t understand. When you lose control like that—”A sound cuts through the night.A soft clap of leather against concrete.I spin.A figure crouches atop the roof of the nearest building, coat fluttering in the wind, eyes glowing faintly red in the darkness. He watches us with unsettling calm, head tilted slightly, as if assessing a puzzle.A vampire.My heart stutters.Before panic can fully take hold, another presence ripples through the air.Light fractures beside a bent lamppost—reality cracking like glass—and a woman steps through as if emerging from water. Her hair glows silver, her eyes luminous and sharp, ears slightly pointed. The air smells suddenly of rain and wildflowers.A fae.Then it happens.A long, rolling howl rises from somewhe

“...With a guy?” My voice cracked. “Yeah.”“Good,” he growled, voice low. “Then I get to ruin you first.”He leaned down and kissed my tip, they took me in his mouth.I flinched. Not because I didn’t like it but because I liked it too much.He was careful though. Despite his dominance, he didn’t touch me roughly. He explored me like he was mapping out something unfamiliar. His fingers skimmed places I hadn’t realized were sensitive, his tongue teasing, his mouth slow and devastating. I couldn’t stop the sounds that spilled out of me. I’d never made those kinds of sounds in my life. Not even alone.I gripped the sheets with white knuckles. My hips moved on instinct, searching for more of him, more of that heat.When he pulled back, just barely, and looked up at me, his lips glistened and eyes dark, I almost whimpered.“You taste like innocence,” he said. “Like sin waiting to happen.”I let out a broken laugh. “You’re not exactly helping me feel innocent.”“You were never innocent, Juli