THE FORBIDDEN PLEASURE

Chapter 6

The Forbidden Pleasure

Pain.

It was the first thing I registered as my body slowly stirred from unconsciousness. A dull ache pulsed in my skull, and my wrists burned from where they were bound. The air was thick—damp and laced with the metallic tang of blood.

I forced my heavy eyelids open.

Darkness surrounded me, broken only by the flickering glow of crimson torches. Shadows danced across stone walls, the cavernous space vast yet suffocating. Chains rattled somewhere in the distance. A hushed whisper of inhuman voices drifted through the air, low and predatory.

And then—

A presence.

I felt it before I saw him.

Lucian.

His energy coiled around me, slick and sinful, making my pulse stutter. My skin prickled with awareness as he stepped into the dim light, his storm-gray eyes gleaming with something dark and unreadable.

I sucked in a breath.

He had changed.

Gone was the playful smirk, the lazy arrogance. In its place was something worse—an intensity that stripped me bare, unraveling me before he even touched me.

"You stole me," I hissed, straining against the binds.

Lucian tilted his head, slow and deliberate. "I rescued you."

"From what?"

His smirk returned, but it didn't reach his eyes. "From Damien."

I froze.

"He owns you," Lucian murmured, stepping closer. "But does he see you? Or are you just another possession?"

My breath hitched. "Shut up."

He chuckled. "I've touched your mind, little one. I know." His fingers brushed my jaw, featherlight. "You burn for him. But you fear him too, don't you?"

I jerked my head away. "I fear you more."

His laughter was soft, indulgent. "You should."

Then he moved.

Fast.

One moment I was standing, defiant, the next—my back hit cold stone. My binds vanished, releasing my wrists, but before I could react, he caged me against the wall. His body wasn't as scorching as Damien's—but it was no less powerful.

Just different.

Where Damien was fire, Lucian was ice.

And I was caught between them.

"You feel it, don't you?" His lips brushed my ear, his voice like a sin-laced promise. "The bond snapping into place. You belong to both of us now."

"No," I whispered. "It's not possible."

Lucian pulled back just enough to look at me.

Then he did something I wasn't prepared for.

He touched me.

Not a brutal claim. Not an act of dominance.

Just a single, teasing brush of his fingers down my arm.

And my body betrayed me.

Heat coiled low in my stomach, foreign and dangerous. A craving unlike anything I had ever felt with Damien. Lucian was pulling something from me—something I didn't understand.

"You fight it," he mused, his fingers trailing lower, over my hip. "But I wonder…" He dipped his head, lips barely grazing my throat. "Will you still fight when I make you beg?"

I should have pushed him away.

I should have.

Instead, I arched into him.

Lucian groaned, the sound dark and hungry. His hands slid lower, gripping my thighs and lifting me effortlessly. My legs wrapped around him, instinct overriding logic.

"You belong to me, too," he whispered, his lips brushing mine. "Say it."

"No," I gasped. But the word lacked conviction.

Lucian smiled. "Let's change that."

Then he devoured me.

His kiss was nothing like Damien's. Where Damien was fire and fury, Lucian was slow, deliberate torture. He kissed me like he had all the time in the world, like he wanted me to break first.

And God help me—

I was breaking.

His hands moved, sliding up my thighs, fingers teasing the bare skin beneath my torn dress. He pressed into me, grinding just enough to make me ache.

I moaned, and Lucian growled in approval.

"That's it, little one," he murmured. "Let go."

My mind screamed at me to stop.

But my body?

My body betrayed me completely.

Lucian's fingers found their way between my legs, teasing, testing, tormenting. I gasped, my head falling back against the stone as pleasure rushed through me.

"Still think you belong to Damien?" he asked, voice thick with hunger.

I whimpered.

Lucian chuckled. "That's what I thought."

Then he took me.

Not like Damien.

Not in a way that claimed—

But in a way that ruined.

My moans filled the underground chamber, my nails digging into his back as his body drove me to madness. Lucian didn't just take—he worshiped, making me feel every slow, deliberate thrust, every scrape of his fangs against my skin.

I shattered.

Again.

And again.

Until I forgot my own name. Until there was only him—his body, his touch, his wicked whispers of pleasure against my skin.

Lucian's grip on my waist tightened as he groaned my name, his movements becoming desperate, erratic. The moment he lost control, the moment he fell with me—

Something shifted.

A presence.

A chill.

I froze.

Lucian stiffened. His grip on me remained firm, but his eyes—those storm-gray eyes—flicked to the shadows beyond the chamber.

And that's when I saw him.

Damien.

Standing there.

Watching.

His eyes burned with something unholy.

Rage.

Possessiveness.

And worst of all—

Betrayal.

Lucian smirked. "Enjoy the show, brother?"

Damien didn't move. Didn't blink.

Then, in a voice that sent a shiver down my spine, he whispered—

"Run."

The torches flickered.

The air thickened.

And then—

Everything exploded.