34. Camryn

THIRTY-FOUR

CAMRYN

The plan is to scour the local news and public records first thing tomorrow, but it's late, and we need sleep. Gwen and Lily are sharing my mom's bed, while Aron is sleeping in the guest room.

Resting against the bathroom doorframe, I observe Dominic as he peels off his damp T-shirt, letting it fall carelessly to the floor. When his battered face reflects in the mirror, our eyes lock in the glass. His intense gaze pierces through me, and then he averts his eyes to turn on the shower.

"You can't let Aron get to you like that," I say as he unbuckles his belt with his muscled back to me.

"He disrespected you."

"He has a point, Dominic. Their friends would be alive if it weren't for me. I suggested that stupid spirit board. I invited the demon."

Dominic scoffs, turning to face me. "The demon was already hunting you." He lowers his head, his jaw clenched, then spins around and pulls the shower curtain aside. "They made a choice. It's not your fault they agreed to summon the demon." His voice is as terse as his jerky movements. I watch him remove the rest of his damp clothes in silence, wishing I could say something to calm him down. I don't know what. The tension between him and Aron is worsening by the day, but neither is willing to bury the hatchet. We've all been through hell these last few weeks.

I walk up to him and place my hand between his shoulder blades. He stiffens beneath my touch. "Talk to me, Dom."

He shrugs me off and steps beneath the hot spray. "You should leave."

"But Dom—" I jump when he pulls the curtain shut.

"Just leave, Camryn."

My chest tightens at his harsh words. Everything feels hopeless. Our friends are dead, and we're nowhere closer to figuring out how to beat this thing.

I should leave—it's what he wants. Instead, I pull my tank top over my head and wiggle out of my skirt before reaching behind me to unclip my bra. Steam from the shower obscures my reflection in the mirror.

I pull the curtain back to reveal Dominic's carved, wet physique. Water from the showerhead runs in rivulets over his tense muscles and tattoos, and my pulse quickens as I enter the bathtub. With his hands on the wall, he hangs his head low in defeat. I've never seen Dominic so…tormented. He barely acknowledges me as I press my lips to the space below his shoulder blade.

"I could hurt you." The vulnerability in his voice cuts my heart in two.

"You won't." I kiss a path over the expanse of his muscled back, tasting the shower water on him. "I know you won't."

"The demon entered me, Camryn, and I was powerless to stop it. What if it had caught you? What then?" He fists his hands on the wall, his muscles rippling, then rams his palm into the tiles. "I would have had to watch it hurt you."

I wrap my arms around his trim waist and press my cheek to his back. "You'd have found a way to stop it. I know you would have."

His breathing increases, and his chest expands in my arms with every ragged inhale. "Fuck, Camryn…"

"Shhh."

"It'll come back."

"But it's not here now."

Dominic turns in my arms, gazing down at me with his haunted eyes that remind me of the forest. If only I could unearth some of those secrets staring at me as he strokes my damp hair away from my brow.

His lips descend on mine, hesitant at first, and I melt into him, dragging my nails up his back. "I won't break, Dom," I say as he trails kisses down my neck and then back to my mouth.

"Trust me"—he grabs my ass and lifts me—"I know. You're the fiercest woman I've ever met."

My back collides with the tiles, and I wrap my thighs around his waist. Dominic's dominant lips devour mine in a violent and destructive kiss, unlike anything I've experienced before. I moan into his mouth, gripping the short strands of his soaked hair while his calloused hands explore my quivering body. I want more. So much more.

"If I ever hurt you…" His deep voice rumbles against the curve of my neck. "I need you to promise that you'll kill me."

I open my mouth, but before I can tell him that I will die before I ever hurt him, he claims another savage, toe-curling kiss. Whatever thought, whatever argument I prepared, flies out the window. Fuck, Dominic knows how to kiss. Caressing my tongue with his, he dips his hand between my legs, and I break away from his swollen lips when he presses down on my throbbing clit.

"Eyes on me," he orders in a breathy, husky voice, sliding the tip of his finger inside me. "Promise, baby."

I shake my head, clenching around him. "I can't promise you that."

"Fuck," he groans, his touch becoming rougher and more frenzied as he dives down to bite my jaw. "Why are you so fucking stubborn? Listen to me for once."

My lips part as he stretches me with two fingers, pleasure tingling my spine. I cling to his wet hair and broad shoulders, clawing and pulling and moaning his name.

He drives his fingers deep, sucking my lip between his teeth, then bites down hard until the taste of copper fills my mouth.

"I need you to do the right thing." His fingers disappear, and I whimper at the emptiness. "It will use me to hurt you. I saw it."

Circling my arms around his neck, I press my aching tits to his chest and kiss him hard and deep. "Don't ruin this moment, Dom." I nip his lip, licking at his mouth and tasting his heated breath. "Fuck me."

I admire his striking beauty as he locks his heated gaze on mine—like a fallen angel carved by God, with a sharp jawline and cheekbones. Dark strands of his damp hair lie plastered to his forehead, while water droplets decorate his swollen lips. More drip precariously from the tip of his nose.

With one hand on the tiles, he tucks my hair behind my ear and leans in to kiss me again. I wiggle my hips, trying to guide him inside me. But he holds himself back, tormenting me with teasing swipes of his tongue. Laughter bubbles from my chest as I try to pull him closer, but he traps my wrists in one hand over my head against the wall and smiles into the kiss.

Is this what happiness feels like? Amid horror and despair, it shines through heavy clouds like a seed that survived the drought.

"You want my dick, baby?" he taunts, nipping at my lip and tickling my waist, which makes me squeal and laugh in his grip.

He dives in to kiss me deeper, and I melt into him, barely noticing when he releases my wrists to trail the backs of his fingers down my cheek, jaw, and the sensitive curve of my neck. A smile touches my lips as I palm his cheeks, feeling his scruff beneath my touch, his cock nestled at my entrance.

This time when he leans in to kiss my lips, he thrusts inside me, and my back slides up the wall. I break away from his mouth with a gasp, caught in the intensity of his gaze, lost in his whispering forest.

I cling to his slick body, kissing him again, then pull at his wet strands while he snaps his hips in a maddening rhythm.

"Dom," I moan into his mouth, his big cock stroking every inch of my walls. It's all I can do not to cry out his name.

Our eyes clash and he grabs me by the jaw to claim my mouth in another mind-melting kiss. My lungs burn from the lack of oxygen while he ravages my sanity like it's our last kiss. The fleeting thought that maybe, just maybe, it will be, tightens my chest, but I push it away. Nothing will ever come between me and Dominic. He's mine.

Mine.

I'll do anything to keep him safe.

"Camryn," he groans, kissing a path from my cheek to the tender spot below my jaw. He nips it, then feasts on my lips until I'm gasping every time we come up for air. His fingers dip between our bodies, finding my clit and sending ripples of pleasure coursing through me. Pressing his forehead to mine, my eyes flutter shut as an orgasm washes over me. Dominic's lips consume mine as I cry out, and he releases a guttural groan, his cock pulsing his release.

I open my eyes. "That was…"

"I know," he whispers, still buried deep inside me, shuddering.

A smile spreads across my lips, and my gaze slips past his shoulder, but I stiffen when a dark shadow shifts on the other side of the curtain. There and gone.

Noticing, Dominic straightens and studies my face before looking behind him. "What's wrong?" he asks, his worried gaze returning to me.

"I-I saw something."

With a frown, he lowers me to the floor. "What did you see?"

"It looked like a person behind the curtain."

Dominic spins around, ripping the curtain aside, the sound of the shower fading as he sweeps his eyes across the empty room. Whoever was there is gone.

He climbs out of the bathtub and reaches for a towel to tie around his waist. "Stay here."

"Please don't leave."

"I won't be long. I promise." With droplets of water clinging to his back, he exits the bathroom.

Alone and shivering, I shrink back against the tiles. Dominic's cum seeps out of me as I wait with bated breath for his return.

What if the demon is back? What if it gets inside him again?

"Dominic?" I call out, wrapping my goosebumped arms around myself to ward off the sudden chills as I inch closer to the tub's edge, craning my neck. "Dom?"

When silence greets me, I bite back a sob. Why won't he answer? Did something happen to him?

Leaning forward, I reach for a soft towel to wrap around me, then step out of the tub, my wet feet sinking into the carpet as I approach the door, clutching the towel. "Dom?" I peer into the bedroom. "This isn't funny."

An ambient glow emanates from the bedside light while the alarm clock flashes like we've had a power cut. I slide around the doorframe, my heart pounding. Nothing seems out of place, but the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge.

My throat closes.

Something is wrong.

I can sense it like the whisper of a delicate kiss.

Where is he?

With my back to the wall, I walk deeper into the room, unable to look away from the dark gap in the wardrobe across the space. Was it left open earlier? Is someone in there?

I swallow hard as dark ink begins to seep from the shadows, swirling ominously toward me like the gnarled tree branches outside my window. They stretch and twist, reaching for me, floating closer across the room as I sink back against the wall, locked in place by fear. I couldn't move even if I wanted to.

"Camryn."

My head shakes frantically. "Please no…"

The shadows brush across my bare feet, a thick mist traveling up my legs before disappearing behind the towel, leaving a cool breath against my sensitive folds.

I gasp, but the sound is silenced by an invisible hand over my mouth. Something wet, like a tongue, parts my folds. I squeeze my eyes shut, willing my body to listen. When I try to move my arms and legs, my body yields to the shadows, pleasure licking my core, pebbling my nipples.

A silent moan slips from my lips as another cold swipe against my soaked folds buckles my knees. Something holds me up as shadows thicken around me like storm clouds—a foggy forest late at night. I'm lost, darting between towering trees with crooked branches and rustling, dead leaves.

More shadows slither across the floor, dragging themselves forward like a rotten corpse with pale arms and blackened, broken nails before disappearing beneath the towel.

My eyes roll back, and I release a sob as an orgasm grips me.

That's when I feel shadows enter my mouth and nose, seeking a way into my soul, a weak spot—an entry point. I try to prevent the inevitable. Tears pool in my eyes as I fight the invisible shackles securing me to the wall. Magdalene died before it could take her soul. No way in hell will I ever let it in. No matter how much it tries to break me for its entertainment.

I try to scream. The shadowed hand slips away from my lips, and my mouth opens in a silent, anguished cry for help.

Silence.

"Camryn?" Dominic's voice penetrates through my foggy mind.

The shadows retreat, sliding from beneath the towel and crawling back toward the wardrobe as warm hands cradle my face, swiping my damp hair away from my forehead. "Look at me, baby. Fuck, what's wrong?"

I'm dazed, blinking at Dominic, who morphs from one to two to three, then back to one. I try to shake my head, but the room spins. Dominic lifts me into his arms and carries me to the bed, which dips when he lays me down and removes the wet towel before dressing me in his hoodie and covering my body with the blanket.

"Dominic?" I ask, struggling to keep my eyes open.

"Rest," he urges, crawling in behind me and pulling me against his warm chest. "We'll talk about it when you wake up."

Soft lips press against my head. I peer over at the wardrobe, fading in and out of consciousness, vaguely aware of eyes staring back at me from the shadows.

I'm haunted by nightmares.

Someone is watching me sleep, a shape looming over the bed, cloaked by the night. I toss and turn.

"Dominic?" I croak, stirring awake and sitting up. There's crust in the corners of my eyes, so I rub it away.

Dominic is asleep beside me, and the initial spike of anxiety I felt when I first woke up fades when I hear his steady breaths. Curled up against Dominic, I let the relief soothe me. But it's short-lived because I become aware of a figure hovering by the bedside.

It's my imagination.

There's no one there.

But there is.

I can sense it with every fiber of my being.

I hold my breath as I slowly shift onto my back, my skin crowded with goosebumps. I lock eyes with a dark figure and open my mouth to scream. But my intruder is faster, clamping a cold hand over my lips and dragging me out of bed. I try to scream for help and alert Dominic, but his sleeping form is the last thing I see before the world turns black.