Chapter 44 Alone Or Us

• After our encounter on the island, we'd come back to the yacht and the gentle rocking of the ocean had lulled me into a state of drowsy contentment as I lay nestled in the plush bedding, the remnants of Lachlan's scent clinging to the sheets. The events of the past few hours swirled in my mind, a chaotic mix of horror, confusion, and a strange, unsettling arousal.
• The image of the woman on the altar, her lifeless eyes staring up at the moon, the blood dripping from the sacrificial dagger…it played on repeat in my memory, a macabre slideshow that continued to send shivers down my spine. Lachlan's explanation, his insistence that it was all a charade, a necessary deception to maintain control within the Order of the Serpent…it echoed in my ears, a desperate plea for understanding, for trust.
• And then there was the knife. He had shown me the prop dagger. I had held it in my hand and it had collapsed allowing it to seem to stab but not really. But it was still sharp. My skin pebbled at the thought of the knife play Lachlan had introduced me to. I hadn't thought myself as naive but that hadn't been something I'd realized was even a thing. And the way my body had responded to the fear, the pain, the power of his touch. The memory of the blade tracing lines across my skin, the sting of the shallow cuts, the way my breath had hitched in my throat with each scrape of the blade…it sent a wave of heat through me, a blush creeping up my neck.