The Blackwood Curse

Chapter 36

Sarah POV

The chill of the night air pressed against my skin as I stepped back from Axel, my heart pounding erratically in my chest. I didn’t know whether it was the cold of the forest or the heat that still burned between us, but my body trembled uncontrollably. The forest felt like it was closing in, the darkness whispering around us as Axel stood there, watching me, his eyes still alight with an intensity that unnerved me.

I couldn’t look at him—not like this. The kiss, the way his hands had roamed over my body, the things he’d said… It was wrong. So wrong. But it had felt so dangerously right in that moment. My stomach twisted in disgust and guilt, and yet… a part of me had wanted more. The forbidden pull, the twisted desire I tried to bury—it was impossible to ignore.

"Sarah," Axel said, his voice low and dangerous, and yet there was an edge of something softer in it, something fragile, as though he was trying to hold onto the last thread of control. "You don’t know what you're doing. You can’t just walk away from this. From me."

I stood frozen, unable to respond. The world felt like it was tilting, spinning out of control. I couldn’t go back to the mansion—couldn’t go back to Eren after this. The thought of facing him after what had just happened with Axel made my skin crawl. But more than that, the knowledge of the curse that bound me to the Blackwood family gnawed at my insides, reminding me that no matter where I went, the darkness would follow.

The silence stretched on, thick and suffocating. I wanted to scream, to run far away from Axel and the twisted obsession he’d just unveiled. But I couldn’t make my body move. His presence was too overwhelming, too consuming.

“Sarah, look at me,” Axel’s voice broke through my thoughts, quieter now, almost pleading. But it wasn’t just his voice—it was his very being, demanding my attention, pulling me in.

Reluctantly, I lifted my eyes to his. The hunger in them hadn’t lessened. If anything, it had deepened, a dark storm that I couldn’t escape.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said softly, his tone so genuine it made my chest ache. “But you have to understand. You’re everything to me. I’ve waited for this. For you. I know you feel it too.”

I shook my head violently, the truth sinking in like ice in my veins. “You’re Eren’s brother, Axel. This can never happen.”

“I don’t care,” he snapped back, his voice harsh, desperate now. “It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t deserve you, Sarah. He doesn’t even see you. I do. I see you.” His voice softened again, almost tender, as his gaze raked over me, taking in every inch. “You feel it, don’t you? The way we’re connected. The way I make you feel. The way I make you want me.”

My chest tightened as his words sank in, each one a sharp knife carving into my chest. The pain of what he was saying, of what I was feeling, was too much. The forbidden nature of it all twisted like a knot in my stomach. I didn’t know how to fight him, fight this pull, this hunger that had always been there but now threatened to consume me.

“No,” I whispered, tears prickling at the edges of my vision. “This is wrong, Axel.”

Axel’s expression faltered for just a moment, his lips pressing together in a thin line, his jaw clenched. But it was gone in an instant, replaced by something darker, something more dangerous. His hand shot out, gripping my wrist before I could react. He pulled me closer, his face inches from mine, his breath hot against my skin.

“Its not wrong,” he growled. “It’s me, Sarah. You belong to me. Your body, your soul… it’s mine, not Eren's.”

He didn’t wait for me to respond before his lips crashed onto mine again, this time with a bruising force. I wanted to fight back, to push him away, but something inside of me—a part of me that I couldn’t control—responded. My body betrayed me. His kiss was all consuming, and despite every instinct screaming at me to push him away, I couldn’t pull myself out of it. His hands roamed once more, and I froze, not in shock this time, but in confusion, in a wave of desire I didn’t know how to handle.