Valentine.

• C L O S e.

  🎼 .[p.s, Thank you guys for your patience, and I truly hope you enjoy the tracks that accompany each chapter. All of these songs are so carefully chosen and so much goes into this process so please, read with the music. Enjoy :)]🎼

* Steam Warning! *

Hades brusquely forces his way in and slams the door behind him. I let go of his arm and motion to back away, but he grabs me by the front of my dress and yanks me to him before I can get the chance to fully withdraw.

In an instant, his lips are on mine. I cannot begin to describe the feelings coursing through me; surprise, fear, and arousal- all comingled together like a potpourri.

"Tell me then," he gruffs out against my mouth.

Injecting ferocity into the kiss, he adds "Is this what you want?"

Before I can even process a response, he consumes my lips once again, prodding the far breaches of my tongue with his own. Shock is an understatement. The way he furiously smashes his lips against mine were as if he hated me but loved me all at once. In this moment, I am the enemy he can't work up the courage to eliminate, nor the discipline to resist.

His other hand comes up to tangle itself into my braids, gripping incredibly tight as he tugs my head back to expose my neck. This move makes me feel vulnerable in a way that is both frightening and captivating at the same time.
Trailing rough kisses down my mouth and chin, he continues to kiss and suck his way down my neck as soft moans escape my lips.

Soon, he wastes no time hoisting me up, effortlessly carrying me to the bed and ramming me down against the silk sheets. My heart is a symphony of erratic beats.

Hades dominates my mouth again as he climbs atop me. I feel a burning longing for him in my core and throw all caution to the wind as he grabs onto the hem of my dress.

I shriek as he tears my robes apart and tosses the torn shreds to the ground like a beast, just barely unkempt. He traps me between his arms and gazes down at me hungrily, his bright ruby pupils fully dilated. Wrapping his fingers around my neck, he slowly squeezes-just enough that I feel the pressure, but not quite enough to hurt. A gentle reminder of how powerless I am against his broad stature.

Slowly, his fingers trace along the length of my collar bone and his breathing intensifies as he brings them up to my lips. My own chest is rapidly rising and falling in response to his teasing and my core has long been set ablaze.

Prodding my lips apart with his middle and pointer finger, his mouth morphs into a near-primal sneer. "Open." he grits out. Doing as I'm told; I take his fingers into my mouth. Courage and arousal take over as I pin my gaze up to his in a challenge. A low growl tears from his throat as he brings his lips to my ear: "Such a good girl" he whispers, and it takes everything in me not to come undone.

Cursing gently, I allow my own hands to find their way to his long black locks. I let out another moan as he maneuvers himself lower, and lower...and lower.

His fingers are still in my mouth when he suddenly stops. "I can't", he breathes slowly straining to bring himself to a halt. "I shouldn't." He pulls back and gazes down at me, as if descending back into reality. "No." My brows crease as he gruffs out again hoarsely, this time louder. "This can't happen. Not now. Not in a century. Not ever."

He hoists himself off me and rolls over to the other side of the bed, a stream of curses leaving his lips. Pausing momentarily, he rubs his hands against his face in frustration.

"What are you doing to me, Lillith?" he questions so solemnly it sounds like a lament.

Confusion hits me like a bus, diminishing any sense of the high I had reveled in mere moments ago. "Did I...do something wrong?" His stillness has now become unnerving, and it seems as though he were blaming...accusing me of something. Bunching the sheets around my exposed body, I inch myself closer to him against my better judgment.

Touching him lightly on the shoulder I question again. "Are you alright?"

His muscles tense in response but he doesn't quite protest. After another beat of prolonged silence, I am interrupted before I can chance another prod. "You are hereby to remain in the confines of your bedchamber until further notice."

His orders carry a sting and my mind reels uncontrollably. What could I have possibly done for him to react this way?

"I've screwed a great many things up in my existence, but this...this is one I cannot afford." he sighs admonishing himself before rising to his full height.

I frown at him in puzzlement, the only thing I can do to restrain the annoyance creeping through my nerves. "Hades, what are you talking about? Screw what up?"

Running his hand though his hair, he offers me another accusing look before turning to leave. He pauses at the door and says "You'll understand when the time comes. Get some rest." before leaving me to the symphony of complete silence against my own blood rushing through my ears.

My thoughts are a wreck but my emotions are even worse. I don't know what to feel right now, so I settle on feeling nothing. I will feel none of it, preferring this hollow feeling to the cascade of sadness, anger, and frustration building against my wall. How much more before I spilled over and what more might that cost me? Was this really my life?

What was it with that damned man?