Selene didn't remember crawling back to bed.
Her body had marks — fresh ones. The bite on her neck still pulsed. Her inner thighs ached with bruises shaped like fingers that shouldn't exist. Her lips were split. Her skin, fevered.
She should've been afraid. She wasn't.
Because for the first time in her life, something touched her and didn't pretend it was love.
The morning passed without light. Time didn't exist here anymore. Just shadows. Just Lucian.
And he came back that night.
Not like a ghost.
Like a storm.
She was half-asleep, skin still burning, when the pressure in the room dropped — like gravity was turning inside out.
The mirror cracked.
The closet door exploded open.
He appeared out of the dark, fully formed — his skin glowing like bone beneath moonlight, his eyes full of every sin the world had forgotten.
"I warned you," Lucian growled, voice like glass dragging through dirt. "You read her words. Now you wear her curse."
Selene sat up slowly, her body trembling from pain… and anticipation.
"Then teach me how to carry it."
"No," he said, stepping closer. "I'll teach you how to bleed with it."
He didn't wait for permission.
He never did.
Lucian slammed her back against the mattress with power that wasn't human. The sheets curled around her like ropes. Her wrists pinned above her head — invisible restraints made of shadows and breath. Her legs forced open by weight she couldn't see but felt in every cell.
"You like pain?" he whispered, lips brushing her collarbone. "Let's see if you survive mine."
And then came the first lash — not with a whip. With memory.
Visions flooded her mind — flashes of every man who touched her wrong. Every room she begged to escape. Every voice that said "shhh, be good."
Lucian showed them to her.
"I don't erase pain," he whispered, biting her ear. "I fuck it deeper."
He entered her — not just with body, but with energy. Rage. Darkness.
And Selene screamed.
Not in fear. In freedom.
Because for the first time, someone wasn't asking her to pretend it never happened. He was beating the truth into her skin.
"You'll bruise," he said, thrusting into her so hard the bed cracked. "But you'll never be weak again."
Her back arched. Her vision blurred. Her heart stuttered.
And still he didn't stop.
He flipped her over. Dragged her down by the throat. His hands gripped her hips like he was going to rip her in half. And Selene begged — not for mercy, but for more.
"Break me," she whispered, voice hoarse.
Lucian stilled.
He leaned in close, mouth by her temple.
"You're already broken, Selene. I'm just the first one who wanted to keep the pieces."
And with that, he buried himself inside her so deep, so brutally, her scream echoed through the building. A chandelier down the hall fell. A pipe burst. The windows rattled.
The house knew.
It felt.
And it fed.
When it was over, she lay in a twisted mess of heat and sweat and blood. He hovered above her — not tender, not proud — just watching.
Her body trembled. Her lips bled. Her thighs were raw.
She smiled through it.
"Still not afraid," she whispered.
Lucian's hand curled around her jaw, gentle for the first time.
"You should be."
Then he vanished — but not before leaving a single red word carved into the wall above the bed:
MINE.
🔥 End of Chapter 5 🔥