Tuf was seething.
Restraint coiled tightly beneath his skin like a beast on the edge of snapping, rage, jealousy, obsession wrapped in a suffocating grip.
One arm was wrapped around Luna's waist in a bruising grip, anchoring her against him, while the other hand held her chin in a grip far from gentle, forcing her to meet his eyes.
Luna's entire body trembled from pain. The venom in her system, so concentrated, so deliberately potent, slowed her natural healing. Her breath came in shallow gasps, skin pale, and every inch of her body screamed from the wound he inflicted.
"Say it," Tuf growled, his voice rough, low, dangerous.
Luna's breath caught, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Of course, she was his. She had always been his.
But after what he just did…
Her pride was bleeding.
Her will ignited.
Her mind refused to bow.
"No," she hissed, her voice shaking as her hand moved to cover the burning mark on her neck. Pain flashed in her eyes, but so did defiance.
Something primal flickered in Tuf's obsidian gaze.
His grip on her waist tightened.
His hand on her chin became bruising.
"Say it. You are mine. You belong to me."
Their faces were only inches apart now. His voice wasn't a plea. It was a command, laced with madness, with desperation, with love so violent it could no longer be called sane.
"I said no," Luna growled back, her voice sharp, trembling, but unyielding.
And then, he snapped.
Tuf lifted her off the ground, cradled her like a prize, and slammed her down on the long table behind them.
A sharp gasp escaped her lips as her back hit the cold surface.
Before she could move, he raised his hand, and with his creation magic, summoned glowing chains of cursed iron. They wrapped around her wrists and ankles, spreading her out, chained, bound, helpless.
This was no game.
No teasing, no seduction.
This… was punishment.
"Unchain me!!!" Luna screamed, thrashing against the glowing bonds.
But it was useless.
These chains could hold gods if Tuf willed it. And unless he broke the spell, not even time could.
"Say it!" he barked, his voice louder now, cracking with madness. "Say it, Luna! Say you belong to me!"
"Fuckkk youuuu, ahhhhhhh!!!"
Tuf's fangs sank into the opposite side of her neck, his bite even deeper than before.
Luna's entire body arched as another wave of pain shot through her.
She writhed beneath him, every nerve on fire, her limbs helpless as her blood and magic burned under his venom. The chains rattled violently, but they didn't budge.
"Stop it! Tofu, stop!" Her cries were strangled, wet with pain. "You're hurting me!"
He froze.
Her voice cracked. Her tears were real.
He hated it.
Gods, he hated it.
He hated the sound of her cries. Hated the tears slipping down her cheeks. Hated the way she looked at him right now.
But the madness, the jealousy, was louder.
It roared in his ears like a storm.
And until he heard what he needed from her lips… he couldn't stop.
Because this wasn't about what she did.
He knew she hadn't done anything wrong.
He knew she hadn't even touched the vampire.
But knowing it didn't quiet the voice inside his mind.
The one that screamed mine, mine, mine.
She had tolerated his games with other women. She had never punished him for the endless rotation of lovers he discarded when he grew bored.
She had understood him, again and again and again.
So why couldn't he give her the same?
He should have let it go. Should have let her speak with another man without burning down the world.
But he couldn't.
He couldn't think.
Couldn't breathe.
The very thought of another man even touching her made his vision blur with red. Made his magic flare out of control. Made his soul snap in half.
She was his.
Only his.
She belonged to him.
And though he hated himself for what he was doing, hated the way her screams were laced with pain instead of pleasure…
The only thing that could calm the raging storm inside him…
Was hearing her say it.
Out loud.
That she was his.
Tuf gently cupped Luna's face, kissing the tears from her cheeks with a tenderness that clashed violently with the chains, the wounds, and the venom burning in her body.
"Say it, Kitten," he murmured, voice still laced with madness, but now tinged with something broken, almost pleading. His obsidian eyes searched hers, pain flickering deep in the void.
The anguish in her golden-black gaze stabbed at him. But it wasn't enough to stop him.
Not yet.
"Go fuck your elf!" she spat, voice hoarse, defiant to the end.
And that, that, shattered the last sliver of control he had left.
With a snarl, Tuf tore her dress apart in a single violent motion, exposing her bare skin to the cold air. Before she could even catch her breath, his fangs sank into the swell of her breast, injecting venom into her bloodstream.
She gasped in agony, her back arching involuntarily.
But he didn't stop.
He bit again. And again.
Stomach. Arms. Thighs. Waist. Even the sensitive skin of her inner thigh.
Every time he changed position, he growled the same demand:
"Say it. Say you're mine."
And every time, Luna refused.
Over and over, she defied him, headstrong and unyielding.
They were both blood of Caelum.
Both children of the Demon Lord.
And both impossibly stubborn.
But Luna should've known better. No one, not even her, could outlast Tuf in a battle of wills.
Her elegance and resolve came from their mother.
But her pride? Her quiet steel? That was from their father.
Tuf, on the other hand, he looked like Caelum, yes. Moved like him. Spoke like him.
But his heart? His chaos? His soul?
It was their mother's.
And no one, not even the Demon Lord himself, ever won against their mother in a contest of unbreakable will.
Tuf never surrendered.
"Come on, Kitten," Tuf whispered now, kissing her lips with aching gentleness. His breath was ragged. "Just say it."
Luna shook her head weakly, eyes barely open. Her body was trembling, slick with blood and sweat. She couldn't even scream anymore.
The venom had spread through her veins, thick and potent. She could already smell his scent inside her, clinging to her like a second skin.
It would take months before it faded.
"I didn't… do anything wrong," she whispered, barely audible.
"I know," Tuf replied, pressing soft kisses to her face, forehead, cheek, eyelids, before claiming her lips again, deeper, slower. "But I need to hear it. Please, Kitten. Just let me hear it."
Her golden blood painted her body like art. She was a portrait of ruin, beauty and brokenness merged into something divine.
And he did nothing to heal her.
He could have.
But he chose not to.
Because he wanted her to feel it.
To remember.
To carry it.
Every wound was a brand. A warning. His mark.
No one would mistake her for unclaimed.
Especially not the young vampire foolish enough to think she was available.
"Kitten…" Tuf whispered again, voice low and terrifyingly calm now. His eyes searched hers with something unhinged but tender. "Say it. Please. You're mine."
She couldn't take another bite. Another surge of venom. She knew him too well.
Now that he was calm, this was when he was most dangerous.
Because when he snapped, at least she could scream.
But when he whispered, when he was like this?
He could destroy the world.
Not to punish her, no.
But whoever dared look at her… touch her… want her.
Even if they hadn't done a damn thing.
Even if it was all in his head.
"I'm yours," Luna finally whispered, lips trembling.
Tuf let out a low breath, half a sigh, half a growl, as he leaned down and kissed the shell of her ear.
"You belong to me," he murmured, nibbling her earlobe softly now.
"I… I belong to you," she said again, her voice a soft breath against his lips.
A slow, triumphant smirk spread across his mouth.
And then he devoured her lips in a possessive, claiming kiss that left no room for doubt.
"That's right," he whispered, breath ragged, teeth just barely grazing her lower lip. "You're mine. Only mine. Always mine."
Then he lowered himself again, his mouth tracing every brutal mark he'd left on her body.
He licked the blood from each deep bite, slowly, intimately, as though savoring the taste of his claim.
He could have healed her.
With one breath, a flicker of magic, or even a single kiss laced with his restorative gift… he could've taken all the pain away.
But he didn't.
He refused.
Because he wanted her to carry the sting.
He wanted the marks to stay. Every puncture. Every bruise. Every place where his teeth had sunk into her.
He wanted her to ache with the memory of him.
To smell him in her skin.
To feel the echo of his obsession for days, weeks, months.
Because he wasn't done.
Not really.
This was a warning.
To her.
To everyone.
Only a fool, only a suicidal fool, would ever think that Luna didn't already belong to him.
Once satisfied, Tuf waved a hand, the glowing chains vanishing instantly.
Luna lay on the table, free but fragile, her body riddled with bite marks and her veins still burning from venom that refused to settle. She didn't move.
She couldn't.
He could have conjured a fresh dress for her from the endless depths of his dimension ring, but he didn't.
Instead, he stripped off his own black long-sleeved shirt and carefully slipped it over her battered form.
The scent of him wrapped around her like smoke and steel.
Then, without a word, he scooped her into his arms and carried her across the chamber to the high velvet chair beside the fireplace. The flames bathed them both in warm, golden light.
He sat with her in his lap, arms wrapped around her as though trying to keep her from falling apart. His lips pressed to her temple, her cheek, her jaw, whispering softly between every kiss.
"I love you."
"I love you."
"I love you, Kitten."
Over and over again.
Luna, still trembling and weak, said nothing. Her body sagged against him, too exhausted to defy him now.
He'd calmed down, for now.
But she knew better than to trust the quiet.
Because with Tuf… it only took a whisper. A glance. A shift in energy.
She never knew what might trigger him.
And that terrified her more than the venom still burning under her skin.
She couldn't believe he'd done this now, tonight, when the most important meeting of Hydra's Inner Circle was only moments away.
And yet…
She had only herself to blame.
She should've known better than to test him.
She always knew what he could become when he was prone to spiraling.
It happened centuries ago, back when Hades was still new, when the Velrathis Empire was in its infancy, and they were living their second lives, hidden by the Blinding Mist their father Caelum had created.
Luna had joined Nugget and Peanut on a rare night of reckless indulgence.
They had lowered their poison resistance to enjoy the forbidden drinks, potions, and elixirs that Hades offered. They let their inhibitions melt under the glittering lights of the underground pleasure sanctum.
Luna let go.
Just once.
She danced.
She laughed.
She drank, wild and free, like her sisters.
She even flirted, lightly, playfully, with men of every demi-human race: a shapeshifter with glowing eyes, a fae with lips like moonlight, a vampire who whispered poetry in her ear.
She was fully clothed.
She did nothing… truly wrong.
But then Tuf found out.
He hadn't cared that Peanut was riding an elf in front of everyone.
Didn't mind Nugget devouring a vampire in the middle of the pleasure hall.
But the moment he saw Luna, his Luna… caressing a vampire's cheek? Laughing while an elf's hand rested on her thigh?
He lost it.
He stormed the pleasure hall like a god of wrath.
And right there, in front of everyone, he took her.
Branded her with his teeth, with his body, with every ounce of his venom and rage.
When he was done, when he had what he wanted, when she had whispered the words he needed to hear through bloodstained lips, he slaughtered every man in the room.
No hesitation.
The vampire who touched her. The elf Peanut had claimed. Even the fae who merely glanced at her too long.
Only the women were spared.
And even they were threatened, their memories burned, their tongues sealed by fear.
So yes.
Tonight, Tuf was still thinking.
And thank the gods for that.
Because if he hadn't, if he had truly lost control again, this palace would've become a bloodbath.
Their plan, their one desperate plan to help their father, would've been ruined.
So yes.
She could only blame herself for pushing him again.
And despite how angry she was at him now… despite how violated, how infuriated, how scarred she felt,
It wouldn't last.
She knew it.
He knew it.
And worst of all?
Tuf always used that knowledge to his full advantage.