The Reaper's Wicked Obsession-Chapter 183: Mad Or Sane

It was like the chains holding the beast snapped, unleashing what had been buried deep within Kraven’s bones.

Kraven’s body went impossibly still, his heartbeat stopping momentarily. But then he released Isadora, taking a step back. His chest heaving as he kept his predatory gaze on his obsession.

He could feel it... see it. She waited... for him.

How bold of her to do such a thing, knowing she had broken the chains keeping him in place. She had successfully worked her way into his head by uttering those three words.

His obsession... gaze upon him like he was the only thing that mattered... like the darkness she had waited for.

She never liked the dark but yet she gazed upon him like he was her salvation.

A constriction surged through his chest, tightening the area until, for a moment, breathing was not part of him. His entire cells shut but at the same time they came alive.

She was weaving her way into his skin, leaving behind a permanent mark. She had branded him.

In a heartbeat, Kraven closed the distance between them, grabbed her waist, and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder.

Isadora squealed before giggling as he carried her away.

"Where are you taking me?" she rasped. "Does my big, bad monster want to eat me alive?"

The response she got was a hard smack against her ass, causing a startled squeak from her. The intense pain shot through her body in delightful waves. She bit her bottom lip to keep from moaning.

The further Kraven walked, the sound from the festival grew faint. Just when she thought he would keep going to gods’ knows where, he dropped her on a bed of snow.

"It’s cold!" she yelled, quickly shooting to her feet.

"Then you better start running, darling."

Her entire body paused. "What?"

"That is my wish, you owe me one, don’t you?"

Isadora gulped, her body tensing at his words. She had completely forgotten. He was here to collect.

But what does this have to do with wanting him?

"This is me, Isadora," Kraven said through clenched teeth. "I’m not a heartwarming man, who would hold you in his arms and whisper sweet words."

"I never said you were."

"Yes, you never did." He chuckled as the amusement wrecked him to the core, like she was the most unbelievable thing he had ever encountered.

Nothing could ever amount to this little feisty creature that stood before him.

"Are you scared to get far more than you bargained for?"

Isadora lifted her chin. "I’m not scared. I knew what I was getting myself into when I demanded more," she voiced in a firm tone, determined to show she was not ready to back down from this.

For the first time in her life, she wanted something for herself. Kraven may be twisted, unhinged, and a monster, but he was her monster.

"You should be..."

"I’m not!" She enforced with more weight to her tone, pinning him down with fire in her eyes.

"Even though this madman can never love you?"

She froze as her eyes slowly widened. She took a step back in shock. "Y-You were listening?"

Kraven’s jaw clenched. "You want love? Warmth? Sweetness?" He voiced each of those words like it was an insult to him. "I’ve none of that to give, Isadora."

Isadora inhaled sharply, looking away from him.

"I’ll never be what you deserve, Isadora. But you want me, don’t you?" He took her chin and tilted it so that her eyes were pinned on him again.

"You’re still here. Despite knowing what I am, what I’ll never be." The irritation crawled through him, the same way it worked him to the bones.

She was a mystery. A mystery he wanted to unravel because at this moment, he couldn’t understand her.

"You shouldn’t want me. You should fear me, yet... here you are. Do you know what that does to me?" He ate up the space between them.

Isadora’s teary gaze remained on him, and suddenly the salty water wasn’t meant to fall anymore.

She was completely taken over by the sight of Kraven unraveling before her eyes. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. How such a dark, terrifying Fae would come apart like the weaves.

"You accept me in my ruin. You chose me despite my madness. I’m a madman, yet you still want to be by my side?" He scoffed. "You’ve made it impossible for me to let you go. I never will."

He leaned closer, faces inches apart as he voiced words weighted with the storming sensations in his body.

"I’m incapable of love, but that doesn’t mean I’m incapable of you. Love is fickle, it bends, dies and rot. What I give you, Isadora, isn’t something fleeting." He leaned toward her face, their noses touching.

"I’ll destroy anyone who tries to take you from me. I’ll turn the realm to dust if anyone stands in my way of having you. I’ll carve the path of ruin just so you never forget who you belong to. You have me... all of me."

Isadora’s chest rose and fell uncontrollably as he declared words that pierced through her skin and slipped into her blood like a disease.

His words had always cut through her, but this time they branded her. Marking her as his, she could not only feel the gravity of it but see it in his silver orbs as they gleamed like the crescent moon.

"My devotion to you is absolute," he declared.

"Kraven..." she said breathlessly, unable to handle the weight of his promise. It was raw and true—there was not a trace of amusement hidden behind them; it was pure seriousness.

Isadora couldn’t stop her pulse from racing too hard, the pumps echoing through her ears and silencing every other noise.

"So tell me, darling? A love that may one day die? Or me, standing by your side until the end of time?"

"You," she replied. "Mad or sane... you."