Chapter 55: Hunger Without End
Aria woke to the taste of lips on hers. Soft. Certain. Inevitable.
Selene.
Her mouth moved before her mind caught up, kissing back instinctively, hungrily, caught in that heated blur between sleep and wanting. She gasped when Selene bit her lower lip, slow and deliberate, just enough to sting, just enough to make her whimper. The sound barely escaped her before Selene was kissing her again, deeper this time, a velvet slide of tongue and breath that made Aria's fingers clutch the sheets.
She was naked.
Of course she was.
The dream didn't bother with subtlety anymore.
Selene's hands roamed over her bare skin, not gentle — curious. Teasing. Possessive. They mapped her like they had every right to, trailing down her collarbones, brushing the undersides of her breasts, then lower, over the curve of her stomach. Her mouth followed, kissing, nipping, leaving marks in her wake like she was branding her.
"Why do you always act surprised?" Selene murmured against her skin, lips brushing Aria's hip as she shifted down the bed. "You know what you are."
"I don't —" Aria tried to say, but her voice caught on a moan as Selene's mouth dipped lower, warm breath fanning across the place she ached the most.
"You beg like you do."
Aria's hips lifted involuntarily, but Selene was cruel in her restraint. She pressed one hand firmly to Aria's pelvis, holding her still. Her other hand tugged Aria's panties down agonizingly slow — wet fabric clinging, stretching, peeling away from her soaked folds. The moment the air touched her, she shivered.
Selene made a pleased, dark sound in her throat.
"So wet already." Her fingers dragged lightly up the inside of Aria's thigh, deliberately skirting around the heat of her core. "What a pretty mess."
Aria's whole body arched. "Please…"
"You're always so polite when you're desperate."
"Selene —"
That earned her a flick of the tongue. A barely-there stroke across her clit that made Aria gasp, limbs trembling. But the touch didn't return. Instead, Selene leaned back on her heels, gazing down at her with maddening calm.
"Look at you," she murmured, almost admiring. "Wrecked from a dream."
"I hate you," Aria breathed, even as her hips tilted again, needing more friction, needing anything.
"You don't."
Selene dipped two fingers between Aria's folds, dragging through her slick, then lifted them to her mouth. She licked them clean slowly, never breaking eye contact.
"You love being like this."
"I don't."
"Then wake up."
Aria blinked, breath stuttering.
"What?"
Selene leaned in close, her mouth ghosting over Aria's ear.
"Wake up, and prove it."
But Aria didn't wake up.
She couldn't.
The dream held her, hot and heavy, the air thick with the scent of her own need. Her body was too full of sensation, too aware of every inch of skin Selene hadn't touched. Her thighs trembled. Her clit throbbed with every second of denial.
"You're not ready," Selene whispered, as if she could hear her thoughts. "Not yet."
And then she kissed her way down, slow, lazy, cruel.
Aria sobbed.
When Selene finally licked her — slow and deliberate, tongue pressing flat against her swollen clit — Aria choked on her own breath. Her hands fisted in the sheets. Her back arched. The slick, wet sound of her arousal filled the air, each stroke of Selene's tongue drawing a ragged gasp.
She licked in circles. Up and down. Slow, then fast, then slow again. Never letting her adjust, never letting her predict. Every motion was intentional. Every flick, a torment. Aria's body shook.
"Selene, please —"
"You beg so easily now," Selene murmured between licks, voice muffled but amused. "Do you even hear yourself?"
Aria could barely speak. "I need — need to come — please —"
"I know."
That's when the dream cracked.
Not ended.
Cracked.
Like a mirror spiderwebbing from the center — still reflecting her, still trapping her — but fractured.
Aria didn't wake up in her bed.
She woke inside the dream.
Again.
Still under Selene's weightless stare, still caught in the ache of her own ruined arousal, her soaked panties clinging to her like a confession she couldn't hide.
She gasped — sharp, broken.
The sheet was barely covering her, thin and useless against the press of her own heat. Her body thrummed. Her core ached. The mess between her legs made everything worse. Each breath dragged over sweat-slick skin. The cotton of her panties clung to her folds, embarrassingly transparent with wetness. Every time she moved, she heard the squelch of her own arousal, shameful and obscene.
Selene was there.
Of course she was.
Watching.
Always.
She didn't speak at first. Just stared. Her forest green eyes glinted in the low light — knowing, devastating. Aria couldn't meet them. She bit her lip, thighs pressing together in a hopeless attempt to hide the mess.
"Lift the sheet," Selene said.
There was no room for defiance. Not in this place.
Aria obeyed.
She pulled the sheet down with trembling fingers, baring her soaked panties to the cold dream air. The wet spot between her legs glistened. Her arousal coated the insides of her thighs, sticky and hot and humiliating.
Selene didn't look away.
"You ruin yourself so beautifully," she said, quiet and calm.
Aria whimpered. "I — I don't mean to…"
"You always say that," Selene murmured, stepping closer. "But your body tells a different story."
She knelt beside the bed, one hand braced beside Aria's hip, the other hovering just above the ruined fabric of her underwear. Close enough to feel. Not close enough to relieve.
Aria arched her hips, chasing the promise of contact.
Selene smiled. "No."
The word shattered her.
"I need it — please —" Aria's voice cracked.
"You need control," Selene said. "And you gave that up the second you whispered I know."
Her hand moved — not down, but up.
Two fingers pressed to Aria's lips, silencing her.
"Be quiet," Selene commanded.
Aria's mouth snapped shut.
Her body screamed. Her clit throbbed. Her slick coated the sheets. Every breath felt like a sob. Her hips lifted again, involuntary, instinctive — but there was nothing. No touch. No relief.
Selene leaned closer.
"You're going to lie here and feel what you are," she whispered, voice brushing over Aria's skin like silk.
Aria trembled. Her eyes brimmed with tears.
"You'll remember this ache when you wake," Selene continued, mouth grazing her ear. "And you'll know that no matter how many times you come — it'll never be enough."
Aria came with a strangled cry, body clenching on nothing, thighs squeezing air. Her panties were soaked beyond saving, her climax sharp and devastating. She shuddered through it, ruined and empty, craving more even in the middle of release.
It wasn't enough.
Even in the dream —
It was never enough.
Selene kissed her forehead, not gentle. Claiming.
"You belong to me."
Aria sobbed, shaking, shattered.
"I know."
And the dream dissolved.
She woke up in her real bed.
Gasping. Sweating. Broken.
Her body was sore. Her panties, again, ruined. Her thighs sticky. Her clit ached. The sheets were soaked. Her heart thudded in her chest like it didn't know how to slow down.
She didn't cry.
But only because she didn't know if she could.
She stared at the ceiling, breathing hard, the echo of Selene's voice still lingering in her ears.
You belong to me.
She bit her lip, trembling.
Because it wasn't a phase.
It wasn't a fluke.
And it wasn't just the dreams.
She wanted it.
The ache. The denial. The voice.
She wanted Selene's control more than she wanted her own release.
And that hunger —
It wasn't going away.
It was only getting worse.