Claimed by the Thief

by Eliza Lockhart

  A calm finally stole over me, and I relaxed even more, stroking Levin as I tried to think of a response.

  “I’m sorry,” he said a moment later. “I don’t want to make your life harder.”

  “You haven’t. Not really. If it’s not you my father is trying to match me up with, then it’s another man. Or even Vasily.”

  “He seems very set on seeing you married.”

  “He’s worried about me and what would happen if he died. Our world isn’t exactly conducive of a long life.”

  Konstantine nodded, no doubt both of us thinking of the senior Petrushkov. His death, followed so quickly by the younger son’s, had rocked our world. Everyone was worried there would be more. That other people in Vasily’s way would find similar fates. My father was more paranoid than most. But Vasily had been visiting since before the Petrushkov family had shrunk. I’d already wondered more than once if something had happened that worried Father now.

  “I’ve barely been allowed out of the house the last few months. I wish he wouldn’t worry so much. There’s no way I can relax, or experience anything. Or even meet anyone of my own choosing.”

  “So you snuck out.”

  “Yes. Wouldn’t you?”

  Konstantine laughed as I nodded. “Yes. I would have done it every night, and if I’d been stopped... I’m not sure I’d have let anyone stop me.”

  “Then you understand how frustrated I am. I just want to go out. To go to the club. Or for a walk. Anything.”

  I watched as a grin spread slowly across his face, but he didn’t explain at first. What could have been so funny? I couldn’t tell.

  “I may have a solution. Your father seems to be eager to encourage us to spend more time together.”

  “Of course he is,” I replied, rolling my eyes even if it might offend him.

  “He said as long as I’m with you he doesn’t mind you leaving the house. No doubt he was thinking to just go shopping or for a meal, but I definitely prefer the idea of a club. Mostly so I can drink and fuck you again, but we’ll see what happens once we’re there.”

  “Now?”

  He nodded, grinning and motioning to the pen door that still stood slightly ajar.

  I looked to Levin, not sure I wanted to forgive this man so easily, but Levin nudged me out with his nose, as if he’d understood every word that had been said.

  “If we go out… We go out on my terms,” I replied, giving my wolf one last stroke.”

  “Okay, but I need to pick up Mitka too. Poor thing has been cooped up for days.”

  I nodded. In my eyes, getting his ferret was a perfectly reasonable request. After all, we’d just had a conversation and argument in the middle of a wolf cage. It would never feel right to exclude any of our pets if not necessary.

  Somehow my feet unstuck themselves and followed Konstantine back to the rest of the house. I was tired but also curious. Every inch of me came alive as I thought about what had happened the last time we’d gone to the club. And he’d practically promised a repeat of that sort of night.

  Konstantine seemed to know the house well enough already to avoid going out the front door, but instead head out of the side to the garage full of cars. There was a sleek dark one near the front hatch that I recognised. His car.

  Grinning, I followed him closer, already feeling far better for knowing I could leave the house without sneaking. It would be good to not have to be so wary again.

  Konstantine held the passenger door open for me and gave me a hand to hold as I slipped inside. It was the first time he’d shown such courtesy, but I thought I might be able to get used to it.

  Soon we were pulling up to the hatch, his fingers already reaching for the panel that opened the electronic sliding door.

  It moved without complaint, not a single thing hindering my leaving or drawing anyone’s attention.

  As we got closer to the front gates, however, I tensed. There were always two guards here. I needed to get past them, and without Father that wasn’t likely to be that easy.

  Konstantine drove the car closer and then halted in front of the guard hut. The man, standing with a very obvious and large gun slung over his shoulder, noticed me right away.

  “Not sure you’ve got permission to be doing this, sir,” the guy said, his hand resting on the rifle.

  “The boss himself gave me permission to chaperone his daughter. I’ll bring her back in one piece,” he said. Without waiting for a reply, Konstantine pulled off towards the drive and the gate at the far end.

  For a moment I wondered if the gate would stay shut, but it soon began to move, the promise of letting me out of the building along with a chaperon I liked. Already I felt like I could breathe after being underwater for a while. The simple victory of getting past the guards made me feel lighter than I had been in months.

  Although I had plenty of thoughts running around my head, they weren’t necessarily helpful ones. I kept them to myself, trying not to probe into his life. It seemed the guards had decided to trust him as well. Slowly, the gates opened wide enough he could drive us through and into the night.

  It felt strange now, the sneaking now so much a part of a ritual that I didn’t feel right being so brazen. Until I looked at him. With him everything felt so different.

  As he glanced my way too, I felt a strange sensation run across my skin, like electricity flowing over me, charging me with desire, and something more, something deeper, more serious.

  I tried to keep my breathing calm. Was I falling in love? I wasn’t sure. Love wasn’t something I’d felt before now. And I didn’t believe it happened at first sight. But this man had turned me on like no one else before him, and then burst into my world and set me free. No one had ever been so reckless yet thought of my desires at the same time.

  Whatever he was, he felt like and angel, a dark angel who had me under his wing.

  Konstantine dropped by his apartment on the way to pick up Mitka and I almost suggested we not go anywhere else, but my mouth didn’t open until it was too late, his ferret sitting on his shoulders and chattering in his ear as he started the car. Instead I thought of the words he’d used earlier. He wanted to drink and fuck me again. Did he mean both to happen at the club?

  By the time we got to the club I could barely take my eyes off him, my mind lingering on the memories of the last time we were there and the magic. It had been so badly interrupted. I could only hope it wasn’t this time.

  Getting out of the car quickly, Konstantine came around to help me out. I tried to hide my blush, not normally one to allow that sort of old chivalry. I could do these things for myself. But something about him doing it felt right. Like I was making a statement by allowing him that control.

  “Come on,” Konstantine said, his mouth close enough to my ear he could almost whisper it. “Let’s get you buzzed, hot and horny as hell. I want you to need me to screw you so badly you practically beg me before I do.”

  I gulped, wanting to argue, but finding I let him wrap his arm around me as if he was intent on claiming me fully and letting every person know it.

  “You’ll do everything I tell you once we’re inside, won’t you, princess?”

  “You sound very sure of yourself,” I replied, not sure if I’d truly been asked a question or commanded. He let out an amused chuckle.

  “You need me to be your chaperone. You’ll obey my every command if you want to be let out from under Daddy’s thumb.”

  His words made me shudder. The confidence, yet lack of threat, in them made me heady. It was a statement of fact. Like he knew me better than I knew myself. Any resistance I might have had melted as he pressed his lips briefly against mine, my whole body reacting to the simple kiss.

  Entwined, we walked inside, any change of expression on the bouncer’s face hidden by his glasses. Despite seeing no reaction, I felt stared at. And it only grew worse as we moved down the corridor and into the main club area. Heads turned across the near edge of the dance floor, people whisperi
ng to others in plain view, looking at me and Konstantine.

  As I watched the awareness travel towards the bar, I spotted Yazov at the same time he saw us. One of the broadest smiles I’d ever seen spread across his face. Excusing himself from the social circle he’d been in, he came over to us as we carried on to the bar.

  “Get that special bottle of vodka I’ve been saving,” he said to the bartender as we reached him. “These two can have as much as they want of it.”

  I raised my eyebrows at the generosity, but noticed a look pass between Konstantine and Yazov.

  “Thanks, Yazov,” Konstantine said. “You know exactly how to help out a brother.”

  “Anything for a true Russian,” Yazov replied, taking the first two shots as they were poured and pressing them into our hands.

  The words were vague, and could have meant the drinks, but something about the way the two men looked at each other and spoke made it clear it had another meaning as well. But just how had Yazov helped Konstantine?

  “Enjoy the night. I’m sure it will be one to remember,” the strange club owner said, before taking a third shot the bartender had poured. He raised it to us, not giving us time to return the gesture before he downed it.

  Without another word or glance, he walked off and out of the double doors to the corridor beyond. Before I could question what had just happened, Konstantine lifted his shot glass and paused as if he sought the right words.

  “To the freedom to do as we please,” he said. Grinning, I matched his toast and words. That was a sentiment I could get behind.

  The vodka was strong and hit the back of my throat hard, but it soon slid down, lighting a fire all the way to my stomach. It was a good blend of flavours, to match. It must have cost a fortune for something so fiery and smooth at the same time.

  Konstantine lifted Mitka off his shoulder and placed him on a bar stool before shrugging out of his jacket. When I realised he was planning on leaving it there to keep a couple of seats for us, I did the same. Mitka then curled up on my jacket, nuzzling into the soft velvet fabric.

  I laughed when I saw Konstantine’s frown.

  “He’s never done that before,” he said. It only made me feel even better. My pets had warmed to him; it felt right to have his respond well to me.

  After downing another shot each, Konstantine took my hand and tugged me towards the dance floor.

  Finally.

  I exhaled, desperate to appear calm when I felt anything but. Heat travelled through me, not all the alcohol’s fault. I wanted him. And my body was making it clear it wanted him now.

  As he led us to a space in the middle of the heaving dance floor, his hands slid around my back and then lower until he cupped an ass cheek with each palm.

  Applying some pressure, he pulled me in close, the rhythm our bodies moved to grinding us against each other. It only made me wetter, the slick juices threatening to soak through my panties and drip down my thighs.

  Within seconds I could feel I wasn’t the only one enjoying our closeness, his manhood growing stiffer and more prominent between us. Instead of pulling away to give himself space, he only held me up against him tighter, the pressure just beginning to hurt against the top of my pussy.

  “Keep this pressure up,” he said, only loud enough by me ear that I alone would hear him. “I’m going to fuck you now.”

  I opened my mouth to protest at being told rather than asked, but nothing came out. Instead I felt one arm slide around my waist, holding me roughly in the right place while his other hand slid between us and undid his zipper, freeing his cock.

  When he suddenly slid his hands even further and pushed up under my skirt, I gasped.

  “Quiet, princess,” he said, his voice firm, commanding. “Not a sound now, not even when I make you come.”

  As he pushed my panties aside I whimpered into his shoulder.

  “That may not be possible,” I whispered, trying to stifle a groan as he slid a finger through my wetness.”

  “You’ll be silent as I command you, or you’ll be punished, princess.”

  My eyes went wide, in shock and at the same time feeling my body respond even more to the threat. No one had ever dared talk to me like this. Would he really do something if I made a single sound? And what did he mean by his threat? How would he punish me?

  But I knew exactly how. I remembered the array of whips, canes and paddles in his bedroom. And I knew his threat was very real.

  “Do you understand?” he asked, continuing to touch my most intimate area in the middle of a packed dance floor.

  Clamping my mouth shut, I nodded against him. I understood exactly what he wanted of me, but as he pushed a single digit against my opening my whole body shuddered with need and desire. It was going to be far easier to talk about than actually achieve.

  As the song changed, he pulled me closer and removed his hand, hiding what we were doing from the people around us. A smile spread across his face as we both realised the new song was the same one they’d played the last time we’d been in the club like this.

  When the people around us settled into the new rhythm, he moved his hands to the tops of my thighs and lifted. His strength was enough to bring me up his body and hold me in place long enough I could guide myself onto his manhood.

  I bit down even harder on my bottom lip, desperate to stay silent as he filled me. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I felt him both take my weight and pull me closer, grinding my body against his.

  Our eyes locked as we moved in time to the music, the rest of the dancers fading into the background. I no longer cared if anyone noticed us, the pulse of the music setting the rate of our thrusts as we screwed.

  With each up and down I started to pant harder, relying more and more on him to hold us both up, but the pleasure grew, tightening my insides and making me lose focus.

  Right before I hit my peak and tipped completely into oblivion, Konstantine grabbed my thighs again and pulled me off him.

  “Not yet,” he growled into my ear. “Not until I say you can.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, to protest, desperate to be back on him again, to have him inside me once more, but he gave me a look, a simple warning.

  Not sure if I wanted to hit him or kiss him, I shut it again. Why was I obeying him so readily when he was driving me nuts, pushing me and denying me everything I wanted?

  Because I wanted it. I knew it would be everything I needed when he finally let me have it, and I had a feeling he’d give me the satisfaction sooner if I cooperated.

  Trying to calm my breathing, I leant my head against his shoulder and pressed my body fully against his again. We slipped back into the rhythm of the bass line as it drove the song. A moment later he shifted me, bringing his hardness up against my pussy, rubbing across my clit and reigniting the flame.

  I couldn’t stop myself from moaning, his command momentarily forgotten. I glanced at him, his eyes fixed on me. He’d noticed, but he didn’t say anything, instead gripping me tighter and pulling me closer, increasing the pressure.

  Once more my body responded, eager to orgasm, but yet again he denied me, spinning me around in his arms so I faced out, his cock digging into my ass.

  “Hold your skirt down at the front,” he commanded.

  I gulped, wondering what he was intending, but he soon made it clear, slipping the material up at the back just enough I could feel his hardness against my bare skin, rubbing towards my opening, my ass cheeks taking him between them with barely any protest.

  Quickly he moved me back and forth teasing, me from behind, until he orgasmed, his hot cum jetting against my ass and pussy as his arms pulled tighter and held me against his chest. As his breathing grew more normal and he came down from his own high, I felt like giving him a piece of my mind.

  “Next time you’ll do as you’re told, won’t you, princess?”

  No, my mind shouted, but I quickly nodded instead, more than a little shocked and aware of the sticky mess between my le
gs.

  “Good. Now go to the bathroom and clean yourself up. Then we’ll try again and see if you truly know how to do as I command.”

  Feeling like a naughty child who’d been told to behave better, I slipped out of his arms and smoothed my skirt down, his spunk rubbing against the insides of my thighs and ass cheeks as I walked. It felt wrong and right all at the same time.

  As I walked away I kept looking at others, expecting everyone to be staring at me, but they were all lost in their own worlds, no one seeing the walk of shame I now underwent. Except for one man. I glanced back to see Konstantine, his eyes never leaving me.

  I sped up, eager to do as he asked and get back to him.

  April 17th – 0:04am

  The bathroom queue had been the worst of the process, the awareness that at any moment someone might notice my state and the desire to do as I was bid and get back to Konstantine fuelling my impatience, but eventually every inch of me was clean.

  My panties had been unsalvageable, covered in both my wetness and his orgasm. They now sat at the bottom of a bin, wrapped in paper towels.

  Feeling even more exposed, I walked back into the club, but Konstantine wasn’t where I’d left him. Panic rushed through me until I spotted him at the bar, two more shots of vodka in front of him. Our eyes met, but he didn’t move, Mitka draped around his neck again.

  As I came closer he held out an arm to bring me into a hug. I slipped into the grasp almost naturally, taking the nearest shot. Before he could say anything I downed it and motioned for the nearest bartender to pour me another. If this night was going to keep being so unpredictable, I was going to need it.

  I heard Konstantine chuckle as we both drank the next time, but he didn’t meet my gaze. Feeling myself growing annoyed, I put the glass down and went to signal for another, but he covered it with his hand.

  “No,” he said. “It will just make it even harder to do as you’re told. You’re buzzed enough.”