by Raven Dark
I paused long enough to shift my weight so that I lay over her, propping myself up on my arms. Then without giving her time to adjust, I plunged in and out of her with swift, hard strokes. She bucked her hips in time with mine and mewled.
“Don’t move.” My own voice was unrecognizable.
“I can’t help it, Master,” she panted.
“Yes, you can. Stop moving.” I thrust faster, deeper.
She wailed in frustration but stilled.
“There you go. Lie there like a good whore and let master fuck you.”
“Oh, Maker…” Her pussy turned slicker, intensifying the sensations of her muscles clenching around my cock.
Without stopping, I gathered her hair in my fist, pulling hard enough to make her wince. I pounded her, changing my pace whenever she got close, eating at her mouth and enjoying every greedy stroke.
She’d started bucking again.
“What did I say?”
“I’m sorry, Master.” She almost sobbed.
I let go of her hair long enough to slap her thigh, then fisted her hair again. “Don’t move or I’ll stop.”
Her body quaked under me with the effort to remain still.
I smiled against her ear and slowed my pace. “You wanna come, don’t you?”
She nodded mutely.
“Yeah, you wanna come all over my cock.” I licked her ear. “Dirty girl.”
Her frustrated groan was almost a scream. The sound shredded the last of my control. I fucked her fast and hard, crushing her into the bed, my hips slapping hers.
She cried out and her wrists tugged hard on the cuffs. The headboard rattled against the wall.
“Fuck, you’re so perfect, I could live inside you.” I lifted my hips, giving her room to move. “Come for me.”
As if my words acted like a tether snapping on her self-control, she bucked frantically, soaking my cock as she came. I grunted and gave her a few sharp thrusts, gripping the mattress and roaring as my come filled her up.
We both collapsed, Setora laying her cheek on the pillow. I caught my breath and rested my chin on her shoulder.
“Tired?” I whispered.
“Yes, Master. But I don’t want to sleep yet.”
“I don’t want you to either.” I allowed an unsettled chuckle. “I’m not looking for this to be a threesome right now.”
She giggled helplessly into the pillow. It made me feel better that I could help her find humor in this whole mess with Julian.
“Am I too heavy for you, Petal?” I ran my hands up and down her arms. Fiddling with the cuffs on her wrists.
“No. I like it. Are you going to uncuff me, though, Master?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?” But the desire in her voice made it clear she wasn’t complaining.
“Give me a few minutes, and you’ll see why.” I nipped her ear.
Her lips curved. By the way her muscles tightened, if I hadn’t had her flattened to the bed she’d have been squirming into the pillow.
Shit, my cock was already half-hard again.
Her eyes closed, and she sighed contentedly. I tickled her cheek. “Petal, don’t sleep. I haven’t doped you up yet.”
Her shoulders shook. “My bad master, always drugging me.”
I laughed and swatted her thigh. “You and I both know I don’t have to drug you to fuck you.”
“Master speaks true.”
I jiggled the cuff chains. “I should just leave you like this all night. Fuck you whenever I want without you fighting me.” I bit her shoulder.
She made a throaty sound, filled with need. “I wouldn’t fight you, Master.”
“That’s no fun.”
She turned her head to the side, her eyes dark with desire.
I grabbed the key to the cuffs from the nightstand and unlocked them, setting them aside. Then I rolled her over onto her back.
“Come here, Petal.”
Our lips met in a long, slow kiss. I teased her tongue with mine. When I lifted my head, she framed my cheek with her soft hand. Her eyes were filled with so much love it made my heart ache.
This whole fucking world was a mess of danger and death, throwing carnage and loss at us wherever we went. I wished I could take it all away and keep her safe. Years ago, my whole life had been spent moving from one death match to another, killing and maiming on command just to survive. My body was a powerhouse conditioned for death, my fists built over the years for the sole purpose of breaking bones. And yet, as big and strong as I was, I couldn’t keep this Julian fuck from getting to her. It pissed me the fuck off. How the hell had I ended up here? How had I become a man who only wanted to protect this sweet angel from a world she was too good for?
“I can’t believe this, Master,” she said softly. Her fingers traced my jaw, my lips.
“Can’t believe what?”
“Months ago, you stole me from the Devil himself. I was terrified of you. The way you and Pretty Boy just took what you wanted. And now…”
“And now?”
“Everything’s changed. You and Pretty Boy, it’s like you’re different men. Different but the same. I was petrified of you, but now you make me feel safe. How does that happen?”
“I ask myself that every time I look at you, Petal.” I rested my forehead against hers. “Pretty Boy told you we weren’t flowers and hearts kind of guys, and it’s still true. But I want to give you everything you need. I need to.”
We kissed again. She ran her hands over my back as if she were trying to memorize every muscle there.
This time when I pulled back, I ran my fingers through the silky strands of her hair.
Worry wrinkled her brow, and she looked at the ceiling.
I took her chin. “What is it?”
“If Julian….” She shook her head at me. “I don’t want to hurt you. Any of you.”
I closed my eyes. How did I reassure her when I knew damn well we had no real way to control what he did next? I told her the only thing I could.
“Everything’s going to be okay. We’ll stop Julian somehow. That specialist is coming soon. Mayhem said the man knows everything there is to know about Violets. There is a way to stop him, and we’ll find it.”
“I know. I just don’t want to lose you because of him.”
I sighed, hating the fear in her voice. “You won’t.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, this is great bed talk, isn’t it?” She gave a broken laugh. “I just ruined the moment.”
“I’ll get your mind off things.” I crushed her to me, meshing her lips with mine. She wrapped her legs around me.
I don’t even know how it happened, but the next instant I’d slid inside her again and we were fucking slowly, my hands pinning hers to the bed. We came at the same time, bucking and writhing.
After, I put out most of the torches and gave her the doxerine injection Doc had supplied us with. I cuffed her wrists together and laid with her on top of me, her bound hands secure on my chest. We lay together in the near darkness, a tangle of limbs and slicked with sweat. Her eyes closed, her breathing slowing as the drugs took effect.
“I love you, Steel. I mean, Master.” She smiled up at me.
I rubbed her shoulders and her back. “I love you too, woman. Now sleep. I’ll keep you safe.”
How long I lay there with her in my arms, I didn’t know, but her breathing slowed again and eventually her body relaxed the way it only did in sleep.
Or that’s what I’d thought until she whispered into the darkness.
“How long do you think we have, Steel?”
I lifted my head. “Huh?”
She nuzzled my chest. “Well, it seems like every time we think everything’s going to work out, it falls apart.”
Where was this sudden fear coming from? A moment ago, she’d seemed like she was relaxed, satisfied, and happy. Her speech was slurred; maybe it was the drugs talking.
“I know.” I squeezed her close, wishing I could strangle the fear
in her. “But then it always turns out okay. We’re still together. That’s not going to change.”
“Because you will protect me. You and Pretty Boy and Hawk and Sheriff.”
“That’s right. We’ll protect you.”
She rubbed her check against my chest. “My big, strong fighter.” She said the words slowly, over-the-top with adoration.
A laugh bubbled up. Definitely the drugs. “You’re being weird, Petal.”
“You’ll protect me, but who will protect you?” Her arms slid around my neck.
“From who? From him?” I shook my head, rubbing her back, trying to instill her with my strength. “He doesn’t scare me, Petal.”
“No. Who will protect you from me?”
I snorted and looked down at her. “And what do you think you’ll do to me, slave?”
She laughed, a soft, almost menacing chuckle.
A shiver raced down my spine, cold as ice. I took her face, looking into her eyes.
Setora’s violet eyes stared back at me, but one look and I knew. It wasn’t her in there.
“Fuck…”
Her fingers dug into my chest, sudden and sharp. Her smile was dark and completely wrong. “Hello, big boy.”
The voice that came out of her was too deep and filled with mocking.
Horror and disgust twisted my insides.
Julian.
I threw her off me, across the bed, and was about to turn her onto her stomach before she could do anything dangerous, but I didn’t get the chance. She held up the cuffs on her wrists, her arms flexed, and with one tug, the thick chain snapped like cheap string. She swung at me, her fist narrowly missing my head.
“Fucking hell,” I grunted. I spun her onto her stomach and grabbed her wrist, pulling her arm behind her back.
She gave a horrible, tittering laugh. Her hips bucked, legs trying to kick me off her. I sat up and pinned her other hand behind her. Her arms strained against my grip, nearly twisting free, even though I was holding them with enough strength to keep a bull still.
“Petal, stop this. This isn’t you.”
Her arm got free with an ease that nearly terrified me. I wrenched it into place again, behind her back, and grabbed for the second set of cuffs. “Stop. I know you’re in there, Petal. Fight him.”
“You think you can save her?” she spat in Julian’s voice. “You think you can save anyone from me?” She thrashed hard, almost throwing me off.
Shit, if she managed to get me away from her, I might not be able to stop whatever he made her do.
“Hawk!” I bellowed. “Petal, fucking stop this. Don’t make me hurt you. Hawk!”
She tried to turn onto her back, but I pinned her down with my palm between her shoulders. She thrashed so hard it took all my effort to keep her still. “You fight a lost cause, Steel. You can’t win.”
“Hawk—”
The doors to the room banged open. “Steel, what—fuck.”
“Get Doc! Now!” I roared.
Hawk dashed down the hall, bellowing for Doc, whose footsteps I could already hear in the hall.
But the few seconds I was focused on Hawk was all this thing inside her needed. She ripped her wrist out of my grip and somehow managed to buck me off enough for her to spin onto her back. I grabbed for her shoulder to turn her around again, but her hand shot up, seizing mine. She bent my fingers back.
Bones snapped and pain sliced. I swore and jerked free. She shot up, and both her hands slammed into my chest so hard it felt like someone had hammered into me with a battering ram.
I went flying and crashed into the floor.
Setora stood above me, her naked body held stiff in a way that suggested someone else was in there controlling her, like a puppeteer.
Before I could get to my feet, I saw a single dart hit her in the shoulder.
A dart shot from Doc’s gun.
Setora—Julian—pulled the dart out, snapped it in two, then dropped it to the floor ensuring we all saw it.
“Oh, this isn’t good,” Doc rasped.
“She will leave now.” Setora’s voice sounded like a fucking demon.
“No, she won’t.” Hawk was across the room in an instant. She punched at his face. Hawk weaved, his hand snaking out and seizing her wrist. She twisted easily free. Hawk pushed her onto the bed with his foot, just hard enough to knock her flat without hurting her.
Setora sprang up, grabbed the knife at his belt and slashed at his face.
“Fuck.” He blocked the swipe and knocked the blade out of her fist. “Doc, shoot her!”
He did, but with Hawk in front of her, both of them struggling and moving around so much, the dart missed and hit Hawk in the arm.
“Shit,” Doc spat.
“Nice shot.” Hawk didn’t bother ripping the dart out.
“Sorry!”
Fuck, how does this even happen? Forgive me, Petal. While she was grappling with a now sluggish Hawk, I grabbed Setora from behind in a chokehold. I had my arm under her chin, cutting off her air, gripping my wrist to hold it in place, ignoring the pain in my broken fingers, and squeezing. She bucked and twisted so hard it took all my strength to keep a hold on her.
“Shoot again, Doc,” I grunted.
“I can’t. I’m out.”
“Damn it.”
Setora cackled. I squeezed tighter.
“Come on, Petal,” I huffed. “Be a good girl and go to sleep now.”
Damn it, she was strong. It was like that time I fought with Beast, trying to get him to calm down at Lord Falnar’s. Beast, a man nearly as strong as me, and bigger than I was. Setora felt just as strong.
“She of the Four is not here,” Julian hissed.
I pushed her head forward, squeezing, but her struggles made it impossible to keep a good grip. “Come the fuck on. Sleep now.”
Hawk reached for her, but it was a mistake.
She threw her legs up, pushing off of Hawk’s chest like a seasoned warrior and sending me backward to the floor.
“Oh, you have to be kidding me,” I growled.
Hawk grabbed one of her ankles when she tried to kick him. I released her and he spun her onto her stomach. He was on her, straddling her waist before she could react.
“When I find you.” Hawk yanked both of her hands behind her back, pulled a rope from his cut and wrapped her wrists so fast it was a blur. “When I find you, we’re going to see what you’re made of, you and I.”
“You don’t stand a chance, Yantu.”
She moved more sluggishly now, but still tried to roll over onto her side and pull her arms free. Hawk had the rope wrapped around her wrists, the long slack in his fist like a leash. When she thrashed, nearly bucking him off and snapping the ropes, he yanked tight.
There was a horrible snap as her shoulder popped out.
“Fuck…” He sounded like someone had punched him in the gut, but he didn’t loosen his hold, keeping her immobilized.
“My army is coming. You can not stop it!” she spat in a rage Setora would never have been capable of. She didn’t even seem to be aware of the pain.
There was no stopping Julian unless she was out cold, and with Doc out of drugs…
“We’ll see.” I crushed down the guilt that welled up for what I was about to do. Forcing the image of a male Violet into my head instead of her, I quickly calculated the minimum force required to get the job done and punched the woman I loved in the head.
Setora slumped on the floor and didn’t move. I scooped her up and laid her on the bed, my breaths sawing in and out. Hawk released the leash on her and stumbled to the nearest wall. Leaning against it, he puffed, his face sweaty, his eyes filled with disbelief and horror. His gaze was fixated on Setora’s shoulder, which bulged unnaturally. He had a slash on his cheek; she must have managed to cut him with his knife after all.
Setora lay on my bed, unmoving.
How close had we come to losing her?
Fuck, we were in so much trouble here.
Ch
apter 6
Chasing Phantoms
By the time Pretty Boy and I had raced halfway across the Hold and into Steel’s room, whatever had gone on in there was over.
Sleeping a few doors down, Sinister had come and got us as soon as shit hit the fan. Unable to sleep, Pretty Boy and I’d ended up back in the smoking room talking with Mayhem who apparently was having the same trouble sleeping. Big mistake, letting ourselves get that far from Setora.
I swore, when I found this Violet fuck, no death would be enough for him.
When we’d burst into the room, Setora was lying on Steel’s bed on her back. Blankets lay over her, her arms resting on top of them. There was a sling on her shoulder, holding her arm in place. Hawk had said he’d tied her hands, which explained the dark bruises on her wrists, but the ropes were gone now. Doc was at her side, hooking up an IV, a bag of clear solution hanging from a pole, the tube inserted into her hand and taped into place.
“What the fuck happened in here, Steel?” I demanded, shutting the doors.
Sitting in a chair next to her, Steel glanced up and shook his head. He was holding his hand, two of his sausage-sized fingers black and blue.
“Julian had a bit of fun,” he muttered. “I’m fine, General,” he added when I started toward him.
I looked around for Hawk and found him coming out of the room’s water closet, wiping his face with a towel. There was a long scratch on his cheek.
“Hawk?” I prompted.
“It’s just a scratch, Sheriff, don’t worry about it.” He went over to a corner of the room, picked up his blade from the floor, wiped it on his shirt, and sheathed it on his belt.
“What happened, Steel?” I went to Setora’s side, took in the nasty bruise on the side of her head, and winced at the sling on her shoulder. My fists clenched. Rage for Julian coursed through my veins until they burned.
“We were fooling around,” Steel reported as Doc moved from Setora to him, squatting with his kit beside him and inspecting Steel’s hand. “I gave her the drugs. I thought she was asleep, and then suddenly Julian was…” Steel shook his head again. “He was there and fighting me like a fucking demon. She tried to leave, and when Hawk and I wouldn’t let her, she got a hold of Hawk’s blade and slashed him with it. It took Hawk and I both to bring her down.”
