"That reminds me." I suddenly recalled one of the more important notes of the three men that aided me in the bidding war.
"I need you to figure out who these three are working for," I announced. "I have a strong feeling whoever sent them is the culprit that enticed these guys' interest in Alisha."
"Definitely," Lyla agreed. "Had to be someone with a big allowance. Enough for these three men to do his bidding when he could have gone there himself."
"Mhm." Lyla bobbed her head in approval. "I'll gather what I can. Once you’re done ogling Alisha, get some rest. You spent far too much magic the last couple of days and I’d personally rather avoid your groaning self. Alisha can tolerate your man flu tendencies, but I have no patience for them.”
"You have no sympathy for a man dealing with the struggles of stress, climate change, and kidnapped mates."
"Just as you men have no sympathy for women when we bleed from our vaginas and you still wanna fuck us senseless when we're trying to survive every cramp that hits us.”
She wasn't wrong with her comeback and it shut me up pretty fast.
Her grin of pride was followed with a nod as she turned away and headed out the door, leaving me with my marked butterfly.
I moved to sit on the side of the bed, my hand automatically reaching out to caress that soft cheek of Alisha's. My heart was still pounding with utter relief, and the thought of that disgusting guard even touching her divine skin made me growl.
"Should have chained his soul in the flames. He got off easy."
It would be a waste of our energy. We have more important matters to attend to. Won't be long before those three arrive here.
"What's the plan?"
Aside from accidentally killing them?
"Sometimes I question your sanity."
You enjoy my thrill for bloodshed when it benefits you.
"Good point." Phoenix paused. "If we tell her...would she play this game of hide and seek?"
The heavy breath that left me was from the two of us at the idea of having to go along with this plan while we figured out the true culprit of Alisha's near-death experience.
Playing stupid will be better than boldly getting her out of here. I have a hunch our organization will be partnering up with the secret ops soon.
"Hmm." Phoenix seemed intrigued by the news. "The dragon god agent?"
Affirmative. He's powerful but I don't like trusting him. Double agents are messy.
"Messy but informative."
They're waiting to hire another partner that will have a bit more brains than muscle. Once that happens, we'll know where we stand.
"Allies, allies, allies." His repetition only stressed what we needed to do.
I wasn't good at teamwork. That role was given to Alisha because she had a way of weaving everyone in a web of her will, even without her monarch abilities.
Staring down at her, my hand trailed from her cheek to her neck, moving lower to the middle spot of her chest, just above her breasts.
I licked my bottom lip out of habit, my cock growing hard for our mate.
"This is going to be a pain in the ass," I muttered out loud before giving in to the urge to kiss her by leaning right over and brushing my lips against her.
The connection was strong, enough for me to pull right back. If I indulged in that needy energy, I wouldn't stop, and it would surely wake Alisha up.
With that reluctant decision made, I rose up and headed for the door. Taking one last glance at Alisha's sleeping figure, I soaked it all in and let my desire for justice recharge.
Let's move on from the past and focus on the present.
Blurred Lines Between Captivity And Freedom
~ALISHA~
* * *
Turning over, I patted the spot next to me. The thought of it being empty encouraged me to open my heavy eyelids.
How much time had passed? I couldn't recall when I'd fallen asleep, but the longer I stared at the silk sheets, the stronger my internal debate grew.
Atticus? Where'd he go?
I sat up and stared at the new large, unfamiliar room. My drowsy mind was attempting to work, but everything was still foggy.
How did I get here? Actually...who’s Atticus?
My lips morphed into a conflicted pout as I looked down at the black gown that clung to my body. The previous interaction with Phoenix and Lyla rushed through me, and I soon recalled how I'd fallen unconscious.
"His eyes. They were so captivating that they knocked me out?" I said out loud.
"Hypnotic eyes." Saphire's drowsy voice echoed in my mind. "A bitch to deal with."
Agreed. Let's go kick his ass.
"I wholeheartedly support you on that."
The odd feeling that trickled through me was this feeling of deja vu. This had to be something that had happened before, but did I even know Phoenix before all of this occurred?
The mention of this man, Atticus, only left me in a more confused state. This whole amnesia condition was getting on my nerves, and I hated how easily it induced headaches.
I could already feel the pounding beginning in my left temple. The pounding seemed to emphasize that I was on the right track in figuring things out because whenever I recalled something, there was a headache of amazing proportions leaving me in agony.
Getting out of bed, I glanced around the room while I shivered. It was chilly now in comparison to before, but now that I was awake, it was about time I investigated this place.
So much for a tour.
The thought of missing my chance to have Phoenix answer one-hundred-and-one questions brought a sense a failure to me.
Failure and disappointment.
It's not like I loved him - imagine loving a sexy hunk like him...nope. Don't do that - but there was a level of familiarity with his company and the way our eyes got lost in one another that I was putting on the top of my priority list.
Now that I was waking up, I'd have to take advantage and get some sort of information before I was doomed to be handcuffed and forced to abide by that dangerous, sexy man's commands.
Why is my master hot as fuck? Was that a part of the punishment?
"We should find out more about him. He's intriguing."
Indeed. I'm kinda hungry.
"For sex?"
Yes. No. Wait! NO! Well sure, sex would be a nice dessert, but I'm actually hungry! You should know that.
"I do, but your desire for sex outweighs your need for food. I'm only stating what your body tells me."
It's wrong!
"Mhmm." Saphire was only agreeing with me for the hell of it, but we both knew the truth.
Note to self. Find a man in this stupid place.
"You have one."
One that's not Phoenix.
"Good luck." She actually laughed. "Men don't just waltz into prison at your whim."
Your lack of encouragement is hurting my pride. My sexual appetite benefits you.
"It only benefits me because you're all happy and shit."
How would you even know that?
"I don't. Simply feels that way."
Wonder if Phoenix or Lyla could help us with the amnesia problem.
"Guess we should find out."
With a mental nod, I took a few calming breaths and upped my internal courage to explore this new territory. Since I lost out on my tour opportunity, I'd follow my instincts and hope they didn't get me killed.
Peeking out into the hall, I glanced both ways to ensure no one was coming. Stepping into the hall, I quickly slipped my heels off. I’d forgotten how noisy they were. I had to have been asleep for a good while because the lights were dimmed and as I made my way in one direction, the windows projected a night scene of those calming fields in Ireland.
Walking as quietly as I could, my journey across the darkened floor seemed to go on and on. I could continue to linger on the idea that this hidden place was within a single floor, but in a world of magic and wonder, maybe there was more to this than met the huma
n eye.
Internally, my body was humming for a connection, the thrilling buzz growing with each step I took. I fought to control my urge to move left when I reached two hallways, but my feet didn't correspond to my thoughts and before I knew it, I was in front of a golden door.
That buzzing felt like electric currents charging through my core, and without a second thought, my hand reached for the golden knob and opened the door ever so slightly.
The soft creek didn't disturb whoever was beneath the red sheets of the king bed. My calculative nature suddenly kicked into play as I slipped through the space and closed the door gently.
This room had a growing homey feeling to it, the themes of the gold and red warming my heart that was beating swiftly against my chest. I wasn't necessarily nervous. It felt right to be within the comfort of these tall walls and to see the massive floor-to-ceiling windows on the opposite side and the view of magnificent clouds and twinkling lights in the far horizon. It felt like this room was hovering above the world.
My quiet steps led to the very windows in question until my hand pressed on the cool glass and my eyes soaked in the magnificent view. The view of light grey clouds filled me with a sense of serenity.
I missed this, the view I couldn't remember ever seeing before. Yet I knew it was something I'd witnessed many times with the people I cared dearly for. I grew up within these skies, and the realization and heartache of my lost memories slammed into me with force.
I fought to not make a sound as tears streamed down my flushed cheeks. I wished to learn more about who I was. To figure things out and have the courage to tackle my destiny without a mask or fear of uncertainty.
My journey in prison had just begun and yet I felt like I'd already lost. Without my memories, I felt a hollowness within my soul, and as much as I tried to convince myself I could shape a new identity, in the pit of silence nights like this, I knew I wouldn't be able to escape this feeling of broken solitude.
Saphire's sadness melded with mine, the two of us silently mourning what we'd once been. Who knows if we'd ever get those memories back, and if we did, would it even matter anymore?
We were trapped here now. Chained to a new world we had no control over. Our life now was in the hands of someone else, and who knows if his path was the same as mine.
My eyes closed, and I pressed my forehead against the glass. My hand clenched into a fist, and I wished to find whoever had done this to me and return the favor. Make sure they felt the same irony I was currently enduring. Witness the loss of who they were and experience the level of vulnerability this situation has led me to.
Death must have been far better than living a life you couldn't remember. At least with death, eternal peace was on the other side. With this situation, I was left in a void while all these emotions fought to consume me.
I should have flinched at the soft touch that rested on my shoulders, but all it did was trigger the sobs fighting to escape my hold. This level of sadness was far too much for me to bear anymore, and the soft touch of another person with no ill intentions for me made my protective walls go crumbling down.
The hands tugged me back against a firm surface, strong arms wrapping around me protectively. I sobbed harder, my shoulders lifting up and down with each cry of agony until my body was turned around so I could cry against a muscular chest.
The aroma of cinders and wood was all it took for me to hug the man comforting me, tightening my hold with all my might for fear he'd vanish from my grasp at any moment.
I should have pushed myself away. Not let myself get tangled within his soul pulling-aura and muscled arms that held me like a precious jewel. But I had no restraint left within.
I was done fighting this connection.
All it took was a look upward. For my eyes to hook onto those red pools of loving emotion. He didn't hide his lust for me, and the longer we stared, the easier it was to let go.
I was exhausted from fighting, and so was he. Those hints of confliction and the mask of anger he'd worn when we met were now replaced with devotion and pulsating hunger.
Those large, rough hands moved to my back, unzipping the black ensemble that cloaked my slim frame. When it dropped to the floor, it cued all the emotions I'd been fighting back and more. The palpable hunger to have my arms hooked tightly around his neck and to dive into the taste of his commanding mouth overpowered me.
Our mouths crashed into one another like two stunning forces, the connection igniting streams of relief and pleasure. This heightened unity was long overdue, and now that we were together, my crumbling world was less heartbreaking.
I was on the bed before I knew it, my trembling body beneath him as he absorbed every bit of my body. The way his tongue drifted across his lower lips only added to the growing anticipation, and I took it upon myself to lift upward and kiss him as softly as I could.
It felt like a habit, something I did to show a tender part of my love for the man I loved, and I multitasked by unclipping my bra, letting my tiny, perky breasts be free of the cups that held them perfectly.
Even with the removal of the black laced bra that I flung aimlessly off the bed, our lips were still moving against one another. The slowed movement relaxed me tremendously, enough that I broke the kiss and looked into his eyes that swirled with various colors.
A prick of fear buckled within me, afraid that I'd fall victim to his hypnotic eyes once more and lose out on this opportunity.
This burning desire to get lost in pleasure instead of heartbreak.
My fear oozed into my expression, something I didn't stop because I wanted him to realize my worry. He lifted one hand to cup my cheek and lowered until his hot breath teased my neck as he whispered, "You are mine tonight. Abandon your fear and only think of this. The thrumming of our energies intertwining and our cries of satisfaction echoing against the walls of the night. You are mine. You always have been, and this night will be no different."
"You'll make me forget." My quiet comment was that tiny whisper in the back of my mind. "You're someone important to me and yet I can't remember. I'm a blank page with an inability to figure out what character I'm supposed to embody within this fairytale. My body wants you. My mind wants you. Yet the fear in my heart screams in rebellion. If I give you what we both want, won't it leave me feeling empty when the highs of ecstasy are done, and we have to face this new predicament?”
His worries were as apparent as mine, his eyes bleeding with confliction. When my heart couldn't take the wait for his response any longer, he pushed me against the sheets and kissed me with so much force I got lost in dizzy satisfaction.
The kiss was possessive, and he growled lowly while our hot bodies pressed one another. He distanced himself to give me a chance to breathe, but our eyes never left one another.
"Alisha. My marked butterfly. I won't dare let you forget me again."
He sat back on his knees, his hands running down the sides of my body and leaving me in a shivering mess as he tugged the thin straps of my panties and pulled them down.
I lifted my legs upward, aiding in his conquest to remove them from my ankles. He tossed them to the side, and as I lowered my legs back against the fine silks of the bed, my eyes landed on his massive cock, one I'd just now seemed to notice.
I can die happy.
"Likewise." Saphire actually agreed, our focus returning up to meet his gaze. His red eyes began to dance in color, that raw amber pulling me, and my body growing hotter.
Like a flip of a switch, we were sharing a heated kiss in seconds, one thick with various emotions - anger, dread, sadness, and overflowing joy. His body pinned me once more, and I spread my legs out and wrapped them around his waist - desperate to be right against his chiseled body of muscle and sizzling heat.
We kept kissing until I couldn’t think straight and the heightened desperation to be one was too much for me to handle. He had to have felt the same, his hard, thick cock ready to penetrate my aroused, wet pussy that was dripping just
for him.
Our breaths were heavy, eyes hooded with lust as we took a sheer moment to peer into one another. He was searching for my disapproval, trying to find one hint of doubt in my mind.
To even my surprise, there was none. He might have been a stranger to me, a man with various layers I'd yet to uncover, but in the creeping element of vulnerability, I didn't fear him in the slightest.
I craved this, and nothing would stop what was about to transpire.
We lasted thirty long seconds, and then with a smooth movement, his cock was inside me. Moans escaped us, and I was left to ponder if his cock was made just for me as he began to thrust with power while captivating my swollen lips.
We molded so well together, his body pressing me into the sheets while his hips moved in a slow rhythm, one that made me feel every inch of him thrust deep inside.
If the spinning passion wasn't enough, the heat was overwhelming - our feverish bodies emitting waves of fieriness like we'd now entered a sauna.
It felt so good, the world spinning as I got light-headed, but this was the unity my soul had been craving. That intense, surging connection with another powerful being who meant something to me.
Thrusts after thrust, heat kisses and bites, growls, and heavy panting. Our bodies were cloaked with beads of sweat, lost in the intense high of sex. I gripped those muscled biceps tightly as he began to take full control of this sizzling show, his thrusts pounding into me with speed while he watched me intently.
"More! Faster! Harder!" I encouraged him to keep fucking me like I knew he could. To take me to that high of pure ecstasy he'd done again and again. None of my circumstances mattered anymore. Not now when I was right here where I deserved to be.
Pleasured by a man who'd devote himself to me no matter how many times I'd forgotten. That thought brought me a wave of peacefulness as I let myself sink into the pits of pleasure as my climax approached swiftly.
Psychic Prison Page 9
