The basement was even more dank and moldy than the rest of the WUB Club. It was the oldest part of the facility and a dungeon in the literal fashion sense of the word. Stone walls. Thick doors. No windows. It was a place that no one ever escaped from and that nobody ever wanted to go.
Except Scarlett.
She was exactly where she wanted to be.
Mostly.
She was locked in an eight-by-eight cell, with nothing but a bucket and a “mattress” made of hay. That wasn’t really helping the plan. But, she was in the basement. She just had to find a way to make it to the boiler room and everything would be fine.
Or rather they needed to find a way to make it to the boiler room.
The guards had dumped Marrok in the cell with her, no doubt as part of Dr. White’s ongoing seduction scheme. The wolf took up a lot of space in the cramped cell. Scarlett was doing her best not to look at him, but it was hard. Even in the darkness, she could see the glowing gold of his eyes.
He sat with his back against the wall and watched her pace. “You wanna talk about it?”
“No.” She didn’t even have to ask what “it” was.
“‘Cause you seem a little tense.”
“Of course I’m tense. I’m thinking about our escape.”
“You’re thinking about me.”
“Don’t be such a narcissist.”
“Baby,” he watched her with something like compassion, “it’ll be alright. Being my True Love isn’t the end of the world. I know you could do better, but --I swear-- I can be a loyal husband to you. You can trust me.”
He was determined to talk about it. Fine. “You might think I’m your True Love, but there’s been a mistake.” She’d been rehearsing the perfect calm words in her head. “It’s just not real.”
“Uh-huh.” Marrok sounded like he was humoring her, now. “You understand that wolves are biologically programmed to identify their True Loves, right? It’s like arguing that I’ve ‘made a mistake’ about blinking or swallowing. It’s automatic. I have no control of it.”
“So… if you could control it you would?” Scarlett translated, annoyance derailing her prepared speech. A familiar feeling of uncertainty filled her. A sense that she was a complete letdown to someone else. “You’re disappointed to have me as a True Love?” She paused. “I mean, disappointed to think that I’m your True Love. Because, I’m not.”
“I’m not disappointed. I’m just surprised. I was expecting someone more… evil.”
Scarlett refused to be hurt by that answer. All her life, she’d heard similar complaints from her grandmother. Letty wasn’t good enough to Good or bad enough to be Bad. On some level, she knew that.
So what was she?
“I honestly have no idea what to do with you.” Marrok continued. “Most True Loves just meet, recognize each other, have sex a bunch of times, and plan a honeymoon crime spree. You’re much more challenging.”
“Breaking out of here is a crime.” Scarlett defended. “And –you make a good point-- Bad folk do know their True Loves right off. So, if we were bound, I’d feel this too and I don’t.”
Was that true? Even as she said it, Letty wasn’t sure. She definitely felt something with Marrok. She had right from the start. A… connection.
Shit.
Marrok shrugged. “You’re Good. Good folk have no way of sensing their True Loves before the wedding night. It’s one of your major problems as a group, because how the hell can you be sure you married the right person until it’s too late?”
“I’m not Good and I’m not your True Love! You say these things about me that just aren’t true. I know you think they’re true, but they’re not.”
“Because of Charming?”
“Because of many things. The first one being, you and I are not compatible. You are handsome and famous and…”
“Bullshit. That’s not what this is about. You’re just afraid of me.”
“I am not!”
“Prove it.”
She hesitated. “Prove it how?”
“Come here and let me show you that you’re mine.” His tone was pure temptation.
“Forget it!” When True Loves slept together, it was supposed to be more explosive than between ordinary people. Scarlett wasn’t sure she believed that, but she also wasn’t willing to test the theory for herself…
Although it would explain why kissing Marrok had been so incredible.
Shit.
“Obviously, sex would be your solution, but I’m interested in more important things.” She tried to ignore the traitorous part of her body that was deeply interested in seeing just how “explosive” it would be with him. Her alleged True Love was amazing, astonishingly, addictively gorgeous. She found herself just gazing at him for a beat, imagining… Bad things.
“I can be about more than just sex.” He told her.
“I know you can, but you seem to resist it.”
“I’m not the one resisting.” He dropped his voice. “Come on. I promise it’ll be fun.”
Shit!
Scarlett forced herself to glance away from the pretty. “No! Look, if we’re True Loves --and I’m not saying we are-- but if we were somehow bound to each other, obviously we’d have to,” she made a frustrated hand gesture, “undo this.”
Marrok’s expression became unreadable. “Ya think so?”
“Yes! It would be the only option.”
“We’d both have to agree in order to break a True Love bond.”
“Right.” She nodded, feeling desperate. What in the world would she do with the handsomest, Baddest man in the Four Kingdoms as her True Love? …Besides ravish him. Shit, shit, shit! “We could both just agree to break it.” It was a fairly simple legal process.
“No, we couldn’t.”
“Yes, we could! We’d need to go before a wizard and sign a sacred scroll, but…”
“Let me rephrase: I won’t agree.” Marrok stipulated flatly. “It will never. fucking. happen.” He carefully spaced each word. “I will stay in this cell and die, before I part with you.”
Scarlett blinked. “You’re kidding.”
“Do I sound like I’m kidding?”
No, he didn’t. Marrok sounded more serious than she’d ever heard him. Scarlett stared at him, feeling lost. “Why? You don’t want me.” He could have anyone.
“I’ve done every crazy thing you’ve asked, because I want you! You’re the one who isn’t happy about the True Love thing, not me. As far as I’m concerned, you and I are married already.” He snorted. “But that kinda puts a kink in your plans to be Mrs. Prince Charming, doesn’t it? Is that the problem?”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?”
“No.”
He arched a brow. “So you gonna give up on that glass slipper, then?”
“Oh my God!” Scarlett threw her hands up. “I am so sick of that dumb slipper!”
“Then, give it to Cinderella and let her keep that asshole prince. I know he’s got a castle and a hell of a pumpkin patch, but he’s not your True Love. I don’t give a shit if your foot fit his shiny shoe, you don’t belong with Charming.”
Scarlett ran a hand through her hair. “You don’t understand.”
“Red, I’m the only one who does understand.” He arched a brow. “Believe me. I was surprised by this, too. Good/Bad pairings don’t happen very often. I certainly didn’t think one would happen to me. You’re freaking out about it and I can relate. Take some time to adjust and…”
She cut him off. “Maybe I’m freaking out because we’re locked in this stupid cell.” She gestured to the algae covered rock walls. “Just concentrate on escaping and not this crazy theory of yours, alright?”
Marrok sighed. “I’ll get us out of here, if you promise to think about what I’ve said.”
Like she could think about anything else. Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest. “You know how to get us out of this cell? Seriously?”
“Yep.”
“How?”
“I need to whisper it in your ear.” He explained gravely. “Spies, again.”
She cast a skeptical look around the tiny room. “You think spies are hiding in here? Where? In the bucket?”
“Can’t be too careful.” He crooked a finger, beckoning her closer. “Come here. I promise it’ll only hurt for a second.”
She firmed her jaw. “Fine.” Marrok was still sitting on the floor, so she marched over and crouched down in front of him. “What’s your brilliant plan?” She asked in an exaggerated stage-whisper.
Marrok leaned forward and caught hold of her wrist. “Closer, baby. They’ll hear.” He tugged her towards him and somehow she wound up straddling his lap.
It was all his doing. She’d hardly moved at all.
Scarlett let out a shaky sigh as she found herself pressed against him. God, he felt wonderful between her thighs. She started mentally listing all the reasons why this was a terrible idea. “So, tell me about your plan.” She asked, trying not to notice how stunning he was in close-up.
“I’d rather show you my plan.” His teeth nipped her lobe and she jolted.
“I said no sex.”
“Making out isn’t sex. It’s innocent fun.”
Scarlett’s eyes drifted closed as his tongue touched her ear. “You’re such a jackass.”
“I really am.” He pulled her down so she was seated firmly against his huge erection. “Christ, very, very soon, I’m going to taste very inch of your skin until I’m drunk on you.”
Scarlett swallowed. “Your real problem is your lack of confidence.”
“My real problem is my lack of you.” His lips found her throat. “I’m working on fixing it.”
“That is the stupidest line…” She trailed off with a gasp as his mouth trailed along her skin. “You’re not even trying to concentrate on our getaway, are you?”
“Sure, I am. You just make it hard. You make me hard.” He kissed her jaw. “And it doesn’t count as a stupid line if it’s true.”
Scarlett instinctively undulated against him, because it was true. He was so big and so… “Oh God.” Marrok angled her hips with his hands so he was pressed against a really pleasant spot. Even through two pairs of sweat pants, she could feel the heat of him. “I’m not having sex with you in a dungeon.” She warned breathlessly.
“So you’ve said.”
“Because I really mean it.”
Marrok’s mouth curved at her weak tone. “How about when we get out of the dungeon?”
“We’d have to actually get out of the dungeon, first, and it doesn’t seem to be happening.”
“That didn’t sound like a ‘no.’”
Oh shit…
He was moving against her and she was losing track of why she should be stopping it. Marrok shifted her again and Scarlett sighed in surrender. It had been a miserably day… month… longer. It felt like heaven to be held by this man. Her body was burning for him.
“When’s the last time you came really hard, baby?” He rocked her against him more firmly.
“I don’t know.” She bit her lower lip and, despite herself, hoped he was about to offer to fix that. “A long time.”
He liked that answer. “Not since you’ve been in here?”
“No! Of course not.” He should know that. Since she’d arrived in the WUB Club, Marrok had consumed all her non-escape specific attention. Even when she was busily hating him, she was still focused on the wolf. “Who would I sleep with in this place besides you?”
He smiled at that phrasing. “Yourself?”
“Oh.” She blinked. “No, there are cameras in all the rooms.” Or there had been before they torched the security office.
“I didn’t let that stop me from having a real nice time fantasizing about you.”
She swallowed. “I guess I’m more particular about having an audience.”
“Well, luckily, I make a really good audience.” He tugged the drawstring tie of her sweatpants loose, his gaze locked on hers.
Scarlett stared back at him, her breathing getting choppier as she understood what he wanted. “I can’t!” But, Christ, it was so temptingly Bad.
“I consider you the brains of the operation, Red, but I’m going to have to disagree with you on that one.” He leaned forward to brush his lips against hers. His tongue slipped into her mouth and her desire spiked even higher. “I bet you can.”
“Not in front of anyone…” She trailed off with a whimper as he caught hold of her wrist, drawing it down.
“Don’t worry.” He crooned. “Even Good girls can be a little wicked with their True Loves.”
“I wish you’d stop saying that.”
“But, it’s true. You’re mine.”
Scarlett hesitated, her brows coming together. She’d meant calling her Good. In that moment, it hadn’t even occurred to her to object about the True Love thing. Before she could figure out what that meant, his hand led hers passed the waistband of her pants and between her legs.
She gasped as his fingers spread over hers, pressing her hand against her own weeping core. “I can’t.” She protested. “I need...” She tried to think, passion clouding her brain. She was still certain she couldn’t pull this off herself, but she had to have relief. “You do it.” She offered frantically. “You do it for me.”
He let out a hissing breath as she spread her legs wider. “Oh, I will, baby.” He kissed her again, more wild than before. “Later. Right now, I want you to show me.” He moved his hand on top of hers, guiding her motions. “That’s it. Nice and deep.”
Oh God, it felt sooo good and… Bad. How else would it feel with this man?
There was so way to fight the tidal wave of desire that swamped her system. Christ, what had he done to her? Scarlett’s eyes closed tight and her forehead dropped forward onto his shoulder. She began rotating her hand herself, her body growing languid.
“That’s my Good girl.” He kept his fingers over hers, but he was no longer directing them. He was just feeling her move. “You like that?” He nuzzled her hair.
She nodded against his chest, more turned on than she’d ever been.
“Tell me how it feels.”
“Tight.”
“Oh, I know you’re going to be tight.”
“No, I mean…” She licked her lower lip. “Everything feels so hot and tight. I need…”
“Not yet, baby. Let me watch for a minute.”
She swallowed hard and did what he wanted. For a long moment, she just sat on his lap and let him watch her. In the quiet room, all she heard was their mixed breathing and the rustle of their clothes. She’d never experienced anything so erotic. Her free hand came up to grip his shirtfront, hanging on, trying to postpone the inevitable. Her eyes opened, sightless and desperate, her fingers moving faster. There was no way she could last for much longer.
“Marrok.”
He didn’t take pity on her suffering. “I like hearing you cry my name. You thinking about me?”
“Y-yes.” She said on a shudder. Technically, he’d only touched her hand, but he might as well have been lodged tightly inside of her. It was all him.
“Every time I come, I’m thinking about you, Letty.”
She moaned, so close.
“Six weeks and you didn’t let me near you. It was just me and my fist. Maybe I like seeing the tables turn.”
“I’m sure… you like seeing… a lot… of things, right now.”
“You are a very pretty sight.” He murmured.
Scarlett raised her eyes to his and saw his expression was tight with desire. “Please.” She begged.
“Please what? Tell me what you want.”
“Touch me.” Although it nearly killed her, she slipped her palm from under his. His skin grazed her swollen flesh and her whole body arched. “Oh.” Her hips moved on his hand, needing him deeper. “Please touch me, Marrok.”
“Fuck yes.” His fingers pressed inside
of her, stretching her. He brushed against some magical place and whispered, “Come for me, baby.”
She was so starved for him that was all it took. Scarlett’s eyes went wide as she… exploded. “Marrok!”
Her whole body shook with warm, wet convulsions, her mind going blank with pleasure. Scarlett processed golden eyes watching her, drinking in her ecstasy as she climaxed. His hungry, triumphant expression just pushed her higher. It felt better than anything she’d ever felt. She cried out, glorying in it, riding his palm all the way through the aftershocks. After a timeless moment, she slumped against him, replete and struggling to breathe.
“Beautiful.” He murmured into her ear, cuddling her closer.
Letty blinked back a sudden rush of tears. No one had ever called her beautiful. As reality returned, she began to feel confused and unsure. What had just happened? She’d never done anything like that before. It was wrong.
Except, maybe she really was going crazy, because this man just feel… right.
“They were totally justified in locking you up.” She tilted her head to look at him. “You really are dangerous.”
“Never to you.” His thumb came up to brush against the bruise the blond wolf had left on her cheek and his face grew serious. “I’m sorry, Letty. I never expected a wolf to hit a woman.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” Scarlett glanced away, off-balance by how gentle he was with her.
Why was it so easy to be with a man who’d annoyed her every day she’d known him? Marrok hadn’t even had to try hard to talk her into it. She’d been eager and willing and she’d wanted him. She still wanted him. What was wrong with her? They’d just been talking about Charming. Now, Marrok probably thought she was like all the skanky women who hit on him because he was so attractive.
She shouldn’t be doing this.
Scarlett cleared her throat and moved away from him, straightening her clothes. “So, are you ready to explain your plan for getting us out of this cell?” She asked, not meeting his eyes.
Marrok sighed and reluctantly released her. “Back to business?”
She gave a jerky nod.
“You think it’ll be that easy?”
“Yes.” It had to be. This couldn’t happen. Not this way. Whatever was going on she could control it.
Wicked Ugly Bad (A Kinda Fairytale) Page 11
