by Katee Robert
If I were less stubborn, I’d let her go. Nothing good can come of having Aurora in my home for two weeks, but I have to risk it if there’s even a chance I can purge this burning desire from my veins. Moreover, a small, secret part of me wants to indulge in this selfish thing.
It’s been so long since I wanted something that I couldn’t take simply by the nature of who I am. Twenty years. Two decades of having everything I could possibly dream of at my fingertips.
Hades shakes his head. “The contract starts tonight. In one week’s time, I will either send one of my people to check in with Aurora, or you can bring her here. If I’m not satisfied at that point, you will forfeit the remainder of the time with her.”
“So protective,” I murmur. “Do you think I’m going to cut her into little pieces? Surely you know better.”
He holds my gaze. “I wouldn’t put anything past you, Malone. Anything. Better that you understand the consequences before agreeing.”
His determination to think the worst of me might sting if I hadn’t spent half my life curating a reputation that I am not one to be fucked with. Fear accomplishes as much, if not more, than violence does. Make a few examples of people and suddenly you have much less conflict on your hands. Another lesson from my mother. If only my sister had taken that particular rule to heart, she wouldn’t be dealing with the shitshow going on in Sabine Valley right now.
I push the thought away. There’s no point in worrying about my nieces and little brother. There’s nothing I can do to assist the situation while I’m here in Carver City, and trying to interfere will only make things worse. It doesn’t mean the knowledge sits comfortably, though.
Not that any of that matters right now. It’s simply time to stop denying myself Aurora. I wave a lazy hand in his direction. “I agree. She’ll be returned to you in the same condition she’s delivered.”
His jaw clenches, but he manages to resist the urge to threaten me again. “Do you have specifications for what she should pack?”
“That won’t be needed.” Two weeks ago, when I finally decided to do this, I made all the necessary preparations. “Aside from anything personal she needs to stay overnight, I have everything taken care of.”
He stares at me a long moment. “Very well. Wait here.” He rises and moves around the desk, striding to the door.
It takes everything I have not to turn to keep him in my line of sight. The man is a predator, and offering him my back goes against all my training. I resist. It’s a power play, and getting out of my chair as much as admits that I don’t trust him not to knife me in the back. That I’m afraid of him. Unacceptable.
The door opens and closes, but I don’t relax. This office undoubtedly had cameras set up, and as tempting as it is to rifle through the desk, everyone knows that this is only Hades’s public office. He’s too smart to keep anything damning here where anyone could come sniffing and find it.
Instead, I fall back into an old habit of my childhood. The first lesson my mother taught me was patience, and there’s little more torturous than a child being forced to sit for long hours without any entertainment. It took me weeks before I realized that there was a point to the exercises. An observant person can tell a wealth of information simply from categorizing the room they are in.
The monotone black and gray paintings lining the walls are from an artist who goes by the moniker Death, something that no doubt amuses Hades. The black desk and gray furniture are all top-of-the-line and deceptively sturdy despite their elegant lines. There’s plenty of kink play that goes on in this room, and knowing what I do of Hades and Megaera’s tastes, it makes sense that they wouldn’t want to break the furniture every time someone gets rowdy. The bookshelves behind the couch are filled, but the black and gray and white spines aren’t creased, which further confirms that this room is for show, not for traditional office use.
The door behind me opens, and this time two sets of footsteps approach. Hades doesn’t round his desk again. He simply leans against it and crosses his arms. “Aurora has agreed to the contract.” His gaze flicks over my shoulder. “Behave.”
“Don’t I always?” Aurora’s sweet tone ignites something in my chest. Something I spent the first half of my life stifling and the latter half molding into something useful. Ambition is one hell of a drug, and there aren’t many mountains left to climb in Carver City. I’m at the top. No one challenges me, no one dares stand in my way when I want something.
Except this woman.
I rise slowly and turn to face her. The sight of Aurora is always a kick in the chest. She’s a gorgeous Black woman with a petite frame and light-brown skin. Over the years, her hair has run the range of every wild color in existence, though she seems to favor pink and blue the most. Tonight, it’s a deep indigo that’s nearly black in this light. She’s wearing a blood-red lace teddy that does little to hide her body. Another change. Up until a few months ago, she only ever wore white.
Such a small difference shouldn’t incite my curiosity, but something’s altered within her since she took over the second-in-command position beneath Megaera. She’ll never be as sarcastic or fierce as Tink was in the same position, but she’s managed to avoid being steamrolled by the Dominants that frequent the club.
She’s also barefoot.
I raise an eyebrow at Hades but don’t comment on it. His lips quirk a little, but his eyes stay cold. “Her overnight bag is at the front desk with Adem. You may pick it up when you exit.”
“Good. We’re leaving now.”
Aurora’s head jerks up, her large brown eyes wide. “You’re not going to play in the club first?”
I stalk to her and tap her pretty lips. “When I want you to speak, I’ll say so. Tell me your safe word.”
“Thorn,” she whispers.
“Good. Let’s go.” I flash a look at Hades over my shoulder. It shouldn’t please me to find his expression stormy with displeasure, but I’ve won this round and we both know it. “See you in two weeks, Hades.”
“Remember what I said.”
“Of course.” I take three steps past Aurora and snap my fingers, pointing to spot about a foot behind me.
She obeys the silent command, moving to follow with her head bowed and her hands laced in front of her. I don’t look back again, but I keep half my attention on her footsteps behind me as we head through the door and down the hall, bypassing the lounge where patrons come to chat and drink before indulging in the wide variety of offerings available in the Underworld. I recognize plenty of people at the bar and sitting in the booths tucked against the walls on either side of the room, but I’m not in the mood to chat.
I’ve waited years to get my hands on Aurora again. Years of denial and thwarted desire. I might go out of my mind if I wait another hour.
I collect her small bag from Adem, and Hades’s concern is mirrored in the Black man’s dark eyes. He opens his mouth but decides against whatever he was about to say. Good.
Aurora follows me into the elevator and resumes her position on my left as it takes us down to the parking garage. Her body practically vibrates with the desire to ask questions, but she’s too well trained to do anything but obey. For now. No doubt she’ll find that backbone she’s gained in the past year sometime soon, but I’m enjoying this moment of submission without stipulation.
The elevator opens, and I don’t pause to think too hard about my motivations before I turn and scoop Aurora up into my arms. She squeaks a little and goes tense but doesn’t argue as I stride into the parking garage. I inhale slowly, catching the faint scent of vanilla, likely from her lotion or something like that. It’s too faint to be a perfume.
It makes my mouth water.
I find my head of security, Sara, leaning against the trunk of my town car. They look at me and raise their eyebrows. I’d informed them of my plans; Sara doesn’t like me to bring unknowns into my penthouse until they’ve run all the necessary background checks. They don’t like Aurora in particular, because she�
��s a ghost. There’s no record of her before she showed up in the Underworld as a submissive nine years ago. No birth certificate. No school records. Nothing. It raises Sara’s hackles, but they know better than to challenge me on this sort of thing when I set my mind to it. When push comes to shove, I’m just as capable of protecting myself as Sara is, and they know it.
They move to the back door and open it, holding it steady as I set Aurora onto the seat. “Scoot.” I wait for her to obey before I glance at Sara. “Take us home.”
“Short trip.”
“I got what I came for.” Whom I came for.
Sara waits for me to slide into the backseat and then shuts the door. A few seconds later, they climb into the front seat and we’re off. It’s only when we pass the boundary between Hades’s territory and mine that I allow myself to relax a little. I didn’t honestly think he’d change his mind, but Hades isn’t quite rational when it comes to Aurora. I couldn’t afford to rule anything out.
It’s happening.
She’s mine for two weeks, and mine alone.
I twist in the seat to find her sitting sweetly beside me with her hands clasped and her head bowed. The urge to touch her is almost more than I can deny, but I shove it down deep. There’s plenty of time for that later. For now, it’s important to establish how this will go. “Take off your panties, Aurora. Now.”
4
Aurora
How many identical orders have I been issued over the years? Quiet commands. Loud ones. Sweet. Cutting. None of them affected me the way Malone’s idle sentence does. Take off your panties, Aurora. She sounds almost disinterested, as if commenting on the weather. In the darkness of the back of the car, I can’t quite see her expression. Not that it would matter; I’ve never seen anything but ice in Malone’s eyes. Even the single time she brought me to orgasm, she didn’t thaw in the least.
I try to hold on to my anger, my hate, but it feels so fucking good to submit. To set aside all the messy emotions that have been clinging to me like spiderwebs for the past two days. When I submit, it all ceases to exist.
I have to obey if I want her to let her guard down.
The plan feels flimsy at best, but I refuse to admit that Allecto might have been right. She wasn’t. I have this under control. Truly, I do.
I lift my hips and slide my panties down my legs. The temptation rises to do more, to spread my legs or let a strap of my teddy fall, but I manage to restrain myself. To give perfect obedience. There will be a time to press Malone later. Right now, I can be a good little submissive.
“Make yourself come.” Again, a cold command in a disinterested tone.
I’m almost ashamed by how wet I am. That this woman, this enemy manages to turn me on despite the hate burning strong in my chest. I pull my teddy up and stroke my pussy. Malone doesn’t even watch. She’s looking out the window as if this is a normal car ride and I’m not fingering myself less than a foot from her.
Even in the shadows of the backseat, lit only by the lights of buildings we pass, she’s gorgeous enough to steal my breath. Malone is a white woman with the kind of pale skin that makes me think she’s never seen the sun. I know she’s forty-one from the file Meg keeps on her in the Underworld, but looking at her, she could easily be a decade younger. Her short white-blond hair is styled back from her face as always, and she’s wearing one of my favorite outfits of hers. Red-bottom black heels, black cigarette pants with a white blouse that’s left unbuttoned halfway down her chest. I have the most unacceptable desire to drag my mouth over that V of exposed skin. To unbutton the shirt farther until I’m kneeling between her thighs.
Will she still act as unaffected once I get my tongue in her pussy?
Part of me hopes so.
There are as many flavors of submissive as there are of Dominants. Everyone has the thing that twists them up in knots in the most delicious way possible. I like a little bit of everything, but this? This disinterest mixed up with lust and my desire for approval? I thrive off attention, and being deprived it is the most delicious of cuts. I have to bite down a moan of sheer lust. I hate how easily she cranks me up while appearing to do absolutely nothing at all. It feels particularly dirty to circle my clit like this in the backseat while her driver is witnessing the whole thing.
For all my kink experience, I haven’t played outside the Underworld until now. Or at least not in anything resembling public. Even the few relationships I’ve had were ones where they came to me. Partly because Allecto is paranoid as hell. Partly because the draw of the Underworld as almost as intense as the draw I provided; something I didn’t realize in each of the relationships until far too late. These days, I barely leave the building unless I’m going to visit my mom…
Except I’ll never be able to do that again.
The reminder of why I’m here is a bucket of cold water in the face of my desire. I slow my movements, loathing myself for the small part of me that keeps enjoying this moment despite everything the woman beside me has done.
“Is there a problem?” Malone’s icy voice sends chills down my spine that are entirely too pleasant.
Yes, but I’m not about to admit the extent of it. I close my eyes and strive to keep my mask in place. How can I want to attack her and also beg for more pleasure? Those two feelings shouldn’t exist at the same time. It’s wrong for me to want her, isn’t it? I’ve spent so much time believing that there’s nothing that happens between consenting adults that should result in shame, but here I am…feeling shame.
I lift my hand from my clit. “I’m not really in the mood to come.”
She taps her fingers on her knee. “I see.”
She moves so quickly, I barely have a chance to flinch. Malone hooks my leg and yanks. After how she carried me through the parking garage—something I refuse to even think about—I shouldn’t be surprised by how strong she is despite her slim frame. She easily flips me onto my stomach and tows me back onto her lap, shifting slightly to ensure I don’t ram into the door.
I tense, expecting her to spank me or something harsh, but she just wraps her fingers around my upper thigh, gripping me tightly and holding me in place. Her knuckles are barely an inch away from my pussy, and somehow that distance is just as hot as if she shoved two fingers into me. She smooths her free hand over my ass, pushing my lace teddy up and baring me from the waist down.
“There seems to be some misunderstanding of how this works.” She traces a single finger down my spine, stopping at the small of my back. “Your flouncing and bratty attitude will not provoke the response you want. It’s best you learn that now. If you don’t obey my commands, you will be punished.” She taps my spine lightly with her nail. “Punishments are not to be enjoyed, Aurora.”
I should keep my mouth shut, but this woman manages to rile me like no other. I squeeze my eyes shut and fist my hands against the leather seat. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have contracted a submissive who gets off on being punished, Malone.”
Her quiet laugh raises the small hairs on the back of my neck. “I am not like your regular playmates.” She lifts her voice. “Sara, I need to make a stop on the way home. I feel like a drink.”
“Will do.”
The car slows and turns. Malone doesn’t release me, doesn’t touch me more, just holds me in place with my bare ass on display. Humiliation and shame heat my cheeks. She slapped me down as easily as she would a fly. I hate that it turns me on. This would be so much easier if she didn’t affect me, if I could just endure this without wanting to rub against her leg like a horny teenager.
We finally stop, and she gives my ass a light slap. “Up.”
This time, I obey without arguing. She nudges me back into my seat and reaches over my chest to pull my seat belt on. The click feels obscenely loud in the quiet of the car. Malone’s breath brushes my ear. “Sit here silently and wait for me. Sara will remain in the car with you. Don’t try to talk to them; they won’t indulge any of your disobedience.” She lifts her voice. “Isn’t that
right, Sara?”
“Yes, boss.” Sara sounds amused, but it’s hard to tell for sure because I can only see the back of their dark hair on the other side of the headrest.
Malone opens the car door and climbs out. I sit there in shock and watch her walk into the building we’re parking in front of. She…left me? I glance at Sara, but they don’t seem interested in counteracting the command to not talk to each other. It’s just as well. What would I even say? That doesn’t stop me from wanting to do it out of spite. “How long am I supposed to wait?”
No answer.
I huff out a breath and slump back against the seat. My pussy is throbbing in time with my heartbeat, and I have the imprint of Malone’s hand wrapped around my upper thigh. Lust and anger create a heady mix inside me, and I reach down to stroke myself. Fuck her if she thinks she can leave me on the edge like that.
“Wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
I glare at the back of Sara’s head. “Or what? She left me in here.”
They laugh lightly. “Do what you want, kid. Just saying it won’t work out like you’re hoping.”
I manage to wait another five minutes. My desire and fury increase with each second that ticks by. She left me in the car like a dog so she could go have a drink. Maybe I’ll appreciate the simplicity of this punishment later, but right now all I can do is clench my fists and glare out the window.
Punishments are not to be enjoyed, Aurora. Her cool voice filters through my flurry of thoughts, which only twines me tighter. Being bratty never results in something like this with other Dominants. Scenes follow a predictable pattern; they let me rile them up, and then they punish me, and we all enjoy ourselves immensely. I have never been set aside like a child in time out and left for… I check the clock in the dashboard I can see around Sara’s broad shoulders. Twenty fucking minutes.
