Taken by the Enemy

by Jennifer Bene

  The first smack of his hand on her ass made her yelp, and she reached back to cover the stinging skin. Lucian moved fast though, grabbing one wrist to jerk it high up on her back until she screamed. “You can either keep your hands over your head, or I can make sure they’re not in the way. Your choice.”

  “Lucian, I didn’t mean it, I didn’t.” Emmie tried to shake her head against the grip in her hair, but his voice was unforgiving.

  “Hands.”

  With a groan, she moved her arms above her head, and then her fingers tightened against the blanket as his hand landed on her ass again, lighting up her skin with a fiery heat. She squirmed, but he continued. The crack of his hand against her felt like it echoed in the small space, and Emmie gritted her teeth tight to try and stifle the whimpers and yelps.

  “All I’ve done is break my own rules since I met you, and I can’t do that anymore.” His palm landed at the sensitive place where her ass met her thighs and she let out a scream, writhing on his lap while he held her in position by her hair. “And no, there isn’t a rulebook, but I’ve told you to be respectful over and over.”

  “I’m sorry!” she shouted, whimpering when the spanks continued.

  “Are you really?” His hand landed sharply again, making her already sore ass ache even more. “Because this is what it will be like when your smart mouth gets you into trouble with any. Other. Man. Here.” The last words were punctuated with particularly hard swats, and she had to grip the blanket until her hands ached to keep from trying to cover her backside.

  “I just wanted you to answer me!”

  Lucian spanked her hard again before gripping the round globe of her ass in a painfully tight hold. “And you will not always get your way here.” He released his grip to land another hard swat on the sensitive skin of her thighs.

  “I know that!” she screamed, but he spanked her again anyway.

  “If you think another man will take your smart mouth, you’re free to try, but one of the rules here is around how men can punish women. We would never stand for a man beating a woman, we don’t allow abuse, but being disrespectful is never tolerated and there are rules around punishments, and I apparently haven’t made that clear to you yet.”

  “Lucian, please!” Emmie begged, but the next set of swats came in a rapid succession that stole her breath from her until she was crying and sniffling. Heat was suffusing her skin, blistering her when his hand landed again on the already sensitive flesh.

  “This is to help you remember the next time you tell someone to do something, the next time you even think about shouting at someone in that haughty tone, that there are consequences to those actions.” His hand came down again, and she wondered whether his hand hurt as much as her ass and thighs. Lucian’s voice was a growl when he spoke. “Because if you really want to fuck another man in this village, you need to know what they’ll do if you call them a bastard for not giving you your way.”

  Emmie groaned, and dropped her head against his bed as his punishment continued. The fire in her skin was brutal, a constant tidal give and take of sharp pain and then warm relief that made her squirm. She hated it, but she couldn’t hide from the fact that she was grateful it was Lucian and no one else. “I didn’t mean it!”

  “Mean what, little bird?” His palm rubbed across her sore skin, massaging, before he spanked her sharply again.

  “I don’t want anyone else!” she screamed, and his hand smacked against her tender sit spot again. As much as she wanted to deny it, the heat was radiating, focusing between her thighs. Her clit was throbbing as he ran his hand over her hot skin, and she moaned as his steady movements soothed the ache.

  “As much as I want to hear that from you, that’s not the point of this.” He spanked her again and she bucked hard against his lap, the sting of it all the worse for the break he’d given her. “I want you to understand that you’re not exempt from our rules. You’re a part of this village, whether or not you planned to be when you left the city.”

  “I do, I do…” Emmie whimpered, and his hand landed hard again, but this time the stinging heat seemed to rebound inside her, strengthening the tension in her lower belly that had her hips rocking against his lap.

  “Good girl,” Lucian growled. “Five more to make sure you don’t forget.” His hand ran over her skin again, massaging for a moment, before the crack of the next strike made her jump on his lap. Instead of a scream, she found herself moaning, and the following spank did the same. Amplifying the warm heat between her thighs until she had them pressed together, seeking a release from the tension he was building inside her.

  “Lucian,” she moaned, and she felt the hard press of his cock against her belly as the last three landed in rapid succession.

  “Open your legs.” Lucian’s command made her shiver, but she did it, desperate for the release his touch always gave her.

  “Ah!” She squirmed as his hand slid between her thighs, his fingers gliding through the wetness there until they found her clit. He started a steady, confident circular motion that had her simultaneously trying to pull away and press harder against him.

  “Do you understand what you did wrong, little bird?” His voice was deviously soft, his grip tightening in her hair, and she had to stifle a moan before she could answer.

  “I asked you to tell me about Mathias! I called you a bastard!” She groaned, but then she yelped when he pulled his fingers back to pinch her inner thigh hard.

  “Did you ask me to tell you about Mathias?”

  Emmie shook her head as much as she could with his hand still tight in her hair. “No. No, I told you. I told you to tell me about Mathias. I’m sorry, Lucian, please…”

  His fingers returned to her clit, making her jump as pleasure assaulted her again. “That’s right, and that’s not how this works. You can ask, you can always ask me anything, but you don’t tell me to do something. Do you understand?”

  “Yes!” she shouted, trying hard to stay still as shivers started to run through her, but he fiercely thrust two fingers inside her and she lost the battle as she came hard across his lap. Her cry was lost to her ears, but in an instant, he had shifted them until she was on her back on his bed. Lucian tore her shoes off, ripping her pants and underwear away just as quickly so he could climb between her thighs.

  He kissed her hard and she wrapped her arms around his neck, devouring his mouth as much as he did hers. She was vaguely aware of his hands at his pants until he shoved them down and settled over her, pressing her back against his soft bedding. When he thrust inside her in a single movement, she moaned, digging her nails into his back as she arched her own. His groan matched hers, and soon he was fucking her hard, pinning her hands above her head. This time she didn’t care though, she was moving rapidly towards another orgasm and the precipice was close for both of them. Too close to fight the way he dominated her, and when she pulled against his grip on her wrists, she realized she didn’t care as he held her in place exactly where he wanted her – because she wanted to be there. With him, under him, and no one else.

  The thought was just starting to crystallize inside her with all the weight of a decision on that scale, when her world crashed into the sparkling heat of a second orgasm. Emmie cried out, shaking as the tremors of pleasure moved through her unabated, and when he joined her a few moments later, she barely registered the warm rush of him coming deep inside her.

  Lucian’s weight settled over her. His grip released on her wrists and she ran her hands over his back, trying to catch her own breath as his roared in her ears.

  “Damn it, I can’t resist you even when I’m pissed, Em—” He cut himself off and his head leaned against hers. “I mean little bird.”

  “You can call me Emmie.” The words slipped out unbidden, but she realized as the sparkling haze of her orgasms faded that she meant them.

  “Emmie,” he repeated, and the way her name sounded from his lips renewed the shivers inside her. “Emeline,” he said her full name even s
ofter and then he lifted his head to kiss her. It was soft, gentle as he slid from her and ran his hand up her side.

  “Lucian,” she spoke on a breath before he kissed her again, the kiss deepening until she wished that they had finished the argument before he’d taken her – but part of what had been so incredible had been the ferocity of it all. The power behind him taking control.

  What the hell was wrong with her? Wasn’t she supposed to want a gentleman?

  “I have to admit, you have a beautiful ass.” His grin spread over his face and she laughed, a furious blush racing from her chest to her cheeks.

  “What?”

  Lucian kissed her again, and she stifled her own smile to kiss him back as he moved to her side. Shifting, she curled up against him, her back to his chest, and his arm wrapped around her. “Like I told you yesterday, I don’t like to tell lies.”

  “You’re ridiculous.”

  His fingers pinched her thigh and when she jumped, he slipped his leg between hers to hold them open. “Really, now? Ridiculous?” Lucian ran his hand over her lower belly, his fingers dipping into the wetness between her thighs. In an instant, he was rubbing gentle circles over that sensitive bundle of nerves.

  “Fuck…” she whispered, moaning quietly as his touch increased and she couldn’t tell if she wanted to beg him to stop or to keep going.

  “Come for me one more time, Emmie. I want to hear it.” His voice was a delicious growl just behind her ear, but she wasn’t sure she was capable as her clit felt too raw. Each movement of his fingers had her whimpering, but soon her cries turned to moans and her hips were shifting in time with him.

  “Wait, Lucian!” she cried out, pressing back against him as she tried her best to close her thighs against the devious touch of his hand. Too fast the orgasm rose up and slammed into her with the dizzying force of a hard fall.

  “Good girl,” he whispered, kissing her neck as she started to come down and he caught her on the other side. He finally let her close her legs as he wrapped his arm around her again so she could tremble in the warmth of his hold.

  They were quiet for a while. Emmie was busy catching her breath, and Lucian was running his fingers over her hot skin as she came down from the emotional and physical high of their efforts.

  “Ask me again. About Mathias.” His voice surprised her, and she wished she could see his face, but it wasn’t possible as she adjusted her cheek on her arm.

  “It doesn’t matter, really. It’s your secret with him.”

  “Then what about you? Will you tell me about your day then?”

  “It’s nothing. I just wanted to… nevermind.”

  Lucian propped himself up on his elbow, his touch running down her side. “Go on. You wanted to... what?”

  “I wanted to talk to you about what I found out today, but you’re right about Mathias. They’re not my secrets to share.” She reached back for the braid in her hair, pulling the tie free so it could unravel.

  “Was this secret the reason your day was only mostly good?” Lucian reached between them to help shake out her hair, not like it took much since he had almost ripped the braid free on his own.

  “No, the secret was what made me realize I actually want to help all of you.” Emmie sighed, remembering the dull ache in her chest when she had read the line about his son and realized he had been away from him for years.

  “Wait, you didn’t want to help us before?” There was a touch of anger back in his voice, and she groaned.

  “That’s not a fair question.”

  Lucian reached for her chin, tilting her head until he could lean over her. “What have you been doing with Mathias all this time if you weren’t actually trying to help? Do you hate me so much that you’d let everyone else here suffer?”

  “I don’t hate you, Lucian.”

  “You don’t?” Doubt reigned in his voice.

  “No, to my own surprise, I actually don’t.” Emmie sighed and turned out of his touch on her chin, that eternal tug of war inside her pulling her in two directions at once.

  Was Lucian a hero or a villain in this, and did it even matter anymore?

  She spoke to the empty air in front of her. “You and Mathias are a lot alike, and with both of you it’s hard to figure out what kind of people you are. Whether you’re good or evil. One moment you’re pinning me to the ground, choking me, or punishing me, and the next you’re playing with a bunch of kids like you’re their best friend and taking me to a beautiful waterfall to tell me you want to change, for us to work.” Emmie laughed at the ridiculousness of it all, at the impossible situation where she found herself curled up naked with Lucian in his bed. “And Mathias! He’s an asshole. That’s a fact. But he’s also the man who decided to save the people he met out here, to save you, even though he had good reason to give up.”

  “He is a good man, I promise.”

  “And you?”

  “I don’t know what I am, and I wouldn’t tell you what to think of me.” Lucian lifted his hand from her side, running it over his face. “I know you have plenty of reasons to hate me, even though you say you don’t, but there’s no reason to hate Mathias.”

  “I don’t hate Mathias either.” She shrugged, somewhat missing the weight of his arm over her. “I can’t hate a man who just wants to help these people get back into the city, the same city where his son is who he hasn’t seen in… I don’t even know how many years.”

  “Seven.”

  “What?” Emmie looked back at him, and Lucian shrugged one shoulder.

  “He hasn’t seen Brendan in seven years.”

  “Why was he exiled?” The question left her lips unbidden, but instead of getting upset at another prying question, he just sighed.

  “I shouldn’t be telling you any of this.” He shook his head. “But maybe it will help you believe that he’s a good man.”

  “Okay.”

  “Mathias used to be the captain of the guard. He reported to the council, more specifically your father. Seven years ago the decision came down to exile a woman, but she had a newborn. Mathias argued that she should be allowed to stay since she had no family and no one was willing to take the child.” Lucian’s voice lowered, dark and angry. “Your father told him that he didn’t care if they both died, that the city wasn’t going to take on responsibility for the woman’s baby.”

  Emmie flinched. “You can just call him Jules Daniau. You don’t need to remind me that he’s my father.”

  “You’re right, I didn’t mean—” He sighed. “It’s just hard to think about. Well, Mathias refused to exile her. He told Jules Daniau that if he wanted to kick out a woman with a newborn, then he needed to do it himself. Of course, he was arrested, and the woman was exiled anyway. When he got exiled himself a week later, he spent all his time trying to find her.”

  “Did he?”

  “Yes, he eventually did.” Lucian paused, his voice incredibly soft. “Mathias never told me what exactly he found, what happened to them, but they were dead. He used to tell me that every time he wanted to just lay down and die, the memory of her would pop into his head and he’d do one more sweep near the gates. Looking for anyone helpless, anyone he could save, even after one of the not-so-helpless tried to slit his throat with a knife they’d snuck out with them. He’s the reason this place exists, he’s the reason we are always looking for anyone exiled – and he’s the reason we always bury the ones we don’t get to in time.”

  The weight of her father’s actions settled over her like it was her own guilt, and she mourned the death of the woman and child as if she could have done a thing about it. None of it was fair. Not what had been done to them, and the fact that she shared blood with someone who could be so callous made her sick.

  These people weren’t the enemies of the city, he was, along with every other callous aristocrat.

  “I hate my father, Lucian.” A fire took up residence under her skin, fueled by every memory of him slapping her, shouting at her, locking her in her room
. Fueled by the very actions she had chosen to ignore, chosen to be blind to. Emmie’s voice sounded stronger when she spoke again. “I don’t hate you, and I don’t hate Mathias. I don’t hate anyone here, actually, but I hate my father. More than you could ever know.”

  “I have an idea, Em, I really do.” Lucian pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “You were right earlier. As much as I’ve seen firsthand the damage he did to the people here, I can’t imagine what it was like living with him. Did he… hurt you?”

  Emmie shrugged, long past the point of being upset by her father’s behavior inside their home. It had been her entire job since she was a child to put on a pretty face in public, to smile even if she had the marks from his belt across her back. “Sometimes he did, but he never sent me out to die.”

  “A father is supposed to protect his children, not hurt them.”

  “Well, I don’t think all fathers get the notice about that.”

  “For what it’s worth, mothers don’t either. Mine left my little brother and me after my dad died. She didn’t want to be responsible for us on her own.” Lucian nuzzled against her hair, and she entwined their fingers as she wrapped his arm around her.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No need, it’s old news, and I made sure my brother had somewhere to go before I was exiled.” He pressed a kiss to her skin, and she could see through the thin cracks in the exterior of his house that the light of the day was rapidly fading, burnt orange at best as it glided towards the dark of night. She knew she should leave, but curiosity got the best of her.

  “Why were you exiled, Lucian?”

  “I stole. More than once. I was just trying to feed my brother and myself, but I was only an apprentice at the factory I was working in, and they barely paid me enough to keep a roof over our heads. I’m pretty sure I was renting the room at less than it was valued for, but the woman who owned the place was kind.” He shrugged. “She took him in as a cook’s assistant when I was sent away.”