by Raven Dark
“There are things I want to do to this girl that I can’t do from down there.” He nodded to the floor, speaking to Gavini as he yanked me into his lap.
Gavini slid into the seat beside him and reached to stroke my face, ignoring it when I jerked away in reflex. “Look at that soft skin. I’d love to get a piece of this. She’s going to be a handful. If you can’t subdue her, Kane, I’d be happy to spend my days showing her how to properly obey a real man.”
Horror raced through me. The implications in his words was plain as the lust in his eyes. If Kane didn’t prove he ruled me with an iron fist, Gavini would take me from him. By extension, he’d reclaim my father as his to deal with as well.
A predatory sound like I’d never heard Kane make before rumbled from him, and he shot up from his seat, bringing me to my feet in the process.
“On second thought.” He gestured to someone over in a booth, and the music stopped. The lighting changed to an intense red, and someone opened the cage. Officer Muscles and his suspect came out of the cage, and Kane grabbed my elbow, like he was going to lead me down to it.
Oh shit. My heartbeat filled my head and my knees threatened to fold under me. He’s just trying to get you away from Gavini. To regain the advantage.
Kane stopped on the first stair and turned to Gavini. The chilling satisfaction in his tone was something I’d never forget.
“Fitting you should be here to see this, Dominic. I’ve been waiting to break this one for a long time.”
I swallowed. Kane had said he didn’t want to break me. He’d also told me he would if he had to. Gavini’s smug smile made one thing clear. Kane wouldn’t pull any punches. He couldn’t, with the mob boss watching.
Before I could find a way to ask him what I was in for, Kane led me down to the cage, grip on my elbow stiff and unyielding, designed to prevent any chance of escape.
When we were far enough from the table not to be heard, I hissed at him. “What are you going to do to me?”
“Whatever I have to.”
Fuck, I hated the emotionless way he sounded. My chest tightened with a sense of loss I barely understood. That safety net was getting further and further away, wasn’t it? I tried to stamp down the panic welling in me. “How bad is this going to get?”
At the cage, he opened the door wider for me. I looked up at him, hoping for a sign, any sign of reassurance, of the protectiveness he’d shown me. But there was nothing. His face was a mask. An emotionless, unreadable mask.
Whatever I’d been before, I meant nothing to him now. His hand tightened on my arm a moment, like a warning to cooperate, then he let go and nodded to the inside of the cage. Virtually without feeling.
“Get in. Now.” I noticed he’d spoken loud enough to be heard. By the room at large, and by the mobster watching us, waiting for Kane to shatter me.
I gulped. No, he wasn’t wearing the expression of a man who’d go easy on his slave.
Blood like ice in my veins, I turned and made myself walk into the cage. Kane followed me, his hand slowly slipping around the back of my neck. Possessive. Cold.
The door to the cage closed with a clang, sealing us in.
What happened next would stay with me for a lifetime.
END OF BOOK 3
Book 4
1
As soon as Dominic showed up at the club, I knew what I should have done. I should have figured out some way to get Anika out of there. Then I should have hidden her where no one could get to her. But, I also knew doing that would only make things worse.
The bastard kingpin had made it clear moments ago, if I didn’t adequately treat Anika like the slave he thought she was, he’d do the job himself. The only way to handle this cluster fuck was to maintain as much control of the situation as I could, and hope I could escape with Anika where she belonged. Warming my bed, my ownership of her still intact, her father’s life still in my hands.
The cage closed behind us, and the lock clicked into place like the cocking of a gun. In front of me, with her warm back pressed to my chest, Anika tensed. Her breath caught. Fuck, she was terrified. She tried to hide it, but I could sense it.
From the moment I’d met her, my Anika had proven she wasn’t the willowy type. No, she came out swinging, ripping a hole through anyone who tried to tear her down. She was made of tough shit. Made for me. Yet fear radiated from her, so potent I could feel it in every ounce of my blood. And no wonder.
Not only was this her first truly public scene, and in jail-cell-sized cage, in the middle of a BDSM club, the room packed with people. But one of the men watching was the head of the Gavini crime family. I glanced up at the crowd and found him, just visible through the glare of The Dungeon’s neon pink and blue lights. His eyes glowed with anticipation. He leaned forward, eager, a vulture waiting for the kill.
He wanted to see suffering, and I’d have to give it, or risk losing her.
Fucker, one of these days I’d kill him for putting my Anika through this. One day, when going against him wouldn’t mean everyone I cared about would end up blown up or chained to cement bricks at the bottom of the Atlantic, I’d put my Glock to his head and fire.
Everything in me wanted to whisper reassurance to her. Unfortunately, Dominic would have put measures in place that meant I needed to watch what I said as much as what I did.
So instead, I closed my hand over Anika’s shoulder, squeezing gently in a way I knew only she would be aware of. Did I imagine some of the tension leaving her with my touch?
“Kane…” she whispered.
I tightened my grip a fraction to let her know I was on the same page. Then I slowly slid my hand around her throat, keeping my palm there in a way that, to Dominic, would look threatening. I lowered my face into her hair and kept my voice as quiet as I could.
“Be careful what you say, girl. There’s a mic in here, so he’ll hear. Whatever happens, remember, everything I do is to protect you. Do you understand?”
She nodded.
I raised my voice before Dominic could wonder what I was whispering to this woman that was supposed to be nothing more than a hole for my cock. “From now on, when I speak to you, you’ll answer me with “Yes, Master, do you understand me, slave?”
She froze again, every muscle going taught. I knew why. She’d made clear she believed I was only hiding her slavery with pretty words and technicalities. God, my words must have felt like confirmation of every evil thing she thought about me. I could practically hear her telling herself it was an act.
“Do you understand me, slave?” I tightened my hold on her throat, just enough to look severe. Her throat worked hard, the pulse under my hand speeding up. Anika always liked when I put my hand on her throat when we fucked. Was that spike all fear, or was there some excitement mixed in?
“I understand. Master.”
Jesus Christ, it killed her to say that. It made me feel worse knowing that the sick, twisted part of me that fed off her hatred liked hearing her call me master.
“Good girl.” I shoved her toward the table that took up most of the cage. “Take your shoes off.”
She stumbled and turned, eyes flashing with annoyance before a mask of submission slid over her features. “My shoes…Master?”
A smirk tugged at my lips. She’d barely tacked on the word master in time. She was probably trying to figure out why I would focus on something as mundane as her shoes instead of making her strip naked. Rendering her barefoot was a good way to ease her into the scene without appearing to take care of her.
I shoved her against the table again, just hard enough to imply force. She wobbled on her heels and clutched the table. Her nostrils flared, but desire also burned in her eyes for my aggression. “What are you waiting for? Take. Your shoes. Off.”
She pressed her lips together, but bent down to take off the expensive high heels my stylist Min had chosen for her.
As soon as her feet were bare, she looked at me again. Opened her mouth, probably with some well-honed
retort, then closed it at the last second. Catching herself.
From here, Dominic might not have noticed her eye contact, but I couldn’t take chances. I kicked the shoes aside and grabbed her chin, pushing her up against the table edge hard enough that she gasped. I made sure my fingers dug into her skin.
“Let’s get one thing straight, girl. I already told you, you and I are not equals. You are property. Understand?” She twisted to get away, probably caught off guard by my level of force. I slapped her cheek, just hard enough to sting, then grabbed her chin, ignoring her wide-eyed look of shock. Nothing like a little authenticity to reel Dominic in. “Are you listening to me, slave?”
“Ow, yes, Master.” Her breathing sounded harsh and ragged. I could feel her fear, but also her need. She strained against me. Still fighting. Damn it, we were going to have to do better than this if Dominic was going to buy our act.
I released her. “Take off your underwear.”
Her face turned nearly as red as her dress, and her eyes flickered to the audience, toward Dominic. She bent down, movements jerky with fury as she lifted her dress to do as I commanded.
“Nope.” I spun her around, hiked her dress up, ripped her panties off, and swatted her ass three times. Each resounding slap hard enough that she gripped the table and cried out. I couldn’t tell if I imagined the need under her pain or not.
Once she faced me again, I put my face in hers, hoping she saw the message beneath the look of fury I put on. “We’ll have to do something about that fight in you.”
She tensed, but gave the smallest nod.
“When I tell you to do something, you do it, or I’ll beat you black and blue.”
Her face paled. My gut twisted. For Dominic, girl. She blinked her understanding.
“Shit’s about to get real on you. Do you get me?”
Swallow. “I’m sorry, Master. Don’t hurt me, again, please.” Her eyes begged to know what the hell I was going to do to her.
I grabbed her hair, yanked her onto the tabletop, and forced myself to ignore the shout of pain. The look of confusion and shame in her eyes nearly dropped me to my knees. Ignoring it, I went to the bars and took down two sets of cuffs, then took up position at the end of the table, behind her head. One wrist at a time, I yanked them up to the loops at the top of the metal table and cuffed them by her head. She strained, trying to fight.
Yeah, Anika and I had never done restraints, so there was no way for her to know what to expect. I stopped her resistance at once, grabbing her chin and pulling it up so her head was back.
“You are property. You are nothing but a hole for my cock, and anything else I want to fill you with. Is that clear?”
Her brows climbed, doubts swirling in those sea blue eyes. I could feel her trust in me shattering, piece by tiny piece.
Good. The less she trusted me, the safer she was.
“Yes…I understand, Master.”
I stalked around to her shoulder, tore open the front of her dress, grabbed her throat, and put on my best predatory smile.
“This is gonna be fun. Let the real games begin.”
I suppose on some level, Kane’s forcefulness and the ease with which he played the role of cold-hearted slave master should have been reassuring. The more convincing he was, the more likely Dominic Gavini would let us leave in one piece without going after my father for his pound of flesh. Except, in that moment, cuffed to a table with my dress ripped open, completely at Kane’s mercy, I couldn’t help remembering what he was. Why I’d been raised to hate everyone who carried his family’s name, and why I should never, ever trust him.
The way he slapped my face, the way he threatened to beat me, they were the actions of a master, a part being played. The way he yanked me onto the table by my hair and tore my dress open, baring my breasts for Gavini to see, those actions were an act. But he did it all with a frightening conviction that drove home the one thing he made it so easy to forget.
Kane was a Davros. There was a darkness in him, something twisted that was willing to do whatever it took to further his own ends. He’d shown that side of himself in the deal he’d offered, paying off my father’s debts to Gavini in exchange for my submission. And again when I learned he’d killed those men at the carwash for bugging his car. He’d told me once, he’d do whatever it took to protect me, that he’d break me if he had to. That same darkness meant I could never be sure how much of what he did was an act, and how much of it was really him.
The trouble was, while I loved—no, craved—Kane’s dominance, total submission wasn’t something I knew how to do yet. Every instinct told me to fight, to buck his authority. Yes, I was supposed to fight, but I was also supposed to blend that with some level of convincing submission. How, I don’t know. I don’t even think Kane was sure how.
We’d come here tonight to train me, to feel out exactly how the push-pull between us would work. We were supposed to set out exactly how we would offer up just enough submission to make Gavini think Kane controlled me, but enough resistance so that I didn’t look too cooperative. Then the kingpin had shown up and thrown a monkey wrench into that plan.
Laid out across the table, I stared up at Kane, searching for…I wasn’t even sure what. I knew he had no choice, but his face wasn’t just a mask of icy dominion. There was a light in his eyes, a furious light that hungered for something more than just me.
This is going to be fun. He’d said that with such predatory wrath he sounded like an animal. I knew he fed off my hatred, but this? He couldn’t get off on something as dangerous and deadly as this. Our lives were on the line. Even Kane wasn’t that warped. Or was he?
“So.” As he talked, he pulled off his shoes and socks, then whipped off his shirt. My mouth went dry watching his tanned muscles bunch and flex. “There are rules. Rules you will obey every moment.”
Resisting the urge to mouth off somehow, I put on a look of nervous fear I only half had to fake.
Kane paused and leaped onto the table. My eyes widened. I’d never seen a man move like that in real life. He stood, towering over me. All muscle and dominance and power. What the hell was he up to?
“Rule number one.” He crouched over me, face in mine, and shoved my face to the side. “You look me in the eyes again, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen a third time.”
“I understand, Master.”
His palm pinned my cheek hard, crushing me to the table. Jesus, he was strong. My teeth dug into my cheek, my face smooshed under his huge hand. I winced, trying to pull away from the sheer force of it.
“No. No fighting. Just lie there and behave like the hole you are.”
Oh, fuck, he sounded so real. Why the hell did my nipples bunch even while my blood raced with humiliation and rage?
“What are you, slave?”
When I only winced and bowed my back, he straightened, and the next instant, his foot was on my face. His whole, huge foot pressed my cheek into the table.
I cried out, more in surprise than anything else. Anger welled up in me, hot and fierce. Really? Your going there? I got it, he had to be ruthless, without compassion for Gavini’s sake, but this?
Though he likely could have done serious damage without much force, somehow he managed to apply only enough pressure to pin my face down. Still, I didn’t miss the connotations. I was nothing, lower than dirt, nothing more than a slave for his will, and he’d crush me in an instant if he had to. There was nothing arousing about this. Nothing, except the implication that I was totally and utterly his property.
Did I imagine hearing Gavini laughing in the amusement that rippled through the crowd?
“Let’s try this one more time. What are you?”
When he lifted his foot enough to let me speak, I put on my best defeated voice. “A hole. I’m a hole for Master’s cock.”
He took his foot from my face, but remained towering over me. “Rule two. You have two words to remember. Yes, and Master. I hear anything else come out of that smartass mouth
of yours tonight, and you’re gonna pay. Got that?”
Everything in me wanted to sling an insult at him, and all the more for the way his promise of retribution made my pussy burn. “Yes, Master.”
His foot was on my face again so fast I almost yelped. “Ah, what the…” I caught my slip too late, and he pressed harder.
“What was that? The club’s new owner didn’t hear you.”
Ah, clever. I had a feeling he wasn’t just playing up to Gavini. That was his way of reminding me of the stakes, what we stood to lose if Gavini didn’t buy into our act.
“Yes, Master. I said yes, Master.”
“Better.” He took his foot away and jumped down to the floor.
Breathing ragged, I looked through the bars to where Gavini sat. The twist of a smile on his lips made my stomach clench. He was waiting for the real fun to start. Twisted fuck.
Kane walked around to the other side of the table, catching my attention. I had a feeling he hadn’t even gotten started yet. He offered a shrug that held no real apology for me.
“You thought I was going to go easy, didn’t you? You thought I was a good man you could save. I got you, didn’t I, girl.” As if he meant to constantly keep me off balance, he grabbed my chin and forced my head back. I took what I hoped was the right opportunity to resist.
“Please, don’t hurt me, Master.”
“I’ll hurt you if I damn well please.”
Again, no compassion, no hint it was an act. His hand clamped over my mouth, and I couldn’t work out if I was scared or turned on. The iciness in his eyes made my nipples bunch with the complete ownership in them. I screamed against his hand, only half having to feign anger.
“I’ll do whatever I want to you, and you’ll lie here and take it. Isn’t that right, hole?”
When I shook my head, he grabbed my nipple and twisted it. I screamed, and he grabbed my throat. He didn’t squeeze hard, but enough that it looked threatening.
“Come on. Spit it out. Tell me what a good hole you are.”
