Kyle’s tongue rubbed over one of my fangs. Heat shot lightning-fast through me, pooling into heavy need in my gut. I moaned and panted into his mouth. Needed to stop. Eric needed me to stop, but Kyle’s fingers tightened around my head and his tongue flicked out, scraping along the point of my fang, and a single drop of his blood slid into my mouth, dark, earthy, powerful. It seeped along my tongue, dragging his essence with it, and I gasped. Oh, holy fuck. Kyle wasn’t an ordinary pet. He was a favorite on the verge of turning, and he was old.
Eric grunted, snapping me out of the rapture of Kyle’s touch. I jerked my head to the side, breaking the kiss, and spotted Fen wrapped around my husband, one hand on Eric’s dick, stroking it almost gently, the other hidden from my view. Eric’s back arched away from Fen and a thin, high mewl escaped his throat.
“What are you doing to him?” I barked.
Fen rubbed his cheek along Eric’s shoulder, his eyes closed, a small smile curving his mouth. “I’m bleeding him dry one cut at a time, and he loves it. Don’t you love it, pet?”
Eric’s dark eyes were wide, his skin ashen and thin. Fear coiled through our bond and was just as quickly jerked back. I opened myself to it anyway, reeling it in, absorbing it so Eric wouldn’t have to feel it alone.
“Take my strength, baby,” I murmured, and the thought echoed through my mind into his. “Take from me.”
Not yet. Not yet not yetnotyet.
Kyle’s hand gripped my jaw and forced me to face him. His pale green eyes glowed brightly and his alabaster skin was flushed. I’ve already warned you once. Are you really so eager to have me in your mouth?
Eric will kill you for that.
His lips peeled back in a sneer, flashing fully-descended fangs. Your lover will thank me for saving your gorgeous hide.
Not likely. I shifted my gaze to the other side of the room. Fen was running his hand over his own erection again and sliding the other through the blood covering Eric’s back. He pumped faster and harder, and his face reddened as his hips arched into his fist. “Let me come, you fucker.”
Eric slumped against the wall. “Let us go.”
“You’re mine now.” Fen’s voice growled out of his throat. He braced his bloodied hand on the wall beside Eric’s head and slid the tip of his cock up and down the seam of Eric’s ass. “Is this what you want? You want me to fuck you?”
My breath froze in my lungs. No. Please, God, no.
Eric turned his head, meeting my gaze evenly. “Yes, it is,” he said, and I slouched in my chair, my eyes locked on the horror unfolding in front of me.
Fen seated the tip of his erection in Eric’s hole and gripped his hip, easing his own hips forward in a slow, steady push. “You’re so fucking tight.”
“I don’t give myself freely,” Eric murmured.
“Why are you…” Fen groaned and buried his face in Eric’s neck. “What’re you doing to me?”
“Helping you come. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
The icy chill in Eric’s voice shuddered through me. The cold man. In a way, I was relieved. Eric’s beast would protect him from the worst of Fen’s torture. I just didn’t quite get why Eric or the cold man either one would purposely goad Fen into sex, though I was well aware of what they were doing to Oriana’s favorite. Eric had done it to me often enough, manipulating my body and mind into a pleasure so deep, I never wanted it to end. Was that what he was doing here, enticing Fen into ecstasy to delay the harm the other man was inflicting on Eric’s back?
Kyle’s hand squeezed my chin. Have some faith.
Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one sitting in a wheelchair watching his best friend undergo the first phase of Oriana’s punishment.
Something tugged on my psyche, spooling out a tendril of my strength, and Eric said, “Put the knife down.”
Fen’s low laugh grated across my nerves. “That doesn’t work on me, pet.”
Eric dropped his forehead to the stone wall and the tug morphed into a river, rapidly siphoning strength out of me through our bond. Fen’s hand trembled on Eric’s hip, the knife clattered onto the floor. Eric murmured something to Fen, but I couldn’t make it out. Darkness crept around the edges of my vision, temptingly close. The last of my energy ebbed away and I gave in, sliding into oblivion accompanied by Fen’s gasping release.
Chapter Four
Muted agony pounded into my temples, waking me. I groaned and knuckled my forehead. What the fuck? I never got headaches. Well, just that once, the night Gianna broke one and…
Memories of the previous day rushed into my mind and my eyes popped open. “Eric.”
A warm hand brushed mine away and massaged my temples. “He’s asleep.”
“Kyle. Christ.” I blinked and glanced around the darkened room, assessing my surroundings. I was fully clothed, as far as I could tell, and stretched out on something soft. The mattress, maybe? I remembered Eric draining me and not a goddamn thing after that, including how I’d gotten out of my wheelchair. “What happened?”
“Eric tried to shut Fen down.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, that part I remember.”
“It didn’t work exactly the way Eric wanted it to, I think.”
“That’s not really helping me, Kyle.”
His hands stilled on my temples. “Eric managed to delay Fen long enough for other pets to arrive. He took down more than half a dozen before they subdued him.”
“He killed them?”
“Most of them.”
“With his fucking mind.” I banged the back of my head into the mattress. “How bad did they hurt him?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“That bad, huh?” God in Heaven. We needed to get the fuck out of this place before Oriana and her pets did any more damage. “He needs blood.”
Kyle cupped my jaw and brushed his mouth over my ear, and his voice dropped to a bare whisper. “Oriana has forbidden either one of you from receiving food or blood until Eric’s punishment is complete.”
“You mean until he’s dead, right?” I whispered. “That could take days.”
Longer. Kyle stroked his thumb over my cheekbone, soothing me. The two of you together are too strong, your bond too deep. Oriana failed to account for that in all her scheming. Fen wants to separate you from Eric, take you across the state or maybe forcibly break the bond.
I sucked in a breath. Hell, no.
You may not have a choice.
Across the room, fabric rustled and Eric groaned. I twisted my head around, searching for him in the near darkness. “Take me to him.”
“You need to take care of yourself first. I stretched your legs while you were asleep and massaged the muscles.” He paused and propped up on an elbow, hovering over me. Funny thing about your legs. I did a full probe on you last night. There’s nothing wrong with them.
Yeah, that’s why I’m running and jumping around all the damn time.
I sighed and pushed Kyle’s hand away from my face. The doctors Elizabet had paraded me in front of had never found anything wrong with my legs. Didn’t mean they hadn’t missed something. Kyle confirming their respective diagnoses didn’t help, though. I needed answers, real, concrete answers, not the same old useless spiel. “Help me into the bathroom.”
Kyle picked me up and settled me into my chair, and thank God he did. I was so weak and shaky, I could barely sit up straight. Whatever Eric had pulled out of me the night before, my body wasn’t replenishing it. I needed food and fresh blood. So did he. How we were going to get even one of those was beyond me.
I wasn’t giving in. I was not going to fucking give in to that harpy bitch and I sure as fuck wasn’t giving up.
After a trip to the bathroom, Kyle wheeled me to Eric. He was huddled on the floor wrapped in a thin blanket somebody had tucked around him, probably Kyle. Only his head and arms were visible above the fabric, and what I could make out didn’t look good. His left eye was blackened and swollen shut. Dark bruises bloomed across hi
s jaw. His mouth was cut and blood crusted his chin, and his nose might’ve been broken. He had the right side of his face turned into the wall, so I couldn’t really tell. His arms weren’t in much better shape.
“Anything broken?” I asked Kyle.
Kyle crouched down beside me. “Cracked rib, mild concussion. One of the pets rammed Eric’s head into the wall a couple of times.”
“I hope like hell Eric killed him.”
“He did.” Kyle prodded Eric’s bruised and swollen fingers. “That was the last pet to fall. Fen called the others back. I expect them to return any time now with reinforcements.”
Fuck. And we hadn’t even recovered from the last go. I forced my fangs to descend and pricked the pad of my thumb with one, then stuck it under Eric’s nose.
Kyle wrapped his hand around my wrist. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? He needs blood or we’ll never get out of here.”
“You can’t afford to give him any.”
“It’s either that or you can donate.” I yanked my hand out of Kyle’s grip and gently rubbed blood over the torn skin of Eric’s lower lip. “Come on, baby. Open up for me.”
The blood soaked into Eric’s lip through the cuts. I wedged my thumb into his mouth and milked it, squeezing precious drops of fluid onto his tongue. He inhaled sharply through his nose, and at last, he sucked my thumb.
I held on to the chair with my free hand. He was so badly hurt, I was afraid to touch him, afraid I’d hurt him more in my bumbling attempt to help. I wanted to, though, needed to caress his smooth skin, needed to hold him. Needed to know he was ok.
Eric released my thumb after only a few draws and turned his mouth out of my reach. “No more.”
His voice was a hoarse whisper, scarcely audible in the stone room’s oppressive damp. I ducked down and examined his throat, and cursed under my breath. Dark bruises circled the fragile column. Fucking bastards had choked him, somebody big. If I ever found out who, he was a dead man.
I turned a furious glare on Kyle. “Give him some of your blood.”
Kyle shook his head. “Even if I could hide the puncture marks, Oriana can sense my blood in him.”
I slumped into my chair. “She’ll punish you.”
No. She’s too afraid of my mistress to try, but she will force me to leave. You and Eric will be alone here.
We already were. I didn’t know Kyle and Eric hadn’t given me any reason to trust the other pet beyond an assurance that Kyle really was a nurse-practitioner.
“Can you get me a wet washcloth or something so I can clean the blood off of him?” I asked.
“That I can do.”
Kyle rolled back on his heels and stood, and I focused on Eric. Sweet, geeky Eric.
I found a single, unbruised spot along his arm and rested the pad of my forefinger there. “I’m here, baby. I’m gonna get us out of this, too, just as soon as I can.”
Eric had already drifted into Morpheus’ keep, well beyond the reach of my words.
Another day passed in almost exactly the same way. The biggest difference now was that it took Eric a lot longer to kill whoever hurt him than it had before. He tapped my strength twice more, once while Fen was carving into him. That time, I passed out.
The other time, a pet punched Eric in the balls, hard. Maybe the pain was too much or maybe it pissed Eric off as much as it did me. Didn’t really matter. Eric ripped what he needed out of me and down the pet went. Fen had his corpse dragged away. After that, not one stray breath landed anywhere near Eric’s groin.
I had to watch what they did to him, every blow, every cut, every bite. Nobody was stupid enough to try raping him again, thank God, but they beat him, broke small bones, choked him until his lips turned blue. I had a feeling they were working their way up to something bigger, and when they did, Eric was going to die.
I had to get us out of here before then. Unfortunately, I had no clue how to do that. Even if I weren’t dependent on a fucking wheelchair, what could one man do against the dozens Oriana threw at Eric, even a man as strong as I’d been?
She visited us once and only once during that day, and positioned herself between me and the thugs working Eric over. “You can stop this now, Jason. Give yourself over to me willingly and I will allow him to die a quick, painless death.”
My bitter laughter echoed eerily around the stone-lined room. “Fuck you.”
Her expression remained placidly smooth. “Very well. You can watch him die inch by inch. It won’t change anything. You’ll still be mine when he’s gone.”
I leaned forward and speared her with an angry glare, and hatred for this creature, this pretender, exploded inside me. “I will never be yours.”
“You already are.” She stepped to the side and swept her hand toward Eric. “I can feel your weakness, Jason, and I revel in his. Death eagerly awaits his soul, and I eagerly await your inevitable surrender.”
She whirled away and glided out of the room, her soft-soled shoes a hissed shuffle along the stone floor under the hem of her bright white skirt.
As soon as she was gone, I slumped into my chair and scrubbed a trembling hand over my eyes. Christ, I was as weak as a mewling kitten. Eric wasn’t anywhere as close to death as Oriana believed, but he was in a bad way. As hard as I tried to think of a way out of this shitfest, no brilliant escape plan popped into my head. I’d already tried contacting Marco mind to mind. He was simply too far away to hear fledgling petlet me.
That was pretty much the extent of my ideas for escape.
Kyle smoothed a gentle hand over my hair. “Is it any use asking you not to antagonize her?”
“You can ask. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna listen.”
I inhaled and focused on Eric and the slow thuds of fists hitting his flesh. He wasn’t making a sound. Maybe he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of a response or maybe he was already out of it. He’d retreated so far into himself, I couldn’t tell.
“How much longer?” I asked.
“Until what?”
“Until they change tactics and try to kill him.”
“I don’t know,” Kyle said softly. “Try to hold on.”
Yeah, hold on. Like I wasn’t already clinging to desperate, useless hope by my fingertips. “Thanks for sticking with us.”
“This is my place. For now.”
I didn’t know what he meant by that, and frankly, my brain didn’t have the wherewithal to figure it out. I slipped into an uneasy sleep, all too aware that time was running out.
A rough hand closed over my mouth and I jerked abruptly into awareness. I was still strapped into my wheelchair. From the tingles creeping across my neck, the sun was close to topping the horizon and shining on a brand new day. Light hadn’t seeped into the room yet, but it would soon.
Kyle’s mind brushed against mine. No sound. Nod if you understand.
I nodded slowly, though a million questions were running through my mind. For one, what the hell was he doing?
His hand tightened around my mouth. Later. Can you hold Eric?
I nodded again. My legs might be useless, my strength nearly sapped, but holding Eric was one thing I’d fight to do with my last breath.
Good. One minute.
Kyle’s hand slipped away and his heat disappeared from my back. The room was as quiet as an abandoned church. If he was moving around, I couldn’t hear him, and my hearing was pretty damn good, a perk of being a budding pet.
Metal clinked against metal and I homed in on the slight noise. Eric. I clutched the arms of my wheelchair and cocked my head, searching for any indication of where Kyle was and what he was doing. A minute later, the soft rustle of pants legs scraping together approached. Kyle settled Eric carefully onto my lap and tucked the thin blanket around him.
I wanted to run my hands over him, check for damage. I wanted to kiss him and tell him everything was going to be ok, even if it was a lie. I wanted to wake him up and hear his voice, wanted to feel him in
my mind, wanted to shake him for letting Oriana’s pets hurt him the way they had.
Instead, I cradled him gingerly, one arm around his back, the other under his knees, and held his legs high, away from my chair’s wheels. His head rested in the crook of my neck and his heartbeat reverberated weakly into my arm through his spine. He was too light against me, too frail. Now that he was so close, his pain sifted through our bond and I could feel every fracture, every bruise, every contusion. There was scarcely an inch on him that hadn’t been pummeled, cut, or bitten.
I sucked in a ragged breath. Sweet God. How had he hung on as long as he had?
Kyle’s hand cupped my shoulder. No matter what happens, don’t make a sound and don’t let him go.
I didn’t bother nodding. The chair was already wheeling around, headed toward the stone room’s only exit. We paused in the shadows six feet away from the open entryway, no idea why, then Kyle eased my chair forward into the hallway.
We met not a single soul as we travelled through Oriana’s mansion. That was a little odd, wasn’t it? Some pets should still be awake this close to sunrise, even if they’d already retreated to the relative safety of their rooms, and at least one servant or guard should be around.
Nobody was. We made it all the way to the massive front door without hearing a peep out of anybody.
Kyle opened the door and pushed us through, then shut it quietly behind us and wheeled us down the handy-dandy wheelchair ramp onto the curved, tree-lined driveway. A faint tinge of red streaked across the lightening horizon. The air was cool and damp, and something was in bloom, spreading its fragrance through the pre-dawn morning.
Some of the tension drained out of my muscles and I loosened my hold on Eric. God, it was good to be in fresh air again.
“We’re not clear yet,” Kyle whispered.
I didn’t care. We were out of that hellhole. Kyle might be leading us straight into something worse, but for now, I was happy to be near Eric again and abso-fucking-lutely ecstatic to bathe myself in the burgeoning daylight, carrying my lover beyond Oriana’s reach. As soon as the sun rose, its rays would sting my bare skin and burn Eric’s, if he didn’t wake up soon, but what the hell. Anything was better than what that harpy bitch had planned for us. Burns we could heal, with enough blood. Death was kinda permanent.
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