by Riley Storm
Francis appeared a few seconds later. He followed Aaric’s gaze back into the cell, then averted his eyes quickly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to look.”
Aaric blinked. “Oh, right. Yes. I should fetch her some clothes. Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
His own nudity didn’t bother him. Like all shifters, dragons were used to it. Clothing didn’t usually survive a dragon using their powers or shifting into their other form. Naked people were a common sight at Drakon Keep.
At least, they were, back when I wasn’t the only one awake.
“What, may I ask, is going on? Is this some sort of lovers’ quarrel? I sure hope you didn’t put her in there just because she refused your advances,” Francis admonished.
“The fucker was waiting for us. He expected us to show up. Then he suckered us in deep and waited until I sent Olivia back. Then he grabbed her and did his mind-magic voodoo on her. She tried to kill me with a uranium-infused blade,” he explained. “The radiation from that would have either killed me, or hurt me badly, depending on where she stuck it.”
“I see. The ol’ one-two, you stick me, I stick you,” Francis said.
Aaric sputtered. “How can you joke at a time like this?” he asked angrily.
“Because it’s better than getting all poopy pants about it,” the steward said. “It’s done, and admit it, that was funny.”
“Maybe,” he admitted, staring at Olivia as she watched him, waiting for him to come closer to the cell.
Francis was staring at him. He could see it in his peripherals. “She isn’t just a distraction to you, is she?” he said softly.
“What do you mean?” Aaric wanted to know, turning to face the steward.
“Think about it,” was all the response he got. “In the meantime, you know what you have to do.”
“Kill the vamp,” he snarled.
“Kill the vamp,” Francis agreed.
Aaric watched Olivia for several moments longer, then turned, storming from the dungeon, hating that he was forced to lock Olivia in a cage like a rat. She deserved better than this. She deserved the world. Anything he could give her.
The vampire would pay.
33
Olivia blinked.
“Aaric!”
The huge dragon shifter paused just before leaving the cell. “Olivia?”
“What are you doing?” she wanted to know, pressing up against the cell. The cool metal against her bare skin snapped her gaze down. “Why am I naked?”
Aaric turned back around, gesturing at someone unseen. Francis, she figured, though that was only because she hadn’t yet met anyone else.
“You know why you’re in there,” Aaric said carefully, stepping closer to the cell.
“The hell I do!” she said, not bothering to hide her nudity. This was Aaric after all. He’d seen her in all manner of exposure. He knew her body intimately.
Not intimately enough.
“Come in here,” she heard herself purr. “Please. I want you.”
Aaric’s forehead furrowed in confusion. “You can’t be serious. Can you?”
She felt her body stir, arousal slowly spreading throughout, preparing her for what was to come next. For him. “Very serious,” she breathed heavily.
“No, literally. You aren’t serious,” Aaric informed her.
“I’m extremely serious. I want you to fuck me, Aaric. Right here. Right now. Bend me over the bench back there. Push me up against the wall. Take me however you want. I’m yours,” she moaned, one hand pushing down her body, between her legs, to feel the wetness there.
Aaric laughed.
Olivia looked around wildly, wondering what he was laughing about. It was only belatedly, as if her mind was in a fog, that she realized it was her. He was laughing at her.
“You don’t want me anymore?” she asked, feeling crushed. “Am I not attractive enough for you?”
“You’re plenty attractive,” Aaric said, coming closer to the cell, but staying just out of her arm’s reach. “That isn’t the problem. Unless you consider my attraction to you being too strong, in which case it is a problem. But no, I find you very attractive. It’s not easy to resist you right now.”
“You can have me any way you want,” she whispered. “You can have any part of me. You can have here,” she said, running a finger over her lips. “Or here…” her hand moved vigorously between her legs.
Aaric frowned.
“Or maybe it’s here you want me,” she said, turning around, pushing her ass up against the bars. “That’s it, isn’t it. You naughty boy. Well come on. You can have it. Fuck me through the bars. Right now. Please, Aaric, stick it in my ass.”
“You have no idea what’s going on right now, do you?” Aaric asked, his voice tight.
Turning back to face him, Olivia noticed his voice wasn’t the only tight thing as his pants stretched over the bulge in his groin. She desperately wanted what was under there. Wanted it inside her. Anywhere. She just needed it.
“What do you mean?” she wanted to know, hands still wandering her body of their own accord. “I know you aren’t fucking me. I want you to. Like in the elevator. Make me yours.”
“Not going to happen,” Aaric said, closing his eyes momentarily, shoulders rising and falling with an extra deep breath.
“I can tell you want to.”
“Of course, I want to,” he growled. “But you’re under the spell of that damn vampire. The last time we tried to have sex, you almost stabbed me with a knife. But I bet you don’t remember that, do you?”
Olivia jerked away from the bars in horror. “I would never do that Aaric! Never. I just want you.”
He rolled his eyes. “If you were in your right mind, you would be far more concerned with why the hell you’re naked in a jail cell. Instead, all you can think of is my cock. Flattering as that is, it’s also obviously wrong, Olivia. But your mind can’t process that, because it’s been messed with.”
She shook her head, feeling cold again. “I didn’t try to kill you.”
“Except you did,” Aaric insisted. “With this.”
He pulled out a blade, holding it very carefully.
“That’s mine!” Olivia shouted, reaching through the bars for it. “Give it back! Why do you have that?”
Aaric sighed. “You just said you didn’t try to kill me. Now you want me to give you the weapon you were going to use on me? How does that make any sense, Olivia? Think,” he growled, his voice filling the prison area, reverberating off the stone walls.
She frowned. Think about what? That was her knife. Why did he have her knife?
“You tried to kill me.”
But she needed her knife back.
“With this knife.”
Her knife. Why did he have her knife? She shook her head, hands clapping against her ears. No. No, no, no. It didn’t make sense. What was going on?
“You tried to kill me!” Aaric roared.
“I tried to kill you,” she whispered. “With my knife.”
“It’s not your knife,” Aaric said, his voice lowered once more. “Someone gave it to you. Someone is using you, Olivia. You need to fight it. Fight what’s in your mind. Recognize that this isn’t you. Push him out!”
She hissed. He was right. Her brain wasn’t responding. Wasn’t working right. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
“Do you remember being in the basement of the factory?” Aaric demanded.
“Yes,” she said. “You said to run. The Thralls were coming.” It hurt to remember, but Olivia didn’t shy away from the pain. Not this time. She focused, thinking hard. “The stairs. I had to go up the stairs.”
“Yes,” Aaric encouraged. “You had to get to the top. Do you remember that?”
Memories of sore legs and tired lungs came to mind. “Yes. I do. I remember. I paced myself, because that’s a lot of stairs. I got up. Then…”
Her mind resisted.
“What happened next Olivia?” Aaric said, stepping closer
. “Think.”
“I…” Pain stabbed at her mind.
“Do you remember exiting the factory? Walking through the halls to get outside?”
Olivia frowned, searching her memory. The top of the stairs. She could remember that. It was there. But…
“How did I get outside?” she moaned, slumping down against the wall. “Aaric. How did I get outside? What’s happening to me?”
“Fight it. You can do it,” Aaric urged. “Use your mind. You have to fight it.”
She curled up into a ball, eyes closed as she battered against the mental block. It fought back. Seeking to soothe her, reaching out, calming her nerves. Slowing her breathing.
It’s all right, her brain assured her. It’s okay now.
“Aaric,” she said, opening her eyes, looking up at him.
“Yes, Olivia?” he said, his smile hopeful.
That was good. That would mean that he would give her what she wanted.
“Can I have my knife back?”
34
“Dammit,” he muttered, backing away from the cell.
Aaric had truly hoped it was going to work, that Olivia was going to be able to break the mental lock herself. He couldn’t recall if it had ever happened before or not. The ancient histories were just that, ancient. He was going to have to do some research about vampires, Thralls, and see what he could dig up.
It wasn’t as if anyone had expected to ever fight a vampire again, so why should he know? Still, he felt woefully unprepared, and now Olivia was paying the price.
“But I want my knife!” she pleaded from within the cage, getting to her knees now. “Come here. Let me suck your dick.”
The vampire had clearly not realized Olivia was more to him than just a booty call. Because that seemed to be all he’d prepared her as, a sex robot who wanted to fuck him, and then try to kill him during the act. It wasn’t very creative, but Aaric had to admit, it was also a solid ploy. It had almost worked, after all. Only his desire to drink her scent deep had warned him the attack was coming.
“Don’t worry,” he said, tossing the knife out through the doorway. Maybe if it was out of sight, she’d forget about it. “I’m going to fix this, Olivia.”
“You are? You’re going to fuck me?” she asked, looking up at him through her eyelashes, trying to be sultry.
The bars of the prison cell kind of ruined that for him, though.
“Once you’re fixed, and this is all over, you bet I’m going to fuck you,” he said, flashing her a smile. “In whatever way your proper mind wants me to.”
Olivia frowned. “I don’t know what that means, but I like knowing you’re going to fuck me. I want that.”
“I know,” he said, exasperation rising. She was like a broken record, and it was starting to grate on his nerves. “Once you’re better,” he said.
She looked up at him from the ground. “I’m not well?”
“No,” he said, crouching down again, feeling bad about putting her in the cell. “You’re not. You’re sick, Olivia.”
“I don’t feel sick.”
“I know,” he said sadly. “I know you don’t. But you are. But don’t worry. I’m going to make you better. I’m going to fix you. I swear it.”
Aaric would stop at nothing, he vowed to himself. Absolutely nothing would get in his way until he tracked down the vampire. Killing him would release Olivia. Would free his Olivia.
My Olivia?
He sat back heavily, watching the woman in the cell. She might be Olivia, but the sexpot crawling on her knees back and forth, thrashing her hair about and presenting her rear to him certainly wasn’t his Olivia.
It startled him to realize he had come to think of her as his, in that slightly possessive sense. Aaric no longer wanted to think about anyone else. His mind was firmly wrapped up within Olivia and everything about her.
She intrigued him. Razor sharp, with a wit and mind that could keep up with his. Intelligent, funny, driven, compassionate—when she thought nobody was looking—and also an absolute stunner. Olivia was—he realized, feeling like he’d come to this conclusion belatedly—perfect.
Not just perfect for anyone. Perfect for him.
“Holy shit,” he whispered, staring into her eyes, the blue hidden in the dimness of the prison cell, though he knew it was there.
“What is it Aaric? Is everything okay? Did I do something wrong?”
He rolled his eyes. The submissive act was fun when it was an act. When they were being playful with one another, in the privacy of their own bedroom. Right now, it was just starting to irritate him.
Would using a gag be acceptable, I wonder?
“Aaric?”
“No, Olivia,” he said, standing up, walking down the row of cells to get what he needed. “You did nothing wrong. It’s me who did something wrong.”
“You couldn’t possibly do something wrong,” she purred. “You’re perfect.”
“Not even remotely,” he chuckled.
After all, I accused you of being a waste of my time. Yet you’re not that. You’re something else entirely.
“I’m sorry, by the way,” he said, returning with the first part of what he needed.
“Why be sorry?” she gasped, staring at what was in his hands. “That looks like fun. Tie me up, yes. Make me helpless. Do whatever you want to me.”
“I will,” he promised. “But we can’t do it here.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to. I’ve got a place in mind where we can though. Where I will do whatever I want to you,” he growled.
“That sounds amazing.”
“Yes, it does,” he agreed. “What I was sorry for, though, was not realizing something about you earlier. Something I should have seen but was too blinded to notice.”
“What’s that?” she wanted to know as he reached through the cell bars and casually put the wrist and ankle restraints on her.
“I love you,” he said bluntly. “I love you, Olivia, and I didn’t realize it until now. Until I no longer had you. That’s when it clicked, that I missed you. That I not only wanted you back, but I wanted you to stay.”
The person in the cell frowned but didn’t respond at first. Her brain seemed to have a tough time processing his words.
Once she was properly secured, he opened the cell and led her out, at least a little of his guilt lifting. Aaric despised himself for what he was doing to her, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do. He had to get the vamp to lift the thralling. No matter what it took.
“Here.”
Francis appeared just outside the dungeons, holding out a thick robe along with some pants and a sweatshirt. The two of them managed to get Olivia dressed and into the robe, which obscured the chains. He didn’t expect to get stopped, but it would be awkward to explain if he did.
“Are you sure you want to do this right now?” Francis asked as they headed toward the garage.
“I have to.”
“You could wait. A few hours.”
Aaric understood what his steward was getting at. It was the dead of night right then. The vampire would be out, free to attack.
“What did your research tell you?” Aaric asked instead.
“Well I only had a few minutes to search the computers. Much of the older stuff isn’t in there yet, so I haven’t had time to upload it all.”
“What did you find?” Aaric pressed as they entered the elevator.
Francis sighed. “The longer someone is thralled, the more it messed with their brain. Depending on the strength of the mind within, after twenty-four hours, it could quite easily be a permanent alteration of their brainwaves.”
Aaric hissed. It hadn’t been more than two hours, but he wasn’t guaranteed to find the vampire just by returning to the factory either, though he had a feeling that was where the Nacht would be hiding.
“I’ll see you in a bit,” he said, grabbing Olivia and heading to his fleet of sports cars.
This time,
speed was of the essence. A Koenigsegg One beckoned, and he secured the woman he loved in the passenger seat. Ever since he’d told her that they were going to somewhere he would fuck her, she’d remained quiet. Patient.
“Is this where you’re going to have me?” she asked as he got in and closed the door.
“Not yet. I have a better place. I know where I want you. I’m going to take you there.”
“Okay, good. I want to get fucked.”
Aaric snorted. “Oh, trust me. Someone is going to get right fucked today,” he growled.
Just not in the way you’re thinking of.
The engine came to life, that deep, smooth purr that was so distinctive from the throaty roar of a muscle car. It was higher pitched, and even.
The roaring will come soon, he promised, feeling his dragon stir inside him.
Very soon.
35
The car flew around bends, nearly leaving the ground on one hill. Aaric was driving as fast as he dared.
Whipping around another corner, Olivia came across the tiny middle console, her head resting on his shoulder for a second until the vehicle straightened. She was much like a ragdoll. Not speaking, not saying anything at all.
Aaric cursed himself for ever letting her come along with him. If he’d just insisted on leaving her at the Keep, none of this would ever have happened.
She would be safe.
Instead, he’d put her in danger. The woman he loved. His m—
“Not yet,” he said to himself, speaking out loud to cut off the thought.
That was a dangerous line of thinking. He couldn’t go there. Not until everything was safe. Not until he’d talked to the real Olivia once more.
Not until the vampire was dealt with, one way or another. Then, and only then, would he relax.
The car came to a screeching halt as he wrenched the wheel around, skidding over the uneven terrain of the factory lands. If there was a parking lot, it was long overgrown by this point.
“Stay here,” he said. “I have to make arrangements. This is going to be a special fucking. I need to ensure we’re not disturbed for a very long time. That way, I can do whatever I want to you.”
