The Dark Forest: A Collection Of Erotic Fairytales

by Zoe Blake

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, hating that I was so damn weak. Where was the man I had once been? Where was the young soldier determined to kill Maleficent? Where the hell was he?

  As we approached the bench, she looked up at me. Tears filled her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. “Am I to sit on this?”

  I nodded.

  Others entered the room, and the cries and screams began. Trainers began forcing their slaves onto the bench. Howls of pain bounced off the walls and threatened to shatter the glass windows.

  “Go slow,” I whispered, trying to block out all the misery around me. “You took this size last night. You can do it.”

  She continued to stare at me as if she needed my gaze to give her strength. She too seemed to be blocking out all the chaos all around. She reached out her hands so I could steady her and give her balance as she eased herself down on the dildo.

  “Stop,” I said. “Put the cock in your pussy first. Get it slick with your juices. It will help ease it in your ass.”

  She paused—her eyes so fucking wide and beautiful—but then shifted her weight to do just that.

  She was a fucking virgin! Was I really going to let her lose her fucking cherry to a cruel sexual torture device? I couldn’t!

  I couldn’t!

  I was not a monster! Or at least, I wasn’t always. Where was that man? Had I completely destroyed him?

  I needed to die before I let this happen. She wouldn’t fight. She wouldn’t beg, not that it would do any good. So she needed me.

  I needed to fight for her!

  “Stop!” I said again, with enough force to startle her. I would throw myself down on a sword before I let her pierce her purity by such an evil creation.

  “What?” she whispered, confusion in those eyes that were slowly melting all the twisted roots that had been surrounding my heart. Twisted roots that no one had been able to penetrate before. Twisted roots that were meant to keep out any humanity, any goodness, and trap in all evil. Her innocent and broken-soul eyes slashed at those roots like a mighty dagger.

  “I’m going to put my hands around your neck,” I whispered into her ear, making it look as if I was threatening her. “I want you to struggle, gasp, and do whatever you can to make it appear like I am strangling you. You have to make it believable. If you don’t, we both die.”

  She nodded, but never said a word.

  Standing to my full height, I put my arms around her collared neck and nodded for her to begin. She let out a scream, then a gasp, some gagging, and allowed the tears to fall. She clawed at my hands. She writhed in fake pain. She acted like she was having the last breath stolen from her.

  “You will never say those words to me!” I boomed in my most menacing voice. “You are nothing but a worthless slave. Replaceable. You mean nothing! And I am going to show these slaves all around you what happens to beauties who dare call their trainers names!”

  She continued to struggle as I threw her down on the ground. When I did so, I pulled out the syringe that all trainers kept in their pockets to put beauties to sleep if we ever needed to, or chose to. I did it under the guise of her struggles, praying to a God that no longer existed that no one would see. I pricked her finger as I pressed my lips to her ear and whispered, “I will wake you. I will save you. You can trust me. Sleep, and know I will be there when you wake.”

  Her body ceased to struggle and she completely fell asleep. I just hoped her deep slumber would appear as death.

  “That’s right, bitch. Die!” I stood and flung her body over my shoulder as if she meant nothing to me at all, even though I knew she did. I was willing to risk my own life to save hers. To save her from the nightmare that had become her life.

  I glared at all the women who had stopped fighting out of fear. They had just watched one of their own be strangled right before their eyes. I hated that this act forced them all to give up their fight and submit to the awful act of sitting on the dildo, but I couldn’t save them all. I could only save my own sleeping beauty. It was all I could do… for now.

  I looked at one trainer and then another. “I’m taking this disgusting garbage and throwing her off the Cliff of Moher.” I turned toward the terrified slaves. “I’ll be back and take any others to do the same if you all don’t fucking listen to your trainers. They are your masters!” My booming voice resonated across the room, and I knew I had scared them all, which was my desired effect.

  With my heart beating harder than it ever had, and Briar’s sleeping body hanging over me, I walked out of the room. When I realized no one was stopping me, and no one was suspicious in the slightest, I kept walking. With long, confident strides, I exited the compound and headed to the cliff to dispose of the body. No one even raised one eyebrow at my real intent.

  I walked for miles, far past the cliff. I walked as far away from Maleficent’s compound as I could. I all but ran to the safety of the forest, knowing that they would notice my absence eventually. I still had several hours before a search would be launched. I had to get to safety, or at least to a place where I could hide us for the night.

  Remembering the days of my resistance, I knew of underground lairs that once existed to hide from the army. I just prayed they still existed after all these years. After the resistance was destroyed in that bloody battle, there wouldn’t be anyone to keep them up. So it was very likely all had collapsed over time.

  The sun was still hours from setting, and I knew I still had a way to go, but I was feeling good about the situation. I should have done this a long time ago. If only I could save them all. For the first time since entering the compound, I felt human again. The things I had done were unforgivable and I would surely rot in hell for it. Yet, this world was my waking hell, so it couldn’t get much worse. But if I could do one good thing in this world, it would be getting Briar to safety.

  After several hours of tracking through the forest, a soft moan came from Briar. She was waking up. It wouldn’t be much longer, but I knew the entrance to the underground lair was near. If my memory served me correctly, it would be right over there…

  I squinted against the bright light beaming through the barren tree branches to see the large mound of earth that concealed the hidden door. It was still there. Whatever condition it was in, I would deal with, but I gave a huge sigh of relief that I would be able to hide Briar from the approaching Maleficent army when they came marching.

  Practically sprinting to the door, I crouched down and turned the handle, opening the aged wood to complete darkness. There was no way to find fire out here, or at least not in the time restraints I was under. If memory served me correctly, there was a lantern a few feet down the stairs. I just hoped it was still there.

  I grasped onto Briar tighter and made my way down the dark stairway, relying on memory alone. Feeling along the stone wall, I smiled—the first true smile in a long time—when my hand made contact with the lantern that had always been there. I fiddled with it until a ball of light illuminated the stairway in front of me.

  I shot back and nearly fell, almost dropping Briar when the darkness lifted to reveal a dozen men and women all pointing guns in my direction.

  “Who the hell are you?” one man demanded. “How did you find this place?”

  I put up one hand, trying my best to show I meant no harm. “My name is Prince. I was once part of the resistance.” I knew it didn’t look good. I was in Maleficent’s uniform and had a nude woman lifeless over my body. “I’m trying to get this woman to safety.”

  The people all looked at each other and the bodies slowly parted as a man made his way toward the front. “Prince?” an aging man asked. “Is that really you? We thought you were dead.”

  I recognized him the minute he walked into the light. “Father?” My heart stopped and tears filled my eyes. “I thought you were all dead. I had word that the entire resistance was crushed.” I rushed toward him and wanted to embrace the man I thought I had lost so many years ago, but the stairway made it difficult,
as did Briar’s body.

  “Come,” my father said. “Let’s get downstairs.”

  I followed all the people to the underground bunker. One of many that I had called home. Walking over to a cot in the far corner of the room, I placed Briar’s body gently down. I covered her with a blanket to maintain her modesty the best I could.

  My father walked up behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “What happened to you? Where have you been all these years?”

  “Prisoner,” I responded. “I was prisoner to my own evil.”

  I was so ashamed. So very ashamed. I looked down at the ground, not sure if I could speak of all the awful things I had done at the compound.

  “Son,” he started softly. “We have all done awful things. Things that no man should ever have to do. We are at war. War with the world, and war with Maleficent.”

  I shook my head. “These women. These poor women…”

  “You’re back now, son. You are back now, and we will continue where we left off.”

  I turned to look my father in the eye. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness, or that of any of the women I abused.”

  “I’m not giving it. I am simply acknowledging it. But I will never judge you, just as you would never judge me. I should never have left you there. I thought you were dead, but I should have made sure.” My father hugged me, and I could see what was left of the resistance standing behind him, giving us the privacy we needed for our reunion.

  “I will make this right again,” I declared. “Maleficent will die and we will rescue all those prisoners. I will make sure of it. Even if I die trying.”

  Briar moaned again, pulling my attention back toward her.

  I knelt down beside her and placed her hand in mine. She was so beautiful. Her long golden hair framed her tiny face, and she looked so peaceful. Her pouty lips beckoned to me, and her tiny whimpers as her mind struggled to fight off the sleeping potion filled me with such warmth.

  “Wake up, sleeping beauty. You are safe.”

  Briar

  I could hear his voice long before I could open my eyes. Was this the same man? There was tenderness in his voice. Concern, even.

  “Come on, open those eyes, beauty,” I heard him say again. I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn’t. The drug still was too strong.

  I could feel the touch of his hand. The soft caress of my arm. He moved the stray hairs away from my face and was so close I could feel his warmth. There was some type of fabric placed over my body.

  “You saved me, Briar,” he said to me. “I was swallowed whole by something so powerful that it consumed me. What started as sadness turned to devastation. What started as vengeance toward evil only revolted and turned inward on me. I was so very dark. So very evil. I had become everything I had once wanted to give my life to destroy. But I had lost that battle. I had completely lost the battle to darkness. Until you. My very own sleeping beauty. You saved me.” He leaned down so close to my face that I could feel his breath against it. “Wake up, sleeping beauty.”

  With the most gentle of touches, he placed his lips to mine with a kiss. Heat pumped through my veins and tiny jolts of pleasure sizzled through every nerve ending in my body. My eyes fluttered open as his mouth conquered mine. His kiss had woken me from my slumber. I returned the kiss with a tiny moan as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer, deeper to what had become my salvation. He said that I had saved him. But this man had saved me, as well. And this kiss was forever bonding us as one.

  What was once a long, dark, epic story had now finally found its happily ever after.

  The End

  About the Author

  Alta Hensley

  Alta Hensley is a USA TODAY bestselling erotic romance author who has had #1 top-selling books in Dark, contemporary, BDSM, erotic science fiction, humor, and historical. She writes the naughty... and then the cure for it.

  Being a multi-published author in the power exchange genre, Alta is known for her dark, gritty alpha heroes, sometimes sweet love stories, hot eroticism, and engaging tales of the constant struggle between dominance and submission.

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltaHensleyAuthor/

  Amazon: http://amzn.to/2e4R1ii

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/AltaHensley

  Website: www.altahensley.com

  Join her mailing list: http://www.subscribepage.com/i0n8g9

  Other Titles by Alta Hensley:

  Harem Series

  In the Palace of Lazar - Book One

  Conquering Lazar - Book Two

  The Black Stallion Trilogy

  (With Maggie Ryan)

  Maddox, Book 1

  Stryker, Book 2

  Single Titles

  No White Knight

  Dark Feather

  Caring For Citrine

  Traditional Love

  Traditional Terms

  Traditional Change

  Poppa's Progeny

  The Slave Huntsman

  Ruby Rose

  Of Yesterday

  Captured by Time (with Carolyn Faulkner)

  A New Forever (with Carolyn Faulkner)

  Enrolling Little Etta (with Allison West)

  The Nanny (with Allison West)

  Little Secrets (with Allison West)

  Audiobooks

  Ruby Rose

  Caring for Citrine

  Of Yesterday

  Poppa’s Progeny

  Lady Templar

  Conquering Lazar

  In the Palace of Lazar

  The Nanny

  Little Secrets

  Enrolling Little Ella

  Saving Ella

  A Cinderella Story

  Tabitha Black

  Saving Ella Warning:

  Seduced by his music and drawn to his gaze, she will kneel before him; his to obey. If you tremble and wince at the thought of such blind obedience then this may not be the tale for you. But if the thought of absolute control makes your heart flutter, then turn the page!

  Love,

  Tabitha Black

  Chapter One

  “Brace yourself, Ella. You know you deserve this.”

  Placing her palms flat on the polished oak desk, Ella blew a strand of blonde hair out of her face and bit her lower lip. She knew what would happen next. It was always the same.

  “Are you ready?” Nathan continued.

  “For God’s sake, just get on with it. As much as I know you enjoy dragging this out, I do have work to do,” she said—rather snippishly, considering she was bent over a desk with her bared and vulnerable backside pointed forlornly at the ceiling.

  “I’m well aware of your chores.” Her stepbrother’s tone was just as dismissive. “Your failure to complete them all on time is why you’re here.”

  “It’s absolutely impossible to complete all those chores on time, and you know that as well as I do,” she snapped. “The only reason why I’m given such a ridiculous list every damn day is because your mother,” she put extra emphasis on the word, “knows you get some kind of perverse kick out of punishing me this way. And how she loves to indulge her beloved son.”

  “That’s a lie!” Nathan yelled, bringing the wooden paddle down with a resounding crack.

  A blaze of pain seared across both Ella’s buttocks and she gasped, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the desk harder in order to hold her position. Taking a deep breath, she debated briefly whether or not to keep taunting him. Fuck it.

  “Most of those stupid tasks are pointless anyway,” she went on. “Ever since we moved into this smaller house, the housework would be easily managed if we split it evenly between everyone. But oh, no… you and your darling sister get to lounge around all day while I have to do everything.”

  She bit her lip as Nathan brought the paddle down again, the thick wood landing in precisely the same spot, reigniting the burn. Once she’d absorbed the initial sting, she glanced at him over her shoulder. “Tell me, darling brother,” she said mockingly,
“are you hard now?”

  “Shut up!” The third and fourth swats landed in quick succession.

  Ella closed her eyes, trying hard to keep her temper in check. It was so unfair. Ever since her father had died, she had become like the household slave, having to do everything for her stepmother, not to mention her step-siblings, Nathan and Anastasia. Every weekend, she watched enviously from her bedroom window as they left the house to go and party, all dressed up in the latest fashions, piling into cars filled with laughing, jubilant friends, while she herself still had endless and mundane housework to do.

  I have no life. It’s so unfair. Why did Father have to die? Theoretically, now that Ella was over eighteen, she should be able to leave home… but her stepmother, unwilling to lose free slave labor, had made it impossible. The evil woman had confiscated Ella’s birth certificate and all other important paperwork, and Ella had never been permitted to learn how to drive—although, of course, her siblings had. With no friends and no social network outside the house, it was quite simple: she had nowhere else to go.

  “Then why do you do this?” she panted, once Nathan had planted the fifth paddle swat lower, catching the tops of her thighs. “You could always just tell Mother that you carried out the punishment without actually having done it.”

  Nathan remained silent.

  “You’re just too much of a coward to lie,” she went on taunting him. “And even though you won’t admit it, you’re some kind of sick sadist who enjoys paddling his stepsister.”

  “I swear to fucking God, Ella,” Nathan snarled, “if you don’t shut up right now, I’ll… I’ll—”

  “You’ll what?” She gave a hollow laugh. “Punish me? Send me to bed without any supper?” A great wave of fury consumed her and she used that surge of energy to push herself up off the desk and spin around to face him. “You don’t seem to understand,” she said, grimly. “There is absolutely nothing you could do to me to make my life worse. I have nothing. I am treated as though I were nothing. I am at your beck and call every hour of the day, and often during the night as well. I’m given impossible tasks purely so you and your evil witch of a mother can exercise your sadistic urges and find ‘excuses’ to punish me. I have no life!” Her heart pounding, she stared him down, trying to find some trace of humanity or humility in Nathan’s eyes, but they were cold. Blank. Uncaring.