The Chosen Sin

by Anya Bast

  “What’s happened?” Brandon asked as soon as he entered the room. Apparently he hadn’t left for work yet.

  They told him.

  He stood stunned for a moment, stymied for words. Finally he scratched his head, stuttered a moment, and then said, “We have to entertain the possibility she’s here because they truly are in love.”

  Daria leaned forward. “He’s not capable of it, Brandon.”

  Brandon fixed her with a steady stare. “You have personal baggage here. Don’t let it affect the mission.” His voice was as hard as she’d ever heard it.

  “I’m not saying I don’t have any, but this is not my personal baggage talking. Right now it’s my personal knowledge of this man. I was with him intimately for years. I know him better than either of you.”

  “You knew the Sante he chose to present to you,” Brandon spat back. “You didn’t know the real man.”

  “Stop it!” commanded Alejandro in a low voice.

  Both she and Brandon froze.

  “Daria, I believe Sante did love you. He was sincere when he spoke about you the other day. I believe he is capable of emotion. So Brandon is right. We do need to entertain the possibility that Sante and Ari Templeton truly are together out of love.”

  Daria sat back in defeat. She couldn’t believe his words, but she was outnumbered. She sighed. “Then... we need to investigate further.”

  But she knew what they’d find.

  Brandon nodded. “It will be easier for you two to do that, of course, since you both have entrée into his inner circle.” He paused. “Any chance of getting me in?”

  Alejandro frowned. “We don’t need you in, Brandon. You’re more valuable where you are, close to where they might be trafficking blood slaves. We work this end, you work that one.”

  “Yes,” Brandon answered. “But this is more important right now, and the more hands we have in there, the better.”

  “More important, tio?” Alejandro snapped. “I think finding out whether or not there are blood slaves here is pretty damn important.”

  “We can handle the Ari thing,” said Daria. “Sante put us on the social patrol. That will give us lots of excuses to get friendly with people and ask questions. Anyway, we shouldn’t put everyone in the same location. If Alejandro and I get popped, you’re still undercover.”

  Brandon fidgeted impatiently. “Ari Templeton is our number one priority. I demand, as highest-ranking member of this operation, that you try and get me in.”

  Daria looked at Alejandro for a moment in disbelief, her blood pressure rising. What a fucking snotty little control freak. “Listen, you—”

  “Fine.” Alejandro held up a hand. “We’ll try, okay, Brandon? Happy now?”

  “Fucking ecstatic.”

  “What’s with the tension?” Alejandro pointed at her. “I get yours. What’s up with you, Brandon?”

  He yanked a hand through his hair. “Frustration. Today we’re no closer to getting anything on Sante than the day we came in here. There are potential things, the trafficking in blood slaves, possible smuggling. Now this damn trip up with Ari Templeton. It all costs us time and I don’t want to spend any more time here than we need to.”

  “You’re singing my song, my friend,” Alejandro answered. “But it is what it is. Relax and we’ll do our best to get to the bottom of all of it. We caught one lucky break being let into Sante’s inner circle. We need to follow the trail of bread crumbs now.”

  “You mean the one that led to the witch’s oven?” Brandon flashed a grin.

  Alejandro nodded. “Yeah, but Hansel and Gretel pushed the witch in, right?” He shot Daria a glance, seeing the perplexed look on her face. “Yes, I’m familiar with children’s stories. I have a bunch of little nieces and nephews.”

  Daria raised a hand. “I wasn’t judging.” She turned to Brandon. “Anyway, I thought you liked the women here and all that. Why are you in such a rush to get out of here all of a sudden?”

  He shrugged. “There are women everywhere. I’ve got to go.” He pointed at them both in turn. “Get me into Sante’s inner circle if you can.” He turned and left the room.

  “He just flipped his asshole switch,” muttered Daria once he’d left.

  “No kidding. Look, are you okay with all this?”

  “I meant what I said about not letting my personal baggage trip me up. I do have to admit I’m feeling a little for Ari Templeton right now if she is being duped, but that’s going to help me, not hinder me.”

  “Get friendly with Eleanor.”

  She shot him an incredulous look. “Excuse me?”

  “That woman is definitely bisexual and was definitely with Sante at some point. I watched her carefully when Ari came in. They didn’t greet each other, and Eleanor was jealous as hell.” Alejandro grinned. “She’s attracted to you. It was all in her body language, so it should be easy.”

  “I don’t do women,” she stated flatly.

  “Just be friendly with her. Use her . . . appreciation of you to your advantage. Get close to her and subtly pump her for information. Maybe she was Sante’s last lover. Even better, maybe she’s Sante’s current lover, sidelined while he takes Richard Templeton’s beloved daughter for a ride.”

  “I’ll do my best.” She sat for a moment, thinking. “Can you imagine what Richard Templeton would do if he knew his only daughter has fallen in love with a Chosen?”

  “Worse, that she allowed herself to be Chosen? That she is now succubare?”

  Daria nodded. “Imagine the shame he’d feel.” She couldn’t help a little smile. “God, that would be awesome.”

  “But would leave us nowhere closer to pinning Sante with anything.”

  Her smile faded. “Yeah.” She stood. “I’m going to the factory.”

  “I don’t think they want us back there anymore.”

  She shrugged. “Got a whole day to fill. Might as well stuff some teddy bears. I still want a shot at entry into that packaging room. Anyway, I like Jia Ying and the others.”

  His voice lowered. “I can think of better ways to spend the day than making teddy bears.”

  She smiled at him as she went for the door. “Work, Alejandro. Work.”

  But he could imagine what Daria was thinking right now.

  He’d set up the meeting between Ari, Daria, and Alejandro on purpose, of course. Christopher needed Daria to understand they were truly in love, he and Ari. He needed to know what her reaction to that information would be before he took any further steps. If she backed off, fine.

  If she didn’t . . .

  If Daria meant to split them up, bring Ari back to grovel at the feet of her hating, bigoted father, then his next move would be a violent one.

  He supposed it had been a risk, showing Ari to them, but better that than having them sneak around the compound looking for an abducted woman. Even though Ari had told her father she was in love with him before she left Rapid City and was leaving volutarily, Richard Templeton had reported her kidnapped.

  Sante reached down and fingered a tendril of Ari’s hair, letting it slip through his fingers.

  He hadn’t told Ari yet, not about anything. He’d only told her, for her own protection, that she needed to stay well away from everyone in the dome but his inner circle, the so-called board of directors. He hadn’t told her about her father, hadn’t told her there were ABI and GBC agents here looking for her. She didn’t need to know any of that. She was still recuperating from the Choosing and couldn’t handle any added stress.

  Anyway, he’d take care of her. Nothing would harm Ari. He’d die before he allowed her to be hurt.

  His plan now was to make sure Daria understood Ari was truly here by choice, that he was in love with her. He knew Daria’s doubting mind well enough to understand that she likely believed he was duping Ari, just like he’d duped her in the beginning.

  Daria was a cynical woman, and Christopher knew that she’d probably only grown more so over the years . . . because of him.r />
  The idea made his chest feel heavy.

  So he turned his thoughts to the day he’d met Ari.

  She’d been standing along the street in Rapid City, the sound of traffic, honking, and chanting filling the air. Ari had been among the hundreds who’d shown up that day in protest of Richard Templeton and The New Covenant Church, who had been meeting to figure out solutions to the Chosen “problem.” Everywhere Templeton and his minions went, they were greeted with protesters.

  Christopher had happened to be in Rapid City on Shining Way business when this meeting had occurred and had stopped by to see the circus.

  Ari had just been standing there in the throng, hands thrust deeply into her blue winter coat to ward off the chill. Not holding a sign. Not chanting.

  Even though she’d been wearing a hat and a pair of sunglasses, Christopher had still recognized her. It was her long hair that did it, the tilt of her full lips, the slightly larger than average nose. He’d seen pictures of the only daughter of Richard Templeton and thought her pretty . . . for being the undoubtedly twisted progeny of his race’s worst enemy.

  He’d strolled straight to her and asked what she thought she was doing there. He’d been pissed off, thinking she was spying for her father. She’d been nervous at first, shaken that he’d recognized her so easily. After all, her father did all he could to keep her out of the spotlight. Her face wasn’t exactly a household image.

  Then she’d been pissed he’d questioned her presence at the rally. She stood there on the street, went toe-to-toe with him and yelled into his face that she had a right to be there just like every other person who wanted equal rights for the Chosen.

  Intrigued and wondering if she was telling the truth, Christopher had invited her for coffee. They’d stayed at the rally until it was over, then had walked to the nearest café and talked for hours.

  That had been the beginning.

  They’d dated for a long time. During that part of his life, Christopher hadn’t spent much time at the Shining Way, instead giving over management of almost all operations to Carlos. Sante had wanted to be wherever Ari was, mostly at her place in Rapid City.

  During that time he’d learned what a hard life Ari had lived under the iron fist of her father, the dreams she’d had of becoming an artist dashed by his controlling hand. Richard Templeton had his daughter’s life mapped out for her and if she deviated, there was hell to pay.

  She was a soft woman, strong-willed like her father, but in a quiet way. She had the temperament of an artist—she loved to do oil paintings—and was very emotional, sometimes scarily vulnerable. She was a woman who begged by her very existence to be cared for and protected.

  Sometimes Christopher wondered if Ari hadn’t fallen in love with him and decided to be Chosen all just to spite her father. If, on some level only a psychiatrist could plumb, she was using him.

  He ran his finger down her cheek. Christopher was so in love with her, he wasn’t sure he cared. Deep in his heart he knew it wasn’t true, anyway.

  This relationship was good and solid, not doomed to fail the way the relationship he’d had with Daria had been. He leaned down and kissed Ari’s forehead.

  He wasn’t going to screw this up, and he wasn’t going to lose her.

  21

  DARIA stepped into the room and into candlelight. “Alejandro?” He stood in the middle of the room, holding something in his hand. “You gave me one night, Daria. Do you remember? One night to completely give yourself over to me.” He paused, moving whatever it was he held from hand to hand. God, was that rope? “Tonight is that night.”

  She licked her lips as fear laced with desire rippled through her. When she’d masturbated for Alejandro, while she’d been in the throes of erotic bliss, she had agreed to that. If she hadn’t been hopped up on hormones, she wouldn’t have. The idea of being his object, letting him play out any fantasy he wished with her, would’ve stayed in the realm of her imagination, to be trotted out whenever she needed help bringing herself relief on her own in the dead of night.

  But now the opportunity to make it a reality was at her fingertips.

  “Don’t say no, Daria.” His voice was edged in steel. “I know you want it. Take it.”

  Arrogant. Except he was right, she did want it.

  Alejandro took a step toward her, into a shaft of moonlight. She saw he wore only a pair of low-slung jeans, revealing the jut of his hip bones. The delicious expanse of his chest was bared, along with the trail of hair running down past the waistband of his pants that lead to his cock. His long, strong feet were bare, too.

  “Strip out of your clothes and come here to me.” He stared hard at her. “Do it.”

  Daria hesitated, then raised her gaze to his. She held it steadily as she stripped slowly, deliberately, revealing every body part to him in a tease. If she did this, it would probably be the last time she had any kind of control until morning.

  His body had gone tight, his fingers clenched around the rope he held, by the time she stood in front of him, the soft air of the room bathing her skin and raising gooseflesh along her arms and legs. She walked slowly to him, rolling her hips, confident in her ability to arouse him.

  Even in the mostly dark, Alejandro’s gaze smoldered. He drew her against him and his mouth came down near hers, his breath branding her lips. He didn’t kiss her, he only whispered close enough for her to hear, “Hands together at the small of your back.”

  Her breath hitched.

  “You trust me, right?”

  She blinked slowly and locked her jaw. That depended on what kind of trust he meant. Trust Alejandro with her body? Yes. She moved her hands to the small of her back.

  He relaxed almost imperceptibly. Still with his lips just a breath’s space from hers, he roped her wrists and secured them. Talented.

  He took her upper arm and led her to the foot of the bed. After he sat down, he pulled her to lay facedown over his lap. His jeans rubbed the bare skin of her belly. Her gaze flicked to her left. There were items of an indiscernible nature lying on the mattress beside him.

  Alejandro eased his hand down her spine and over the curve of her ass, then between her cheeks. He dragged his fingers over her flesh, gently forcing her thighs further apart so he could stroke her clit. She wiggled a little and moaned.

  “Is your cunt wet for me, Daria?” His voice had a rasp to it.

  “Why don’t you touch it and find out for yourself?” she breathed.

  He reached down and pinched her nipple hard enough to make her gasp. The slight pain of it quickly faded to erotic bliss, but she could tell he meant it as a rebuke. “You have no say in how I touch you tonight. Not when. Not where. Not how.” He rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Pleasure jolted though her. “Do you have any objections?”

  “No.” She licked her suddenly dry lips.

  “Good.” He rubbed her clit again. “Do you want me to fuck your sweet cunt, Daria?”

  Now her whole mouth was dry. “Yes.”

  “That was the right answer, querida. I will . . . in time.” He went silent for a moment, then added in a soft, steady voice that sent shivers through her, “I’m making you mine tonight.”

  He caressed the cheek of her ass and then dragged his fingers down the length of her vulnerable, aroused sex and over her anus. She struggled for a moment against her bonds. It made her heart beat a little faster in panic even as it excited her.

  “Scared, Daria?” He rubbed the pad of his finger around the entrance to her ass, making all the nerves there flare to life. “Afraid I’m going to do what, I wonder. Afraid I’m going to hurt you?”

  “I’m not afraid,” she answered in a steady voice, even though it wasn’t completely true. She did feel the edge of fear mixing with the pleasure.

  He gave a low, velvety laugh. “I know you better than you think.” He slipped a finger inside her cunt and her muscles closed around the invasion, pulsing and rippling. “You’d never admit willingly to fear.
”

  She let out a low moan. “I might be feeling a little vulnerable, but don’t you dare fucking stop, Alejandro.”

  He laughed again and the sound of it in the quiet room made her shiver. “I couldn’t stop now even if I wanted to, sweet Daria.”

  He added a second finger to the first and found her G-spot as he thrust in and out, making her see stars. With his other hand he rolled her nipple.

  Daria let her body—and mind—relax, giving up to him completely. Just until the morning. Just for sex. A soft cloud drifted through her thoughts. Giving in to Alejandro that way made her feel free, floating in a sea of perfect surrender. She had to be in control in her life all the time. Giving up now to a man she trusted, at least sexually, was a heady thing.

  Alejandro eased a finger over her anus again and she jerked, cloud momentarily dispersing. “Easy, Daria. Remember, you’re mine tonight.” He slid a finger over it again. “Everywhere.”

  She relaxed once more, giving over to the experience. He did something she couldn’t see and when he touched her there again, his fingers were slick with lube. Gently, he speared one finger deep inside her and worked it in and out until she was ready to take another.

  There was a bit of pain as her muscles relaxed to accept the penetration, but it only served to make the pleasure more intense. Daria fought not to squirm on his lap. Her cunt felt heavy and warm but, most of all, needy.

  Alejandro removed his fingers. A moment later a firm, smooth object pressed against her instead. Her breath hitched.

  “Shhh . . . don’t worry. You’re excited and relaxed enough to take this.”

  She tensed a little anyway when he started to push the plug inside her. It was graduated in size, getting wider the farther he pushed it in. The slick end of the plug was sticky with the lubricant. When she moved, he slapped her ass. The stinging surprise of it faded to tingling pleasure that rippled through her cunt and she went still.

  Little by little, he pressed it into her, filling her full of it and stimulating all her nerves so well she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming. There was a bit of pain, but only the barest of an edge. Only enough to sharpen the pleasure into a thing that swamped her mind and dominated her world.