Her lip is still quivering, but she’s managed to get her tears under control. “What choice? I don’t have a choice. I’m here. It’s too late.”
I give her thigh a light smack. “Don’t be dramatic. You have your safe word, and it will be honored. Do you want to use it?”
“I should.” Her gaze skates to the doorway Alaric disappeared through, expression bleak.
I’m silent, letting her work through it. If she calls this whole thing off, it would be a bit of a wrench in my plans, but she would lose the money. More, Alaric would lose the money to pay off the remainder of his debt. She’s too soft to make that decision, not nearly angry enough. It’s only a matter of waiting for her to come to the same conclusion.
Finally, she shakes her head. “What choice?” she repeats.
“Tonight, I can fuck you.” I intentionally keep my tone light, my language crass. “Or Alaric can fuck you.”
She presses her lips together for a long moment. “And after tonight?”
“Darling, I’m going to get at that pussy until we’re sick of each other. And Alaric wants you, so I’m inclined to give you to him until he works out all that frustrated lust on your pretty little body. That’s not up for negotiation. Tonight is.”
Zurielle frowns, her brows drawing together. “Are you two…” She seems to sift through possible options to finish that sentence. “Dating?”
“We enjoy each other. We haven’t put anything resembling a label on it.” It’s as simple and complicated as that. I’m the territory leader. The person who shares my bed with regularity is granted a level of power as a result. I have to be careful because of that. And before Zurielle paid Alaric’s debt, he was effectively owned by Hades. Dating one of Hades’s people is as good as saying that I’m allowing a spy into my inner circle, and that would be unforgivably weak and foolish.
A weak and foolish territory leader is one living on borrowed time.
Zurielle doesn’t seem content with that. “But he’s here. You orchestrated this so he’d be freed.”
“Not only that.”
She shakes her head. “Not only that, but you could have found a different way to get revenge on my father. You chose this way because of Alaric.”
She’s not wrong, but I’m also not inclined to dig into my complicated relationship with that man for her benefit. “All you need to know is that we’re happy to share you between us, and we plan on doing exactly that.” Something we’ve never done before. Oh, we’ve participated in group play in a number of ways, but this is different. We aren’t in the Underworld right now. I am topping both of them. The next seven days are for fucking and enjoying ourselves. After, we’ll cut this little fish loose and figure out what comes next for us.
“I thought I loved him.” She says it so quietly, I don’t think she intends for me to hear.
Too bad. “A lot of people fall in love with Alaric. It’s a special skill of his. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
Zurielle shakes her head. “Kind and cruel.”
“It’s a gift.” I smile, but give my next word some bite. “Choose.”
“I want him.” She closes her eyes as if the truth pains her. “I shouldn’t. I should hate him, but I can’t help wanting him still.”
I suspected as much. “Very well.” I push to my feet and offer her my hand. No matter how smart this girl is, she’s still harboring romantic notions about Alaric. Given half a chance, she’ll convince herself that he’s really a noble prince who was somehow forced into this situation, instead of a man with a habit of getting what he wants, when he wants it. Even laboring under Hades’s deal hasn’t been a hardship for Alaric, not with the power players in Carver City lining up to fuck him and play with him and spoil him. He wasn’t free, but one would have to look far and wide to find a more enjoyable cage.
Zurielle takes my hand, and I’m struck again by how delicate she is. Not just physically. A rough touch, a harsh word and she might crumple.
She’s no use to me broken.
Maybe that’s why I stroke my thumb over her wrist and tug her closer. I dislike being required to baby submissives, but she’s got a shell-shocked look on her face that bothers me. “Zurielle.”
She blinks up at me. “Yes, Mistress.”
Gods, she’s sweet. Even swaying on her feet from going round after round tonight, she’s still obeying my initial commands. I don’t think she realizes she’s doing it, either, which makes it all the more enjoyable.
I catch her throat lightly with my free hand, letting my nails prick at her sensitive skin. She instantly closes her eyes and parts her lips in a little gasp. My pussy clenches at that sound. She’s not scared. No, she likes me holding her like this as much as I like doing it. My voice comes out tighter than I intend. “For the next seven days, you belong to me. I do what pleases me, and tonight it pleases me to watch him fuck your virgin pussy. But make no mistake, it’s at my command. Do you understand?”
She swallows hard, a movement I can feel against my palm. “Yes, Mistress.”
“Good. We may begin.”
Chapter 10
Alaric
It takes me nearly my entire shower to successfully label the heavy feeling in my chest. Guilt. I feel fucking guilty. I shake my head and turn off the water. Ursa will laugh when she figures out I’m having second thoughts now, when everything is already in motion. The time for changing my mind was at any point during the countless hours I spent with Zuri over those weeks in Olympus. Or during the months since I came back to Carver City.
Or, here’s a thought, I could have told her the truth when I saw her in the public playroom yesterday.
I didn’t. I made my choice, and feeling guilty about it now is just self-indulgent. I’m a bastard and a half for letting Zuri pay the price of my decisions, but it’s too late to change my mind. Truth be told, I was never going to. I’m finally, finally out from under powerful men. First Triton. Then Hades. Now, the only person I answer to is myself.
And Ursa.
I’m still drying off when I hear the bedroom door open. I wrap the deep-blue towel around my waist and walk over to lean on the door frame. Ursa looks just as decadent as ever, her generous curves wrapped in a printed dress I want to take off with my teeth. Zuri is still naked, padding behind the other woman and looking a little dazed.
Ursa sees me first. Her gaze rakes over my bare chest and, fuck, the promises she makes with that single look. It makes me want to hit my knees, to give way to the sheer dominance this woman wields. Any other night, I’d do that and happily crawl to her. Tonight isn’t about us, though. Not entirely. Not when Zuri is standing there, still flushed from the orgasm Ursa licked out of her.
And fuck if that wasn’t the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I could have stood there all night and watched Ursa make Zuri come again and again. If there’s a flicker of jealousy there, I’m used to it. Nothing in this world is ever entirely mine. Not a home. Not a possession. Certainly not a romantic partner.
Even Ursa, whom I care about far more than is wise, will never be mine in truth. I might be hers, but that’s hardly the same thing at all. She’s got walls upon walls, and she’s spent most of her life making sure no one comes near. I’m closer than most, close enough to recognize the distance she maintains between us, close enough to be stung by it.
She’s still watching me, amusement flickering through her dark eyes. “You’re thinking too hard, Alaric.”
I force myself to shrug. There’s no point in letting my circling thoughts take precedence. Tonight is about action, about the culmination of months and months’ worth of plans. I won’t be the one to ruin it. “It’s a habit.”
“And a poor one at that.” She crooks a finger at me, her red nail gleaming in the low light. “Come here, lover. Come take a look at the present I got for you.”
A bolt of sheer lust strikes me. “You always give the best gifts,” I murmur. I keep my attention on her, trying to read how this scene will go. Because this
is a scene. During my time in the Underworld, I’ve played both Dominant and submissive, but there is only one role for me here. Submit to Ursa. It’s only the flavor of it that is left to be determined.
Luckily, she likes group play nearly as much as I do.
I stop just short of touching her, and she reaches up to sift her fingers through my hair. Times like these always surprise me. Ursa has such a big personality, I sometimes forget that she’s a good six inches shorter than me. She smiles up at me, as warm as standing in the late July sun that’s long since disappeared below the horizon. “Would you like to play with your gift, Alaric?”
I resist the urge to look over her shoulder at Zuri. Ursa’s mean enough to tempt me with this and take it away. I love that she’s mean like that. “Would you like me to play with my gift?”
“Clever boy.” She gives my hair a tug and steps back. “How many nights did you leave Zurielle untouched? Walk away with a painfully hard cock without doing all the things you wanted to her?”
Answering a definitive number is out of the question. Ursa’s just as likely to deny me that many orgasms again out of perversity. I manage a smile. “More than a few.”
She snaps her fingers. “Zurielle. Stand before the bed. Don’t move or speak.”
I watch Zuri obey without protest, submitting so sweetly that my mouth waters. A gift, indeed. I’d suspected she had submissive tendencies, but I couldn’t be sure, not when we were never alone enough to follow through on anything. Not when doing so would jeopardize this entire plan. But suspecting and seeing it in action are two very different things.
Zuri looks so small in this room of deep blues and blacks, a minnow who’s lost herself to the dark. A treat for the first predator that comes along.
I let Ursa nudge me to sit on the edge of the massive bed. The mattress gives as she climbs up to kneel behind me and clasps my shoulder. Her lips brush my ear, her voice just loud enough to carry to Zuri. “How many times have you imagined this? Her naked and flushed with need?”
“More than a few,” I repeat. If I were a better man, I’d put a stop to this. Hell, if I were a better man, I wouldn’t have acted the part of bait for this innocent woman. I’m not. She’s here and I want her, and Ursa is offering to give her to me.
Still… “Safe word?”
“Please. Give me an ounce of credit. I’m a villain, not a monster.” She laughs, deep and sinful. “Tell him your safe word, darling. Alaric will respect it the same way I will.”
Zuri’s small frame shakes, and she watches us with wide eyes. “Hurricane.”
“Good girl.” Ursa squeezes my shoulders, and her lips brush my ear. “I won’t apologize for unwrapping her before you got here. She’s too delicious to resist.”
“I liked seeing it,” I murmur.
“Tell me something.” She gives my shoulders another squeeze. “Those agonizing nights, what did you think about when you wrapped your hand around your cock? Give us all the details.”
There’s no hiding from this. No lying. It’s almost a relief to let that version of myself go. The fake innocent who’s been fucked over by the world. I got in over my head, yes, but I have no one to blame but myself. I made the choices that put me here, every step of the way. The bad ones. The good ones. All of them.
Now I don’t have to pretend to be anything other than what I am. “I thought about her sweet mouth wrapped around my cock.”
Ursa presses her breasts to my back and gives a hum of approval. “And?”
“Not just her sucking my cock. I want to fuck her mouth.” My voice hardly sounds like my own. I can’t stop staring at Zuri, a perverse part of me reveling in her shock. Because shock isn’t the only thing she’s showing me right now. Her warm beige skin is flushed, and her breath is coming faster now. “I want to fuck her.”
“I know.” She smoothes her hands down my arms and back up again. “Come closer, little Zurielle.”
Zuri takes several hesitant steps, finally stopping with her knees almost touching mine. I drink in the sight of her, her small breasts, the flare of her hips, her bare pussy still marked with Ursa’s lipstick. Finally, I let myself meet her eyes. I expect… Fuck, I don’t know.
There’s hurt there, lingering in the dark depths, but she’s staring at me just as intently as I studied her, her gaze on my chest and lower to where my cock presses against the towel around my hips. Zuri licks her lips, and I nearly growl.
“I think our little darling has a confession of her own.” Ursa’s just as tempting as a devil on my shoulder. “Did you touch yourself while you thought of our Alaric?”
Zuri’s face goes crimson. She opens her mouth but pauses and looks to Ursa.
“You are a delight.” Ursa makes a pleased hum that I’ve only ever heard when I’m inside her. “You may answer when I ask you a direct question.”
“Yes.” The word is barely audible. Zuri clears her throat and tries again. “Yes, I touched myself.”
“So honest. So sweet.” Ursa settles in behind me, her thighs on either side of my hips, her body pressed fully against my back. The position makes her dress ride up, and I stroke her bare knees, enjoying how soft her skin is even as I can’t quite take my attention from the woman standing before us. Ursa shifts to wrap her arms around me, idly running her fingers over my chest. “Touch her, Alaric. You know you want to.”
I do. I really, really do.
I check Zuri’s expression, but she doesn’t appear to be particularly terrified. “I’m going to touch you now.” I don’t play Dom nearly as much as I play submissive these days, but communication is key. Especially with a new submissive. Especially with a virgin who hasn’t done much more than kiss another person, the earlier scene in the living room excepted.
Zuri gives a jerky nod and seems to hold her breath. I can’t tell if she’s bracing herself or shaking with need as I grasp her hips. I hate that I can’t tell. I open my mouth, but Ursa beats me there. “I like the look of his hands on you, darling. Do they feel good?”
“Yes,” she whispers. She’s trembling so violently, I might have to catch her if her legs give out. Fuck, it’s sexy and overwhelming at the same time.
“Do you want more?” Ursa keeps stroking my chest, but her words are all for Zuri.
She hesitates, almost as if she’s at war with herself, and finally nods. “Yes, Mistress.”
“See how easy it is to tell me what you need, darling?” I don’t have to see her face to feel her smile. “Touch her properly, Alaric.”
I skate my hands up her sides until my thumbs brush the undersides of her breasts. Zuri sucks in a breath, and I nearly come right then and there. “Fuck.”
“Alaric.” A note of warning in Ursa’s voice, a reminder to obey.
I use the barest pressure to guide Zuri closer, until she’s standing between my thighs. The towel restricts her ability to get closer for now, but she’s near enough that I am able to lean forward and suck one of her pebbled nipples into my mouth. This time she gasps aloud, and her hands flutter to my chest. To Ursa’s hands.
I switch breasts, savoring the way she whimpers. I’ve barely gotten started. I have months of pent up lust for this woman, and one taste isn’t anywhere near enough to slake my desire. I look up to find her watching me with a tormented expression on her face. Lust and anger and hurt. It stings, but I push my conscience down deep. It’s never gotten me into anything but trouble, and right now the only thing I want to get into is Zuri.
Ursa releases Zuri’s hands and reaches around me to stroke her fingers down the other woman’s stomach and cup her pussy. “She’s so wet, Alaric.” She pulls her fingers away, and I have to move back so she can lift them between us. “Would you like a taste?”
I want my mouth all over Zuri, but I know better than to push Ursa. She’s likely to deny me out of spite. Another night, it’d be fun to try. Tonight, I’m determined to be on my best behavior. “Yes, Mistress.”
“How polite you are when you want something.�
� She laughs and touches her fingers to my lips. I suck them deep, running my tongue over her and soaking up Zuri’s taste. “Good, yes?” She withdraws her fingers.
“Yes,” I manage.
She presses her hand to Zuri’s chest and urges her back a step. “On your knees, Alaric.”
I slide off the bed and onto my knees. There are people I’ve submitted to in the past that I chafed at, but with Ursa it feels as natural as breathing. She commands, I obey. Simple as that. There’s freedom in that submission, freedom in trusting her to get us where we need to be. I don’t know if I trust her entirely outside the bedroom, but in here? She’s my Mistress, my queen, my goddess.
“Behind her.” She moves to take the same position I just vacated, sitting at the edge of the bed. Ursa tugs on Zuri’s hands until the other woman bends at the waist and lays her head in Ursa’s lap. The position leaves her ass in the air, and as I move to kneel behind her, her pretty pink pussy is on full display.
“Don’t play coy, lover. Have a taste.” Ursa sounds as regal as if inviting me to sample a dish her cook whipped together.
I lick my lips. “I think I will.” I run my hands up Zuri’s legs and urge her to widen her stance. I should go slow, should work up to things, but having her so close after being denied for so long…
My control snaps at the first drag of my tongue over her pussy. I grab her hips and jerk her back against my mouth. I’m vaguely aware of Zuri crying out, of Ursa’s sinful laughter, but I can’t bring myself to care. Not with Zuri’s taste on my tongue. Not with the way her legs shake on either side of my head.
Fuck, I never want to stop.
Chapter 11
The Sea Witch: A Wicked Villains Novel Page 8