by Mara Leigh
He fondles a huge dildo, the size of a baseball bat. The phallus is similar in girth to Rock, but has studs on all sides.
“Before we begin, please explain what you planned to do with this?” His other hand appears, wearing a heavy leather glove and wielding the silver chain we brought.
He whips the chain over my back, and it flicks between my spread legs. I swallow my reaction, then he draws it up, leaving a trail of sizzling flesh along my ass and back. It falls over my shoulder to the front, and grazes my nipple.
Pike cries out, and we make eye contact. The rage in his expression, deep in his eyes, fuels my power.
“Oh, my pet,” Xavier says with a cruel smile. “I’m sorry. Did I burn you?”
He pulls a lever, and my wrists are tugged down, forcing my torso forward until I’m fully bent over the rail. Xavier rubs the burns on my back, seeking out the worst spots to make sure he gets a chance to make the pain more acute, before the damage heals.
There are only two guards in the room, from what I can see, although it’s possible more are behind me. The two guards torturing Pike are shirtless, wearing leather pants, and wooden stakes line their backs held there by leather harnesses. From my bent over position, I search, but don’t see more guards. But more will be waiting outside the door.
Xavier is wearing a dungeon master type costume I’m sure he thinks is intimidating, his erect cock bound with studded leather straps. Other than the silver chain in his hand, he appears unarmed. But so did I.
My panic took me by surprise. I thought I was ready to face this place, to face Xavier and kill him, but clearly I wasn’t. And now I need to gather every ounce of my courage and power, I need to push down the effects of my trauma and act.
It’s not too late, I tell myself. Not while I’m still alive.
Pike is nearly healed from the last round of burns, and the guards use their torches on him again. Xavier flips the lever, pulling my torso up to face Pike. One guard focuses on his chest, and the other between his legs, and it’s the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen.
I resist the urge to call out to him—that would confirm that we came here together with a plan. On the chance that Xavier hasn’t figured it out, there’s no way I’m going to prove it.
Pike’s eyes burn as bright as the flames, and he tugs against his silver constraints, creating burns on this wrists and ankles too. After a few moments that feel like a lifetime, he slumps forward, passing out from the pain.
Xavier flicks the silver rope back and forth across my nipples, brushing them lightly, but enough that smoke rises. Agony races through me, but I’m not the only one suffering because of my panic attack, my inability to act, and seeing Pike suffer is a thousand times worse than anything Xavier has done or might do to me.
“Agree to marry me, Selina. Admit that you love me, and the torture will stop.” He flips the lever again and I’m forced forward, my head flopping from the unexpected motion.
He lifts my chin and brushes the head of his cock over my tightly closed lips.
“No answer? Perhaps she enjoys pain?” He squeezes my burnt nipples. “Does pain turn you on, Selina? Let’s check, shall we?”
Moving behind me, he spreads my cheeks. “Oh, you do look delightfully aroused.” His breath is hot against my sex and his fingers roughly fondle my folds. I try not to react, but feel them growing slicker under his touch, even though all I feel in my mind is repulsion.
He slips a finger inside. “Your cunt is as beautiful as I remember. So tight.” As his finger ruts inside me, he leans over and whispers in my ear. “Your tight little pussy is one of the many reasons I love you, Selina, why I know you are destined to be mine.”
I squirm under his touch.
“You like that?” He pulls out his finger. “Good. But I think we should save that kind of tender lovemaking for after the wedding. Now isn’t the time for pleasure. Now is the time for you to be punished so you’ll never betray me again.”
The cold steel of the huge dildo strokes between my legs.
I know I’ve grown stronger, but I haven’t had a chance to test my boundaries since feeding from Gray, having him feed from me.
Am I strong enough to break silver bindings held into the ground by steel and titanium? Can any vampire do that? I have no idea, but I need to try. The dildo presses against my opening and Xavier twists it, so I feel its full girth.
Pike wakes again, and his eyes open in terror. He struggles against his bindings. “Leave her alone! Kill me. Torture me until the end of days, but leave her the fuck alone!”
“How gallant.” Xavier presses against the monstrous dildo. “Using lube on this monster would be gallant too, I suppose, but I don’t think it would make much difference, plus, this is the time for punishment.”
The pressure is harder now. The monster is really going to do it.
Pike roars, and I gather all the force and power inside me.
Bending my legs within their small range, and using the muscles in my back and arms, I fling back.
The wrist bindings tear out of the rings on the floor and ceiling, but my forceful motion drives the dildo a few inches inside me, and I almost black out from the pain.
I bend my legs as far as they’ll go and then leap.
The chains holding my ankle manacles break, and the dildo clatters to the stone floor.
One of the guards drops his blowtorch and reaches for a stake, but I’m faster. I grab both his stakes, then toss his body against his partner’s, and the force drives them both into the stone wall.
I turn and leap, pinning Xavier to the opposite wall, a stake against his chest.
“Kill him!” Pike shouts. “Fucking kill him. Now!”
I draw my arm back wanting nothing more than to see the life drain from Xavier’s eyes. Why can’t I do it?
The guards groan, but make no moves to protect their ruler.
“Free him!” I command them. “Free Pike this instant or I will stake you both, right after I stake your master.” I purposefully don’t use the word king, hoping the guards will recognize their slave master relationship for what it is.
One of them moves to draw another stake, but I leap across the room, and he tosses his weapons to the floor. Returning to Xavier, I move behind him, twist one of his arms behind his back, and I aim my stake.
The guards unlock the bindings around Pike’s wrists and ankles. Pike picks up the discarded stakes.
“Take off her manacles!” he shouts at the guards.
I’d barely noticed that the burning silver cuffs were still around my wrists and ankles, and I sigh in relief when they’re released.
“Do you want me to do it?” Pike raises one of the stakes.
I want Xavier dead. I know that with certainty, and I thought I wanted to be the one to do it, but now that he’s cowering, so weak in my hold, it seems cruel. But one of us must. I nod.
The door bursts open, and I position the stake in front of Xavier’s heart.
But it’s not more guards that come in. It’s Astrid, followed by a team of twelve or more of her team.
“Selina!” she crosses toward me. “Are you okay? Someone get her some clothing.” I shove Xavier toward her, and she quickly cuffs him, the silver hissing as it makes contact with his skin.
Her team swoops in on the guards, and on Pike.
“Not him!” I move to Pike’s side. “He’s with me.”
Astrid nods to the female vampire who is about to cuff Pike, and she backs down. I rush into Pike’s arms and hold him tight. “I’m so sorry.”
He looks down into my eyes. “Why are you sorry?”
“I froze. It was too much.” Realizing my body is pressed against a burn that’s not yet fully healed I shift.
“I’m the one who’s sorry.” He kisses the top of my head. “I never should have let you come.”
One of Astrid’s team hands me his jacket, and it’s long enough to extend down over my butt.
“Why the hell did you two
come in here alone?” Astrid glares at Pike. “What if we hadn’t shown up when we did?”
“If you hadn’t interrupted, that fucker would be dead.” Pike narrows his eyes and pulls me more tightly against him.
“You should have let us handle this.” Astrid puts her hands on her hips.
“Then you’d all be dead,” Pike growls. “You wouldn’t have gotten through the entrance alive.”
“But we did get through the entrance,” Astrid counters.
“Because we’d already distracted them.” Pike moves toward her.
“Does it matter now?” I step between them. “Xavier’s been captured. Justice will be served. His people will be free, or—” I turn toward Astrid “—or stand trial? Many people in here are victims.”
“We’ll do a full investigation,” Astrid says. “Everyone will be interviewed and treated fairly.”
“Good.” I think of some of Xavier’s Mates. The ones who were kind to me. Yes, they encouraged me to marry the monster, but I do believe they did it, believing that joining their family was the only way to make my torture stop—or at least less frequent and severe.
“Let’s go home,” I say to Pike.
“I need you two to make statements.” Astrid shakes her head as if disagreeing with herself. “Okay. Go home for now. Sleep. But come in to FJS at sundown, or we’ll come after you.”
“Understood,” I respond, suddenly so tired I can barely keep my legs under me.
I want to go home. I want to see Gray and Rock. And Colton too. I want more than anything to be gathered together with all of the men that I love.
Chapter 26
Selina
Pike and I support each other as we slowly make our way home. There are a few hours before dawn, but I’m exhausted, drained by pain and adrenaline and emotions that I can’t even begin to sort out.
“I can’t believe Xavier’s behind bars,” I say to fill the heavy silence.
Pike grunts. “Better than he deserves.”
“True. But after all Xavier’s done, chances are he’ll end up with a death sentence.”
“Too good for him.”
I tighten my hold around Pike’s waist, and he squeezes my shoulder, under the clothes I found to wear home. I hate that I froze and ruined our plan, but if I bring it up again, I’ll just make Pike feel guilty for bringing me with him. It’s best if we put tonight’s events behind us as best we can.
“I’m going to end up in jail too,” Pike says softly.
I shake my head. “I doubt it. If tonight didn’t prove to Astrid which side you’re on, then I don’t know what would.”
“Hope you’re right.”
We climb the steps to Gray’s porch, I enter the security code for the door, and we step inside.
Colton appears in the doorway to the living room, and his expression lights up the moment he sees me. “Selina!”
My heart lightens too. I rush into his arms, so strong for a human’s.
He buries his nose in my hair and inhales. “You didn’t answer my texts or calls. Even Rock didn’t know where you were. I was so scared.”
“I left my phone here.” I lean back from him. “I think…”
“Where were you?” Rock, sitting in the leather chair at the end of the room, holds up my phone.
“It’s a long story.” I turn back to Pike, who casts his eyes down. “Let’s all sit.”
I curl into Colton’s side on one of the sofas, and Pike takes the chair opposite Rock.
“Where’s Gray?” I ask.
“Figured he was with you,” Rock replies. “When I got up, no one was around. I found your phone in the basement, going nuts with notifications.” Rock slides my phone onto the coffee table. “I picked up on what was probably Colton’s hundredth call and invited him over.”
“I got here about an hour ago.” Colton caresses my shoulder, and I smile into his eyes. We have so much to talk about and I’m beyond relieved to see him here.
“I want to talk to you all. Gray too, but I’m so tired, and I’m not sure this can wait for him to get home.” I pull away from Colton’s embrace and shift to sit cross-legged a few feet away from him.
“Tonight was a tough one.” I glance over to Pike. “I’ll tell you all about it later, but what happened made me realize what’s most important. And how badly I need you. Forever.”
“Which one?” Colton’s brow furrows.
“All of you. All three of you.” I gesture around the room. “Gray too. I want more than anything to love and be loved by all four of you. To spend the rest of our lives together.”
Rock smiles and nods, like he knew this already but is glad to hear it. Pike twists in his chair, like he just found himself sitting on a pebble, but I can see he’s trying not to show his joy. He’ll learn to let himself be happy in time. I’m sure of it.
I turn toward Colton who looks like he’s got questions.
“Does this mean I need to become a vampire?” he asks.
“No. Not at all.” I shake my head. The idea of watching him age makes me happy, but the idea of losing him to old age cuts into my joy. But that’s something we won’t have to think about for a long time.
“I’m not a vampire,” Rock adds. “No plans to become one.”
“What are you?” Colton asks. “I heard you say you’ve lived for over a century?”
Rock chuckles. “Thought I’d covered that up. Forgot you’re a cop and trained to pay attention.” He leans toward Colton. “To be perfectly honest, I don’t know what the hell I am. Best guess is part human, part giant.”
Colton snaps back on the sofa. “Giant? You’re tall, but…”
“I’ve lived a hundred and fifty seven years, that I remember anyway. I have no memory before that, but my memory goes back to when I was, or at least looked, about ten or eleven.”
Colton’s eyes open wide and he opens his mouth to respond, but then closes it again and rubs this hair. “This is a lot to process. A whole effing lot.”
I reach over and squeeze the human’s forearm for a second, offering reassurance with my eyes.
“So, what about this princess business?” Rock asks. “Gray seemed really freaked out about it.”
I shrug. “I’m upset that he knew my father and never told me, but at least now we have a plausible explanation for how I turned.” I turn to Colton. “I never fed from my Maker. That’s not supposed to be possible.”
He nods like he already knew that.
“I wish Gray had been open right from the start,” I add, “but I don’t care about the royalty thing. I have zero interest in being a queen, or a princess for that matter. Less than zero.”
Everyone nods and smiles, only Rock looks worried through his grin.
“And bottom line, no one is going to tell me who to love.”
“That’s not how it works, princess.” Gray strides into the room. “The Council will give you lots of choices. No pressure to Mate quickly, or ever. Your heart is big, you’ll find others to love.”
“But I love you.” I rush over to embrace him. “I love you all.” I turn back to smile at the others. “And I’m not giving you up. Not for anything.”
“Then you’d better run,” Gray says.
“Ha!” I hip check him.
“I’m deadly serious.” He pulls away from me. “You need to leave town. Right now. All of you.”
“But Xavier’s been captured!” I tell Gray. “FJS has him. He’s no longer a threat.”
“Really?” Rock says.
“I know that, and…” Gray shakes his head. “I can’t believe the risk you took—”
“What?” Rock shoots to his feet. “What the hell did you do?”
I glance over at Pike, but instantly regret it.
Rock bounds over to the vampire and grabs him by the throat. “You put Selina in danger?”
“Rock!” I rush over and grab his arm.
I could easily pull Rock off Pike, and will if it comes to that, but I’d rather
have Rock decide to release him on his own.
“I forced Pike to take me with him,” I say. “We had a plan and it…it didn’t go to plan, but in the end it worked. It was the only safe way to go after Xavier.”
“Safe way.” Rock turns toward me, skepticism all over his face.
“As safe and as certain as we could be that he’d be captured.”
Rock releases his hold on Pike, who didn’t even move the entire time Rock was strangling him.
Pike shifts in the chair, his eyes narrowing as he glances at Rock, then he casts his gaze down and shoves his hands into his jacket pockets.
“I’ll tell you what happened.” I rub Rock’s back. “Sit. I’ll tell you all.”
I chew the inside of my bottom lip trying to decide whether to come clean with the whole truth. I don’t want any lies between us, but emotions are running so high right now, and I’m still so spent from tonight’s ordeal that I’m not sure I can protect Pike from all three of the others if they blame him for what happened.
“Not now, princess,” Gray says, before I can even start. “We all want to know how you two took Xavier down, but we don’t have time. There are less than three hours before sunrise, and you need to be far away before then. The daylight dwellers—” he looks at Rock and then Colton “—are going to need to help. By sunset, you need to be far away, preferably on another continent.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.” I frown at Gray. “We can’t run. And where would we go? What would we do? Your house is here. Rock’s bar. Colton’s job.”
“I quit my job,” Colton interjects.
I turn toward him. He’s pale and looks somewhat dazed. I can’t blame him.
“I’m still super confused about everything,” he says, “but when I got to work yesterday, I realized there was zero chance I could stay in the VTF, even the police, given what we—they do to vampires.”