Forest's Fall (Captive Hearts Book 3)

by Ellie Masters

  “Come.” I tucked myself back in my pants and found a use for that belt.

  I wrapped it around Forest’s neck, cinched the buckle, and jerked him to his feet. I’d never put a collar on him before. His eyes widened, and he hesitated, but I didn’t give him room to think. That was my job. I freed this Titan of a man from the incessant thoughts in his head by overpowering him.

  With a jerk of the free end, I headed to our new home. Forest followed behind me. Sara trailed behind us, watching closely, but giving us the space we needed for our dynamic to flourish.

  Someday, I hoped to eliminate that tiny separation.

  When we got to the door of the dungeon, I removed the makeshift collar. A proud man, he allowed me to put it around his throat because of the dynamic we shared, but that wasn’t what I wanted from him.

  We traded power in the moments we stole from the world, times when we descended to our most base desires, but in the past six months, it had become clear to me how much I admired Forest. He had a heart big enough to hold the world and was driven to save so many lives.

  He’d saved mine.

  A questioning expression crossed his face as I removed the belt from his neck. I let it drop to the floor and addressed him. I wanted to establish ground rules. I needed him to understand what I wanted was far more than what we would share inside that room, but I waited for his reaction.

  “You ready?”

  “Fuck yeah.” His voice took on that low gravelly rumble I loved. It was a bit hoarse and needy. He was turned on, ready to fuck, and hell if I couldn’t wait to do just that.

  But first…

  I opened the door and gestured him inside.

  Sara gripped my arm as she entered behind Forest, a show of support. Her eyes were glassy and her expression hopeful.

  Forest took three steps before he saw the rope circle I had placed in the far corner of the room. In the center, a sturdy St. Andrew’s cross waited. Inside the circle, just off center, I’d placed a red-velvet chair, a Master’s chair. Resting before it, a matching velvet pillow sat on the floor. Three items were resting on the cushion of the Master’s chair.

  “Paul…” His voice broke, and he glanced over at me. I stood one step inside the room, waiting for him to take it all in. Sara moved off to the side, giving us space.

  “One day, I hope I walk in here and find you kneeling for me. Until then, I’ll do everything to earn the right to claim my title.” I went to him and placed my hand between his shoulder blades. “You mean everything to me. I want to be by your side, supporting you…” It was time for my voice to crack. “Loving you.”

  “Mastering me?” Forest’s body gave a little jerk.

  “Becoming yours as you become mine.”

  “Mine?” He barely whispered the word and took half a step forward, toward the circle.

  “If you’ll have me.” I gave a little grin. Breaking Forest down was an art form I’d mastered, but getting him choked up? This was a first.

  He stepped to the outer edge of the rope.

  “Be careful.”

  He looked back at me. “Why?”

  “If you step over that line, if you step into that circle, you belong to me. One hundred percent mine. Not just here in the dungeon, but in everything.”

  A smart man, Forest understood. I couldn’t profess my desires any stronger than this.

  “And what are those?” He pointed to the three small items on the cushion.

  They were nonfunctional but profoundly symbolic.

  “A ring,” Sara piped up. She moved forward and took Forest’s left hand in hers. “One to lie beside mine.” She traced around his middle finger.

  After their wedding, I hoped to one day have my ring sitting beside hers on his hand.

  “You knew about this?” He turned his hand over and threaded his fingers with hers.

  “I helped him pick it out.” She bit at her lower lip and looked up at me, eyes bright and with a smile curving her dainty lips.

  “Do you know what he’s asking?”

  She nodded. “I do.”

  He turned to me. “Does she really understand?”

  I understood his concern. I was offering Forest a profound commitment, stepping up as his Master rather than his Dom. My authority would weave in and around every facet of his life.

  “She does.”

  I’d spent hours talking with Sara about my hopes for our future, and I sought out her permission first, a blessing of sorts. She was a part of what we would become. None of this worked without us committed to one another.

  Sara freed herself from Forest’s grip and came to me. Lifting on tiptoe, she cupped my cheek. I expected a chaste kiss on my cheek. When her buttery soft lips pressed against mine, I staggered back, stunned, and overcome.

  Tentative at first, I expected her to end the kiss—a touch-and-go experience—but she spread her hand over my chest and pressed her mouth against mine.

  Six months ago, I brought her back from strangulation with mouth-to-mouth, an experience which had me questioning much about my sexuality, but that had been it. Other than the random hug, Sara and I rarely touched.

  This was new, and I liked it.

  A lot.

  With a possessive growl, I yanked her against me and wrapped my arm around her waist. I took over the kiss, nipping and demanding entrance. Forest’s low laughter had me stopping in my tracks.

  “Be careful, angel,” Forest said with a chuckle. “Paul only knows one speed: hard and fast.”

  I slipped my tongue inside her mouth, loving her sweet taste. What followed was a languorous, exploration as I tasted and explored the wonders of kissing a woman for the first time.

  An explosion of heat swept through me, warmth licking along my nerves, shooting sparks of electricity through my body. Her tiny body fit perfectly in my arms, and I deepened the kiss, demanding more as I chased her tongue and claimed it as my own.

  I wanted to slap the knowing smirk off Forest’s face, but I was too busy kissing our girl. This was his fantasy, me and Sara wrapped in each other’s arms. I didn’t think he cared if he was involved. The fucker would eagerly sit on the sidelines, fisting his hungry cock, while Sara and I went to town.

  We’d get there, but first, Forest and I had our future to discuss. With regret, I released Sara. I found myself surprised to find she was out of breath. Her cheeks pinked, and she gave me a shy, timid little smile.

  “Wow.” She pressed her fingertips to her lips.

  “Yeah.” I echoed her words and found myself wondering how the rest of her might taste. How she might feel. I swiped at my face, realizing what it was that I wanted.

  “About fucking time,” Forest added.

  “Shut the fuck up.” I turned on Forest. “Don’t forget who’s in charge.”

  “Um,” Sara glanced at Forest, then looked to the door. “I think that’s my exit cue.”

  “I warned you.” Forest gave her a wink.

  “Warned her about what?”

  “That kissing you would rock her world.” He gave me a smirk and rocked back on his heels.

  “Is that so?”

  “I also told her to be careful.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because you kiss like you fuck. Raw. Powerful. Relentless. All-consuming.”

  If I didn’t hear the reverence in his voice, I might think he was complaining. What he said was true.

  “Yeah, I think I’ll just go now.” Sara’s voice trembled.

  “You’re not staying? After that kiss?” Forest’s eyes widened in shock.

  I could see the wheels churning in his head. We’d get there, but Sara and I needed time to process that kiss.

  We’d talked about her leaving. I needed Forest and me to be alone for what came next, but I wasn’t against switching things up.

  “If you want to stay…”

  My offer was sincere, even if it went against what I needed with Forest. Hard and fast was a snail’s pace when it came to the
desires Forest stirred. I intended to make this brutally painful for him, a display of dominance he would carry with him forever.

  I could scale it down. Sara knew how we fucked, but she didn’t know all of it. She hadn’t seen me break him down.

  She pressed her fingers to her lips and gave a slight shake of her head. I’d done the best I could explaining the things I would do to the man she loved.

  Her attention shifted from me to Forest. “I love you.”

  “I love you,” he said.

  “And Paul loves you too,” she said.

  It was true. Those words were out there between us now. He either hadn’t heard, or didn’t want to respond, but damn if Sara didn’t force a response. His tumultuous gaze turned to me. He held my eyes for a moment before lowering his gaze.

  “I know.”

  Sara moved to the door but stopped and returned to me. She gripped my hand and lifted on tiptoe again. This time, her lips brushed my cheek.

  “Take care of him.”

  “I will.” I pulled her to me and kissed her forehead.

  When the door shut behind her, I turned back to Forest. He stood his ground, chest heaving, dick straining for release, and hands fisted to his sides.

  “Fuck, but if you wanted to get me hard, kissing her like that did the trick.” Forest reached for his groin but stopped when I gave a sharp shake of my head.

  “I know.” I wanted to hold her, strip her, maybe even fuck her. Now that she was gone, my attention focused on the man in front of me. “Best you forget about her and focus on me. Why don’t you take a look around?”

  He glanced around the room, his gaze lingering on the rope circle for half a beat before moving on.

  We had the entire basement for our playground. Other than the velvet Master’s chair, there was nothing soft inside this room. It wasn’t all dungeon, although, for our purposes, it would act as such.

  Forest liked to fight.

  I took half the room, over three thousand square feet, and built a full gym, including a mat where we could fight. The other half of the room was filled with all manner of contraptions fit for a dungeon.

  There was nothing soft and gentle down here. This was a room built for pain. The predominant colors were black, gray, and silver. The smell of leather permeated the room, and the walls and ceiling had been covered in the finest acoustic panels money could buy. We were locked in our own world down here, where Forest could scream his head off without bothering anyone.

  In addition to the St. Andrew’s Cross, I had several benches, tables, and other items that would challenge Forest. I tried to build this space with as few things which might trigger Forest from his childhood and the basement my father had tortured him in, but there were some things I couldn’t avoid.

  He wandered over to several cabinets and opened the doors. Inside was every implement I could find designed to inflict pain, plus a few others he might not be expecting.

  “A cock cage?” He picked up a wire cage and looked at me with confusion.

  I never withheld orgasms from him, but we would explore all manner of things on our journey.

  “If you have something you want added, let me know.”

  “What about removed?” He lifted the cock cage. “Do I need to be worried about this?”

  I got that to get a rise out of him. I grinned at Forest and watched his reaction. “You think I won’t use it?”

  “Just…not what I was expecting.”

  I pointed at it. “That’s for punishment.”

  “You don’t think the whip with the chains is punishment enough?”

  “Not when I know you’ll get hard from the whipping.”

  He gave a cheeky grin and ducked his head. I had him. He glorified pain.

  He ran his fingers down the many whips hanging on the pegs. His brows lifted at the more edgier devices.

  There wasn’t a single cage in the room. I had no use for such a device. Slowly, he made a circuit of all the room, stopping to test the sturdiness of the restraints that would hold him down.

  “Looks like you’ve thought of pretty much everything.”

  “Do you like it? We can always add more.” I was rather pleased with the results.

  “And this? This is what you want?” He circled back around to the rope on the floor.

  “It’s what you need.”

  “Is that so?”

  “It is.”

  He needed to work this out in his head. The decision would ultimately be his.

  “That’s a pretty fucking big commitment, Paul.”

  “In here, you call me Sir.”

  “Understood.” He nodded as if he’d been testing me. “That’s a pretty fucking big commitment, Sir.”

  “Lifelong.”

  He stumbled back. “What?”

  I took a step toward him. “Lifelong. That’s what I want.”

  Forest glanced at the circle and swallowed thickly. “Lifelong…” His voice dropped to his rumbly whisper, and threaded through it was awestruck wonder. He took a step toward the circle. “Shit, that’s…this changes everything.”

  “Careful,” I warned. “You cross that line…”

  “Yeah, I got it.” He pointed to the chair. “What are the other things on the cushion?”

  “The ring is to wear beside Sara’s wedding band. Cuffs aren’t practical for day to day wear. Most people will only see leather knotted friendship bracelets, but they’ll be your constant reminder…”

  “Right. Shit.” He reached down to adjust his cock.

  Hard.

  Stiff.

  Needy.

  He was painfully aroused.

  I’d give anything to know what he was thinking right now. I wasn’t sure how he would react. Forest ran his hand through his hair and spun in a slow circle as he took everything in a second time. “And Sara?”

  “I asked her first. As for what I want…”

  His voice dropped to a whisper. “I want it too.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, I do.” He gulped. “Shit. This is…it’s pretty intense.”

  “It’s no wedding ring, but it’s all I have to offer.”

  “It’s everything.” He bit at his lower lip. “And Sara knows what this means? She’s okay with it?” His brows scrunched together. “Shit…this is huge.”

  “I wouldn’t offer this without her full support.” I pointed at the circle. “Like I said, someday I hope to walk in here and find you kneeling in that circle for me. Until then…”

  “Fuck that.” He lifted his foot to step over the circle, and I yanked him back.

  “Forest!”

  “What?”

  “This isn’t something you rush into.”

  “I’m not rushing anything. I’d say it’s about damn time.”

  “What?”

  He jerked free. “I’m already yours.” His gaze cast out over the room. “I have one request.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Don’t ever hold back. Take me and break me.” His entire body trembled. “Take me where I need to go.” Forest gripped my nape and pressed his forehead against mine. Our breaths mingled as the intimate moment stretched. I breathed him in, then placed my hand on the flex of his bicep.

  “With pleasure.”

  Our gazes locked, and Forest stepped over the rope, choosing to become mine.

  I pointed to the cushion on the floor.

  This glorious man gave me everything. He saved me, and I would spend the rest of my life saving him. I would break him over and over, and lead him into the darkness he both feared and desired. There, I would put him back together again as only I could.

  My heart filled with joy as I watched Forest fall.

  * * *

  THE END

  * * *

  I really hope you enjoyed Forest’s story. He is, by far, my most favorite character I’ve written to date, and I have a surprise for you.

  You’ll see Forest in my new hostage rescue series: Guardian H
RS. You saw some of his Guardians briefly in this book, the men of Alpha and Bravo teams. They’ve been faceless so far, but it’s time to let them shine.

  Forest isn’t done saving the world. His team of elite hostage rescue experts is on task, ridding the world of evil one devil at a time while they save innocent lives.

  GUARDING ZOE is coming January 2021!

  I hope you’re looking forward to an amazingly HOT series of ALPHA men and the women brave enough to guard their hearts.

  The Guardian Hostage Rescue series will be coming to you in 2021.

  Preorder Your Copy Now. Click HERE.

  Guardian Hostage Rescue Specialists

  Sneak Peek of Guarding Zoe

  Book 1: Guardian HRS—Alpha Team

  Once upon a time, there was a girl.

  A happy, vibrant girl

  Who didn't believe nightmares were real

  But the girl woke up

  A terrified, frightened girl

  Trapped in a living nightmare.

  That girl is me.

  * * *

  ZOE

  It’s been two days since they added the last girl. Anna arrived much as we all did, struggling, snarling and full of fight. She survived her first beating. She’s quiet now. Recovering from her injuries. Now she whimpers and cries, much like me. Just like the rest of us.

  Like Anna, I fought when they took me, and like her, I suffered.

  I’m smarter now.

  We all are.

  In the oppressive silence, and cloying blackness which smothers all hope, we’re not ready to die. And while nobody knows where we are, or where we’re going, we are headed somewhere.

  We’re fed, watered, and they remove the foul smelling bucket of waste once a day. I think. Measuring time is difficult, but we know one thing. They want us alive when we get to wherever it is they’re taking us.

  To monsters who wait for us.

  To the beginning of a living hell.