by Celia Aaron
She pressed her fingers to my lips and looked at me with troubled eyes. “Don’t say that. Please don’t say that. You can’t. We’ll think of something, some way out.”
Her fingers stilled my lips but not my thoughts. There is no way out.
She lay back against me and dropped her hand to my chest. “Now the rules. I need them all.”
She already knew the worst. The rest just completed the depraved puzzle. “First rule.” I swallowed hard. “Is Teddy. Second rule, you know as well—the Acquisition can choose between first and second born. Third, an Acquirer may not harm an opposing Acquisition except during trials.”
She nodded. “That’s why Renee told me I would be safe the night we went to the party at Cal’s.”
“Yes. Fourth is that maiming an Acquisition or permanent loss of limb is not allowed.”
“That’s comforting.”
“Fifth, we can’t kill you.”
“Even better.”
“Sixth, the current Sovereign is the sole vote on who becomes the next Sovereign.”
“Renee mentioned that. Cal wields all the power.”
“And now that he’s brought in your stepmother’s family, he’s solidified his stranglehold on the power structure. He’ll only choose someone he trusts to keep him at the top.”
“Makes sense.” A shadow fell across her eyes. “He’s our target, the one we’re trying to convince.”
“Yes, but a large part of that is putting on a show for the rest of them. We have to make it look good. Keep them entertained.”
She sighed. “So what’s the seventh?”
I glanced to the ceiling, as if I could see through it to my mother’s suite. I hadn’t known the seventh rule until after I’d been chosen. That particular cut of the knife was a master stroke by my mother. As chaotic as her mind was, there were still plenty of sharp edges.
“Sin?” Stella asked again.
“The seventh is that the previous Sovereign, not the current Sovereign, chooses the competitors.”
She jolted, as if she’d touched a live wire. “You mean your mother chose you to compete?”
The weight of my mother’s legacy crushed both of us, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. “She did.”
CHAPTER FIVE
STELLA
“WHO IS WOMAN?” DMITRI sank onto my bed, the antique wood groaning under his weight.
“Sophia.”
“Why so rude? I go to party. She say I don’t belong.”
I reached over and patted him on the back. “Same here.”
“Pizda.” He shook his head. “And why she with Sinclair?”
I tried to brush away my feelings, like crumbs off the bedspread. “I assume they are together. Like a couple.” The crumbs were still there, grinding into my skin no matter which way I turned.
“Foolish man.” He glanced at me, his scowl deep. “Now I all dressed up. No party. No nothing.” He lay back on my bed and laced his fingers together over his chest. “We should train, eh?”
I lay next to him, and we both stared at the ceiling fan’s lazy circle. “Yeah.”
Neither of us moved. My body was tired, sore, and losing an afternoon of training was beginning to look like not such a bad thing. My thoughts strayed back to Sophia. She’d taken such pleasure in hurting me at the last trial, and now seemed to delight even more in rubbing it in my face. She and her father topped my list of people I would seek vengeance on once Teddy was safe.
After a few quiet minutes, Dmitri began to snore, softly at first, and then growing louder over the span of half an hour until I began to fantasize about smothering him with a pillow. A bump at the door had him awake and on his feet in a second.
“Who?”
“Just me.” Teddy’s voice. “Can you get the door? My hands are full.”
Dmitri opened it for him, and Teddy entered carrying a large plate full of cake, another large plate full of sandwiches and some silverware, and a bottle of wine with red cups under his arm.
“This pleases me.” Dmitri grinned and closed the door as Teddy laid the food out on the bed.
“This is a feast.” I hugged Teddy as soon as his hands were empty and kissed him on the cheek. “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks.” He squeezed me tightly and then shook Dmitri’s hand.
“Happy birthday.” Dmitri pulled him in for a bear hug.
Teddy laughed and escaped. Then his face grew somber. “I’m sorry about downstairs.”
“Don’t worry about it. I know it’s not you.”
“No.” He ran a hand through his unruly blond locks. “It’s not, and I really didn’t appreciate them showing up here like that. They’re not the ones I want to spend time with.”
“Have they gone?” I eyed the croissant sandwiches, and Dmitri’s stomach rumbled.
“Yes. Well, Sin’s still here. He’s staying for the weekend.” Teddy pulled the loosened cork from the wine bottle and poured us each a cup of red. “Dig in. I’m hungry, too. Cal and Sophia turn my stomach, so I didn’t eat much.”
We settled around the platters, Dmitri eating two sandwiches in one go.
“Anything important discussed while we were hiding up here?” I tried to make it sound as nonchalant as possible.
Teddy wasn’t fooled. “No. I didn’t get any information. You’re the one who knows things. I’m in the dark.” He put his sandwich down. “I wish you’d tell me.”
I shot a look to Dmitri and back to Teddy. “You already know I’m training for the triathlon in the spring. I don’t know what it will entail, exactly. So, we’re on the same page.”
“What else?”
“Like what?”
“How many more—” He glanced to Dmitri, who seemed to remain oblivious while munching away. “—competitions are there?”
“After this triathlon, only one more in late summer.” I took a bite of sandwich despite the tightness in my throat. I wouldn’t tell him everything, just enough to keep him even-keeled for the time being.
“That’s it? Then you’re done? Win or lose?”
I nodded and forced myself to chew. “Right. Win or lose, I’m done.”
“That’s more than anyone else tells me.” He nodded and sat back. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
I changed the subject to his time at college, and Teddy lapsed into how excited he was start med school.
“When you doctor, you prescribe medications?” Dmitri asked and forked a chunk of cake into his mouth.
“Yes, that’s part of it.”
“Hard stuff?”
Teddy cocked his head. “Narcotics, you mean? Yes.”
“I have friends. You make good money. All you have to do is—”
I stood and clapped my hands. “Well, I think I’m stuffed. Since they’re gone, want to go downstairs? Maybe go outside and let me show you my skills?” I brought my fists up.
“You’re kidding, right?” Teddy laughed.
“She no kidding.” Dmitri puffed his chest out. “She taught by best fighter in all Russia.”
“Well, hell.” Teddy downed his wine. “On that note, let’s do it.”
Dmitri laughed as we walked into the hall and down to the front door.
“Your ass is going to be on the grass, pretty boy.” I punched him in the shoulder.
“Ow.” He grabbed his arm as we strolled out into the sunny yard, then dropped his hand and rolled his shoulders. “Just kidding. I didn’t feel a thing.” He grinned and pulled his hands up, palms open. “Come at me, bro.”
I rounded up my hair up into a ponytail and tied it with an elastic from my pocket. “I didn’t realize you wanted an ass-whipping for your birthday.”
He smiled bigger, getting into tough-guy character. “I hate to hit a girl, even one with a mouth like yours.”
“Don’t worry. You won’t.” I easily moved away from his first swiping grab.
“Can’t catch me that way.” I circled him, my knees bent and my hands up.
/> He darted toward me. I ducked and shot my foot out, tripping him. He hit the grass and rolled from his momentum.
“Damn.” He laughed and got to his feet, slivers of grass hanging from his otherwise neat button-down shirt and jeans. “Slippery. You come get me instead.”
“Okay.” I advanced.
He backed away a step and barreled into me, tackling me to the ground. I landed on my back, him on top. He sat on my hips and put a hand on each side of my head, smiling and proud of himself. I held my arms out and he fell into them for a friendly embrace.
“A hug for the victor.”
“Don’t feel bad. I’m pretty strong.” He returned my squeeze.
I slung my right arm over his shoulder, linked my hands, and shoved up from the ground with my left leg. He cried out in surprise as I flipped him and wrapped both hands around his throat.
“Yes! Krasivaya, yes!” Dmitri walked to us and towered overhead. “Now, Teddy. You must get free. Knock her off.”
“Well.” Teddy grabbed my wrists. “I wouldn’t want to hurt her.”
“Pussy.” I grinned down at him.
He wrenched my hands from his throat and wrapped an arm around my neck, pulling me down into a submission move so my head was trapped between his torso, his arm, and the ground.
“Oh. No, Teddy.” Dmitri laughed.
“What? I got her.”
“Look down, comrade.”
My hand was snugged in his crotch ready to squeeze as hard as I could to get out of the hold.
Teddy let me go. “Oh, fuck no.”
“That’s why you got a warning.” I kissed the tip of his nose and got up, offering him my hand.
Teddy pulled himself to his feet. “You weren’t kidding about the training.”
“No. She fighter now.”
“Let’s test that theory, shall we?” Sin’s voice whipped around my heart like a lasso, constricting and pulling at the same time. No longer dressed in a suit, he wore jeans and a dark t-shirt.
He studied me as if he were ticking off a list against his memory of how I looked the last time he’d seen me.
I balled my fists. He thought he could parade Sophia Oakman in front of me and treat me like the dirt under his shoe. And now he was taunting me?
“You game?” His eyes challenged me as much as his tone.
I was more than ready to hurt him any way I could. I met his dark gaze.
“Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER SIX
STELLA
“YOU SURE YOU WANT to fight me?” I re-tightened my hair in the bun, taking my time as I tried to figure out how to best him.
“I want to take you down.” He gave a predatory smile as his gaze raked my body again.
“You no hurt her.” Dmitri stabbed a finger at Sin.
“But she likes it when I hurt her.” Sin smiled.
Dmitri glowered and stepped toward him.
I put my palm to Dmitri’s chest. “I can handle him. Go on inside. This won’t take long.”
Dmitri mumbled some curses in Russian. “Come, Teddy. Let’s eat more cake.”
“Go easy on him. He’s not as tough as I am.” Teddy swiped the rest of the grass off his shirt.
“Come. Come.” Dmitri led him away as Sin circled me, sizing me up.
Teddy threw a worried glance over his shoulder as Dmitri herded him into the house.
“Why was Sophia here?” Of so many questions that bounced around my mind, the pettiest one came out first.
“Because she was my date for Teddy’s party.” He dashed toward me.
I backed up, trying to time what his moves would be.
“Nice decorations, by the way.” He smirked and circled me slowly, like a bird of prey.
I wouldn’t wait for him to come to me. I rushed him and gripped his shoulders, throwing my weight forward and swinging my legs up. It would have been the perfect take down if he hadn’t seen the move coming and twisted so I couldn’t maneuver my legs around his neck.
He held me for a moment before taking me to the ground, his heavy wait crushing me as he knocked the wind from my lungs. The sun was high overhead, and I remembered this. I remembered the first day when I’d run for freedom but found only him.
Not this time. I wrapped him in my arms and did the same move on him as Teddy. Though Sin was bigger, he flipped just the same until I was straddling him, my hands at his throat. I pressed hard, far harder than I’d done with Teddy.
Sin didn’t fight back, only slid his hands up my thighs.
“Where have you been?”
“Wooing Ms. Sophia Oakman.” His voice was terse, the words barely passing my palms.
“Do you love her?”
His hands roved higher until they were at my waist. He pulled me down onto him, rubbing me back and forth against the hardening length in his pants. “No. Just courting an alliance, something like a business arrangement.”
I eased my grip as he kept rocking my hips against him. “Are you dating her to help us win?”
“You’re getting smarter the longer you stay with us, Stella. I applaud your love for learning, even at this late juncture.”
I slapped him hard across the cheek and he growled before flipping me and pinning my hands next to my head.
“Asshole.” Tears stung my eyes as he stared down at me, his brows drawn together. “You didn’t have to stay away. You could have said something. You just left.”
“No. I did what you needed me to do. You’ve been here, training every day and getting stronger and better. I would be a distraction. I already am, and I’ve only been back for a few hours. My time was better spent away, trying to catch Sophia’s eye, and your time was better spent here with that fuckwad Dmitri.” His jaw tightened. “Has he touched you?”
I laughed, the sound maniacal. “Yes. Every day. We spar and swim, and he gives me a massage.”
“You know what I mean.” He leaned closer, his sapphire eyes becoming my whole world. “I will kill him with my bare hands if he’s tried anything.”
I glared at him. “You show up here with that psychotic bitch on your arm, treat me like I’m beneath you, and then have the nerve to ask me if I’m fucking one of my only friends?”
“I have more nerve than that. I want to fuck you, and I have half a mind to strip you right now, flip you on your stomach, and punish you until you scream. So, answer my question. Has he touched you?”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Heat rushed through me at his threat. Because I was fucked up. Because I wanted him to want me. Because he was all I could think about—his face, his body, his scent, his twisted mind.
“Wouldn’t I?” He got to his knees and pulled me up before throwing me over his shoulder.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I beat at his back as he got to his feet and headed away from the house and toward the oaks that lined the driveway.
He ran his hand up my thigh and pressed hard against my pussy. “Hot and wet, just like I thought.”
“Put me down.”
“I will.” He strode into the shade of the oaks and pushed me up against one of them. The oak’s wide trunk hid us from the house.
I pressed my palm against his chest. “I’m not—”
He kissed me, pinning me between his chest and the tree. His hands roved me, and before long, he had one up my shirt, palming my breast through my bra. I dug my nails into his chest, but he only leaned in harder, as if he wanted my violence.
He ripped up my bra, exposing both breasts, and groaned into my mouth as he squeezed them. My knees went weak at his touch. Every thought of anger or hatred burned away as he consumed me as surely as fire does black powder. Breaking our kiss, he whipped me around to face the tree.
“Pull your pants down or I’ll do it myself.”
I glanced over my shoulder as he unfastened his belt. He ripped the elastic from my hair and tossed it aside.
“Do it, Stella.” He growled and slapped my ass.
I fumbled with my butto
n and unzipped my pants. He did the rest, ripping them down my legs to my knees.
He pressed his palm flat to my back, bending me over as I braced against the trunk. In one harsh movement, he entered me, his cock embedded deep as I moaned.
“Give it to me.” He thrusted hard and slapped my ass, the sting mixing with the pleasure until I was panting, my pussy slick and wanting. “This is how you like it, isn’t it?” He gripped my hair and pulled me to him, walking me forward until my breasts pressed against the bark as he fucked me in punishing strokes. His lips blazed a hot trail down my neck as he cupped my breast. “Tell me.”
“Yes.” I craned my head back and kissed him, his tongue darting in and setting the same pace as his cock.
“Touch yourself.” He pushed me harder into the tree, the bark scraping against my nipples.
I ran my fingers down my stomach and rubbed them against my clit. He kissed my neck, sucking my skin between his teeth and biting down, his hand still tangled in my hair. I moved lower, brushing my fingertips along his cock as it surged inside me.
“Fuck.” He groaned and squeezed my nipple, twisting it between his thumb and index finger and pressing me into the tree. “This is all I could think about. Every day. Every night. Every time I closed my eyes. You.” As if the admission made him angry, he bit my shoulder.
My body was drawing into itself, the pressure sweet and tense between my thighs. I stroked my clit to his harsh pace. He maintained the bite on my shoulder, like an animal in heat, a wolf pouncing on its mate.
“Give me your fingers.”
I pulled them away and lifted them over my shoulder. He sucked them into his mouth, his tongue licking them clean as he groaned and pounded me harder. My body was strung tight, his tongue on my fingers kicking my heat up a notch.
Once satisfied, he released them. “I want you to come on my cock.”
I snaked my fingers back down and rubbed my swollen nub. He sank his teeth into my shoulder again and fucked me roughly as I cried out and scraped against the tree. My pussy constricted and my hips tensed.
The tiny explosions grew inside me until I couldn’t stop the cresting wave.
“Sin!” My body shuddered as I came, and my mind went completely blank.