by Katee Robert
I almost ignore Sara’s warning and masturbate out of spite. Almost. But just when my frayed patience has worn itself away completely, I catch sight of Malone walking out of the bar. She strides like she’s on a runway, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think she was putting on a show for me. But that’s not how this woman works. She strides everywhere she goes, a predator that send people scurrying out of her wake even in the Underworld, where power is the rule rather than the exception.
It only makes her more breathtakingly attractive, and that unwelcome feeling of awe reaches me even through my irritation. She opens the door and slides easily into the backseat. She doesn’t even look at me. “That was refreshing. Let’s go.”
“Mmhmm.” Sara sounds like they’re fighting down a laugh.
Malone ignores me the remaining fifteen minutes it takes to get to her building. I’m familiar with the location even if I’ve never been here before. Meg has files on every single power player in Carver City, and extra detailed information on the territory leaders in particular. I’ve spent more time studying Malone’s file than anyone else’s. I know she has a staff of fifty security people, though she keeps a smaller team in charge of her personal residence. She’s CEO of a company that employs hundreds of people. The company has great healthcare, and all full-time workers get paid vacation as well as paid parental leave for up to three months. The employee turnover rate is practically nonexistent, from the mail room to the COO. As irritating as it is to acknowledge, she seems like a good boss. And the same policies are enacted with her people for the less than legal parts of her business.
In my darkest moments, I wondered if my mother had anything similar set up for her people when she was in charge. I have next to no information about the years she ruled this territory. My grandmother refused to speak of it, and it wasn’t as if I could go in and ask people who had actually been there. I considered it, of course, but ultimately chose not to. Even Hades’s immaculate records are sparse when it comes to her.
The parking garage looks like every other one I’ve been in. Malone barely waits for the car to stop before she opens the door and motions me to follow with an imperial flick of her fingers. I start to climb out of the car, but Malone once against scoops me into her arms.
I’ve been carried a lot. Some Doms really like this sort of thing, but I didn’t think Malone was one of them. She’s only a few inches taller than me, but her strong arms band around me and I have absolutely no fear that she’s going to drop me.
That doesn’t mean I like this.
“Put me down.”
“You’re speaking out of turn again.” She doesn’t glance down, just eats up the distance between the car and the elevator with that stride of hers, completely unchanged despite the fact that I’m in her arms. She waits for Sara to push the button to call the elevator. “At this rate, I won’t let you come the entire two weeks you’re with me.”
I want to pretend she’s bluffing, but I’m not that naive. Malone is more than capable of following through on that mildly delivered threat. For the first time in a very long time, I have to fight to lower my eyes and inject some submission into my tone. “I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.” She steps into the elevator.
Sara follows and presses the button for the highest floor and the one below it. We rise in silence. I expect Malone to set me down, but she shows no interest in doing so. The doors open on the second-highest floor, and Sara steps out. They turn back and level a severe look at me. “Don’t try anything. If you do, once she’s done fucking you up, I’ll fuck you up.”
This isn’t an idle threat, either. I press my lips together and nod. As if I’m not planning to do exactly that the first chance I get. As if the very reason I took this assignation wasn’t to get close enough to slip a knife between Malone’s ribs.
It’s not going to be easy. I knew that even before Allecto made her doubts known. Malone is a fucking Amazon from Sabine Valley. The name isn’t the only thing they share with their ancient Greek counterparts. They’re a matriarchal warrior society built of clans, and Malone was part of the ruling family. She’s a formidable enemy in every sense of the word.
She is a warrior by both the literal and corporate definition. It’s going to take everything I have in order to succeed in taking her out. And patience. Lots and lots of patience.
And then we’re rising again. This time when the doors open, we’re not looking at a corporate-type hallway. There’s a nondescript white room with a single door in it. Malone walks into the room and looks up at the camera positioned against the ceiling. A few seconds later, the lock clicks open, and she pushes through the door.
The apartment is decorated exactly like I imagined it would be. Clean lines. Minimalist decorating. Elegant furniture. Color scheme that leans white and gray with a few pops of silver and crimson to keep things from being soulless.
She sets me on my feet. “Get rid of that hideous thing.”
I look down at my teddy. “I like it.”
“You look like a sorority girl playing dress-up. Take it off.”
I almost argue, but the memory of the car has me reaching for the hem of the teddy and pulling it over my head without complaint. Malone takes it from my hand and strides deeper into the house. “Follow.”
I grit my teeth and obey. I round the corner in time to see her stuff the nightgown in the trash can in the kitchen. She keeps going before I can take a moment to study the room, stalking down the hallway and opening a door.
It leads to a room outfitted in high-end kink gear. There’s a spanking bench, a contraption meant to suspend someone on, and a hook attached to the ceiling in the middle of the room. From the hook dangles a spreader bar with cuffs on either end.
Malone positions me below it and then moves to a ring on the wall where it’s tied off, lowering it until it’s just within reach. Without a word, she walks back and fastens my hands on either side of the bar. It spreads me wide, leaving me unable to cover myself.
Malone steps back. “Now. Let’s see what I’ve claimed.”
5
Malone
There are certain expectations that come with being the leader of a territory. Carver City is nothing like Sabine Valley—too carefully refined, too polite, too kind—but that truth remains the same. I am a law unto myself within my territory, and as long as I don’t push too hard at my neighbors’ borders, they’re unlikely to start something. The factions here don’t need feasts and curated times a year to keep blood from shedding, aren’t always on the brink of a new war.
It’s made me soft.
There was a time when I wouldn’t hesitate to take what I wanted. It’s how I got this territory to begin with. When I arrived in the city, I took a month to analyze every territory’s strengths and weaknesses before choosing one for myself. The southern chunk of the city was ruled by a woman who really was soft. Too lax. Too lazy. Too willing to let her people do whatever they pleased. A few weeks of undermining her and one brutal fight, and the territory became mine.
But since then?
I haven’t had to fight for anything, aside from squashing a handful of squabbles and power grabs over the years.
Claiming this woman glaring at me with large dark eyes will be a battle. It doesn’t matter that I have no intention of keeping Aurora. She’s an itch I haven’t been able to scratch, a thorn in my paw for years. If I can just purge this woman from my system, then I can go back to my carefully ordered life. I’ve worked hard to create balance, and my heady desire for Aurora disrupts that balance.
She’s beautiful. She possesses the kind of perfect features that everyone recognizes as the standard to be strained toward: high cheekbones, full lips, big eyes, and flawless light-brown skin. Her body is just more of the same perfection. She’s short and built soft. Not quite curvy, but she’s got a figure that says she doesn’t spend too much time worrying about achieving a model-thin look. I like it. A lot. Her breasts are high and tipped with brown
nipples that have shiny silver barbells through them, and her waist draws my eye down to hips just made to be grabbed.
There’s a reason she’s the favorite of everyone who’s ever come into the Underworld, and her face and body are only half of the equation. The rest is the sunny disposition she shines at everyone…except me.
Ever since that first scene right after she started working in the Underworld, Aurora’s never been anything but coldly polite when she’s forced to interact with me. It shouldn’t bother me. I don’t want the girl, and no matter what the other fools in this city seem to think, she’s not one for keeping.
Now she’s mine for two full weeks. The thought fills me with a vicious delight, a feeling akin to my younger years, when I’d step into the ritual combat ring on Lammas.
I can’t think about Lammas now. Can’t think about what my sister has allowed to happen. There’s nothing I can do, and the helplessness I’m not used to feeling is why I contracted Aurora in the first place. She’s a distraction to keep me from doing something unforgivable.
She’s practically quivering from a combination of anger and anticipation. I’ve allowed my thoughts to wander long enough. It’s time to get down to business. I cross to her and catch her chin with my fingers, digging my nails in just enough to make her flinch. “You have the terrible habit of trying to top from the bottom.”
“I don’t,” she grits out.
“If I want you to speak, I’ll ask you a question. You most certainly do top from the bottom.” I’ve spent far too many hours watching her play in public, studying her interactions with the other Dominants. They indulge her new bratty behavior. They flat-out indulge her. “You have them all wrapped around your pretty finger. Does it get boring? Never having to wonder what will happen next because you already know?”
She blinks up at me. I’m only a few inches taller than her, but the heels give me extra height. Aurora licks her lips. “You would like to pretend you’re special, wouldn’t you? Just because you’ve spent years watching me doesn’t mean you know me, Malone.”
“Such a mouth on you,” I murmur. I can’t quite resist dragging my thumb over her full bottom lip. “You won’t provoke me into doing what you want.”
“If you say so.”
The challenge she presents thrills me to my very soul. It’s been so long since I had to work for something, for someone. When you’re queen—or what passes for it in my territory—people are all too willing to offer you everything you could ever dream of. It’s enough to tempt a person to flirt with war just to alleviate the boredom.
Yes, Aurora will do nicely.
“Your safe word.”
“Thorn.” She practically snarls it.
I permit myself a cold smile. “For your insolence, you won’t be permitted to orgasm tonight. Please me well during this scene and I’ll lift the ban in the morning. Keep up this bratty behavior and I’ll extend it.” At her shock, I almost laugh. “It’s really simple, Aurora. Be a good girl, obey, and you’ll be rewarded.”
She stares. “You’d really deny me for the next two weeks, wouldn’t you?”
I don’t want to. The desire to bring Aurora to orgasm, over and over again, is like a sickness in my blood. I crave this woman in a way that made me wary enough to avoid her for years. But if I give an inch on this battlefield, she’ll take a mile.
“Yes.”
She gives another of those aggravated breaths that thrill a dark part of me. “In that case…” She smiles, as bright as a sunny morning. “I bow to your every will, Mistress.”
The smile is a lie, just like the submission is a lie. Oh, she’s submissive. There’s no doubting that. But Aurora spent years playing the sweet, biddable girl. The persona she’s settled into since taking over as Megaera’s second-in-command is closer to the truth, but it’s still an act. She’s been wearing a mask since she started working at the Underworld, and I want to know what lies beneath it.
I leave her standing there and walk to where I store my toys in a massive antique wardrobe. I take my time considering my choices. As if I haven’t played this scene out a dozen times in my mind before contacting Hades.
Anticipation is half the battle. It softens the submissive, primes them to be in the right headspace for what comes next. I bypass the rainbow of strap-ons hanging in a precise row and snag a silver chain with three clasps on it. I run it over my fingers as I walk back to Aurora, letting her get a good look at it.
I press my free hand to the small of her back to keep her from retreating and bend down to take one nipple into my mouth. Her shocked gasp pleases me as much as the fact that I finally, finally, have my mouth on her again. This time, she isn’t in control like she was at the virginity auction awhile back, sliding her fingers into my mouth in front of a room full of people and retreating before I was anywhere near satisfied.
This isn’t required, not really, not when she has her nipples pierced now. I don’t care. I want to taste her, so I do it. First one breast and then the other. I could spend hours playing with her breasts, but I ignore the temptation and force myself to move to the next step. I fasten the nipple clamps, one after another. “Too tight?”
“It’s fine,” she snarls.
“Mmm.” The thin chain pulls at the clamps, weighing them down a little, adding to the sensation. I sink to my knees and give her an arch look. “Spread your thighs.”
She considers disobeying. I can see the conflict written across her pretty features, the desire to submit coming up against her perverse need to fight me every step of the way. Desire wins out, like I suspected it would. Slowly, oh, so slowly, she spreads her thighs.
Like many of the submissives in the Underworld, she’s chosen to go completely bare down here. Her clit doesn’t technically need the same treatment I gave her nipples, not when she’s so blatantly turned on that she’s practically dripping down her thighs. This woman might act like she loathes me, but she’s getting off on what I’m doing all the same.
I part her pussy. She’s so fucking soft, so hot and wet, I almost forego my plans for the night and just spend the next few hours tonguing her until I’m satisfied. “The lady protests, but her pussy likes me just fine.” I fasten the clamp around her clit before she can come up with a response.
As I suspected, the picture she creates is perfect. The chain shakes a little with every breath she takes, glinting prettily. I push to my feet and move back to the wardrobe. Two weeks is a small eternity yet nowhere near long enough to get through everything I want to play out with her.
For our first night, I want to make an impression, but I don’t want to do anything that will bruise her enough to hamper future scenes. With that in mind, I pick a flogger on the lighter end of the scale.
I stride back to her and give her breasts a light flick with it. She jerks back and then moans when the chain pulls at both nipples and her clit. I consider her. “I know you like pain. Will you come from that alone?” I motion to the chain and clamps.
Her expression takes on a mutinous cast, but she finally says, “Possibly, Mistress.”
Oh, I like it when she calls me Mistress. I like it a lot. Far too much to comment on. “If you get close, tell me.”
She glares. “Yes, Mistress.”
“Your words are correct. Your attitude isn’t.” I shake my head slowly, as if I’m not thrilled down to my very core at the challenge. “Don’t disappoint me.” Without another word, I move to her back. I don’t give her a chance to brace for the first strike. I started a mental timer the moment I cuffed her hands over her head. Even with her feet touching the ground, there’s only so long a person should be bound like that. Aurora’s stubborn. I honestly don’t know if I can break through the first barrier of her attitude before it’s time to end the scene.
I’m going to try.
I get a good rhythm going, working across her back in uneven pacing so she can’t anticipate where the next strike will come from. Before too long, she’s whimpering and her hands are gr
asping at air above the cuffs. By the time my arm begins to ache, she’s arching back into every strike. I consider continuing, but ultimately there simply isn’t enough time. She may see tonight as a single scene, but I know better. This entire fourteen days is a scene, and it must be played out to perfection.
I drop the flogger on the floor by her feet and circle around to her front. She’s a little wide around the eyes, her breath coming in gasps, but she’s not completely checked out the way some subs get from being flogged. “What a little pain slut you are.” Before she has a chance to reply, I reach out and unfasten the first nipple clamp.
Aurora cries out, her back arching beautifully as blood rushes back into the deprived nipple. Before I can remind myself that this isn’t part of the plan, I dip down and suck her into my mouth, soothing her with my tongue, playing with her piercing. I wait until her whimpers have gained a molten edge before repeating the process with the other nipple.
By the time I sink to my knees in front of her, she’s trembling. I glance up at her face. “Remember, Aurora. Do not, under any circumstances, orgasm. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Mistress,” she whispers. For the first time since agreeing to this contract, she doesn’t sound bratty. As if she can’t decide if she’s dreading what comes next…or anticipating it.
I unfasten the clamp around her clit and, as she shrieks, I lean forward and taste her. Gods, she’s so wet, I have to smother my own moan. I hitch one of her legs up over my shoulder so I can get better access to her and stroke her clit with my tongue. Once. Twice. A third time.
“Stop!”
I meet her gaze without taking my mouth off her pussy and raise my eyebrows. She bites her bottom lip. “I’m close.”
I give her one last lick, gathering up as much of her taste as I can, before I lift my head. “Good girl.”
“Malone… Mistress…” She keeps nibbling on her bottom lip. “You aren’t really going to leave me like this, are you?”