by Raven Dark
“Glad to see the sedative I gave you hasn’t diminished your temper, Anika. You know how much I love your fight.”
“Let me go, you piece of shit.”
“Now, where would be the fun in that, hmm?” He lowered himself onto the bed beside me, undoing the single button on his black Armani blazer as he did so. The mattress sank a little under his weight, springs whining under all the muscle layered onto his massive frame.
The implication in his words—that he’d tied me up to have the kind of fun he’d had with me more than once—sent a shiver of excitement through me, and I looked away, refusing to let him see the truth. Truth that humiliated me as much as it disturbed me. I shouldn’t still want him, not after what he’d done to me, but apparently some part of my body hadn’t caught up to the rest of my brain. Most of me, the smart, logical part, knew he was dangerous, and he’d use me for his own ends given half the chance. So why did my heart skip a beat at the desire in his eyes as he glanced at my bound hands?
“You’re sick, Kane.”
“You’re just figuring this out now?” His eyes danced and he ran his finger over my cheek, brushing strands of my hair away from one, then the other, infinitely gentle. I’d have said lovingly, but I knew full well this man didn’t have a loving bone in his far too hot body. “I warned you I wasn’t a nice man. I warned you that you should have stayed away.”
“So this is my fault?” I snarled. “Tell me something, Davros. When did you decide to change the game? When we were with Gavini, or did you plan to turn me into a slave the whole time?”
He rolled his eyes, frustration pounding off him. We’d had this argument before, that’s true, but things were different now.
“I told you, you aren’t a slave. You never were, and you never will be. You’re a sub, there is a world of difference, Anika.”
“Then why did you tell Gavini you’d tricked my father? And me? You said you’d change the rules in my father’s contract so that he’d work the farm for nothing. Gavini talked about us like you’d enslaved me, and you agreed! You admitted you tricked us.”
Standing up slowly, he said nothing at first. Instead, he walked to the edge of the bed, his back to me. When he stopped, his shoulders were tight under that perfectly immaculate suit. I could literally feel him pulling away, widening the distance between us without taking a single step.
My mind rolled backward, to the night we were first together. Kane had never been what I would call gentle with me, but I’d seen flashes of warmth, of compassion, in a man whom I had known hid any sign of softness out of a need to protect those around him. Only now, I wondered if I had only imagined that he cared about me, if I had just told myself he wasn’t a monster because that’s what I wanted to believe. The thought weighed on my heart, dark and depressing. His obvious deception sent my hatred for him spiking, and I wished that hatred would burn away any feelings for him that still lingered. Oh, how they lingered.
“I’ve warned you before, Anika. Call me names without my permission, and there will be consequences.”
“Don’t threaten me, Davros. It’s not fun anymore. You don’t get to do that now.”
A low sound, like a sinister laugh left him, but he still didn’t look at me. “Keep it up. You get a pass now because of what I’ve done tonight. I know I scared you. But push too far, and I will punish you.”
“You mean because you drugged me?”
Silence.
“Do you even see what you did, Kane?” I hated the wounded sound of my voice. “You put a needle in my fucking arm.”
He whipped around. “You tried to run, Anika.”
“I don’t care. There was another way.”
He stalked to my side, eyes blazing. “You tried to run, in front of Dominic’s men. Do you have any idea what would have happened if you had gotten away from me and they saw that? Had you escaped, trust me, you would be facing much worse than being tied to my bed right now. I would have had to punish you, in front of him. It would not have been a good evening for you.”
“Oh, please. Don’t pretend you did it to protect me.” He didn’t. He’s manipulating you, even now. He’s a Davros, it’s what he does. “This is all a game to you, isn’t it? You want to see how easily you can control me. How easily you can seduce and then trap me.”
He shook his head, raking a hand through his hair. “That’s all you think of me, isn’t it? I’m just some twisted monster, out to hurt you any way I can.”
“If the shoe fits…”
He smiled, but it was more like a snarl. “If you want to see how much of a monster I can be, go ahead. Keep pushing my buttons, girl.”
“Yeah. Any excuse to hurt others, and you jump at it, right?”
He spun toward the window that took up one whole wall of the room. He seemed to study the New York skyline, bathed in darkness.
The coolness in his voice might have made me hot before, but now I couldn’t figure out if it scared me at the same time or not. There was always this aura about Kane that made me think of something dark just under the surface of that gentlemanly appearance, and I felt like now I was seeing a flicker of that darkness surface.
“Wait a minute. You said it was morning. It looks like its still night. How long have I been out?”
“A few hours. It’s 2 AM.” He crossed his arms. “Anika, you know I wouldn’t tie you up just to be a dick. I can’t let you get away. I can’t risk it.”
The sincerity in his voice caught me off guard, and hope pricked at my anger. I sighed, wishing I could trust him.
“Didn’t you tell me yesterday you were leaving for California today?”
“I rescheduled my flight for Wednesday. Answer me,”
“You’re telling me you just made it sound like you were tricking us so Gavini would let us go?”
“Yes.” Soft, but he wouldn’t look at me. Why?
“I wish I could believe you, Kane. But I know too much about your family, about what you are, to trust you.”
He nodded, silent again. I had the impression of a large weight on him, a burden he’d have given anything to let go of. The product of being a Davros, or something else?
No, that was just my mind imparting something noble where there was only betrayal and manipulation. He belonged to a legacy of greed and pain, an empire built on the blood and suffering of others. I refused to believe he didn’t love what he was. That he didn’t thrive off making others suffer, just like his father.
When he spoke again, his voice was soft, almost tender. “Do you need to use the washroom?”
It occurred to me I should have needed to, but I didn’t, and I wondered why. Perhaps it was because I hadn’t had a drop to drink since before we even went to Gavini’s. Come to think of it, my throat was parched.
“Trying to win points by playing the compassionate captor, Davros?” I couldn’t help the jab. I wanted to believe him so badly it hurt, but I couldn’t forget what he’d said to Gavini about my dad. If he really would kill him…
His shoulders rippled. “Do you need to go or not?”
“Yes.” No, but it might be my only chance to escape.
He turned and crossed to the bed, taking a small switch blade from the pocket of his slacks. A quick swipe and he cut the rope on one wrist, then he reached over and sliced the other. For an instant he was bent right over me, a position that had to put him off balance.
With a sharp breath, I threw my hands into him with all my might and shoved him sideways away from me. Kane stumbled backwards, and I swung off the bed and bolted for the doors.
It occurred to me I was still draped in the god awful clothing he’d made me wear to see Gavini. A sheer dress that covered my entire body but hid nothing, and a bikini-esque top and bottom set, the bottom a g-string that left my ass bare. The trench coat he’d allowed me to wear until we’d gotten inside Gavini’s mansion was nowhere to be found, and, damn, he’d taken off my shoes too. The last thing I wanted to do was jump in a cab dressed like this, and b
arefoot, but this might be the only chance I had.
I didn’t get close to the doors. Behind me I heard Kane curse and the bed springs cried out as if he’d leaped onto the mattress instead of going around it. An instant later, he was on me.
Both of us crashed to the floor, and his huge frame knocked the wind out of me.
“Ooff! Davros, get the hell off me!” I thrashed and tried to buck him off, even swinging my head back, hoping to get him in the face. Under any other circumstances, being pinned to the floor like this would have made me dripping wet, and when he growled and shoved my cheek into the carpet, I would have only wanted him more. Now, I just wanted to break his jaw.
“Stop this, Anika.” I tried to squirm free and he shoved my knees apart, pinning every inch of me to the floor. “Stop it, or I’ll blister your ass.”
This was a hotel. The thought slammed home hard and hope rushed through me. If my dad still hadn’t signed his contract, there might be a way to save him before he ended up as trapped as I was. But I had to get away first. I screamed bloody murder, so loud someone had to hear me. Or I tried to. The sound didn’t even leave my throat before Kane’s massive hand clamped over my mouth.
“Don’t. Don’t you dare.” His voice was a harsh rumble in my ear. I tried to push a scream past his hand and he tightened his grip. “Fuck. Really? Fine.” He shifted, and I realized why a moment later as he removed his hand and then shoved a cloth into my mouth.
Pounding the floor, trying to make as much noise as I could, I screamed through the gag.
“Anika, if you don’t stop this, you’ll wind up having to put an ice pack on your ass. You make me look like some kind of a sick abductor to this entire hotel, and you’ll see how bad it gets.”
Before I could do more than growl at him, he lifted up, spun me around, and straddled me.
“And you wonder why I drugged you. Fuck, next time I’ll use a tranquilizer gun.”
I swung my fist at his face, and he grabbed both wrists, slamming them into the floor beside my head.
“Hitting, again. What is it with you and trying to smash my face in?” When I struggled, he grunted angrily and slammed my hands down. It didn’t hurt, but his grip on my wrists made me wince. “For fuck’s sake, stop! Listen to me, damn you.”
The urgency in him made me freeze. I stared at him. He relaxed a little, but he kept his grip on my wrists, iron hard.
“I need you to trust me, Anika. I know I haven’t made that easy for you, but you’re going to have to. I’d never harm you. Punish, yes. Teach you to handle pain, yes, but I will never harm you.”
Something in my face must have convinced him I’d cooperate, because when I nodded, he took the gag out of my mouth. I huffed.
“What about my dad? You said you’d kill my father.”
He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Anika, I had to say that. Dominic would never have let you go if I hadn’t agreed to his terms. He wanted your dad dead in two weeks. I had to look like I was on board.”
I shook my head, wishing the action would dispel the longing to trust him. “You’re lying. It’s what you do.”
“No. I’m not. Not about this. I’ve never lied to you.”
“Bull shit.”
“Angel, trust me. Everything I do is to protect you. And your father.”
“Oh, yeah? Do you really have a whipping post, like Gavini said?”
Without answering, he stood and pulled me to my feet. Took my shoulders almost gently. The regret in his eyes unsettled me. Was it for what he’d done, or what he would do to me?
As I imagined him trying me to a whipping post somewhere, ripping the back of the dress open, I hated that my knees weakened with need. I imagined ropes biting into my wrists, watching him wind the leather whip around his massive fist, and my whole pussy ached. Shit, I wanted this man to own me, to prove his possession of me by marking me. I craved the kiss of his whip, and disappointment that he might not have one snaked through me. What the fuck?
As if I hadn’t spoken, Kane brushed something off the arm of the hideous see-through dress I wore. His eyes lingered on the swell of my breasts, barely covered by the cups of the top, then my generous hips, then finally the thin strip that barely covered my sex. My body burned under that gaze, traitorously needy for him.
“It’s your choice, angel.” His voice was quiet, warm. “You can spend the night in my bed, and I can make you forget this nightmare I’ve pulled you into, or you can spend it tied to my bed, alone. Either way, you’re not escaping me until your six months is up.”
I closed my eyes, trying to push down the conflict waging a war inside me, the need to trust him struggling against what I knew of his family, of his father, of him. My throat constricted with the agony of his betrayal—betrayal I wished I was more sure he’d actually committed. Because the more he said, the less sure I was he had.
Somehow, even with the fear that he was lying about all of it—my father, that I hadn’t been blackmailed into being his slave—my skin still hummed with the thought of his touch, his skillful kisses, his harsh, brutal brand of fucking. I wanted him, and I hated that most of all.
He still had a lot to explain, but for now, I knew the only option was to live with the consequences of having agreed to his deal. I lowered my eyes, unable to look at him, heart squeezing with the futility of my feelings for him.
“I’ll spend the night with you.”
Kane leaned down and brushed his lips across my forehead, a soft, warm caress that, in its tenderness, only made my heart hurt more for the emptiness I knew his affection held.
“Sweet Anika. I was hoping you’d say that.”
2
As soon as she’d made her choice, my blood burned white hot with hunger for her, like kerosene to a lit match. A certain victory hardened my dick to steel, though it was an empty victory, knowing her submission was because she thought she had no choice. Or, at least not one that didn’t suck. I wanted her to want me, to long for me with every part of herself. Oh, she did want me. I could see it in the flush of her cheeks, the heat in eyes. But she also hated herself for her desire.
Slowly, I closed my hand around hers. The urge to drag her to the bed and pound into her fast and hard roared in me, but I trampled it down. Too much tenderness was dangerous; it would open up emotions I couldn’t afford to feel for her without endangering us both, but I wouldn’t rush her after I’d shaken her trust this badly.
“Come here.” I led her over to my bed, hoping she could feel my intention to go easy on her.
“Wait a minute.” She pulled back and I stopped. The worry in her eyes, the guarded look ripped at my heart. I’d have to get used to that look. “You have a few things to explain first.”
I sighed, but nodded. I turned and lowered myself onto the bed. She’d be mine for six months. There’d have to be more than hatred for me in that time, or she’d never make it in my world. Or that’s what I told myself.
“What do you want to know?”
She sat beside me and stared at her lap. “First, tell me what you plan to do about my father.”
The fear that radiated off her clawed its way into my gut. Before I could stop myself, I closed my hand around hers. A spark of warmth spread through me when she didn’t push it away, only stared at our two hands as if they formed some strange shape she’d never seen before. “Anika—”
“You said…you agreed to kill him.” She met my eyes, her face hard, her hand under mine unnaturally stiff. “Gavini is expecting you to bring my dad’s head to him in two weeks. How are you planning to get out of that?”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “I don’t know. Yet.” When she gave me a dubious look, I squeezed her hand. “Look. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. He threw me a curve ball, I improvised. But we’ll figure it out. I won’t let any harm come to him.”
“As long as he signs your contract. As long as he gives you his farm.”
I said nothing, letting her take my silence as confirmation. No way wo
uld she know how it killed me slowly to think she believed I’d take her father’s life. She needed to think I was the ruthless, callous man my father had spent a lifetime turning me into. I rose from the bed and kept my back to her.
“I suspect we’ll have to find something on Dominic to make him back off,” I said. “Something to hold over his head.”
“Like what?”
I shoved my thumbs behind my belt. “I don’t know, but we’ll find it. I promise.”
She said nothing, and I turned my head a little.
“Was there something else?”
“Yes.”
“What?” I caught the impatience in my voice and dropped my shoulders. It would be so much easier if I was a nice guy, a sweet man who liked to comfort his woman and whisper warm words to her. The bed shifted slightly as if she’d adjusted her position.
“Gala.”
As soon as she spoke the name, annoyance mixed with empathy for her. Considering the situation I was putting her in—a fuck on the side was how she’d put it—she had a right to bring my supposed fiancé up. Still, that she always managed to bring her up when all I wanted to do was lose myself in Anika aggravated me.
Letting out a slow breath through my nose, I walked across the room to the window, eyes on the shadow of the city my father—and, God willing, soon I—all but owned. The truth was, Anika had no idea how wrong she was, thinking I was with Gala Rossi, that our on and off relations were currently in on mode, and that, in six months, I’d be marrying her.
I gave a nod. If she was going to think she was a mistress, I owed her something, and my father, with his constant insistence that explaining things to a woman was weakness, could suck it. “Ask your questions.”
Again, silence, and something about the way it stretched told me she was surprised I’d agreed to talk about Gala. I usually found ways to evade that subject. “How will this work?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you said she knows about us, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, how does she just accept us?”