Elias (GRIT Sector 1)

by Rebecca Sherwin

  “That’s just you. I can't help my reaction to you, but it doesn’t mean I want to be prey.”

  “You do. I don’t give a shit what you’re saying now. When we’re in the frenzy, you see red like I do. You want it as much as I do. You come so fucking hard I wonder if you’ll pass out.”

  “No.”

  “Yes!”

  I shook my head, edging back until I hit the door of the stable. When had I shut the door? Elias had. I paled; I felt the blood drain from my face as I bent my knees and attempted to stand and get out. The atmosphere shifted quickly, from honest and comfortable, to suffocating and frightening. Elias lunged and grabbed my ankle, pulling me back to the floor with a thud that made me cry out when my backside hit the concrete.

  “I will force you into it until you admit you love it. I will prove to you time and time again that you’re not innocent. You’re not a pure little angel who’s done nothing wrong here.” He growled, pulling a black rope lead from his pocket. “You should watch your six at all times, Ashford.”

  “Please, not again.”

  “I’m not going to fuck you.” He laughed. “I’m going to force you to acknowledge who you are. We can't move on until you do. Now, be a good girl and hold out your wrists. Fight me and things get ugly.” He reached behind him again and placed a small knife on the ground. “We use it to cut the apples.” He shrugged. “Everything I’m about to use is from this room. Remember who led us here.”

  “I wanted you to leave me alone!”

  The horses began neighing, a cacophony of screeches invading my ears as Elias extended his hands and demanded mine. I held them out and watched as he wrapped the lead around my wrists, looping in a figure-8, tying a knot before pulling tight and winding it around me again, until all that was left was an inch of slack rope with a latch on the end. It caught the light as he stood, keeping me in his grasp and dragged me across the floor to the side wall of the stable. I kicked out as he wrenched my arms above my head and I heard the clanking of a chain. He fixed the lead to the chain and let go, stepping back with a smirk and leaving me on my knees. There was a look in his eyes that was both menacing and arousing.

  “Elias, please.”

  “Please, what?” he asked, jutting his head out and cocking a brow. “‘Please, Elias, accept my apology because I’m a dirty slut who likes to be forced into it?’” I shook my head. “I thought not. Sometimes I wonder if you do it on purpose, this defiance thing, to get what you really want.”

  “I don’t. I want you, but not like this.”

  I was lying. I knew it and he knew it, the bastard. I was already wet; I was already hot and tense and throbbing. I was desperate for him in a flash and that was why I didn’t want to fight him. I didn’t want to wait and I didn’t want him to make me. I wanted him—constantly—and I wanted him to just give it up instead of playing with me until the intensity threatened to break me.

  “You want me like this. I like making you wait for it. I like making you so desperate for my cock, you’ll do anything to have it.”

  I shook my head, refusing to hear him as he voiced my monologue. I hated that he knew me. I hated it and I loved it, because I did like the force…I just didn’t like the aftermath when I wondered who I was all over again.

  Elias tugged my vest up; the thin material felt like sand against my sensitive flesh, eliciting both discomfort and desire. I pulled against the chain and crossed my legs, bringing them up to my chest pulling my arms down to help me stand. I might have had a chance of beating him if I was on my feet.

  “You’d rather stand?” he asked, reaching behind him into the empty stable next to him and dragging two more leads over the edge. “I’d really advise you sit.”

  “Fuck you,” I spat, scraping my back against the wall as I stood up.

  “You asked for it.”

  He dropped to his knees in front of me and unzipped my trousers, pulling them down to my ankles and tugging them off with my trainers. My socks were next and the concrete shocked my feet, making me jump. I was standing in nothing but my bra and crumpled vest, the cold air licking my skin as a breeze blew and the barn door slammed shut to shroud us in near darkness.

  “See? Even the elements know what you want.”

  “Elias.”

  “Don’t say my name again until you’re ready to admit I’m right.”

  Pulling one ankle out and parting my legs, Elias bound my ankle, wrapping the rope around me until it was tight, the latch clipping onto a loop on the ground. I looked to the other side and, sure enough, another loop waited for my second ankle to be fixed to it. I kicked out when he grabbed hold of me, catching him in the mouth. Elias roared and smacked my thigh, making me wince and try to curl up. He swiped at the blood at the corner of his mouth and smeared it down my calf as he tied the other leg. I was bound to the wall of the stable on display to the six beasts who watched on with innocent eyes. I could feel their blackness in the dark, and cried for him to stop them looking. Elias whistled and the horses disappeared, all falling to the floor to take a nap. How? How did he do this and why did he have no mercy when a mere ten minutes ago, I’d seen a flash of the man who deserved my love. This man didn’t, but I couldn’t deny the heavy ache in my womb and the fucking throb that made me clench and pull against my newest restraints.

  “Are you ready to admit it yet?” he asked, taking hold of my face and forcing me to look at him. “Are you ready to admit to being turned on? To being afraid of what I’m going to do, but ready to find out?”

  I shook my head. Of course I was and the smile Elias shot me when I gave him the answer he’d known was coming confirmed that he knew me better than I wanted him to.

  “You’re killing me, Ashford,” he confessed in a moment of calm, his eyes flashing to the humane Elias, before he sheathed them in deviance once more and tore open the door of the stable.

  He disappeared into the shadows of the barn, but I heard the rustle and clink of metal and leather. He was standing at the tackle rack and I knew he was choosing his tools. He’d told me everything he’d use would be from this room—because this is where I’d chosen to hide and wait for him to find me—and one thing came to mind.

  I heard him approaching before I saw him. He’d taken his top off and unzipped his trousers so they hung loosely on his lean hips, framed the V that led to the patch of trimmed dark hair and, ultimately, his most powerful weapon. He was unashamedly hard, the outline of his impressive length and thick girth visible beneath his black trousers. I licked my lips, swallowed, and squeezed my eyes closed when I saw what he held in his hand.

  “Eyes open, Ashford,” he demanded, his voice more chilling when I couldn’t see him. He really was a demon. One made for me. “I have ways of forcing you to do that too.”

  My eyelids shot back, exposing my wide eyes to him as the tears pooled. It wasn’t in fear or shock; it was in imagination. It was in disgust of the thought of needles or tape prying my eyes open and forcing me to watch.

  “Do you think this will hurt?” he asked, stepping up to me and placing the tip of the riding crop at my collar bone. The leather was warm—he’d chosen not to shock me with that, at least.

  “Yes.”

  Thwack. I hissed through my teeth as he slapped my neck with the crop. It didn’t hurt, but it sent a delicious tingling sting up the length of my neck.

  “Did it?”

  “No.”

  Thwack. He hit the top of my chest and I pulled on the chain, my arms trying to close in and shield myself. That smack was a little harder and I felt my skin burn.

  “How does that feel?”

  “I want you to stop,” I asked, wiggling my fingers as the blood drained from them and shot south.

  “Tell me what it is you really like and maybe I will.”

  “No.”

  Thwack. A third hit struck my nipple as he pulled the cup down and squeezed hard. I felt it pebble; I looked down and watched it pucker as he teased it, flicking the head of the crop
back and forth. My stomach tightened and sent a shot of wetness straight to my cotton-sheathed pussy.

  “Elias.”

  “Yes, Ashford?”

  “Stop calling me that!” I pulled again, throwing my head forward to try and head-butt him. He weaved out of the way with a chuckle.

  “Feisty, Ashford, I like it.” He smacked my stomach with the crop and I winced, throwing my head back and growling my frustration as my pussy ached for attention and my spine rippled with the effects of his assault. He hit me again and stroked the crop lightly over my stomach, soothing the patch of skin before he struck again. I cried out and moaned, clamping my teeth over my lip to stop it. “What would you prefer? Queen of GRIT? My filthy princess? My deviant little angel?”

  “Elias.”

  “Yes?”

  “I hate you.”

  “Good.”

  I lowered my head to watch him grin before he hit me again—between the legs. I screamed, pulling up with my legs, down with my arms, shaking my head as the tears fell and I fought to keep my orgasm contained.

  “Ah, she likes that,” he said, striking again. It was too hard. It fucking hurt. It turned me into an animal, with my teeth bared, nails digging into my palms as I tried to restore the feeling that would give me the ability to punch him in his beautiful fucking vigilante face.

  “Don’t do that again,” I spat, thrashing like a wild woman as heat roared around my body and threatened to steal me from consciousness. I wanted to explode into a million pieces and use every one of them to choke Elias. “Do not do that again!”

  “Why not?” he hummed, dragging the crop up my leg, over the top of my pussy where the little patch of hair stopped, and down the other leg, before taking the same trail back.

  “I don’t like it.”

  “Liar!” he struck me again, my open legs punishing me by exposing my clit to him. He hit once, then little pressured taps followed and my legs shook. “You fucking love it.”

  “I…”

  “Go on.” He leaned closer and bit into my neck. I cried out and screamed his name. “Your body was made for me, baby. Tell me what it needs.”

  “I want to come.”

  “Like this?” He was toying with me, the damn crop driving me to the edge of insanity as the stars ceased to exist a million miles away and danced in my vision. “Bound and at my mercy? Fighting something we both know you need? Something we both want?”

  I blinked rapidly, trying to stay conscious as he sent electric shocks through my body with the flick of his wrist. My eyes widened when he gripped his cock, fisting it at the base and squeezing hard as he slid up his shaft. The rhythm of his hand matched the assault on my clit, until my jerks matched his, my breathing matched his heavy pants, my eyes streamed with the need to let go as his trailed on me and he watched me watch him get himself off. He was so hard I could make out every vein and delicious ridge I wanted to map out with my tongue. His stomach tightened as mine did, his thighs tensing as mine tried to clamp shut.

  “Have you ever gushed, Trixie?” he asked, taking a step towards me, dropping the crop and shoving two fingers inside me, the force jerking my body from the ground as he found my G-spot.

  I shook my head. He grinned. My clit pulsed, my head pounded, my pussy drew him deeper, begging for more when my voice refused to. His hand moved inside me, his palm stroking my clit as his brute force dragged my hips forwards and backwards. I felt it building—something I couldn’t even put a word to and had never felt in my life as he jerked his cock and rammed his fingers inside me so hard I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t scream or moan or cry. I couldn’t move. He’d paralysed me with whatever he was doing inside me and my body shook uncontrollably. My wrists twisted to grab the chain, my feet pulled at the leads until I felt the rope cut the skin and something, like a tidal wave or a fucking tsunami, surged into me and stole my existence. Finally I screamed, my lungs drawing in a breath so quickly my head felt light and the stars turned to supernovas as warm liquid spilled from me and thick, hot cream exploded from Elias and hit my stomach. I faintly heard his roar as I screamed over and over again, my soul leaving my body to hover above us and watch as I forced his fingers from me and his cupped hand caught the spray. What the fuck was going on?

  Elias swiped his hand over my stomach, collecting his cum with mine, and then he smeared it over his mouth before crashing his lips to mine. I died. I swear to God, I fucking died when he kissed me and shared the evidence of the desire I could no longer deny. The inside of my legs were soaked, my stomach matched my back and had been branded by Elias Blackwood. He kissed me like he was starving, his hands gripping my hips as he pulled away, slid to the floor and unhooked my ankles from the loops. Taking a step back, he extended my body, grabbed my ass and impaled me to the hilt in one breath-taking, life-ending thrust.

  God damn it.

  I'd come in here to talk to her; to try and explain this to her without taking advantage, but my upbringing caught me every time. Every. Damn. Time...and now I was balls deep in Trixie Ashford, pulling her onto me as I drove into her. I could see my cock sliding in and out of her, nudging out of her stomach. She was mine. In every way possible, she belonged to me and I needed her. Fuck the rebellion. Screw hating a challenge. Forget the dangers our coitus brought to the surface. I became someone when I was with her; it wasn't what I'd been raised to be—it wasn't a hundred other men who had influence from beyond the grave. Ambrose had been right last night when he'd said I'd found my mark. It was Trixie. Trixie fucking Ashford was my undoing and my reawakening all in one. She was it. She was the one.

  Her slick cunt strangled me, dragging me in deeper when I knew I should end this. It wouldn't end well, for either of us. It was forbidden. It was wrong. But it felt so fucking right.

  "Elias," she rasped, her voice dry from her screams and heady with lust. "Let me down. Let me touch you."

  Pinning her to the wall of the stable, I stilled with my cock as far as it would go, and reached above her to unhook the lead. Her hands fell to the back of my neck and dived into my hair, the rope burning the back of my neck when I drove into her again.

  "God," she cried, crashing her head back against the concrete. "You feel so good. So fucking good, Elias. I need this. I need you. I need us."

  I growled and buried my face in her neck, licking at perspiring flesh and sucking it into my mouth until it heated against my tongue as the blood rose to the surface.

  "I promised I wouldn't fuck you," I whispered in her ear, nipping on the lobe; she shivered and her pussy rippled around me. "Do you want me to stop?"

  I wasn't sure if I could, but I stilled, preparing to negotiate with her if she wanted to end this. Her eyes met mine and narrowed in anger.

  "Don't you fucking dare," she growled, her bound wrists pulling on my neck.

  Her voice, the angry lust and painful desire within it, reminded me of the underground club and made me wonder if we were that different after all. I wasn't the only one sending mixed messages.

  "No?" I teased, easing back until I almost slipped out of her, driving back in with one thrust. "You sure?"

  "Make me come," she pleaded. "Just make me come and look after me."

  That was it. My strong Ashford had broken and exposed her true desires. She wanted to be cared for. It was why she denied me what we both needed—because she felt used afterwards. I wouldn't allow that. Not anymore. Not now I'd made my decision to claim her...officially. I fucked her with abandon, watching her tits bounce from the bra, her back scraping the concrete wall, her heels digging into my ass as she begged me to tear her apart. I would, but not before I offered her the only part of me GRIT didn't own. My black heart.

  "I have one condition," I grunted, bending my legs to hit her harder and deeper, feeling the cushion of her g-spot against my cock.

  "Anything," she replied on a drawn out moan. "What do you need?"

  "I need you to accept me as I am," I confessed, dropping the final wall and pulling back to allow
her to see. "I need you to love me."

  "I love you," she said without thought, her lips crashing to mine as she came around me.

  I barely made it out of her before I spilled my load, emptying myself until the last drop of cum fell to the concrete, where Blaze had died last week, from a broken leg and a shattered soul after a match with the underworld.

  "Did you mean it?" Trixie asked once I’d let her free and fallen to the ground with her curled up on my lap. "Do all of your personalities want me to love you?"

  I felt the urge to say no, but I refused to listen to it. I refused to allow outside influence, just this once. With her in my arms, gripping onto me while I held her just as tightly, I felt at home.

  "I don't have multiple personalities," I said, laughing awkwardly.

  Because I did. It wasn't a medical condition and there was no cure. It wasn't a flaw or a disease or something Trixie would contract if she spent too much time with me. It was a defence mechanism and a weapon. I had been raised to shift into different gears, using traits I needed to carry out tasks and fulfil my destiny.

  "You do. I know of at least five Elias's."

  "Do you?" I cocked a brow, not caring that she couldn't see. "Who are they?"

  "There's the one from the dungeon," she started, her hand coming up to my bicep to stroke the tense muscle. "I like him, his aggression and coolness turns me on. Then there's the Elias from the bedroom, the one who likes to chase and be fought so he can exert his power. I like him, too. He frightens me enough to make me crave him. There's the sweet Elias, the one who sat on the floor outside the bathroom while I took a bath. He made me feel safe. There's the man I saw with our grandmother, in front of our family—the same one who commanded William like he was a dog." He was a dog, and I wasn't finished with him. It reminded me that I needed to step out of this bubble with Trixie and return to the real world. "I like how possessive and dominant he is. He knows his place in the world and he refuses to let anyone threaten it. And then there's you."