"She doesn’t have to prove anything to you. Just to James, and it seems she has. You're not giving James credit for his capacity of choosing."
"I just don’t want him to be hurt." Alec alleged.
"You're the one hurting him." She shouted as she grabbed him once more, making them appear in James' house. He was sitting on his back porch, a beer in hand, staring at the night. His face showed so much misery, Alec got worried instantly.
"When was this? What happened? Did anything happen to Hannah or the baby?" he turned to her, towering over the woman.
She pushed him away with the tip of the crop. "Get back, or I'll make you so tiny I could easily squeeze you between my fingers."
"Don’t threaten me. Just answer the damn question." But he took a step back.
"This is happening right now. The only thing bothering James is the fact he lost his best friend and not even understands why. The day he told you Hannah was having a baby, he was ready to ask you to be the godfather, the person he trusts more to be there for his child in case of need." She informed him. "Although, my opinion he's better off without you. What could you possibly offer a baby?"
"No one asked you." He retorted, looking back at James. In that moment, Hannah came out the door and he was able to see the expression on her face. There was sadness in her eyes but also rage, and he was sure he knew to whom that rage was dedicated. She walked to James and kneeled beside him, her hands resting over her thighs, her head down.
"Sir, please, come back to bed." She begged him, in a low voice. Seeing her in her submissive role was a shock to Alec. He never thought they were living it 24/7, since he had always considered her a fake.
James turned to her, lifting her chin and kissing her deeply.
"You shouldn’t be here, pet. It's too cold for you." He whispered to her, resting his face against her neck.
"I miss you, Sir. Bed is colder without you." She whispered back, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Why are you crying pet?" James asked immediately, wiping the tears from her face.
"This is all my fault Sir. The last thing I wanted was to come between you and your best friend." She said, closing her eyes, her face showing all the hurt she was feeling.
God, was she a good actress. Alec himself almost fell for it.
"Do we have to stay here and watch this? You're only reinforcing my opinion about her: she's manipulating him." He said, cold and annoyed.
"That's what you're seeing there?" she asked him clearly furious. She looked up to the sky and yelled. "Why are you making me waste my time like this?"
Alec snorted, but made no comment.
"She loves him, truly, deeply and anyone, but you, can see that. She's suffering because she knows she's the reason why you pushed James away from your life, and because she knows you mean more than a brother to James." The woman shouted at him.
Alec looked back at the scene but refused to see it.
Enraged, the woman took him to his last scene with Katherine. He was standing, away from her, facing the wall and she was still hanging from the ropes. Her face showed the mix of feelings she was experiencing, her chest was still heaving. But her eyes were locked on him. He saw himself coming back to her, taking off her clamps, ignoring her pain, not doing a damn thing to appease it.
He had screwed that scene. He had failed her terribly.
"Why are you showing me this?" he asked her, uncomfortable.
"You're treating all women you meet as if they were clones of Rose. You don’t even give them a chance. You just assume the worst and sit back waiting to turn the smallest incident into a confirmation of your assumptions."
"That's not true…"
"Yes it is, and despite all we have shown you, you still refuse to open your heart and mind to the truth. You're determined to stay on the road you drew for yourself the day your mother left your father, because she only left your father. You were the one that left her." She ranted, outraged.
Alec turned his face away from her and his eyes fell again to the scene going on down at the dungeon. He was cutting the ropes in a distant way, his hands barely touching her skin, as if he couldn’t stand to touch her.
But the worst was his dismissal. He had been cruel and insulting in an unforgivable way. He was able to see the pain in her eyes, as she walked out with shaky legs.
The woman touched his hand and he was taking to a place he didn’t know. When he saw Katherine, he realized it should be her place. She had let her body slide down against the door and her whole body shuddered with the violence of her sobs.
"Katherine…"
"She can't see you. Those are the consequences of your actions. You hurt all the people brave enough to get close to you."
"Stop this. This is just a mad nightmare."
"Sure, keep thinking that way and you will see how you'll end up."
She took him back to his bed and gave him a last warning.
"The Spirit of the Future will come by soon. Don’t blow this chance."
Alec opened his eyes startled. He was in his bed, and his cell phone was ringing.
He reached for it and looked at the name of the person calling. It was Jack.
"I think I found her." He said as soon as he accepted the call.
"You think?" Alec asked jumping out of bed. The sun was already high in the sky.
"Well, you didn’t give much to work with. Write down the address. I'm parked outside the house."
"Stay there until I arrive."
"Yes, Sir, no problem, Sir." Jack mocked him.
Alec put on some jeans and a sweater hurriedly, noticing a sting on his back, but not paying much attention to it. Right now, his priority was to find Katherine, to make sure she was alright and try to fix things between them.
Grabbing his car keys, he left immediately. He was almost there when he received a message from Jack.
"Is this the woman?" the question was accompanied with a picture of Katherine leaving a small house.
He sighed with relief and texted back. "Yes, don’t let her escape."
Chapter Seventeen
Katherine woke up in the morning feeling her whole body aching. But she knew that more than a physical ache, it was an emotional one. She felt so down, almost mournful. But she wasn’t going to allow that episode to ruin her life. So he was great in bed and he had made her feel like no one else in her life ever had, that didn’t change the fact that he was a badass jerk, and she was better off without him.
She was going to return to her normal life and forget that episode from her life as if it was just a simple nightmare.
She lingered in bed until noon, and then she decided to go for a walk in the park. The sun was shining and the cold air might be the right medicine for her. As she lived in the outskirts of town, her house was near a rural area, with a huge park, where you could wander for hours without seeing another soul, and that was one of the things she liked about it.
She put on some warm clothing because, despite the sun, winter was just around the corner. She grabbed her cell phone from her purse, to take it with her, and she realized it was off, so she connected it to the charger and left the house, without even turning it on.
She had been walking around the park for a several minutes, enjoying the cold breeze that ran through the fir trees’ green branches, when she heard steps behind her. She stepped aside to give way to whoever it was, but the person stopped in front of her.
"Katherine."
One single word and she almost crumbled to the ground.
He was there, standing in front of her.
Alec felt a wave of relief run through his body when he saw her alright, but soon relief was replaced by rage, and all he had planned to tell her, flew out of his mind. She was his, and it was time to let her know exactly that.
"What the hell are you doing here? How did you find me?" she asked him furiously.
"It wasn’t easy, believe me. Why aren’t you answering your calls?" he answered, in a cold tone
as usual.
"My phone is dead, and I believe it's none of your business," she replied, walking around him.
He grabbed her by her elbow and pulled her back.
"Did we end our agreement at some point and I'm not aware of it?" he asked, and she could almost feel the sharpness of the ice droplets he was throwing at her with each word.
"How can you ask that after the way you treated me last night?" she yelled at him, completely outraged by his gall.
"How did I treat you, Katherine? As MY fuck toy? Haven't you realized that's what you are? MY toy, MY slave. For me to use as I see fit?" he said, pulling her closer, his head almost touching hers, his eyes locked on hers.
"You're out of your mind if you think I would ever accept that," she shouted, struggling to free herself.
"You already did, the very instant you gave yourself to me, even if your mind still fights against it." His words sounded so fatidic, she shuddered violently.
"No, I'm not letting you do that to me," she yelled, and with a violent tug, she freed herself pushing him hard, catching him off-guard, and making him fall to the ground.
Once free, she started running with all her strength, leaving the trail, and entering the woods, needing get far away from him, but especially from his words. She didn't believe him, she couldn’t.
Only moments later, she was able to hear him running after her, so she hastened her pace. She couldn’t let him catch her. Deep inside her, she knew that if he took her under his spell again she would never be able to free herself from it.
But it did not take long for him to catch her. In just a few minutes, she fell as he threw himself over her, knocking her to the ground with him on top of her, crushing her against the hard ground, in a small clearing of the forest.
She struggled to kick him off of her, to no avail. He was too big for her, his body had her completely pinned to the ground and she could barely move.
"There's no escaping from me, girl, as there no escaping from yourself," he said, harshly in her ear.
"No, let me go, I don’t want this anymore," she yelled, increasing her struggle, drawing strength from despair, because he was right, she was running away from herself, from the power he had over her, power she had willingly given him.
"You're mine, Katherine, and it's time for you to accept that fact," he said as he pulled her hands over her head, pinning them on the ground, with just one of his hands, while the other one pushed her pants down her legs along with her panties.
Guessing his intentions she struggled harder, to no avail. Soon his hand was slipping between her legs, reaching her pussy and rubbing her clit roughly. To her dismay, her body reacted as he knew it would, and in just seconds, she was dripping and her body was shuddering in need.
"No… stop it, don’t do this!" she cried, never stopping her struggle, hearing as he unzipped his pants only seconds before he shoved his hard cock inside her.
Her cry was a tangle of emotions when she felt him inside her, pleasure fighting with pain for leadership.
"Yes, because you're mine, completely mine," he said, grunting as he plunged deep, in and out of her, his hard cock stretching her walls, assailing all in its way, marking her as his, dragging her into the spiral of the intoxicating pleasure they created every time they were together. "Say you're mine, Katherine," he demanded, never slowing his pace, "Say it!"
She sobbed, but refused to obey, still reluctant to accept that.
He released her hands, and moved his to underneath her, finding her nipples through her clothes and pinching them hard, matching the pinches with the thrusts.
"Say you're mine, girl," he repeated, pinching harder and going deeper inside her.
Her body convulsed under the strength of the wave of pleasure washing over her when she cried out:
"Yes, yes, I'm yours," she finally admitted, completely surrendering to him.
Her words were all he needed to finally let go and allow the orgasm building inside him to take over his body, making him pour himself deep inside her.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, their bodies slowly recovering from their powerful orgasms, until he slowly slid out of her, zipped his pants, and pulled up her pants, before sitting up against the trunk of a tree and pulling her into his arms, leaning her head against his chest. She had her eyes closed and he could see the tears running down her cheeks, but he knew she wasn’t crying in pain. Her tears were just the way her body was releasing all the stress she had felt since he had acted like a real brute.
He caressed her hair and deposited soft kisses over it, patiently waiting for her to recover. He didn’t fool himself into believing all would be roses from now on. His little shrew would fight all the way, she would probably demand more than he was willing to give, and deep down he knew he should have left her alone, that he would probably end up hurting her even more, but his selfishness didn’t let him act the way he should. He wanted her too much and this time he would take what he wanted.
Katherine let him hold her in his arms, relishing his sweet caresses. Once more, she had fallen under his spell. But he was right, how was she supposed to escape her own feelings, her own needs? She knew she was going to end up burned, hurting like hell, but if she was sure of one thing, it was that meanwhile, she would live to the limit, experiencing the highest expression of pleasure and bliss.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up at him, just to meet his eyes.
"Hi," he whispered.
"Hi," she whispered back, with a faint smile.
"Ready to go back home, girl?" he asked, and his tone said more than his words.
"Yes, Sir!" she accepted, meekly.
He helped her up, and got up himself.
"It came to my mind that I don’t know much about your life, girl," he said as they walked back to the entrance of the park. "I had to go to a lot of trouble just to get your address."
"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry to hear that, Sir," she said, sarcasm oozing out of every single word.
He pinched her side, making her whimper.
"Sarcasm isn’t allowed, girl," he said, but she could tell he didn’t really mean it. "I want to know more."
"Then ask, Sir, I'll be happy to answer all your questions," she replied with a faint smile.
"What do you do for a living?" he asked, immediately.
She laughed and shook her head.
"You won't believe it, Sir," she said, amused.
"The only thing that could really shock me would be to hear you're a nun," he answered, smiling.
"No, I'm not a nun, Sir. I'm an illustrator for children's books," she said. "I basically spend the day drawing princesses and dragons," she explained, chuckling.
"Ok, I must admit I didn’t see that coming," he said, laughing. "So you work from home?"
"Yes, Sir, I only have to visit the editor to deliver my job or to discuss a new one with the writer," she agreed.
"That's good. So you can work anywhere," he concluded.
"Not anywhere, Sir, I need good lighting and my drawing table. Otherwise, I can't work properly," she corrected him.
"So, if I provided you with that, would you consider moving in with me? I want to see where this will take us," he suggested, in a dead serious tone.
"Do you think that would be a good idea, Sir?" she asked, not sure she was ready for a step like that. Truth was, she barely knew him.
"I'm a Master, girl. I need to live it 24/7. I need to control every aspect of your life. I need you to hand me that control," he said, stopping and making her look at him.
"Will you share more of your life with me… Sir? she asked.
"I can promise I'll try," he said, holding her hands. "I'll respect your work, your private space. I just want to know you'll be there whenever I need you," he added.
Katherine looked at him and knowing she already was in this up to her neck, she decided, why not a bit further? She knew there was no turning back for her.
"Yes, Sir, I believe we can try,"
she accepted, with a smile.
He cradled her face with both his hands and kissed her passionately, and she responded with a passion that matched his perfectly.
She took him to her place and showed him her house and her work, and he only asked her for a couple of days to organize a studio for her in his house.
"I'll send for you when I get everything ready," he said when he decided to leave.
"I won't see you before that, Sir?" she asked, curious.
"No, I believe it's better this way. You can use the time to thoroughly think things through. I don’t want you to feel at some level that I'm forcing you," he said, and his tone indicated he had made a decision and she wasn’t going to make him change his mind.
"Alright, Sir," she accepted, not very happily. She didn’t need time to think things through, but there wasn’t much she could do.
"Where's your collar, girl?" he asked all of a sudden, and her face went redder than a strawberry.
"My collar… Sir? I must have put it somewhere…" she stammered, remembering how she had tossed it to the floor. She wasn’t even sure where it might have landed.
"Remember, I once told you I could read you clearly?" he said, his tone cold once more.
"Yes, Sir," she sighed. "I tossed it somewhere, here in the living room, but I don’t know where it fell. I was furious and hurt, Sir."
"Well, then find it. I want to see you wearing it when you enter my house in a couple of days," he ordered her.
"Yes, Sir" she answered, with a grimace.
He kissed her roughly, stealing her breath away, just before he walked to the door and left.
Chapter Eighteen
Katherine sighed, rubbing her face. She had fallen into his web once more. And the worst part was she had no intention of leaving it.
Sighing, she remembered she had to check her cell phone. Surely, she would have quite a few missed calls, and some of them certainly would be from her mother. She always called on Sundays.
She had more lost calls than she had ever had in her life. Most were from him, but she had ten calls from Lucy and 3 from her mother.
She decided to call her mom first, otherwise she would be freaking out with worry.
Dark Romance Novel - Submission + Taken + 1 Mystery books Bundle Set (A Dark Romance Series Novel) Page 108