by Dani René
Samael is quiet for a long moment. When he speaks again, his tone is hesitant. “You meant something to my brother. Everything perhaps. He loved you.”
“I thought I was in love with him too, once. Have you ever been in love?” My gaze darts up, and I meet those cobalt eyes. He shakes his head and rises from the bed. In two long strides, he’s at my dresser. When he presses the button for my little iPod docking station, the song “The After You” by Miakoda that streams through the speakers rips my heart from my chest.
“All I know about love is that it’s a stupid emotion that only gets you hurt. Or killed. The life I live is a dark path. My brother saw it, my father knows it.” His words drip with venom. Once again, his shield comes up closing himself off. Sam’s confession is so fierce it slams into me painfully. “And now, my brother’s fallen in love and he’s gone.”
“I’m sorry.” The words fall from my mouth easily because I am. “You’re right; it is my fau—”
“No, it wasn’t.” He turns to regard me then. “He’s not made for this life. I am. Being the man who can withstand women’s tears and still do the same thing to them day in and day out is not what my brother wants. He wants a life of solitude. A family.”
Closing the distance between us, he sits beside me. The heat of his body, radiating tension, warms me. I shouldn’t feel safe with a man like him, but I do. The man I love has a brother, a father, family. “Do you know where he is?” I ask, but he shakes his head.
“I’m going to get you out of here. I just need you to trust me.” The look he pins me with then is stern, with a promise, a vow. Without a second thought, I nod.
“I do.”
“Good girl.” He stands and fastens the button of his suit jacket before making his way to the door. With a hand on the knob, he stops and drops his gaze to the floor. “Be ready in an hour. You’ve been requested for a party.” And then he’s gone.
My body is shaking with cold fear. Sam walked with me to the normal room five that I’ve become accustomed to, but once he left, another one of the men came to collect me and brought me to an area of the mansion I’ve never seen. It’s almost an exact replica of the club, but on a smaller scale. A private wing, I’d guess.
“You’ll fucking obey me, toy.” The voice booms in the small room. I’d hoped I’d get a reprieve from him today, but sadly, I’m not that lucky. I drop to my knees on the black carpet and keep my eyes trained on the floor. The metal leash he always carries gets clipped to the collar around my neck. “Come.” On all fours, I follow him, crawling like the pet I am. I thought it would be Harlan that requested me, but this is the stranger who raped me when I was bound in the dungeon. He and Harlan made me bleed that day.
As we weave our way through the mansion, I know where we’re headed. The music from the party room echoes down the hallway, and as we near it, I can hear the men’s voices over the deep thumping bass.
It’s my first time doing this and I have a feeling tonight I’ll be used until I pass out, maybe even after. Because that’s what they did to me in the dungeon.
“Well, what do we have here?” A deep rumble cuts through my thoughts and a hand, rough and calloused, reaches for my chin, tugging it up harshly. “She’s a pretty one,” he says to the man holding my leash, but stares at me.
“She’s well trained,” the old man says proudly, and I shiver. His voice is slurred, and I realize he’s drunk already. “Come on, pet. Up on the table.” He tugs the leash, pulling me toward the low mahogany table in the center of the room. I climb up with ease and sit back on my heels, waiting for my next command. The stranger who called me pretty crouches beside the table and meets my gaze. He’s got kind blue eyes. I say kind, but what I really mean is that he’s not scary. Not like the vile man who violated me.
“Do you like to play, little toy?” he asks, his tone laced with lust. I know their nicknames for the girls, pet, toy, Sam told me not to retort, just obey. So I do.
“Yes, Sir,” I mumble. He reaches out and tugs at the clasp of my bra, unhooking it with one hand. The straps fall to my front, and when the material drops from my body, I hear the loud hiss from the others. I don’t know how many there are, but I would guess six.
“So polite. Let’s see how much that mouth can take.” He rises, leaving me with a view of his shoes. They’re shiny and black and remind me of the ones my father used to wear to work. The clink of a belt buckle alerts me that I’m about to be taken, and it won’t be nice. “Eyes up.” Lifting my gaze, I watch as he unzips his expensive slacks and drops them to his knees.
The thick ridge of his erection protrudes in my face, and I realize he wasn’t wearing underwear. His big hand fists his shaft, taking the tip and running it over my lips. “Open your pretty little mouth, kitten.” I obey, like I was taught to do, and he slips the crown of his dick in my inviting mouth. “Fuck,” he grunts in satisfaction. “Suck it like you do those lollipops you girls like so much.” My cheeks cave in as I swallow him, sucking harder. His groan is evidence that I’ve been trained well.
He grips my head, fisting my long, red hair in thick fingers, and plunges himself deep down my throat. My gag reflex kicks in, and I choke on the tip as it hits me painfully. Spit drips from my chin and my eyes tear up. “Eyes up.” Dragging my watery eyes up to him, I find a dark smirk on his lips.
As he continues fucking my face, I feel hands on me, ripping my panties from my frame and groping my flesh. The man before me grunts and his body locks before jets of release fill my mouth. When he finally pulls himself from my swollen lips, I’m dragged to the floor, directed to straddle a man with a mask on his face. I’m impaled on a thick cock and his hips rock up toward me as he fucks me bareback.
Just when I think I can’t take anymore, another man nudges my tight, puckered entrance. Teasing it. I hear and feel the spit on my ass, and before the pain sears me, I retreat into my mind. The darkness I hold on to envelops me as I fight to keep myself sane. As I try to grasp my soul and shield it from the filth and darkness, I pray for escape, beg for mercy, and plead for a reprieve.
“Just a toy, that’s all you’re good for. All you’ll ever be.”
“Tonight is the night.” Samael barges into my room. The look on his face is fierce, and I realize what he means. I’m leaving tonight. “Get up. The bag I told you to pack, grab it and follow me.” Without another word, he strides to the corner of the room and settles on the dresser as he always does.
Swiftly, I move to the closet and pull out the backpack I’ve had ready of some clothes I can wear while I figure out what’s going to happen to me because there’s one place I won’t be returning to and that’s my childhood home. “Where am I going?” I ask as we head down the hallway.
“You’re going to leave with Dax and Theia. They’ll be able to keep you safe. Axel is waiting at the club where he’ll be able to take you to the apartment we have set up. You’ll have a job and a place to stay. The rest is up to you.”
“And…” I want to question him about his brother. If he knows where he is, but my words taper off.
“Listen to me, Firebird.” Gripping my shoulders, he levels his gaze on mine. “I don’t know where he is. We’ve not spoken in months. But I need you safe. If there’s one thing I can do for my brother, it’s to make sure the woman he loves has a life worth living, and even if he never knows what I’ve done, at least I know I’ve done one thing right and gotten you out. It’s what he wanted. Be safe, Paige. I know you will. You’re strong. Don’t let assholes take advantage of you,” he bites out. And just like that, he releases me and steps back. Those are the last words he says to me as we reach the door at the end of the long corridor.
It swings open and I’m met by Dax. My first impression from one glance is that this man is scary. If I walked into him on the street, I’d run the other way. He is easily taller than six feet with a full beard and tattoos covering his arms and neck reminding me of a dangerous biker or gang leader. But when he smiles, it’s genuine. “Hel
lo, little red. Let’s get you outta here.” He reaches for my bag, turns on his heel, and stalks to the waiting car.
With a last glance at Samael, I simply nod. “Thank you.” One small smile is all he offers, and then he’s gone. The car is waiting on the driveway, and when I slip into the backseat, there’s a pixie of a girl sitting there. She regards me with affection, as if I’m her best friend and she’s trying to soothe my ache. Perhaps she is, or she will.
“Hello, Red.” Her sweet voice is like a salve to my agony, and I smile.
“Hi, I’m Paige.” We shake hands when she tells me her name is Theia. Something about her is familiar, and when the light from outside slides across her face, I recognize it immediately. She looks exactly like her brother. Samael. Which makes me wonder what their other brother looks like. He was different, dark brown eyes, tanned, whereas Theia is fair-skinned. My mind tries to create a mental picture of him, from what I have seen of his smile, but I can’t and frustration has me sighing.
“You’ll need a new name for your new life. Do you have one in mind?” She glances at me with curiosity. When Sam told me he’d be able to free me, that I had one chance to get out of hell, I sat back and reinvented myself. That night, I went through a list of names, and one that struck me as unique was Skyla. The meaning of it being scholar, or shield, and I knew right then, that’s who I’d be. A scholar of life, learning to live in the real world, but a shield for all the pain and agony I’ve endured.
It’s time to move on, and even if I must do it on my own, I’ll find my strength. “Skyla,” I murmur and glance at my new friend. Her sweet smile calms me. Her aura is like a healing mist, and I want to bask in it.
“I like it. Well, Skyla, welcome to your new life,” she says happily as the car weaves its way to my new home. The destination unknown, but I know somewhere in the maelstrom I’ll find my happiness.
And one day. Somehow. I’ll find my Wolfe.
To Covet You
I bask in your light,
Your warmth is my life force,
My strength is your shield,
When our souls unite,
Our hearts meld as one
Dani René
13
Kael
Six years later
It’s been a year since the day that I confessed who I was to Paige.
I walked into Dax’s club, Inferno, not realizing my whole life was about to change. Sitting in the front row and seeing my feisty Phoenix stepping onto the stage, I was completely and utterly floored. She’d matured in the most beautiful way.
When I left her in Caged, I knew she’d flourish and survive the nightmare. But when I saw her again after all those years, I knew I had to claim her.
There was no way I was going to let her go again.
I was a coward, it took me six months to confess who I was. I did it while I was deep inside her body. When she looked at me with anger, elation, love, frustration...every emotion tumbled around in those emerald orbs. And all I could do was wait for her to finally let out all of them and find the one that mattered most.
Love.
Her love for me.
She needed to know I wanted her. She needed to let me into her heart and mind. Not that I ever left, but with years of pent-up anger at me leaving, I was bound to have to fight my way into her life.
She never recognized me. I’d changed since I left Caged. My body was inked, my hair was long, and I grew a beard. My voice had changed after the months of torment my father put me through. I went back for her but she’d gone. He didn’t appreciate his disowned son showing up.
He had me tortured for three months. Three men took turns beating me daily, I’d almost lost the will to live. My voice had cracked, changed, from the screaming I’d done. They’d cut my flesh for a confession on how I’d allowed her to escape. What got me through was the fact that I knew she was safe outside those walls.
When he released me again with a warning that if I ever came back he would kill me, I ran. It was only years later I found the strength to move back to New York. To find Axel and start a life close to my sister and Dax.
Axel inviting me to Inferno was a turning point. I’d found my long-lost Phoenix. Then I almost fucked it up again. The memory of that day still makes me shudder. If she had said no, I’m not sure what I would have done.
“It’s your Wolfe, my sweet Phoenix,” I murmur. Feeling her heart beating wildly in her chest, which thrums against mine. Recognition, shock, and anger swirl in her emerald eyes, piercing me with daggers. Straight to my heart. I did this. I hurt her again. She stares into my eyes, and she sees it. She sees me finally. She would never have recognized my voice after the torture my father put me through. It’s huskier, deeper, I almost don’t recognize it myself.
“It is you,” she whispers in shock and awe. “How? Your voice, it’s not the same. This doesn’t make sense. Get the fuck off me!” she hisses angrily. “Now!” I obey, moving off her warm body, I watch her pace the room. When she stops and turns to me, she scowls. “Tell me the truth or get out!” She punches me in the chest. Her fire burning bright at my confession.
It’s been five years since I last saw her. Since I left her in hell. Now I’ve finally found her and I’m not letting her go. My soul is in my hands. But my heart, it’s in hers.
“Tell me, Kael!” Her voice echoes around us. Her body vibrates with controlled rage. I don’t blame her. Those eyes I’ve missed looking into pierce me with a mixture of love, confusion, and anger.
I close the distance between us until I’m inches from her. “Listen to me, Phoenix,” I murmur, hoping to calm her. “I need you to hear me out.” I used to love when she begged me, now I’m the one pleading for her.
“Why the fuck should I listen to you? You lied!” I knew she’d be angry, so I wait. I don’t move because she needs to hear me out. “Kael Wolfe?” I nod in response. “Jesus, I’m such an idiot. I should have figured it out.” Her hand reaches for her panties, and I watch her tug them up her slender thighs.
“Paige, listen to me, I need you to just calm down.” Lifting my hands in surrender, I try placating her, but she’s having none of it. She shoots daggers at me with those beautiful eyes, and I don’t blame her. For months I’ve been in here, making her feel, making her fall, and now that she has, I drop a bomb on her. It doesn’t help that I’m still hard as fuck for her.
“Why the hell should I even give you the time of day?! Do you know what you did to me? Do you realize the pain you put me through for five long, agonizing years?” she retorts, spitting her words like venom. I deserve everything. Each word. The fury she pins me with slowly tightens my chest and breathing becomes difficult.
“I know—”
“No, you don’t fucking know!” Her voice carries as she paces back and forth with her gaze flitting between me, the floor, and the window that overlooks the city. “You…” Her voice trails off, and she glances out the window. She’s silent, and I think she’s calmed, but when I take a step toward her, she spins on her heel. And that’s when I see them. Tears. They stream silently down her cheeks, and they burn me like acid racing through my veins.
“Paige.” My voice is a pained whisper, but her gaze doesn’t meet mine.
“Fuck you, Kael Wolfe! You made me love you!”
I take another tentative step toward her, reaching for her hand, but she doesn’t gift me hers. Instead, she rears her hand back and punches me in the chest, then the face. Her tiny fists fly left, right, left, and I let her. It will be the one time I ever allow a woman to hit me. Once the fight leaves her, she peeks at me.
“I hate you,” she hisses, and I don’t doubt she means every word.
“I love you.” My confession has her laughing wryly.
“You don’t love me. You didn’t love me when you walked out and left me in that fucking hell.”
“I loved you more then than I ever did. Paige, I never stopped loving you.” This time, I reach for her and she allows me to hold he
r. To touch her. Pulling her into my arms, I inhale the scent of her, of us. It hangs heavy in the room. “These years without you have been the most difficult I’ve ever had to endure. Not having you close by, I felt as if I’d been crushed. My life stopped when I walked out, knowing I couldn’t take you with me.”
“You hurt me more than I ever could have imagined. I gave you everything, Kael. My heart, mind, my body… God, you were etched into my soul. Every breath I took was for you. Was because of you.” Her words pierce me, slicing deep into my heart. Leaving me flayed at her mercy.
“Look at me, Phoenix.” The words come out as an order, and as much as she should tell me to fuck off, she doesn’t. Instead, she glances up, meeting my eyes with hers. “You’re made for me. When I first saw you on stage here at Inferno, it felt as if I was alive again for the first time in years.” Taking a deep breath, I search her gaze for hate, or anger, but I come up short. All I see is affection.
“Kael—”
“I walked in here asking for you every night knowing that if you knew it was me, you would hate me for what I put you through. But our time in that hell was real to me. When I felt your body mold around me, when I saw you come apart below me, when I watched you soar above me, those were the moments I’ve held on to all these years.”
Her head drops into her hands, and she sighs. I want to go to her. To hold her. But I know I need to give her space. “The time with you was never a distraction. I gave you all of me because I loved you.” Her words are sincere and I can take the distance no more. I stalk toward her, leaving no space between us. Nodding, I reach up, stroking my knuckles along her cheek, and she leans into my touch.
“Loved?” I question with my heart beating wildly in my chest.