by Diana Ames
She blushed again; in fact, since he’d come into the room, she didn’t think she’d stopped blushing. She would bet her face looked like a ripe tomato.
“What do you say, pet? Will you keep this visit and those to come just between us?” he asked again with a seductive tone.
“Yes, Anton, of course I will,” she said.
He bent down and placed one soft kiss on her mouth, and then, he all but ran for the door. Locking it behind him, he bent forward and braced his hands on his knees. It had been all he could do to keep from tying her to the bed and fucking every virgin hole she had. But he’d done it. He’d been alone with a beautiful, innocent woman who was there just for his pleasure, and he’d controlled his beast.
***
Gilly sat in her office, gloating at just how easy it was to get rid of Damian. Although it was true that Jenalynn had a terrible fear of men, it could easily be overcome. Jenalynn was quite the trusting little soul.
Gilly began making plans as she prepared false paperwork to show Damian. She had a feeling he wasn’t going to let this one go easily. She could only hope he busied himself with training the other submissive. Perhaps if he got caught up in his work, he would leave her alone. She knew it wasn’t likely though, so she began putting things in order to keep him satisfied.
Gilly began creating the lab and surgery documents for the next morning. She would be using a surgical room and a specimen from the lab. She just wouldn’t be using synthetic skin, and there was no Dr. Forrester coming to do the mythical skin graft.
Gilly grinned, thinking that being in charge sometimes had its perks.
***
Gilly’s comments and actions disturbed Damian. The way her eyes fluttered and wouldn’t meet his made him think she was lying. But what is she lying about? With his position, Damian could easily check records and find out everything he wanted to know. It was befuddling to him.
Damian cleared his thoughts with a shake of his head. He was going back to the training room. He had unfinished business with little Sandra. He hoped she’d explored the room or read some of the books. Knowledge went a long way in alleviating fear. Part of him hoped, however, that she was just afraid enough that he would have to give a demonstration of sexual pleasure to ease her.
With that thought, he grinned. He knew he was only fooling himself if he thought for one minute that he was going back to the room and not touching her. He could see her beautiful nudity in his mind, and the image alone had him hard. He shook his head again. He had to get control of himself. He could not take her virginity, at least not before he got Anton to agree to call off this search and stay away from women for a while.
Damian abruptly turned and headed in the opposite direction. He had business to deal with in the north wing. It could not wait any longer.
***
Prince Anton went to his apartment to shower after leaving Mellissandra. He wasn’t showering because he felt unclean but because he was actually wearing soiled clothing. He was amazed that he’d fucked Gilly and then spent time with Mellissandra without his beast stealing his control. He felt a strange pressure in his chest when he thought about it.
Anton entered his bathing chamber, and out of habit, he turned the water to scalding hot. When he stepped under the water, he jumped back, getting out of the spray. For once, the intense heat of the water didn’t feel cleansing; it felt painful. He adjusted the water to a comfortable warm temperature and picked up the scrub brush and cleanser.
He looked down at the items in his hands. For the first time, he realized that it wasn’t normal to wash with a scrub brush and a bleach-based floor cleanser. What have I been doing to myself? Anton was alarmed by the discoveries he’d made, and seeing no regular soap or washcloth in the shower, he quickly shut off the water and got out.
Naked, Anton went into his bedroom to retrieve fresh clothing and stopped short when he saw Damian there, sitting on his sofa. Anton went farther into the room, not the least bit perturbed to be nude in front of the other man.
“This is getting to be a habit, little brother,” Anton said. “To what do I owe the pleasure this time?”
“You know why I’m here, Anton,” Damian said, ignoring the little brother remark. “Are you going to stay away from women and get some help? Or do I have to call security and have you arrested?” His tone was cool, but his eyes betrayed him. Damian was barely holding in his temper.
“Does it bother you much that you’re a bastard, Damian?” Anton asked. “I can see the anger in you.”
Damian was angry. Raised by his father, he’d always been told his mother died during childbirth. His father had been the head of castle security, and Damian had never questioned that he seemed to be favored more than the other servants’ children. Just after the queen died, he learned the truth. His father had been one of many the queen had called upon to satisfy her sexual needs. When she’d turned up pregnant, knowing the child didn’t belong to the current king, she’d hidden herself away until the child was born.
She hadn’t even held Damian once. She hadn’t even bothered to name him. He’d been given to his father to raise. His father had left with his infant boy in the still darkness of night, and then he returned two weeks later with Damian and a wet nurse in tow. No one had questioned him when he’d told everyone the mother of his child died while giving birth. When the queen died, she’d acknowledged Damian in her will, and everyone had learned the truth. By then, the king and Damian’s father had long been dead.
Anton had wanted to claim him as his brother to the entire country, but Damian wouldn’t allow it. He didn’t want anything from the woman who’d callously tossed aside her infant son. He refused to call her his mother or claim her in any way. He supposed the woman had warped him as much as she had Anton, just in a different way.
Right after Damian had found out about his parentage, he and Anton had gotten drunk together, and Damian discovered the details of Anton’s childhood. In trying to convince Damian to claim his birthright as a prince of the realm, Anton had shared the horrors he’d been subject to as a child. Instead of cementing their bond and making them closer, the knowledge had made him resent the woman who’d given him life even more.
“Damian,” Anton said softly.
Drawing Damian out of his dark thoughts, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Being your brother doesn’t anger me, Anton. That woman royally fucked you up. Forcing you to suckle at her breast until you were well into puberty and fucking every man in the castle regardless of who might see, including you, has twisted you. You hate women. For me, she was just a womb to hold my infant body until I was ready to survive in the world. We would probably have been better off not knowing my parentage.”
“I’ve always known, Damian,” Anton said quietly. “I used to think your father was hurting her with the way she’d cry out when he was atop her. Although I was only four, I realized she liked what he was doing when she kept seeking him out and letting him mount her. I couldn’t understand why she got so fat, and then one day, she wasn’t. It wasn’t long after that your father was walking around with his infant son. Even though I was too young to know exactly what it all meant, I still knew.”
Damian’s head shot up, and he stared Anton straight in the eye. They didn’t discuss their mother situation often because it left them both uncomfortable and angry. This time though, Anton didn’t sound angry but sad.
“I was glad she gave you to your father,” Anton told him. “It wasn’t because I didn’t want a brother or because I didn’t want to share her. I was glad because you were out of her reach. There was something really wrong with her.”
“Anton, have you made a decision?” Damian asked. He couldn’t handle any more of this conversation. Yes, there had been something wrong with their mother, and she’d passed it along to his brother.
“Damian…” Anton sighed. “I will stay away from the blonde. We need to make sure she gets all the medical treatment she needs to get well, and then w
e’ll set her up with money and a home. I really hurt her. I wasn’t in control.” He paced the room. Although he’d thrown on a pair of silk boxers while Damian was lost in thought, Anton suddenly felt very exposed. “But Gilly is my only…friend, I guess you could say, and I’m not going to stay away from her,” Anton told him.
“I’m not talking about Gilly, Anton, and you damn well know it.” Damian stood. “You need to stay out of the club as well. You raped a woman!”
“I could make the argument that she works in a sex club, Damian. She was paid well for what I did with her,” Anton said. “I didn’t beat her, and I wasn’t violent,” Anton said, his voice getting louder.
“She said no, Anton. That is rape, regardless of her job or the fact that you didn’t beat her.”
Anton sighed and sat on the edge of his bed. His elbows on his knees, he rested his head in his hands. “I noticed something this evening, Damian,” Anton said. “Did you know I wash my body with a scrub brush and floor cleaner?”
Damian took a deep breath and held it. He had known Anton’s washing habits. There wasn’t much that happened in the castle that he wasn’t aware of. He’d only been living and working here for a year, but his dominant personality and his father’s previous position had people deferring to him.
“I didn’t know,” Anton continued. “When I was in the shower, I looked down at what was in my hands, and I was horrified. I feel like my eyes have been opened, Damian. It’s like something was blocking me from seeing what I was doing, and it’s gone now.”
Damian wanted to believe him. He believed that Anton believed something had changed. But Damian had seen too much to just naively accept that one revelation made a changed man. In his travels and his own dominant training, he’d seen good men go bad as they became addicted to causing pain. He had no doubt that Anton was addicted. And the only way to cure an addiction like his was to cut it off at the source.
“Anton, I’m glad you’re seeing some of your more self-destructive behaviors for what they really are. But don’t think that if you put yourself into a sexual situation, this new knowledge means you’ll be able to control your violent urges.” Damian stood and approached Anton. He put one hand on his bare shoulder and stared him straight in the eye. “Brother, I want to see you be well and happy.” He squeezed his shoulder. “I just don’t think you can do that so long as you’re putting temptation in your path. And the next woman might not survive what you do to her.”
Anton watched Damian walk out of the room. Anton knew he could control the need to draw blood. He’d done it twice now, and he was convinced he could do it again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Damian headed down the corridor to his own apartment. He was in a foul mood after the conversation with Anton. He was always in a foul mood after thinking about his mother. The woman had been insane. While living in the castle with his father, Damian had interacted with her on a few occasions. She’d seemed to seek him out, but Damian didn’t know why until after her death.
He’d always felt uneasy around her. Her eyes had watched him a little too closely. At five years old, he’d been enamored by her beauty despite his discomfort. At ten, he’d just thought she was lonely and strange. At twelve, when his voice had begun changing and his body had begun developing from a child into a young man, he started feeling like a piece of meat on an auction block. At fifteen, he had done everything in his power to avoid her.
His father had died of a massive heart attack when Damian was sixteen, and as was policy, he was able to stay at the castle. Families and children were always cared for when an immediate family member who had dedicated their life to serving the royal family passed away or became disabled. Although he lived at the castle after his father’s death, Damian spent most of his time in the village outside the castle walls.
The queen died just before Damian’s eighteenth birthday. After her death, when he’d learned of his true parentage, he’d left the castle for good. Or at least, he’d assumed it would be for good.
Anton had kept tabs on Damian and tried to stay in touch despite the emotional and physical distance between them. When Damian had finally returned, Anton paved a path for the law changes Damian wanted to enact. Then, a year ago, Anton had asked Damian to assist him in his search for the perfect submissive life mate; and it had been clear to Damian that it wasn’t a request. Damian had reluctantly agreed to leave his club in the hands of a manager and live back in the castle. It was supposed to be only for a few months. Damian had little doubt that he could find a woman and train her to be the perfect virgin submissive.
But the first woman Damian had chosen had asked to leave after just two weeks with Anton. Anton had said the second one wasn’t sensual enough. The third woman had lasted three days before showing up at Damian’s apartment with bloody welts across her ass. Now, poor Jenalynn Felix was in medical waiting for the first of countless surgeries. Damian thought of Sandra, who was waiting for her training to begin.
Damian entered his apartment and slammed the door behind him. Thoughts of the innocent woman with hair of fire filled his head and drove him to his liquor cabinet. Pouring himself a shot of whiskey, he wondered how he was supposed to train her for Anton when all Damian could think about was filling her body with his own.
***
Mellissandra stretched out on the floor in front of the fireplace. The plush carpet beneath her felt decadent against her bare skin. She was still flushed and tingly from her conversation with Prince Anton. His voice had been deep and husky, and the sensual words coming out of his mouth had done nothing to ease the pull in her abdomen. If anything, he’d made the feelings stronger.
She couldn’t figure out why he had made her so uncomfortable though. She’d wanted to cover her body from his eyes and hide from his words, but she’d been mesmerized by the sound of his voice. She couldn’t look away when his gaze had met hers.
She hadn’t felt uncomfortable with Teacher. Damian, she tested out in her mind. That was what Prince Anton had called him. Damian. She hadn’t felt shy when Damian had swept her body against his as he’d carried her into the torture room. She hadn’t been ashamed of her reaction when he spoke low in her ear, his breath hot on her skin. Even during the interview, when he’d put his fingers inside her body, she’d reveled in his invasion. After a moment, she’d felt like she was reaching for something that seemed beyond her.
Mellissandra was also disturbed by the prince’s request to keep his visits with her a secret from Teacher. Isn’t the prince the boss, after all? Is he really intimidated by someone he employs? It made no sense to Mellissandra’s confused mind.
Comfortable and warm, Mellissandra fell asleep on the floor in front of the fireplace. She was completely unaware of the upheaval taking place in the great hall at that very moment.
***
“I’m telling you she’s here,” the man yelled at the two security police in front of him.
“Calm down, sir,” one of the men told him. “The only people here are servants, medical staff, and of course, the royal prince.”
“She’s not a servant!” he shouted. “She came here to be some…” The man shuddered. “She came here to be some whore for the prince.” He whispered his last words as though saying them softly would make them less true.
“The prince does not bring whores into the castle,” the other guard said, his face turning red with anger.
“I’m telling you, she’s here! And I want her back. Now!” he shouted once again. “The prince might not call them whores. He calls it some life mate garbage or something like that, but I call a spade a spade. And any woman who has to apply for the position is asking to be a whore!”
The two guards looked at each other, their eyes widening with understanding. They knew two women had been accepted to be the prince’s submissive with the last group and that one of those women was currently in medical with life-threatening injuries.
“Come with me, sir,” the older guard said to the man. Turning
to his partner, he said, “Go get Damian.”
***
Gilly leaned over Jenalynn’s back to check the machines monitoring her vital signs. It wouldn’t serve her plans for Jenalynn to die now. Her stats were all good, and her brain waves were reading deep sleep.
Gilly was alone in the operating room. No nurses or other doctors could be a part of this, except for the fictional Dr. Forrester, of course. Gilly giggled when she thought how easy it had been to lie to Damian. For someone supposedly so superior and more intelligent than the rest of them, he’d been awfully gullible.
It didn’t take long to finish the procedure. In reality, if the situation were different, this would have been done in an office while the woman was awake. Gilly still marveled at her good fortune and the turn of events that led her to this moment. Shaking her head and grinning like a fool, Gilly set about injecting the infection into Jenalynn’s bloodstream.
It wasn’t a serious infection, but it would show enough complications to make it believable when Jenalynn would have to be moved to isolation. It would also be a good excuse as to why her body would reject the fake skin graft. One round of antibiotics would kill the bacteria quickly, avoiding repercussions that could damage Gilly’s plans. But the infection would be enough to limit Jenalynn’s care only to Gilly. And that was exactly what she needed to happen for her plan to work.
Gilly stepped back from the operating table and smiled. In just a short time, she would have everything she’d ever wanted, the only thing she’d ever really wanted. She would be Prince Anton’s life mate.
***
Damian woke up with his head hurting like a jackhammer was trying to escape his skull while his mouth felt like someone had stuffed cotton into it. He groaned and rolled over on his bed, landing directly atop the empty whiskey bottle. He groaned again as he remembered going to bed with the bottle. Of course, it had been full then.