by Lucian Bane
He straddled her hips and his beautiful face hardened with that heat in his eyes. His tongue roamed over his lower lip while his hands stroked exactly along the outer edge of her breasts. “So beautiful and perfect.” He lifted his gaze to hers. “So beautiful and perfect,” he repeated, staring intently.
He lowered his eyes to her hips now, making her heart race even harder, but in fear. She swallowed as he took hold of her panties and slowly slid them over her thighs. She held her breath as he suddenly just stared and then his brows drew together before he pinned her with hard eyes. “Oh my God,” he whispered.
Panic seized her at hearing it in his voice. Her hands lowered to cover herself. “I… I was supposed to be prepared,” she gasped, terrified. “I’m sorry.”
Chapter Nineteen
Solomon flew off the bed and turned around, wanting to scream and vomit all at once. “Oh God,” he whispered, “Oh God, oh God.” Images of what he’d just seen burned like a mad fire through his brain. She was fucking sealed shut! With her own—fucking—skin! His entire body shook with rage as he stood in shock. Her lips seemed to be burned together, oh God. Burned together except for two little holes!
Her sobs broke through the rage that had deafened and blinded him. He spun around and hurried to the bed, grabbing her into his arms and hugging her tight to him. “Shhhh, no no, don’t cry, don’t cry, I’m not upset with you, Beautiful,” he cooed softly, stroking her face and kissing her lips. “Look at me, look at me Chaos.”
She finally did and his chest became too tight for him to speak at seeing the devastation on her face. “Did I not say I want to love you? Didn’t I?” She nodded as he wiped the tears streaming down her face. “Listen closely to me, woman,” he strained, stroking her hair. “Nothing… no, look at me, look at me,” he whispered when she turned her eyes away. She finally did, and the shame in the depths stole his breath. “There is nothing on your body that isn’t beautiful to me. That’s not why I’m upset, okay?”
“Then why?” she sobbed.
Oh God, she didn’t know? “Because whoever did that to you was very, very wrong. Do you understand me, Chaos?” He gripped her face, making her look at him. “They were very… wrong.” The final word shook with his rage as tears of agony blinded him. “And I want to kill them for hurting you. Do you understand me? Do you understand this kind of love, Chaos? My heart craves to murder them in cold blood for hurting you. That’s the kind of love I have for you, do you understand that?”
Fear clouded her eyes and he suddenly dropped his head to her chest, fighting to get control of himself. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, “I’m not perfect, God, I know this.” He looked up at her, stroking her face. “But I know how to love you, do you hear me? Do you hear me? That’s not love, Chaos. That is not love, nobody should ever hurt you, please tell me you believe me.”
She nodded, crying. “I believe you,” she gasped. “But Master didn’t do this because he hated me.”
“Master did this?” he asked, barely able to get the words out.
She shook her head. “Grandmother did, but Master told her to so they wouldn’t try to take it before it was time like they did before.”
He gasped. “Like who did before? When?”
“Before I was chosen, I was seven, but Master said it was okay, he cleansed me and sealed up the passage,” she wailed the words now. “So they couldn’t hurt me again, he did it because he loved me!”
Sickness burned in his stomach as he shhhh’d her, the need to murder along with a million questions shooting through his head.
“Okay, okay,” he said, trying to think clearly. Since she’d woken up, he’d decided consummating with her was the best way to win her heart and hopefully her mind as well, and break the spell these sick fucks had over her. But this… holy fuck this was not something he could just ignore. She was sealed. Shut!
Then it hit him. “What… what do they do to prepare you?”
“Grandmother would undo it, open the way for you.”
For him. Oh God, there it was, there was the nasty fucking nest he’d been trying to get at. “How do you know it was for me Chaos?”
She angled her head to the side, her face crimped in despair. “Because you’re the one, you’ve always been the one,” she whispered.
Holy shit. “The one… for what, Beautiful. Talk to me, you can trust me.”
“I can’t… tell, I’m not supposed to,” she gasped. “But… it’s so very important, it will help so many people.”
“Help them how?”
She scrambled out of his lap and sat on the bed next to him, crossing her arms over her breasts. He saw it in her eyes now, not only was she about to spill it all, but try and sell it to him. “There is a curse on the town,” she whispered, wiping her eyes before going back to covering her chest.
“Go on, I’m listening. I’m here to help,” he said, hoping to get every dirty detail.
She nodded and then shook her head. “But, I’m not supposed to tell.” The crimp in her forehead said she wasn’t supposed to but really wanted to.
“Hey, listen. I have secrets too. And I know how to keep secrets, Beautiful, I promise you. I tell you what,” he cooed. “How about we share secrets, okay? I’ll tell you something I’ve never told anybody and you tell me?”
She looked off to the right, rocking a little before angling her worried gaze at him. He held his breath while holding her stare, waiting. “I’m not a good girl,” she barely whispered now.
Solomon’s heart hammered and he raised his hands. “And I’m not a good boy,” he said. “And how much do you want to bet… that my sins are far greater than yours?”
She swiveled a weak look at him. “Stop it,” she whispered. “I know what you’re doing and you don’t need to.”
He froze, worried what that meant.
“I know I’m guilty and I’ve accepted my sins. Remember when you asked if what I was doing was like Jesus?”
He nodded, his stomach in sick knots.
“Well…” she looked down then assured, “… we’re not crazy.” Like what she was about to say would seem that way. “We know the Lord came and died for our sins, we get that. And… we’re grateful for it.” She shook her head, her brows furrowed in agony. “Well, not entirely grateful,” she wiped fresh tears. “See, you may not know this,” she said, whispering to him, “a lot of people don’t, but there is a sin that cannot be forgiven,” she said quietly.
“Like… what?” he wondered.
“The sin against the holy spirit,” she whispered with a passion, her lip trembling. “This town?” she went on. “This whoooooole town, has committed this sin.”
“Against the holy spirit?” he asked, hoping she gave more details.
She nodded. “And because of that, we’re all cursed.”
He shook his head. “How?”
“Death,” she whispered, head shaking slowly. “Death, death, death,” she mumbled, looking at her lap and picking the hair on her arms now.
“People… die?”
She didn’t look up at him, only nodded. “The most innocent. The most quiet.” She looked up at him. “The most pure.”
He was terrified to ask the next question. “The… children?”
She rocked a little now, looking to the right. “The unborn.”
He fought to keep the horror from his face. “How?”
She wiped her face with a hand and shrugged a shoulder. “It’s the only way to pay for the sins. Eeeevery month,” she sniffled in a tiny voice, “the unborn must die.”
“Or what?” Solomon barely whispered.
She eyed him with intensity. “Or eternal Hell.” Like he should know that would be the only justified reason for such a horrendous thing.
In the back of his mind, he told himself to play along, to keep being the good shepherd and lead her away from the flock headed for the abyss. “Right,” he whispered, fighting nausea. “Of course. So… are you saying babies just… die? When did this
start?”
“I remember it like yesterday,” she whispered. “When Master had the dream. This was after he learned of the town’s sin.”
“Which was what?”
“Killing the unborn,” she said. “He’d learned it from a lot of the ladies on the days they had to tell him their secrets.”
Solomon tried to understand. “Like… confession?”
“Yes. Holy confession, it’s very important to do that.”
“Right,” he barely managed.
“Anyway, apparently a lot of the ladies confessed this. And when the town fell sick that time with Malaria, Master had us all fast and pray to the Lord to learn what sin had brought it. And that was the one. But it wasn’t so easy to stop,” she said. “Because the town knew it was wrong to kill the unborn and they did it anyway. And when you sin knowing it’s wrong, that’s what blaspheming the holy spirit is,” she said with a heated conviction. “Jesus’ blood doesn’t cover those kinds of sins. And it put us under the law. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Until another sacrifice could be obtained. One that was good and yet not innocent. Like the townspeople,” she said with compassion. “The people are good people. The kids, the moms and the dads, they’re all good. But they’re not innocent,” she whispered. “But they’ve been paying for a long time. Waiting for the proper sacrifice that would remove the stain, the curse. They’re so excited and happy.”
Solomon gasped, stupefied at the level of delusion the entire fucking town was under.
“And I’ve… I’ve done things I don’t like,” she said, rocking slightly, not looking at him again. “Not at all. But I did it for the good,” she assured, giving him this pleading look that sent conflicting urges through him. To crush the people responsible for brainwashing her or crush her in his embrace.
He considered his angles quickly and playing the righteous master seemed his only option if he wanted to save her. But really, he needed to be more than that in her mind, he needed to be something even bigger. “Of course you did it for good,” he said. “I know this already,” he assured, matter-of-factly.
She looked at him, hope lighting her eyes. “You do?”
He nodded. “I’ve had dreams,” he half lied. “About it.”
“About… me?” She wiped her eyes and moved closer, exposing her breasts as she did.
Solomon’s body responded, reminding him where they were before this disturbing conversation started. “I dreamed… you were an angel… in disguise.”
At seeing the awe dawning on her beautiful face, his gut tensed with guilt while feeling like it was true all the same. He nodded. “You were doing good things even though they seemed bad to many.”
“I am,” she gasped, nodding. “That’s exactly what it is,” she cried, elated. “You dreamed this?”
“I did.” Dreamed it right the hell up. “It was so real.”
She stared at him in that dumbfounded awe then suddenly covered her mouth and laughed.
He smiled at her slowly, not sure what was funny. “You’re… doing that giggle thing? At the wrong time?”
She shook her head and laughed out loud then lunged on him, pushing him onto the bed. Her mouth lowered to his and she kissed him. His body came alive under her boldness and when uncertainty made her hesitate, he took soft hold of her face, holding her to his own passion while his hand slid down her back to the curve of her delicious butt and pressed. He tilted his hips and the way she whimpered and pressed back into his erection made him groan right in her hungry mouth.
It suddenly hit him out of left field what he needed to do in order to be more than a master. “Marry me,” he gasped.
She froze and pulled up, looking down at him. “Marry?”
“Yes, marry me.” He pulled her lips back to his for soft kisses. “I need to be your husband. You need to be my wife.”
“Need?”
“Want, need, crave…” He stroked the hair along her face then glided his finger over her lips. She drew in a sharp breath, opening them to suck, making his own mouth part in hunger.
“You… want me to be your wife?”
“Yes,” he smiled, angling his head at her. “My beautiful, gorgeous wife. So I can protect you. Cherish you. Love you.”
Her brows came together slightly. “Can’t you do this now?”
“I can,” he leaned up and placed soft kisses right on her mouth. “But being married makes it more powerful.”
She pulled up again. “More powerful?” she asked, even more curious. “Powerful how?”
That was it. The power angle that was the play he was needing. Sliding both hands along her back then exactly onto her ass for a soft squeeze, he whispered, “Don’t you know that the Holy Bible says when a man and woman join together, the two become one flesh? And what God joins together, let no man tear apart?” He held her to the slow grind of his cock against her.
The emotions racing over her pretty face made his heart hammer with desire and hope. She pulled all the way up now and knelt before him on the bed with a light gasp of awe. He watched her from his reclined position on his elbows. “But… how would we?”
Solomon went with what he knew—simple. “I ask you, you say yes, and then I consummate the marriage.”
She suddenly bit her lower lip and put her hands together, forcing her tits towards him. “How… do you… consummate?”
Damn. He was sure he’d not seen a more erotic and arousing pose in his life and allowed his gaze to answer for him, sliding it to her breasts. “Pleasure.” He elaborated with a slow sweep of his tongue over his lips before raising his burning gaze back to hers. That answer had lit her up. She didn’t think she could have pleasure but even with what was done to her, he wagered she could. He’d felt her on the verge of an orgasm before, so whatever they’d done, it hadn’t undone everything.
Very slowly, he slid his leg open, watching her gaze lower as he continued to demonstrate exactly what he meant. “Me… giving you pleasure. Me… making you call God’s name. Me… making your beautiful body… burn with it.” The words again felt divine on his lips and aroused him beyond imagination.
“Yes,” she gasped, nodding.
He tore his gaze from the hard peaks of her breasts and looked at her. “Yes, what?”
“Ask me,” she whispered, breathless.
He held her gaze, his heart hammering in the silence. “Marry me,” he dared, instead of asked.
She swallowed and nodded, her lids heavy with desire. “Yes, I will.” Her eyes devoured his body as though the consummation was the very reason she agreed and now wanted that dessert immediately.
That worked so very perfectly. He had to have the same thing in that second. And the fact that death stalked both of them right outside the cabin made it that much more potent, that much more alive, and real.
Solomon slowly sat up and moved onto his knees before her. Watching her face, he slid his thumbs in the waistband of his underwear and lowered the front. Her lips parted with shallow breaths and he knew what she wanted. God, he wanted it too. But her pleasure first.
She lowered down and Solomon intercepted her with a finger on her chin. She paused, looking up into his face. The hunger there… stole his breath. “Come here,” he whispered, placing his hands on her face and gently urging her up.
The way she moved was almost like she was tethered to his will. When she rose up he gasped, staring into her face. This was it, he felt it inside him, saw it too. The threshold of forever, the ownership, the title deed to her heart, right there in those eyes that reminded him of the changing leaves in Autumn.
Solomon let it all loose as he claimed her mouth. All the buried needs and broken dreams rushed forth in his hot groans. The hunger gripped his hands and fingers as they roamed her warm body with a possessive passion. And he didn’t stop until she pulled at his hair in equal hunger, until she cried out in equal passion. These were the vows. This was the power that bound them together as one. And he dared any man to try and tear it apart
.
After he stormed her mouth, he dropped his body lower and feasted on her breasts, holding both in his hands until he was lost in desire. The way she held his head firmly to her breast, the way her fingers pulled and her nails scraped said she wasn’t broken. Hardly.
She was just never loved. And God, he was about to fix that.
“Solomon,” she gasped.
He heard the fear in her voice and went back to her mouth. “Do you feel the fire inside you?”
“Yes,” she whispered weakly, holding his face, his kiss to her mouth.
“I’m going to release that fire, Beautiful. You want that?”
She nodded and only whimpered her answer.
“I’m going to go very slow for you, I don’t want you to be afraid.” Solomon eased her onto her back. Winded, he stared down at her. “My beautiful wife,” he whispered, putting his leg between hers and pushing with urgency now. He lowered to her mouth and kissed her softly, angling his head to get at every crevice of her mouth. He took soft hold of her jaw with one hand while gliding his palm over the tight peak of her breast, taking her gasp right in his mouth, groaning in answer.
“I need to touch you,” she gasped, sliding her hand between them.
He strained when she grabbed hold of him, plunging his tongue deeper, harder, pushing his thigh firmly between her legs.
She made all the beautiful sounds he had to hear, her hips moving with tiny thrusts that drove him insane with the need to see her come undone, see her have that pleasure for the first time.
“Is it hot Beautiful?”
“Yes, yes.” Her nails raked along his cock then the tips of her fingers danced over the top, making him choke down an orgasm.
“I need to see you,” he whispered at her mouth, pulling up so that he knelt between her legs.
Chapter Twenty
He stroked those warm strong hands over her breasts but his eyes were between her legs where his hands were now headed. Chaos shot her own hands down ahead of him, scared.