Hayden nodded.
Mattie turned back around and ducked through the opening, leaving a row of footprints in the snow. He followed. On the other side was a single cabin, long and, like the others, sheltered by the pines. Two rails of smoke rose up, one from each chimney. Pale-yellow light glowed from all the windows. The snow surrounding the building was well trampled in all directions. Two men stood at the door. One paced across the front.
As they neared the door, the guards moved forward. The one pacing cast them a glance but continued to move, stepping swiftly across the packed snow. Mattie’s back straightened as she slowed her pace. She stopped suddenly and straight-armed Hayden, forcing him back to keep his distance. “Remember what I told you?”
He grunted his agreement.
She moved forward, offering a sharp nod to the guards. They grunted in response, avoiding her gaze. But they didn’t avoid looking at the chain, the end still in Mattie’s hand. That they seemed to caress with their eyes, hungrily admiring its weight and heft. Hayden held back the chill that ran down his icy back as he followed Mattie across the threshold. The inside was lit by square lanterns sitting atop low tables. There were no other furnishings in the small front room.
“This way,” Mattie said, tugging the chain. The links rubbed together, the sound something he was becoming accustomed to, probably in the way a dog becomes accustomed to its leash.
She pulled again and he jerked forward, stumbling for a few steps before finding his footing and adjusting to the uneven floorboards of the cottage. They crossed into another room. Mattie waited for him to catch up and together they sliced through a set of hanging black beads. They moved through a narrow hall and then reached a heavy canvas tarp. Mattie held the tarp aside and, still holding the chain, reached behind him and shoved him forward. The leather bindings caught, but he was able to shake his leg and get the tether to loosen. Hayden righted himself.
Rachelle was there, unharmed, and smiling. He moved as far forward as the chain would allow. Then he strained against it, felt the metal cut into his neck but kept pulling. Rachelle’s eyes weren’t right, her smile was crooked, and she was enclosed in a cage.
“She’s a fine piece of ass.”
Hayden twisted, wincing when the neck ring cut further into his flesh. But he kept turning until he found the owner of the voice. The man was seated in a gold velvet wing-backed chair, a low table covered with an array of cups and jars of herbs beside him. Lanterns hung from the high ceiling, one on each side of him, casting soft shadows over him and the items on the table.
The man was lean and pale, with a shaved head and row of earrings outlining one ear. An outline of stubble shadowed his jaw and cheeks. His chest was bare, light-brown leather pants covered his legs. The pants were unlaced, the leather ties dangling below his balls. The man’s cock was erect and he was stroking it with a slow leisurely style that told Hayden the man spent entire days attending to his own sexual needs. The muscles in his biceps and forearms flexed as he glided his fingers up and down his hard dick.
Matthew.
“Mattie made me promise to wait, and I have, but as you can see…”—the man nodded down at his fully engorged shaft—“the wait is getting difficult to handle.” The man cupped his full tip and squeezed it, dropped his head back, closed his eyes and moaned.
The man was controlling his urgency. But that harnessed energy, that honed self-control—there was no hiding that. This man made Mattie look like an amateur when it came to coiled power and calculated self-control.
“Like you don’t have enough to satisfy you?” Mattie asked Matthew. “You could be using any of them.”
The man opened his dark eyes and rolled his head to the side, looking at her through half-closed lids and replying through clenched teeth. “I’m fine.”
“Besides, aren’t you supposed to be dealing with the problem?”
The man’s eyes tightened, he glared at Mattie through the nearly closed slits as he continued to stroke himself. “I worry about us. You worry about yourself, Mattie.”
The room felt silent, until the sound of the wind and the trees brushing across the cabin broke the quiet. A branch cracked and hit the roof.
“Hayden, this place is awesome. Check it out.” Rachelle was on her feet, pacing along the tall wooden cage she was locked inside, oblivious to the tension passing between their captors as she strode across the pile of straw lining the bottom of the enclosure. Wearing only a floor-length fur cloak, she pulled on the wooden slats, twisting and jerking as she tugged. Her bare breasts quivered. “I’m Matthew’s captive,” she said, her voice husky, playful. She turned toward Hayden, and one of her bare legs flashed between the opening of the cloak. “I’ve been naughty. I’m locked up in here until I learn to be good.”
Mattie moved away from Matthew, her movements stiff and sharp. She brushed against Hayden and he felt the tension in her body.
Rachelle raised her hands and turned. The cloak was split up the back to reveal her bare hips. She arched her back and wiggled her ass. “I’m a bad, bad girl, Hayden. What are you going to do about it?” She laughed and spun back around, her mouth a circle of wickedness.
“I think she likes it here, Hayden. I hope you don’t plan on ruining her fun.” Matthew started rubbing his shaft again. “I sure as hell hope you aren’t planning on ruining mine.”
Chapter Six
“But remember, I warned you.”
Hayden tried to focus, to clear his mind of the mixture of fear and arousal spinning through him, heating his blood and clouding his thoughts.
Rachelle’s playful laugh was high and uncensored. He’d gotten a glimpse of her uncontrolled side the night before, and the woman before him, locked in the wooden cage, was even more uncontrolled. Pure sex, lust without the passion.
“Matthew said he might lock you in here with me.” She loosened the cloak, and let it fall below her breasts. Her round curves were framed by the soft-looking fur. “Maybe you can teach me not to be a bad girl.” She laughed as she pulled the cloak back up and over her shoulders, but the image of her breasts lingered.
Somehow he had to find focus, clear his mind and think.
He pulled in a deep breath and his nostrils filled with the scent of burning wood. The stove in the corner of this room was larger than Mattie’s and the heat was more intense. The room was large, big enough to accommodate the wood cage, a large square bed piled high with quilts and blankets, and in the corner opposite the cage, a sitting area. The sitting area had plenty of space for the wide, wing-backed chair where Matthew sat, his legs splayed, his erect cock still in his hands.
Mattie had taken a few steps away, but she still held tightly to the chain linking the two of the together. Even though he wasn’t looking at her, he could sense a change in her attitude.
Matthew rose from the chair, finally letting go of his shaft and slowly reaching his arms overhead. He groaned from the effort, put his hands on his hips, and then, pointing at Rachelle, offered a slow feral smile. “Do you like what you see?”
Hayden’s stomach rolled from the mixture of lust, fear and disgust.
Rachelle giggled and crawled across the floor inside the enclosure. She scooted across the bed of straw, laughing, and wiggling until the cloak was nearly off her. “Do you, Hayden, see something you like?”
Mattie moved over and pulled Hayden’s cloak away from his torso, exposing his stiff shaft. She came around behind him, tugged on the cloak, and let it drop to the floor. It pooled at his feet, and he stepped out of it, toward the girl in the cage. Mattie let go of the chain and it hit the floor and settled in a cold line down his bare back. The expectation that he go into the cage hung in the air, and he breathed it in, savoring the sexual pull of the body waiting there for him. Hayden fought his own desire, but the dark lust was seeping in, filling his lungs and going into his blood.
Matthew turned his back to unlock the door. Lantern light flickered across the long tattoo that ran down the center of th
e man’s back, snaking all the way from the base of his skull to his ass cheeks. Before Hayden could make out the pattern, the other man spun around and pulled the door open. Hayden went in, the chain trailing behind. The click of a lock came from behind him.
Hayden went to Rachelle and set his hands on her bare ass. Her skin was warm and soft. Alive. She wiggled her hips and looked at him over his shoulder. Her eyes were glazed, cloudy. Hayden eyed Matthew.
“Yes, it’s the same tea Mattie made for you.” Matthew looked at Rachelle. “She likes it, don’t you, baby?”
“Oh yeah, mmmmm, but it’s making me be a bad girl, Hayden. You need to fix me, you know, teach me a lesson.”
Hayden stepped back. This wasn’t the woman he knew, his girlfriend. It was someone else, a half person, a half creature, under the influence of the seductive tea. His stomach quivered.
“What’s the matter, Hayden?” Matthew taunted. “You losing your hard-on? You need me to come in there and help you?”
Rachelle crawled to the edge off the straw and pushed herself up. She tiptoed to Hayden and took his cock in her hands. “I’ll take care of him, Matthew.”
But the other man was already on his feet and coming toward the cage. He stopped at the door and wrapped his hands around the slats and leaned closer. The scent of his body pressed in, a mixture of leather, cold earth and even colder sex.
Hayden spoke over the bile in his mouth. “Did you already fuck her?”
“Actually, no. I was told not to.” He tipped his head at Mattie. “And I think you owe her for that.”
“Common decency isn’t enough of a reason not to?”
The man threw his head back and howled with laughter. “We left that behind years ago, and it was the best decision we ever made.”
Hayden caught the wince Mattie tried to hide.
Matthew spotted it too and scowled. Tension simmered and rose up in waves between them. “Not now, Mattie. Not when we have some…entertainment.”
Mattie looked over her shoulder. “Entertainment?”
“That’s right,” he replied. He turned back to the cage. “What else would you call it?”
Mattie didn’t accept Matthew’s challenge, instead, she crossed to the chair he’d left empty, dropped herself into it, and stared straight ahead.
This was a side of Mattie that Hayden had not seen—a side that did back down from a challenge. He continued staring at her, waiting to see if she’d look his way, but she didn’t.
Matthew turned his attention to Hayden. “Why are you just standing there?”
“What is it you want?” The question came from his mouth before he had a chance to think, to accept that he already knew the answer.
“A show, Hayden.” Matthew lifted one dark eyebrow. “Entertain me.”
Hayden shoved Rachelle back onto the bed of straw. She fell willingly, spreading her legs as she tumbled down. Hayden spun, tilted his head and offered Matthew a slanted smile of his own. “Let me finish that thought for you. If you don’t like what you see, you’re going to come in here and show me up. Right?”
“Mattie told me you were different and now I see what she meant.” Matthew nodded as he looked Hayden up and down. “I like fast learners, Hayden, but I don’t think that’s the only reason Mattie has a thing for you.” His gaze darkened, his face becoming a mask of evil. “I just want you to know, I intend to figure out what it is about you that has her so worked up.”
“It’s just the sex, Matthew,” Mattie cut in. “Wait until you see him fuck her, then you’ll understand.”
“You sure it’s just that?” he asked, still eyeing Hayden with squinted eyes. “There isn’t any more?”
“Look at him,” she replied. “What else could it be?”
Matthew considered, taking his time, looking Hayden up and down. The other man’s gaze was thorough, lingering, caressing. “I see you switched back to the metal neck ring,” he said, casting his comment toward Mattie. A slow smile spread across his mouth, and he spoke again, this time to Hayden. “Did she tell you why she put the ring on you?”
Hayden shrugged, rejecting the bait. Or was Mattie the one Matthew was trying to get to? Hayden tapped the ring with his fingers and lifted his chin. “Maybe I don’t care.”
Matthew ran his palms down the wood slats. “You care.”
“So if I care so much why don’t you go ahead and tell me.”
Matthew reached between the wood slats and grabbed the ring, yanked Hayden forward. He felt the other man’s lifeless breath when he whispered. “She used to tie hers down with rope because she thought it was nicer, but the last one grabbed a log from the fire and set the bed on fire. We figured he was trying to burn the rope. You know, to get away. But maybe he was actually trying to kill himself because he hated Mattie so much.”
Mattie had moved over to stand beside Matthew. “It wasn’t the last one who set the fire. It was the one before him.”
“That’s right,” Matthew replied, still holding Hayden, staring at him with harsh curiosity. “Right. Andre is still with us. Sort of.”
Hayden inched closer to the bars to release some of the tension of Matthew’s grip. “I could still burn the bed,” he said.
“Yes. But the metal ring she locks the chain to is bolted to a pipe that runs through the headboard and into the ground. So, yes, you could burn the bed, but it wouldn’t give you a chance of getting away.”
Rachelle rubbed against Hayden. She’d taken the cloak off and was naked except for a thong. “What are you guys talking about? You’re boring me.” She wrapped her arms around Hayden’s waist and tugged him backward.
Matthew grinned, tightening his grip on the ring and pulling upward. The sharp ridge cut into Hayden’s neck, cutting into his skin, a reminder of his possession.
Matthew leaned forward. “Make all the little comments you want, Hayden.” He jerked the ring. “Mattie has some special interest in you. That means I have a special interest in you.” He let go of the ring and Hayden fell back, tumbling across Rachelle as they both fell onto the bed of straw. “Now be a good boy and fuck your girlfriend for me.”
Rachelle writhed beneath him, spreading her legs as she arched her back, the musky scent of her aroused body drifted up, mingling with the straw and smoky night air. The weight of Matthew’s stare, the tension radiating from Mattie’s body, these things surrounded Hayden. He rolled over and wrapped his arms around Rachelle and lifted her upright into a sitting position. Kneeling in front of her, he brushed her tangled hair from her face. Even though her eyes were glazed and her muscles slack, there was an intensity simmering around her.
But was that simmering something coming from deep within her? Or was it an illusion, the effects of the tea?
Beyond the cage, Matthew had settled himself back into the gold velvet chair. His legs splayed, his erect cock in his hands. The man’s brows were dipped, his eyes assessing, watching. Hayden knew that look and understood the threat behind it. But there was a difference in the man’s eyes, a fine gleam that hinted at a cruel and unavoidable edge.
Rachelle didn’t see it. She wasn’t seeing a lot of things. Had she ever seen the discouraging side of life? Who exactly was this woman he’d been thinking of his girlfriend?
Mattie, leaning on the wall and squared up directly across from the cage door, couldn’t see Matthew’s face but Hayden knew she would understand his expression because she herself knew of the darker side of life. Her knowing was woven into the pores of her skin, the strands of her hair, and slight pull of her mouth.
In that moment, he understood the creature, knew her, better than the other woman. The realization should have terrified him, but fear was second to the undeniable need to fuck.
Hayden caressed Rachelle. He felt the fullness of her breasts and the slow seduction of her breathing. The warmth of her body. The thrum of the blood coursing through her veins. How different she was from Mattie. The creature wasn’t dead just as she wasn’t alive. She—and the rest of the
m—was both undead and unalive. Hayden knew what was expected of him; he knew the only way to keep Mattie—and Matthew—satisfied for the moment. Knowing that made it easier to justify the sinister arousal thrumming through him.
“What is it you like about this, Rachelle? What do you want?”
“Don’t you get it, Hayden? The answer is the same for both questions.” She slid one of her hands inside the thong and cupped her pussy, leaned back and ran her tongue across her lips. “Isn’t it what you wanted? Isn’t it why you came here?”
Hayden shook his head. “We came here because—”
“You’re here now, Hayden,” Mattie cut in. “And you know better than to stand there talking when you should be doing something more creative. And entertaining. You’re boring all of us.”
“Mattie, that’s enough.” Matthew’s voice was a low growl. “Come over here.” He glanced at the ground. “Sit.”
Mattie did as he said, dropping down to sit cross-legged at his feet. After he turned his attention from the woman seated on the floor beside him, he combed Hayden’s body with his gaze. Nothing in the man’s face changed, but Hayden felt the harsh weight of the man’s ugly stare sliding across his muscles, gliding across his skin, taking in every inch of bare flesh.
Matthew inched his gaze back up, slowly, until his eyes found Hayden’s. “Continue.”
Fear rolled across Hayden’s shoulders, crawled down his back, and churned under the solid line of the metal chain. He searched Mattie’s face, but the creature stared straight ahead, telling him something by not looking at him.
Danger. Whatever it had been before was nothing compared to what it was now. And he was to blame for all of it. Every chance he’d had to say no he’d said yes instead.
Guilty blood flowed through him, his human heart pumping the menacing liquid through his traitorous veins, stiffening his cock and readying his body for sex. Slices of memories of the night before flickered in his mind and his blood thickened more, making his shaft full and rigid. Rachelle took one of his hands and put it on her breast. “We’re the show, Hayden. That means you have to show off.”
Servicing the Undead Page 6