The Complete Secrets Series

by LK Shaw

  His deep belly laugh sent shivers down my spine. “My god woman, I hope not. That’s just creepy. Besides, she can’t have me. I’m already taken.”

  Donovan’s laughter died and he turned serious as he reached out for my hand. He gave a little tug and I tumbled onto his chest. My breath caught as our eyes remained locked on each other’s. He brushed my hair back over my shoulder, his touch lingering over it.

  “I am, you know.” His softly spoken words blew across my face.

  “You are what?” I whispered back, not wanting to disturb the atmosphere around us.

  “Taken.”

  I couldn’t help but duck my head in shyness, a bashful smile across my lips. Donovan thumbed under my chin and lifted my head. He slowly raised up and brushed his mouth across mine. Back and forth he moved, sending shockwaves deep inside me at the light friction of his lips running across mine. His tongue flicked across mine, begging entrance. When my lips parted a little, he took advantage of the opening and deepened the kiss, his hand cupping behind my head to hold me close.

  Donovan teased my tongue with his, tangling them together, and breathing life into me. He sipped from me and then nibbled on my lower lip before diving back in. He tasted every inch of the inside of my mouth, gently claiming it as his. The kiss went on forever and I felt the familiar pull below my belly. Arousal throbbed deep inside me. Inch by inch I was learning to give a little more of myself to him, but it was one of the most difficult things I’d ever done.

  My body ached for him. So did my heart. In my mind, I knew this was Donovan touching me, kissing me, but the mind was a funny thing. It liked to play tricks on you. I was still catching on to its tricks, and I knew it would take time. I only prayed Donovan didn’t give up on me. On us.

  “Muriel’s camera is your prized possession. Do you know what I prize the most?” His tone was serious, as was his expression.

  “What?” I asked, curiously.

  “You. You’re the best thing to happen to me, Phebe. I’ve spent the last year wallowing in self-pity. I used to laugh all the time. I was charismatic, charming even.” He smiled a little at the last.

  “What happened?” Something told me he hadn’t told anyone this story. I reached out to grasp his hand in mine. I was compelled to touch him, and I couldn’t believe how surprisingly easy it had become.

  “Oh, you know, the typical sad story. Guy was in love. Thought he was loved in return. But, come to find out, woman didn’t love the guy as much as he loved her. So, when a new guy showed up, she chose him.”

  “In other words, she cheated on you?” I asked in disgust. If there was one thing I was, it was loyal. Not one time had I ever cheated on Kieran, even when I hated him.

  “Yes. Shannon and I had a — unique — relationship. We were far closer than the average couple, or so I thought. In fact, I had even picked out an engagement ring. But she destroyed the deep seeded trust we had built together. And trust is the most important aspect in any relationship I engage in. She knew that going in."

  “Unique? It sounds like there’s a story there.”

  Donovan shifted awkwardly. “Not really. We just had our own set of rules.”

  He looked entirely uncomfortable with the turn in conversation. I wanted to question him a little further about this “unique” relationship, especially after what I’d just learned, but I held my tongue. Instead, I said, “I’m so sorry, Donovan. Betrayal is never easy to recover from. Believe me, I know."

  He squeezed my hand. We both sat silently for a moment, each of us grieving over the betrayals we'd suffered.

  Phebe

  The Past

  Groggy and disoriented, I roused myself from slumber. I shivered from the cold and the “plink” of water dripping brought me further away from unconsciousness. Slowly, my eyes opened and as the blurred vision cleared, I recognized where I was. I couldn’t recall how I’d arrived here though. The heavy weight around my ankle signaled a shackle I was all too familiar with. I tugged, knowing what would happen, but fought the inevitable anyway. My leg instantly stopped moving when I tried to pull it beyond the reach of the leash holding me in place.

  My eyes scanned the dungeon-like room and stopped abruptly at the sight of the brown-haired woman bound with iron cuffs around her wrists to chains hanging from the ceiling. She wore only a button-down shirt that stopped mid-thigh. I couldn’t tell if she wore anything beneath. She also didn’t appear to be conscious.

  A noise from the other side of the room had my head jerking in that direction. Bile rose in my throat and hatred flooded my heart at the sight of Dmitri rising from a chair in the darkened corner of the room.

  “Finally you wake. I wait just for you.” He smiled at me in a way that caused my stomach to drop. He strolled languidly toward the woman, pausing for a moment before circling her, inspecting her like a piece of meat. Before he even moved, I knew his intent.

  “Stop! Leave her alone!” I yelled out as Dmitri tore the shirt from the young woman’s body, exposing her breasts as she dangled from the chains connected to the ceiling. She hung there, barely conscious, in only a pair of skimpy underwear, her arms almost pulled out of their socket as she swung to and fro. Dmitri fisted her hair and yanked her head back causing her to moan in pain.

  He slapped her across the face, his palm print leaving behind a red mark. The woman roused and cried out. Her eyes widened in terror as she became fully alert. She began to kick and scream, flailing in her restraints, but unable to gain a foot hold. Dmitri’s mocking laughter cause the hairs on my arms to stand up.

  “Don’t touch her,” I screamed uselessly as I knew he had no intention of listening.

  When Dmitri next reached for the woman, it was to rip her underwear off. She tried, ineffectively to cross her legs and shield herself from view, her sobs reverberating throughout the cavernous room. He spun her around, halting her movement with a jerk as he roughly grabbed her hips and pulled her against him, grinding his pelvis against her ass. She whimpered in distress as she flailed and fought for her release.

  A sinister smile crossed Dmitri’s face as he brutally gripped the woman’s hips, his nails biting deep into her skin, anchoring her to him. He sunk his teeth into the sensitive area of her neck. Her cries of pain pierced my ears as she bucked and jerked, trying to get loose. Soon, she became too exhausted to struggle any further, her arms no longer having the strength to hold her.

  As if on cue, the door opened and in walked my living, breathing nightmare. He wore all black, like the devil he was.

  “Naughty Dima. You start without me.” Vlad gave a mock scowl of disapproval. The malicious glint in his eye bespoke of his delight at the scene in front of him. When he turned toward me, his expression shifted and a look of obsession now covered his face.

  “Ah, my pretty little toy.”

  I shuddered at the endearment, but having no other choice, I used his sadistic devotion to me to plead her case.

  “Vlad, please don’t do this. Leave her alone. Please.” I swallowed against the bitter taste of the name I’d never once before spoken, my eyes locked on his, refusing to glance at the couple mere feet away.

  His eyes glowed at my appeal. He knew I was at his mercy. His long strides put him right in front of me. He squatted down so we were eye level. His elbows rested on his knees as he steepled his forefingers under his chin.

  “What do I get for Dima to not take his pleasure, little toy?” He drawled the words out, his Russian accent filled with satisfaction. No matter the cost, I couldn’t allow them to destroy another woman like they’d destroyed me.

  I closed my eyes, sealing my fate. “Anything.”

  A victorious smile crossed his lips as he reached into his pocket and withdrew a key. After unlocking my restraint, he reached his hand out, palm up, making me choose to place mine in his. My arm trembled as I reluctantly placed my hand in his. He brought our joined hands to his mouth, placing the most tender of kisses on my knuckles before pulling me to my feet.
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  I tugged on his hand, halting my steps, when he began to lead me out of the room. “What about the girl? You promised you’d let her go if I came with you.”

  “I never say I let her go, malen’kaya igrushka.” His finger across my lips stopped my argument. “I only say Dima stops.”

  He turned to the pair, the woman still in Dmitri’s clutches. “Vozmi yeyo v kameru, i nachni obuchat zanovo. No, lyubimi sposobami, eto dolzhno bit' tiho.” Take her to her cell and begin her training there. Keep her quiet by whatever means necessary.

  I still refused to budge. “What did you say to him?”

  Vlad stared at me imperiously. “Because you are my queen, I explain myself one time only. Dima removes bonds and takes her to be with other women.”

  My gut told me he was lying, but I’d made my choice. I bowed my head in surrender as Vlad pulled me out of the room. He led me to his favorite room. The room where he watched as Dmitri first began my “training.”

  “Strip,” Vlad commanded as he closed the door behind us.

  Thoughts of that poor woman had me obeying. I pulled my threadbare shirt over my head and dropped it to the floor next to my feet. His obsidian eyes glowed in the lamplight as they tracked a path up and down my body. His stare paused at my still covered sex and he raised a single eye brow. Taking a deep breath, I slid my underwear down my legs before stepping out of them and laying them on top of the discarded shirt, looking everywhere but at him.

  “Come. Kiss me,” came his next gravelly command. My heart dropped at his command, and my stomach churned. Kissing was intimate. He’d kissed me several times already, but I’d never actively participated. This time, I knew the kisses would be different. He was using my acquiescence to force an intimacy between us that he knew I revolted against. In my gut I knew that if I followed his commands to actively participate in this violation, at this moment, in this room, that I would truly be broken. He would finally accomplish what he’d set out to do. My training would be finished, and I would be his.

  It had been his goal all along. To break me. Bend me to his will. That woman out there was the catalyst to my utter destruction, and she didn't even know it. I literally felt my heart shatter inside my chest. This was it. He’d finally found a way to accomplish what he’d set out to do from the first moment he took me.

  A solitary tear that represented everything I had just given up slid down my cheek, dripping off my jaw and disappearing into nothingness. Moving on autopilot now, I stepped toward him, halting a hairsbreadth away, my chest pressing against his. I stood on tiptoe and brushed my lips across his. Vlad remained stock still, only his mouth moving as he spoke.

  “You call that a kiss, malen’kaya igrushka?” His lips twitched as if he held back a smile. I no longer cared if he mocked me. Robotically, I stretched up again, my hands braced on his chest for support as I leaned into him, deepening the kiss, feeling his erection growing against my stomach. I tilted my head to the side pressing my lips tighter against his, but still he didn’t move.

  My hands moved upward to clasp the back of his head at the same moment his hands circled my waist. My tongue flicked against his lips and his grip tightened on my waist. I pushed my tongue further inside his mouth, trying not to gag. He met it with his own and tangled them together as he groaned deep in his throat, the reverberations tickling my nipples. He sipped from my mouth as the kiss went on. I parroted his movements because he demanded it even without words.

  While one of his hands slid from my waist to cup my ass cheek, the other glided up to cup my breast as he gently molded it. Sensations bombarded me. Vlad had learned everything about my body. Things even I’d never known about it, and he used that very thing against me. He plucked and tweaked my nipple sending shockwaves straight to my core. He knew how sensitive my breasts were and he used that knowledge to his every advantage, even as I fought against the feeling. He refused to let me win as he continued the assault on my senses.

  His kiss was bold, and he angled his head this way and that to reach every nook and cranny inside my mouth, tasting every inch of me. He swallowed the moan I’d desperately tried to hold back, but failed. His mouth left mine as he forged a path down to my neck, nipping and biting at the sensitive crease, then soothing it with his tongue.

  I was frozen in place as he continued worshipping me with his tongue. Hastily, he unbuttoned his shirt, pulling it off his shoulders and down his arms before tossing it on top of my clothes. The metallic clink of his belt being removed sounded overly loud in the small room and soon, his pants joined the fabric on the floor, his mouth only leaving mine in the time it took for him to remove them. Then he was back to kissing me, his tongue driving deep inside my cavity, tasting me to the fullest. He pulled me tight against his body, rubbing his erection against my flat belly.

  He lifted his head, both of us breathing heavily, and peered into my eyes. I only stared back, emotionless beyond the arousal he wrung from me against my will. My emotions were dead and buried. I was powerless against my physical response however. Vlad might own my body, but my soul was bereft of life.

  “Wrap your legs around me,” he growled, as I automatically complied when he grabbed my ass and lifted me up so we were now skin to skin. My hands gripped his shoulders tight. He ground my wet pussy against him, and I couldn’t contain the sigh of pleasure that escaped my lips. Keeping hold of me, he walked us over to the hated bed I’d been abused in time and time again.

  We collapsed on it, Vlad never breaking his hold on my ass. I let out a small oomph as the air left me in the descent. He stared down at me, his gaze seeking mine. Whatever he expected to find there must have satisfied him, because he chuckled. I remained lying there, emotionally detached from the whole experience.

  “You have become everything I wished for you to become when your training began. You’re pliant to my demands. You accept my touch even as you despise it. Your body has been mine from almost the first.” He rocked against me, his cock sliding through my juices, hitting my clit on every upward movement. Unconsciously, I arched into each stroke, my body craving its release. “Now, your emotions are mine as well. I. Own. Everything.”

  Vlad jerked my leg up to my chest as he drove his cock as far as it would go inside me and began to thrust powerfully. He threw my calf over his shoulder as he adjusted the angle of his position so on each upward movement the friction against my clit would mount. He forced his tongue in my mouth, and commanded mine to duel with his.

  He was correct.

  I was a broken shell who could do nothing to fight what was happening to me. He owned me.

  As Vlad plundered my body, he demanded even more of me. More of my soul. And I was helpless to deny him. Every response he drew culminated from deep in my center and when his fingers thrummed by clit with the barest of touches, my body exploded in a climax that shook me, and I screamed out my agony as every emotion I thought was dead came rushing out.

  I screamed for who I used to be, and I screamed for who I’d become. The final piece of my soul withered away as my screams turned to a single, hoarse whisper. “Korol’.”

  As my body come down from the precipice, my utter subjugation now complete with a single word, Vlad shouted out his release and his come washed my insides. Up until that moment, there had always remained the tiniest bit of fight still inside me, even if I hadn’t recognized or acknowledged it. But as I felt his body shudder and his seed fill me up, that minuscule ember of hope that this wasn’t my fate flickered… and finally extinguished.

  Phebe

  The Present

  The faint sound of a sniff brought my attention back to the woman in front of me. My gaze traveled to Madeline who was surreptitiously dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

  Unlike her, my eyes were dry. I turned away to give her a moment. As I sat there contemplative, I actually felt a modicum of relief that my final secret was shared. She’d told me I needed to forgive myself. Perhaps after relieving myself of this burden I’d been carrying for
so long, I might be able to take that first step toward forgiveness.

  After Donovan confessed to having deeper feelings for me, I knew it was time to forge ahead with a new life. In order for that to happen, I had to purge Vlad from me. I’d slowly begun using his name in my head. Only once before had I ever said it out loud, when I’d sacrificed my soul to save that other woman. When he’d finally exerted total control over me. By refusing to use it again, it only reinforced Vlad’s power over me. But, no longer was I at his mercy. I was free of him. By forcing myself to say his name, he was no longer my tormentor, my “Korol’.” Never again my “Korol’.” He was strictly a man.

  I could fight a man’s memory.

  I could fight Vlad.

  “After Vlad cleaned us both up, he said my training was now complete, and he would be taking me to St. Petersburg. He told me I was now truly his queen. The next day, Detective Webber rescued me.”

  Madeline sniffed one last time before asking her next question. “Was that the first time he’d spent inside you?”

  “Yes. He knew I’d been broken and he was marking me as his. He wanted his seed inside me, if only to prove his ownership. He made them all wear condoms all the other times. You were right, you know.”

  She tilted her head in puzzlement. “About what?”

  “I’ve been hating myself for so long, because I couldn’t force my body to not revel in what Vlad did to me. But, I’ve come to realize that there was nothing I could do about it. In his own way, he was kind and gentle. It was actually the first time in my life that a man had taken the time to get to know my body and where my most responsive areas were. I know it was all a mind game, but I actually think he was desperate for me to enjoy it.”