by Alison Aimes
“I don’t know, Aurora. What do you think is the proper way to handle someone who betrays you?”
Guilt slammed through her. “What I did was reprehensible. You’re right. I am so sorry. I—”
He cut her off with a snarl. “I don’t want or need your useless apologies.” He froze, his gaze locked on her face, his body vibrating with menace. “There’s a bruise at your temple. Did Saman do that?”
The man at her side sucked down a breath.
“It wasn’t Saman.”
“Then who dared touch you?” His voice was a lethal growl, but his touch as he reached to brush his thumb over the mark was gentle.
Her hope rose—until he caught himself, the pad of his finger inches from her skin, and, with a curse, curled his hand into a fist.
His hand dropped back to his side. “Forget I asked. Whatever comes out of that mouth next will only be a lie.”
Her chest ached, the brief flash of caring a cruel reminder of all she’d lost. “That’s not true.”
He spoke over her, his expression harder than before. “Among my mother’s people, there is great respect for the philosophy of an eye for an eye. You used me. It’s only fair I return the favor. And since your skills lie in stealing, lying, and fucking—and I’ve only got use for one of those—we both know how you’ll be paying me back.”
She sucked down a sharp breath. “You don’t mean that. Turn me in so I can confess, but don’t twist something so beautiful between us into something ugly and—”
“Quiet!” he roared. “There is no us, and what’s between you and me is already as ugly as it gets.”
Her stomach contracted and she thought she might be sick. She deserved all this and more and yet…anger stirred in her belly. He had promised he would never hurt her. He had made her believe he was different than her stepfather. “This is not right.”
He spoke over her. “When I feel I’ve been suitably recompensed, you will sign a confession and I will allow you to leave.” His eyes narrowed further. “Breaking in a fuck toy is different than training a mate, but I’m sure you’ll adapt. You’ve proven remarkably ingenuous so far.”
“You’re angry.” She fought to keep calm. “I get it.”
“You don’t get it yet. But you will.” He shifted his gaze to the giant. “You can leave us now Saman. The doors are guarded and the air outside is toxic. There is nowhere for Lady Aurora to go. Thank you again for your help.”
The giant grunted and released her with a last appraising look. “Of course, Warlord. Though, I’ve got to say again, something doesn’t seem quite right. You haven’t been here these last three lunar rotations and…”
“It hasn’t been right for a long time.” DaKar’s voice vibrated with true menace. “I’ll handle her from here.”
She watched the whole exchange in disbelief, her numbed heart slowly processing what her mind was shrieking. He was so cold. So hard. So much like the father he’d tried so hard to never replicate. And it was her fault. And yet, she’d done what she’d had to do to protect him.
The near-silent closing of the door behind the giant slammed through her chest like a final shot to the heart. She could not let this be how it ended between them.
“You shouldn’t have trifled with a half-blood heathen, little girl.” He loomed over her, his expression much like the first time they’d spoken, danger in every fierce line of his beautiful face. “Now, your fate is set. Turns out when pushed, I’m even more of a savage than those élithe bastards ever thought.”
He seized her arm, spinning her around.
Before the next heartbeat, she was bent over the table, her belly and breasts flat against the metal table while the edge dug into her thighs and her elbow was twisted at her back.
“Mates get to choose whether they obey or not. Martian fuck toys don’t get the option.” He pushed a thick thigh between her own, forcing them wide. “This time, you’ll follow each of my commands to the letter or there will be consequences.”
His cock prodded the cleft of her bottom through the thin fabric of her dress, the weight of his body pressing her deeper into the metal. Before she could protest, he ran his nose up the side of her neck like a wild animal, inhaling deep.
A low growl rumbled through him. “Janus hells.” Anger and lust thickened his voice, but it was the faint shimmer of the strands blinking to life between them that she noticed. “Who knew the stink of a liar could smell so damn good?” He bit down on her earlobe, the scrape of his fangs not at all gentle.
Heat flared low in her belly. A faint moan escaped before she could trap it in.
He stilled. Without warning, lust, need and raw, agonizing hurt slammed into her like a cyclone, the golden soul ties flaring bright. Despite his efforts to extinguish his feelings for her, they still burned inside him.
Her heart expanded, her own rush of feelings blazing bright along the soul ties to meet his own.
“No!” He spat each word out. “No, bleeking way. We’re done.”
“DaKar, please—”
“No.” His fingers twisted in her hair and he yanked her head back. “Now spread those legs wider and arch that traitorous back so I can pull up this dress and start collecting what I’m owed.”
Her anger flared, but so did her lust. Her body recognized his scent, his heat, the storm of their tangled emotions—and his caring.
He was not done with her.
She twisted as much as she could, her chin scraping the metal as she tried to look over her shoulder. “Don’t do this, DaKar. You’ll regret it.”
“Shut up, or I’ll fill that lying mouth with cocksto—and this time I won’t be so gentle.”
“You shut up.” She bucked against his weight. She would not be cowed. Unlike with her stepfather, she knew this male would never truly hurt her.
He jerked upright, but kept his hold on her arm, effortlessly keeping her bent in place as he stared down at her. “You’re skirting a dangerous edge.”
“But that’s what you always liked about me, isn’t it?” She hurled the words at him, her anger sharp and aimed to strike deep. “You told me you were drawn to that fire. To my boldness. Or were you lying to me, too?”
“I never once lied to you,” he snarled.
“Then understand that once I knew you, every risk I took, every bold act, every ugly lie I told, was not to hurt you, but to help.”
“Enough!” His fist crashed down on the table a hands length from her nose. It splintered in two. The edges collapsing into themselves with a sharp crack.
She would have fallen with them, but he jerked her upright. “Damn you, Aurora.”
She hit the wall, not hard, but enough to prove he was in full control of her movements. His hands slammed down on either side of her head, caging her in. The horns on his head so thick and hard they stabbed into the wall behind her, showering plaster down on them both.
“I will gag you if I have to.” His hand left the wall. Seizing her skirt in his big hand, he jerked it to her waist, baring her stockings and panties to his view. His pupils contracted to near slits. “Nothing you say is going to change a damned thing about what happens next.”
She could have fought. She could have clawed his beautiful face with her nails and pounded at his chest, but she understood now that all she was doing was riling him up further, her continued resistance pushing him exactly where she didn’t want him to go.
Instead, she kept her palms flat against the wall in a show of compliance and stopped fighting him, herself, and all the doubts and fears that had kept her from trusting him fully.
The worst had already happened. She had held back from him and lost him anyway.
Dropping all her guards, she simply let herself feel…everything. All her sadness, fear, anger, and love sweeping along the soul ties from her to him. “I once told you I would obey all your commands and that was the truth. If you take me like this, I-I won’t fight you. That night in the floater I gave you my body, my obedience, my love, and as much of my tru
st as I could. None of that pledge was false.”
His breath came faster.
“B-but if you take me like this, it will hurt me and…and I don’t think you’ll violate my trust like that. Even…even if what we had is no more.” She swallowed hard. “My lies destroyed what might have been, but they could never destroy the male I know you to be.”
“Bullshanus.” He shook his head, as if trying to shake off her words, but his eyes were less bloodred than before. “You’re manipulating me again. You think I give a damn whether or not I hurt you after what you did?”
“Yes. I told you long ago I believed you to be a courageous, honest man caught in a mess not of his own making. I still believe it.”
“Liar.” Rage twisted his features, his fangs flashing, and she feared she’d lost the man to the beast. “You’re just like the rest of them. Polite to my face while all the time plotting behind my back. But I’m done pretending to be civilized.”
His hand closed around her throat, forcing her chin up, while the other cupped her between the legs, a forceful claim. “This cunt may have only been stuffed with half-breed cocksto once before, but it’s going to get a good workout from here on out. Warlords fuck often.” He pressed the heel of his palm hard into the gusset of her panties, the fabric rubbing against her folds. “I’m going to break this hole in good.”
She sucked down a sharp breath.
He pressed his mouth to her ear. “Still so sure you know me?”
A sob caught in her throat. “Y-yes.”
A growl of fury. Her panties tore, the elastic stinging her skin as it was ripped from her body. A gasp wrenched from her as the hot flesh of his palm landed against her pussy, no barrier between them any longer.
At the first shock of contact, they both froze.
“Fuck.” His nostrils flared, his thick finger sliding through her slit even as confusion laced his tone. “This chanti is wet for me even now.”
“It’s wet for the male my body and soul remember. The man who showed me what true pleasure and intimacy could be. Who helped me to find myself. To forget fear.” She fought to speak past the haze of lust and fury that held her in more of a chokehold than his grasp ever could. “Don’t destroy that.”
“Fuck you.” His fangs flashed. His hold around her neck tightened. “You destroyed that already.”
Each condemning word struck like a lash. “Maybe I destroyed us, but that doesn’t change who you are.” She swallowed against the pressure of his hold. “It might have been me atop that balcony the first time we met as adults, but between the two of us, you always were the one who stood above.”
“Flattery won’t work on me.” His thumb found her clit, working her in slow, devastating circles. “Move those hips for me, toy. I want to see you work for whatever crumbs I give you.”
“Not flattery, truth.” She fought to keep her hips from lifting. Struggled to keep her eyes from fluttering closed. The pleasure of his touch so familiar—and yet so wrong, the golden ties inside her humming, greedy for whatever he would give. “You wanted that from me all along. Candor. Integrity. Trust. The courage to reach and grab what I wanted.” Her gaze flickered to the torn strips of fabric scattered on the ground. Destroyed, like so much else. “Maybe I couldn’t do it then, but I’ve nothing left to lose and I’m doing it now.”
“Don’t,” he growled. His hand jerked against her mons like a slap.
She bit back a moan. “I-I was honest with you as much as I could be. I told you when you showed me the stars that we could never be mates. I never expected to end up anywhere but paying for my crimes, either dead, in prison, o-or worse. But I will never forgive you if you let yourself become my punisher. If you let yourself be dragged down to my level and that of every two-faced bigoted élithe who is so ready to believe you are a monster.”
He staggered back. “You bitch.”
She dug her nails into the wall to keep from reaching for him. “In the end, I really did try to do the best I could to protect you.”
He jolted as if hit by a laser. “Protect me?”
The surge of emotion that smashed into her from him was a violent, crackling red that singed her from the inside out.
He whirled and slammed his fist into the other wall. Chunks of plaster crashed to the ground as a massive hole formed.
“Protect me?” He slammed his fist forward again. “By sending a death squad to kill me?”
He struck out again. “It wasn’t enough for you to steal my ring and stab me in the back?”
His knuckles barreled forward again. “You had to make your final goodbye a shot through the heart, too?”
Skin split. Blood splattered the ground.
“Stop!” Shock at his accusations made her slow to react, but she leapt forward now, grabbing his arm with both of hers before he struck again, rising to her tiptoes as she used the weight of her body to check him in place. Her gaze cataloging each bruise anew, her own skin throbbing at the horror of what had been done to him. What he thought she had done to him. “I never sent anyone to kill you.”
“Lies!” He shook her off as if her touch was toxic, sending her stumbling back. “Not another fucking word.” Sweat, plaster dust, and blood streaked across his face making him look more savage—and more lost—than ever.
Her heart, already broken, shattered more. “Take me before the judge and I will tell him everything. I don’t have all the answers, but I am sure between Denard and myself, we can clear your name of any involvement and identify the man behind whatever it is you think I’ve done.”
His expression darkened. “Your pawnbroker is dead.”
“Dead?” She clutched the torn pieces of her dress together, an icy chill sliding down her spine.
“He was found bleeding to death in his store, knifed by the same people sent to kill me.”
“I swear to you I didn’t have anything to do with that.” Though she suspected she knew who did. She stepped closer, her voice a low, pleading whisper. “DaKar, all I wanted to do was save you.”
She reached for him.
“Don’t touch me.” He snarled like a wild animal. “Don’t look at me like you care, either.” He prowled away from her. “Your words and your deeds are nothing but a fucking forgery and I don’t want either.”
Pain stabbed through her, the threads between them dimming once more. “No, that’s not true. The only thing right about any of this was you and me and how we made it each other feel.”
“I’m done. You were right. Staying away from you is the only form of protection I need. Don’t follow me, Aurora. It won’t end well for either of us.”
He slammed through the door, leaving her alone with the ruins of the room, the wreckage of her heart, and the thought that maybe it would have hurt less if she’d just let Whetherton do what he’d wanted with her, after all.
40
“Here I thought I’d have an ugly fight to steal you from him.” The distorted, but all too familiar, voice rolled over Aurora just as the roar of DaKar’s single seater faded from the grounds.
Whetherton.
A sense of inevitability rolled through her. He’d always said he’d never let her go and three lunar rotations was plenty of time for him to track her down.
She’d remained in DaKar’s main room with the broken table and cracked walls, unable to make her feet carry her from the last place the male she loved would ever touch her. Comforted by a space that reflected the broken state of her heart and ravaged soul connection. Weighed down by guilt, despair, and the terrible implications of all his revelations as she wondered how exactly it had come to this.
Now, the answer coalesced into one clear insight.
Her stepfather was behind it all—and whatever happened next was inescapable. There could be no more running.
Determined, she turned to face him.
He’d entered the lodge through the sliding glass doors, the black breathing mask over his eyes, nose, and mouth making him look even more like a mons
ter than usual. A sharp silver dagger was clutched in his hand.
“Apparently, I was wrong,” smug satisfaction glittered in his eyes. “Seems your half-breed can’t get away fast enough. But I’ll still catch him in the end.”
Chuckling, he pulled off the mask and took a deep breath, surveying the ruined mess with a look of distaste. “He really is a savage.” Then he looked at her, taking in her torn dress and tangled hair. “I suppose not everyone appreciates the hard work that has to go into keeping a jewel buffed and shined.”
Screaming would only bring someone running to her rescue to be ambushed and knifed.
She would survive this—or die—alone. Like always.
“How did you find me?”
He smoothed the ruffles in his hair. “I will always find you. In this case, it just took asking the right people. This hellhole is definitely not well known, but that idiot Peller and his shrew of a mother were more than eager to help if it meant saving the angelic Aurora from their beast of a family member.” He shook his head. “They really were embarrassingly easy to control.” His expression hardened. “Unlike you.”
She didn’t miss her stepfather’s use of the past tense.
He stepped deeper into the room and she welcomed it—until another figure emerged behind him.
Two against one was far worse odds.
“Shall I contain her?” It was Collins, the servant who’d dodged her washbasin attack and knocked her out. He too had a mask on his face, but even with his face covered, his thirst for violence was easy to read. “Or go after the others?”
“No!” She might not appreciate the part DaKar’s employees had played in her abduction, but she didn’t want them dead. “D-don’t hurt anyone. I will come without a fight.”
“But I like when you fight.” Her stepfather dropped his mask on the broken table. He stabbed the tip of the knife into the tabletop, making her jump. “And hurting is my favorite past time.”
Her skin crawled.
Collin’s laughed.
“Leave her to me.” Her stepfather’s gaze never left hers. “You take care of whoever’s left—and don’t interrupt us until I call for you.”