The Beast: A Wicked Villains Novel

by Katee Robert

  I follow her to the bench and help her position herself. Spanking benches come in a wide variety, but the one we picked for tonight has spots for her forearms and shins with a higher section in the middle to lift her ass into the air. She squirms a little as I fasten the straps across her calves, holding her into place. I move around to her front and go to one knee to give her arms the same treatment. “Too tight?”

  “No. They’re perfect.” She lifts her head and bites her bottom lip. “Everyone can see my pussy.”

  “Yes, they can.” I press a quick kiss to her mouth. “Safe word, princess.”

  “Candlestick.”

  “Good girl.” I tilt her chin to where Gaeton has sprawled on the couch. “Aurora gets her punishment first. Try not to be too jealous.”

  Gaeton crooks his fingers at me. “Come sit here, Beast.”

  It’s not domination, not exactly, but I can’t deny the draw of this man. I cross to sink down next to him. From this position, it’s clear that the scene was set up to maximize everyone’s view. We can see them all. Just like they can see us.

  Gaeton snaps his fingers. “Up, Aurora. Over my knee.”

  She has that sweet smile on her face again, as if she wasn’t just playing the part of the siren tempting our girlfriend away from us. This is the Aurora I’m most familiar with, the one I’ve scened with in the past, but the bratty version of herself is just as real. Gaeton grabs her hand and yanks her forward until she’s sprawled over his broad lap, her face against my thigh. He turns her face to look at Isabelle. “Watch her. She’s knows this is coming for her next, that her punishment will be much more prolonged.”

  “Worth it.” Aurora squirms a little and laughs. “She tastes too sweet.”

  Gaeton and I exchange a look, and I have to muscle down the urge to laugh. Aurora is fucking fearless right now, and I’m enjoying it far more than I should. I lift my brows. “Sounds like you need to double whatever number you had in mind for her.”

  “Sounds like I do.” He shakes his head slowly. “You were always so nice and sweet, Aurora. Look at you now.” He hooks the hem of her dress and pulls it up, baring her from the waist down. Isabelle makes a strangled noise, but neither of us look at her. This lack of attention is just as much a punishment as what comes next.

  Gaeton doesn’t give Aurora any warning. He simply starts spanking her, one punishing strike after another, alternating cheeks and spacing. She squirms and whimpers, and I stroke her hair absentmindedly as I watch Isabelle watch what’s happening. Even with her comment about watching Gaeton fuck Aurora, I’m still unprepared for the sheer lust in her eyes every time his hand lands with a meaty thwack on Aurora’s pert little ass. Knowing Aurora, she’s practically dripping from this treatment, and Isabelle’s angle will give her a glimpse of that desire.

  She looks like she wants to lick Aurora clean.

  I shift, my cock hardening again to press against the front of my jeans. The desire to skip right over the punishment and get to the fucking is tempting, but it would cheat all four of us to do it.

  “There.” Gaeton’s rough word brings me back to the present. He hauls Aurora up and frames her face in his big hands. “I suppose it’s too much to ask that you never do it again?”

  She smiles beatifically and dips down to press a quick kiss to his mouth. “Yep.”

  “Scamp.” He lifts her and deposits her in my lap. Without another word, he rises, his giant cock straining the front of his slacks, and stalks toward Isabelle.

  I dig a blanket out from the basket beneath the couch and tuck it around Aurora. “You good?”

  “I’m good.” She shivers and presses her face to my neck. “Damn, Beast. If you three ever, ever want to play again, promise I’m the first on your list.”

  My gaze tracks to where Gaeton now stands between Isabelle’s forcibly spread knees, staring down at her ass as if he wants to jump past the punishment as much as I do. “I think we can arrange that.”

  “Yay.” She wiggles excitedly, and then moans a little.

  I lean back. “Aurora.” I inject a bit of bite into my tone. “Stop rubbing your ass all over my cock or I’m going to start spanking you again. You’ll have bruises upon bruises.”

  “Promise?”

  “Beast.” Gaeton’s command brings my head up. He’s watching us closely. “Aurora hasn’t learned her lesson.”

  “It appears not.”

  “Mmm.” He leaves Isabelle and walks over to us. Before I can figure out what he intends, he grabs the bottom edge of the couch and hauls us forward to within touching distance of the spanking bench. “Better.”

  His strength sends a surge of desire through me and I let him see it, just for a moment. “Much better.”

  Gaeton gives me a quick grin that’s full of the promise of later, and then he moves to Isabelle’s other side. “We’re going to start with my hand. One stroke for each of you until I’m satisfied that you won’t be sneaking off to play with her pussy every chance you get.” He waits for me to take the blanket back from Aurora and, after a moment, to take her dress, too. Gaeton narrows his eyes at her. “Don’t be rubbing your pussy all over Beast’s leg, either. You’re fucking shameless, Aurora. Take your punishment.”

  “Yes, Sir!” she says it so primly, there’s no way a soul in this room believes her.

  He shakes his head slowly. “Such a little brat.”

  I pull her over my lap and shift her up until her ass is higher than the rest of her, her cheek against the couch cushion as she looks up at Isabelle. Gaeton and I time our strikes perfectly, and both women cry out. Aurora’s ass is a deep red, but I’ve played with her enough to know she can take more.

  Again and again and again.

  I know exactly what Gaeton’s strength can do when he puts his mind to it. He’s being careful with Isabelle. No matter how much she cries out and how pretty her tears, he’s holding back. Ideally, we wouldn’t be experimenting with pain without knowing her threshold in a public scene like this. The concentration on Gaeton’s face every time he lifts his hand to spank her ass is so fucking hot, I can’t stand it.

  Aurora squirms in my lap and I put a little extra snap behind my next strike. She moans and I shake my head. “Shameless.”

  “You know it,” she gasps out, but her voice has gone a little hazy and lost some of the bratty bite. Just as well. Isabelle can’t take much more.

  As if I beamed that thought right into Gaeton’s head, he runs his hands over Isabelle’s ass, earning a sexy little whimper from her. “Are you feeling repentant, little slut?”

  “Yes, Sir.” A single tear escapes the corner of her eye. “I’m sorry,” she whispers.

  I know what comes next in Gaeton’s head. He has no problem fucking in front of people. It’s not my preference any more than scening publicly is, but once again, I have little choice in this moment.

  We have to finish it.

  “Are you ready to show everyone just how sorry you are?” He’s talking to her, but he’s looking at me.

  I nod. Let’s finish this.

  Chapter 23

  Gaeton

  By all rights, I should hate every single moment of this scene. Having Isabelle “cheat” so we could catch her. Seeing her completely undone by someone who isn’t one of us. Watching how much she enjoyed licking Aurora’s pussy. It all should be triggering the fuck out of me.

  That was the problem before. I wasn’t enough for her. She had to have him, too. I didn’t really get that Beast wasn’t enough for her, either. It’s only now, as I stroke her ass, red from the spanking, and watch Beast tuck a blanket back around Aurora in preparation of us fucking Isabelle at the same time that I feel settled.

  Yeah, I should hate this scene, but instead it’s been the hottest one I’ve ever participated in.

  Aurora tucks her legs up underneath the blanket and snuggles back into the cushions with a happy smile. She catches me watching her and winks. It’s an effort not to give her my normal grin, to maintain
the stern boyfriend persona. It’s not how I usually like to play but I’m enjoying the hell out of it.

  Beast moves to stand near Isabelle’s head, waiting for my direction. It might be the first time in his fucking life where he’s answering to me, and it’s not submission, but it feels just as good as everything else we’ve done tonight. This was supposed to be about putting on a show for Ursa to prove that we’re united beneath Cordelia and too strong to fuck with. Somewhere along the way, it became solely about us.

  I squeeze Isabelle’s ass again, making her jump and moan. She’s ready. I nod at Beast and he moves to undo one of her arms and shift the bench around to drop the section beneath her head and give him room to work. I pitch my voice low, just for the three of us. “If you need to safe out, slap his hip with the hand he just freed. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Beast wraps her hair around one fist and undoes his jeans with the other. I’m tall enough that I get a good look at his cock and, fuck, the guy is freakishly perfect everywhere. He looks up, his blue eyes full of the memory of what we did in the storage closest, full of the promise of what comes later. The metal of his piercing glints and then Isabelle is sucking him deep.

  I give her a few seconds let her adjust to him. There will be no mercy once we get going, but I can afford a little now. I undo my slacks slowly and take my cock out. Isabelle is so wet, the evidence is all over her thighs. Our woman likes spankings as much as she likes Aurora.

  I drag my cock over her pussy, teasing her. “You ready to take this cock, Rose?” The endearment slips out, and I don’t try to take it back. I never stopped loving this infuriating woman. The feeling should have soured long before now, turned brittle and poisonous. Instead, it’s only gotten stronger. I don’t know what the future holds, but we have right now.

  It’s enough.

  It has to be enough.

  I slam into her hard enough to rock her forward the tiniest bit despite the restraints. She cries out around Beast’s cock, and it’s the prettiest sound I’ve ever heard. “Don’t hold back,” I command.

  Beast nods. “I won’t.”

  We fuck her. There’s no other word for it. I don’t want one. I drive into her tight pussy again and again, searching for the salvation I know is just out of reach. Beast is doing the same thing with her mouth, though he’s being slightly more careful. The goal isn’t to hurt her, even if we’re technically mid-punishment.

  We make a good show of it. There’s no other way around it. We fuck Isabelle until she’s sobbing around Beast’s cock and her pussy is clenched tight enough that I’m having to fight against coming. From past experience, I know the angle of the bench is almost enough friction on her clit to get her off, but this part of the scene isn’t about her. Or, rather, it is and it isn’t.

  She’ll come plenty later tonight.

  Beast holds my gaze and, for the first time since I’ve known him, he’s not wearing a mask. He’s looking at me like he did in the storage closet. Like he wants me. Like he … owns me. Maybe that’s why I throw caution to the wind. I’ve never been that good at restraint. Not when it comes to the things I want, not when it comes to a single damn thing in life. It’s gotten me into trouble more than once, and it will again. Probably right fucking now, because I want to kiss him and I can’t think of a single reason not to.

  So I do.

  I lean across Isabelle’s body and snag the back of his neck. I’m tall enough to make the position work, and he doesn’t resist as I take his mouth. I come deep inside Isabelle with the taste of Beast on my tongue and it feels like the something clicks into place in my chest, a ragged edge smoothed. This feels right, so right that it scares the breath right out of my lungs.

  The last time I wanted someone as desperately as I do these two people, I was left kneeling with a ring box in my hand while the woman I held above all others backed away from me. I don’t know if I can survive another rejection like that.

  Beast carefully pulls out of Isabelle’s mouth and gives me that look again, the one that promises things to come. I want to believe it. I want to so desperately, I forget to hold myself back. I ease out of Isabelle and press a kiss to the back of her neck. “You’ve pleased us.”

  We get to work unfastening her and I carry her to the couch where Aurora’s pulled out another of the blankets they keep for aftercare. Beast helps me tuck it around Isabelle in my lap and then drops onto the other side of Aurora, who looks so happy she’s practically purring. Satisfied that she’s good, I focus entirely on Isabelle.

  She smiles up at me, a little dazed and loopy. “That was something else.”

  I hold her close, letting my body steady her as she swivels a little to look at Aurora upside-down. “You are something else. All of you.” She laughs a little as if amazed. “Is it always like this?”

  “It can be.” It’s a lie. It’s never like this. I have scened with near-strangers and scened with friends, have fucked both. None of those experiences come close to what we just shared. The emotional intensity drove everything to new heights. Beast catches my eye and he looks like a cat who got into the cream. Satisfied and a little lazy with it. Fuck, but that’s just as sexy as Isabelle’s buzzed joy.

  Aurora stretches and climbs carefully to her feet. “Thank you for including me.” She presses quick kisses to each of our mouths in turn, and then returns to grab Isabelle’s hand and squeeze it. “I like you, Isabelle Belmonte.”

  “I like you, too.” Isabelle’s laugh edges into a giggle. “Not just the sex stuff.”

  “Not just the sex stuff.” Aurora smiles. “See you three around.” She lets the blanket drop next to where Beast tossed her dress on the floor earlier, and waltzes naked in the direction of the hallway leading to the private rooms. The employee areas are back there, too, which is no doubt where she’s headed. I’m not the only one who notices the little swing in her step, either. I catch Malone staring at Aurora, but she turns away before I can tell if it’s loathing or lust in her eyes.

  Isabelle wiggles a little in my lap, and Beast moves closer until he’s pressed against my side and she’s in both our laps more than just mine. She gives a happy sigh as if this is exactly what she wants. “I—” She licks her lips. “I didn’t know shame could be so sexy, something to play with and enjoy instead of trying to shove down deep.”

  She’s killing me. I touch her chin with the tip of my finger. This is where I need to establish some kind of boundary, to remind her—both of them—that this is just for show, not for us. I can’t do it. It’s not the truth, and I don’t know where that leaves us, but if they’re both being honest, I can give it a try, too. “Consent is the only rule, Isabelle. Everything else is up for negotiation. Even shame. Especially shame.”

  She leans up and kisses my jaw. “Thank you.”

  I don’t ask what she’s thanking me for. I just hold her and lean against Beast as he does the same, his hand brushing mine as we stroke Isabelle’s back. It feels right. So fucking right.

  I’m still not so wrapped up in them that I’m ignoring our surroundings.

  People began dispersing when we started aftercare, moving on to their own entertainments or heading for the lounge to resume drinking. Not Ursa. Malone left quickly after Aurora did, but Ursa remains on her fainting couch, a queen in waiting. Alaric kneels near her feet, but she ignores him, her entire attention seeming to be on us.

  I hold her gaze over the distance of the room. Talking to her now would just undermine what we’ve done. If we’re powerful enough not to be fucked with, we’re powerful enough that we can’t walk around issuing threats. That kind of bravado reeks of weakness, and Ursa’s too smart not to see through it.

  We can take her if it comes to a territory war; even with Cordelia being relatively untried, the combined experience of the people under her is more than enough to hold us. Plus, we aren’t looking to expand. Defending territory is a whole hell of a lot easier than claiming it.

  But there will be
lives lost if we go to war. People I might have been willing to walk away from a month ago, but that doesn’t mean I won’t fight to prevent their deaths. I couldn’t save Orsino. It didn’t matter how strong I am, how smart, how ruthless. Cancer doesn’t give a fuck about any of that.

  I miss that old fucker. I don’t think I’ll ever not miss him. Going back to the territory, to spend time in his home … It’s going to be uncomfortable as hell to be faced with the ever-present reminder of him, but maybe it won’t be all bad. Maybe it’s good to remember.

  Maybe someday I’ll get to the point where I appreciate it.

  Either way, I won’t allow Ursa to fuck with the territory or the people in it. I’ve never been that great at silent communication, but I can threaten like a motherfucker, and I put every bit of threat I can into the look I send her.

  She raises her brows and smiles widely as if I’ve amused her. Before I decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, she rises gracefully from the fainting couch, smooths down her dress, and says something to Alaric that has him climbing to his feet and following her toward the private rooms.

  I let out a long exhale and refocus on the two people that matter. “Let’s stay here tonight.”

  Beast raises his brows at that, but I give a slight shake of my head. He finally shrugs. “Works for me.”

  Isabelle stretches out across our laps, still buzzed out of her mind from subspace. “I think I’ve been bad enough for one night. I’m okay with whatever you two decide.”

  “Bad enough for one night.” I snort and stand, lifting her easily in my arms. “Don’t try to play the innocent now. You come down off this high and you’re going to be begging for your next filthy fix.” Beast and I are planning on it by agreeing to play out his fantasy.

  “Probably.” She laughs, and for the first time in longer than I can remember, it sounds completely uninhibited. Unencumbered.

  Beast shakes his head and moves toward the lounge. He’ll touch base with Meg or Hercules and get us booked in one of the overnight rooms. Normally, I’d prefer to head directly back to my apartment to finish this night, but Ursa has already proven she knows its location and can get to us there. I don’t think she’ll try it tonight, but I know she won’t fuck with Hades’s hospitality. There might be some leniency outside of the Underworld, but only a fool would cross Hades beneath this roof.