by Donn, KL
“Close your eyes,” Ares tells me as he holds the knife beside my thigh. I do as instructed and hope to hell I come out of this in one piece.
Fingers softly caress along my upper legs and move slowly to where the sensation of Apollo’s hands can be felt moving towards my sex. His heat, my nerves, they have me hyper-aware of any change in movement, so when I feel Ares place the blade against my skin, I jump and fight not to scream or pull away.
“Deep breaths,” Apollo murmurs as he glides a finger up the folds of my sex and massages the small bundle of nerves. Catching my breath is difficult when there’s so much happening around me.
My belly tightens and heart rate accelerates as small boughs of pleasure rush through my veins. “That a girl,” I hear Ares say, but I’m so lightheaded that I don’t even realize anything has happened until I feel his finger brush through warm liquid.
Lifting my head, I gaze down my body to see he’s barely breached my flesh, and it’s only tiny droplets of blood exposed like a paper cut.
With rapt attention, my gaze follows his hand as he moves up to unclip the clamps on my nipples, and as the blood agonizingly rushes back and I can feel sensation again, Apollo manipulates my body so ecstasy rolls through me, and I’m left in a replete state of arousal.
My eyes close and my body tenses as their hands rub along my flesh, bringing me back down to earth. And as my frame collapses from sheer exhaustion, I have to question my sanity as they both stand to leave.
Asher
Sweet merciful fuck. When Ares brought Arianna to the room we’d been given, we knew we were, at the very least, being watched. Abusing her as the others had was not an option, but we also couldn’t do nothing, so Ares came up with the idea of a pleasure/pain mixture. Reddening her flesh, watching her back arch with every crack of leather across her body and savoring her reaction made my dick harder than it’s ever been.
I’ve never thought of myself as a sadist but hurting her was hot as hell. Especially when she let go in my arms. Gave me everything we silently asked for and more. Convincing her to go along with us without explanation hadn’t been an easy choice, but she’s smart enough to follow direction when given.
“My dick fucking aches. How the hell am I supposed to do anything when all I want is to bury myself in her fucking body,” Ares says as he closes the door behind us.
“Gentlemen!” Judas claps at the end of the hallway. “That was quite the show you put on in there.” His accent makes me want to rip his fucking throat out.
“She’s different.” Ares grins with genuine interest. Hiding our attraction to Arianna isn’t an option, and we both know it. Embracing it is much easier on all of us.
“I have an idea…” Must have hurt, jackass. “I know some people who are willing to pay a great amount to get that reaction from her. She was the hardest to break in years. Knowing she enjoys the pain with a little bit of pleasure is a great asset.”
No fucking way.
He’s not letting some other son of a bitch touch her.
“How many men have you allowed to whip her? Punch her around?” I ask instead, stepping forward, ready to rip his head off here and now.
“A small handful.”
“And none of them have gotten that kind of response from her or anyone else, have they.” It’s not a question. I have no doubts about the answer. To gain a response with the same amount of precision as we did, there needs to be a mutual attraction, a trust factor. Arianna isn’t going to give that to anyone else here.
Not when she belongs to us.
Scraping his hand along his jaw, Judas takes a moment to think about his answer. “No, I suppose they did not.”
“Then they can watch us get that reaction from her,” Ares jumps in, crossing his arms and essentially telling the sadistic prick that there’s no room for argument.
“You know, Ares,” Judas places his hands on hips and looks down, shaking his head. “I like you. I even like Apollo.” Looking back up at us, I see a change in his demeanor as I feel bodies approach us from behind. “What I don’t like is being told what will happen in my own facility.”
“Touch me, and I’ll break your arm,” Ares threatens as one man moves to grab him from behind. The one about to make the same move on me also halts his actions.
“Don’t forget your place here, Ares,” Judas warns as he walks closer and stops between us. “There are only two of you and dozens of us.” His threat is unmistakable.
What he fails to realize, though, is that we have nothing to lose. He has everything. “Careful how you dish out those threats. You know who we are, what we’ve done, and what we’ll continue to do for the things we want. Don’t think you scare us.”
His gaze slowly wanders up and down my body at my words. With a sharp nod to the men behind us, they back off, and he shoots us a crooked grin before walking away.
“I get the feeling you like pissing people off,” Ares comments when we’re alone again.
Shrugging, I stare at the door we just walked through. “It’s something I excel at lately. Think you could convince him to let us bring Ari back up to our room. She needs to be ready for this shit show that’s about to go down.”
In layman’s terms, we’re going to be putting on one hell of a sexfest for other’s viewing pleasure. The problem is, I don’t know how comfortable Arianna is going to be with it. Let alone whether Ares or I even want others watching the intimacy of the act.
“You okay with this, Asher?” His question echoes my thoughts.
“No. But it’s not about me. We’ll do what we must to rescue these people. When that’s accomplished, his head his mine.” On a silver fucking platter.
If it’s the last thing I do, I’m taking this organization out.
“I’m at your side, brother.” Ares pats my back and walks off in search of the head of the snake pit while I walk back into the room to find Arianna lying on the bed, shaking and terrified.
I fucking hate this.
Ares
I can feel Asher’s rage as if it were my own. The way in which Arianna gave herself to us is what every man dreams of. She let us hurt her. Hell, she arched into every agonizing stroke and begged for more with her eyes.
No matter what happens next or what Asher has promised, we’re getting our girl out tonight. We can come back for her people. Come back for Judas. All that matters right now is making sure she’s safe. Once that’s done and we have a plan for extracting the people of Graeline, we can burn this fucking house of horrors to the damn ground.
“Judas,” I call out his name before he enters his office domain.
“Ares.”
“We’re taking her up to our room. Cleaning her up. You don’t want your guests to have the girl of the hour look like she’s been rolling in a mud pit.” My words don’t broker a choice, but I still phrase it to sound like a question.
“Good idea. Tell the others to clean a few of the other girls up as well. Let’s make tonight magnificent.” Which translates to, give the girls false hope so when they’re broken again, it’s all the more pleasurable for the man behind the act.
“Will do.” I spin on my heel before he can issue another order that enrages me further. He doesn’t know it, but with each edict, he only reinforces my desire to expose him to exactly what these girls are feeling.
A few whips to his dick will have regret boiling his blood nice and quick.
Catching up to one of the guys who only has access to unlocking doors and bringing the girls to their cells, I tell him, “Judas wants the girls cleaned up. Showered, fresh clothes, thick socks. Feed them too. And lots of water.”
He frowns before asking, “Why?”
“Because my friend and I intend to put on one hell of a show with the princess to get the money rolling. Judas wants the girls cleaned up and looking their best.” It makes me sick to my stomach saying any of this with a grin on my face. Acting like I enjoy it is hard to stomach.
He pales. “Sure. Whatever
the boss wants.”
“What’s your name again?” He frowns. I know his nickname; I’m hoping for a real one. “Good with faces here, man, not names.” When the time comes, I’m thinking he might be an ally.
“Carson Shay.”
Meeting his stare with a far more serious note, I say to him, “Watch for me tonight, Carson. Watch closely.” I wait a beat, and he nods.
In his eyes, I see confusion sprinkled with a shimmer of hope. He’s acquainted with someone who’s been taken by Judas, and if I had my guess, he’s here to find out what happened to her.
Heading back up to Asher and Arianna, I know we need to get him out too. The pile keeps fucking growing, and, in some ways, I wish I were still the cold-hearted son of a bitch who could walk away from anything and anyone whenever I liked.
Thanks to Arden and Everett, I can’t. Having Arianna now, means I have to be a better man. She’s going to lead a country one day, and she can’t have a mercenary as her companion.
Unless she only takes Asher.
He’s more caring than I am. More personable. Asher can put up with the shit that her life is going to entail. I couldn’t care less what people think about me.
I’m a killer through and through. Nothing will change that.
Not even love. Or the possibility of it.
“Get that fucking thought out of your head right now.”
“What thought?” I frown at Asher as he carries Arianna towards me.
Placing her in my arms, he says to me, point-blank, “The thought that I’m doing this without you. That she’ll want me without you,” he barks. “While you were here playing jailer, I was stuck with the mage listening to her voodoo.”
“Did you learn anything?”
“Yeah. You’re a hard-headed son of a bitch. I’m a ruthless one. And Arianna is going to rule the fucking world, but she needs us to do it.”
“You were with her for a few days. How does she know all of that?” I’m still unsure of this hocus pocus shit.
Closing and locking the door behind us, Asher pulls the covers back on the bed and waits for me to lay the princess down. Her exhausted body having fallen asleep before he handed her over to me.
Pulling something out of his bag, Asher takes a knife to her shredded clothing and lays a small black silk bag on her chest.
“Get on the other side of her,” he tells me.
“Care to explain what the hell that is first?” I point to the bag as I kick my boots off and slide in beside her.
Asher
Staring at the pouch I’ve placed on Arianna’s chest, I haven’t a fucking clue if this is going to work. If she’s going to become stronger, or if Ares and I are going to make her worse.
“Well, what is it, Apollo?” my friend asks again.
“Not a fucking clue,” I tell him honestly. “The mage gave it to me, said to place it on her chest, kiss her, and give her our strength.” I frown because saying it out loud makes it sound even more ridiculous than in my head.
“You’re kidding, right?” His disbelief is apparent.
“It sounded more convincing when Callista said it. I don’t fucking know, man. She insists that Arianna’s powers are tied with us. I just don’t know how.” Gripping the pouch in my hand, I take it to the sink to dampen it and place it back on her chest.
The scent of lavender and sage meet my nostrils, and I hear Ares snort, “Fucking herbs.” Stripping my shirt off, I ignore Ares’ disbelief because my own will only follow, and I need to trust my gut.
“Come on, Ari, show us how,” I whisper as I bury my face in her neck. “Give us a hint, princess.” I have no fucking clue what the hell I’m waiting for, but when Ares follows my lead and removes his shirt, gets as close to her as he can, I gain a sliver of hope.
If we both believe, both try whatever it is that Callista wants from us, then maybe we stand a chance of bringing Arianna back from the edge of darkness that her weakened mind and body are teetering on.
“Don’t give up on us now, princess,” Ares’ rough voice mumbles against her lips before he places a kiss on her weathered flesh. Not just a small one either. He delves deeper, encourages her sleeping form to wake.
She emits a low, ragged moan, and the air becomes charged from our connection, but it isn’t until I pull her away from his possessive hold and replace his lips with mine that she shifts.
A hand on my chest as my tongue tangles with hers.
A hand gripping Ares’ arm like a lifeline as her back bows off the bed.
“Callista,” she whispers like the woman is in the room with us.
“Sure wasn’t the witch’s tongues down her throat,” Ares bitches as we watch Arianna. Her body tenses tight like she’s fighting to keep something within her.
Or push a force out.
“Son of…”
“A bitch.” Ares finishes my thought as a warm glow emanates around the darkened room.
Her blonde hair looks like a halo around her head as her eyes pop open wide. The once light green orbs are now black and filled with something incomprehensible.
“Matthew…” Her voice fills the room, but her lips don’t move.
“How the fuck?”
“Asher…” The same rush of adrenaline zaps through my veins as when I’m on a mission and about to come face to face with an enemy combatant.
“Arianna,” I growl her name, a pulsing need overrides my body to possess every silky inch of her tiny frame.
Acting on instinct alone, I hover over her body, pushing her bowed spine back into the mattress and capture her lips in a soul-searing kiss. Gripping the tops of her thighs, I dig my hardened cock into her core. Annoyed with the fabric of my pants between us, I continue to plunder her mouth as her hands scratch at my back. Rolling over so that she’s lying across my chest, my hold on her legs tightens, and I rub her along my covered length, desperately needing something I can barely identify.
The weight of Ares covering her back is a welcome relief I didn’t know I’d ever need. Or want. I realize a lot of men dream of a threesome, but I’m a territorial asshole and had never given it thought before. Now, with Arianna, I can’t imagine it any other way.
I don’t see Ares as someone I ever have to compete with. Us, together, is something that feels right with her. It’s fate.
“Sweet Jesus,” Ares groans, and I can hear his belt coming undone as he tugs on her hair, pulling her neck back. “What the fuck is going on?”
It’s her.
I don’t know how or what that damn magic bag has done, but my veins pulse with overwhelming desire for Arianna. It’s amplified beyond belief, and I’m glad to know it’s not just me feeling it. Ares is affected too.
“It’s the dark mage,” she whispers. “She’s trying to take me away. To inject evil into my bloodstream.” What Callista said makes sense now. She needs our strength to fight the devil.
“You want us, princess?”
“Please, Asher, please make her leave me alone.” Hot tears stream down her face.
“How?” Ares asks. The girl is fragile in our arms, ready to shatter.
Arianna
I’d been crying for Callista for so long that I didn’t know if she would eventually come to me. I had no idea how she was going help.
But now, I see it.
Matthew when he was a troubled rich boy.
So much anger and hatred flowed from his soul as he stormed away from his parents. A man on a mission, he joined a brotherhood he wasn’t prepared for.
Death followed Matthew Norbury into battle, and he emerged as Ares. Like the God of War, he thrived on the pain of his enemies. Blood covered him like a coat of armor.
Asher before he became a cynical warrior.
A quiet genius, concentrating on making the world a safer place for the family he, one day, dreamed of having. He followed the enemies across the globe until he met a man more intractable than him. They shared a blood oath. A bond that followed them through war, into Team Olym
pus, and shaped Asher into Apollo. Like the God of Truth, he sought peace through interrogation and caused the wickedest men to confess their sins.
I witness them enter hell and return broken.
Toppled buildings. Agonized cries. A blood-coated ground. They were ambushed and terrorized. Escaped death on a day when it came searching.
The pain Matthew experienced as he was tortured for a crime he didn’t commit flood my body in technicolor, and I can’t make it stop.
All of it in the flash of a second. I feel everything.
And now, the dark mage is here to take me away.
“Accept me, princess. We can rule the world.” Her cruel voice reverberating in my mind feels powerful. I don’t want to be an evil queen, but I’m not strong enough to fight her off.
I need Ares and Apollo. Their strength. Their life’s essence is the only way to keep me sane.
“You, I need both of you.” It wasn’t until this moment that I genuinely believed the nightmares that have plagued me for so long. The dreams of two men who would one day save me in a way I could not fathom now makes so much sense.
“I need your essence, your life, flowing through my body,” I whisper as I stare down into Apollo’s chocolate eyes. Concern reflects back at me. “I’m not strong enough to fight her alone.”
He frowns. “Fight who?” But I see the suspicious gleam in his eyes.
“The dark mage. She’s in my head, luring me like a siren. I can’t fight her alone.” I whimper when Ares pulls me up to sit against his chest.
“You understand what you’re asking of us, right?”
“Yes, Matthew, please.”
“It’s Ares, princess. Matthew is another man from another time. I left him a long-ass while ago.” I know he did. Before he was a soldier.
“Make me yours,” I plead with them both. It’s all I’ve never known I wanted. And exactly what I now need. Crave. Desire.
“Anything for you,” Ares whispers in my ear before I feel him pull back and kiss down my spine, easing the pain of the wounds on my flesh. Shivers rack my body as he and Apollo initiate their sensual assault on my body.