“Mm, me too. Swimming in October, how romantic.” Crunching down on a French fry, I tilt my head back romantically and place my free hand over my chest. “Be still my beating heart.”
“Careful, Princess,” Crane laughs. “You don’t want to go down in history as the first woman to seduce a man with French fries.”
“Oooh, don’t I?” I lean forward, taking a very-not-seductive bite of my next fry and laugh when Crane wipes some salt off the side of my mouth.
“You’re beautiful. I’m sorry I haven’t been around.”
“I get it, I just worry about you. This place is new to you, and it doesn’t seem to be doing you any favors,” I grumble, taking my tray and laying it on the bedside table.
Crane nods, moving his own tray off the bed. He leans over the edge and pulls the comforter up here with us, making a big show of opening it midair and letting it fall over us in a flourish. “I know. I’m sorry.”
My head meets the pillow and I sigh, stretching my legs out fully. “I could probably be convinced to forgive you,” I whisper as I roll on my side. Crane’s arms snake around me, his warm—almost hot—body pressed up against my own. Snuggling back into him, I find that the hard planes of his body are more comfortable than the soft—well, softish—bed.
“Stop that, temptress. We’re trying to comfort you; you will not seduce us so easily.”
A cackling laugh busts out of me, and I lay my arm on top of Crane’s. “I’m sorry, H, it won’t happen again. Maybe.”
Crane or H mumbles something under his breath and slides a hand between us, quickly adjusting his growing erection. He doesn’t say anything else, but when his breathing falls into an easy rhythm, I find myself slipping into sleep behind him.
* * *
/-/-/-/
* * *
I blink my eyes open slowly, groaning as I come awake in the dark. My first thought is: Who turned out the lights? I’m pretty sure we fell asleep with them on, but I shrug the thought away. Beside me, Crane’s body twitches as he groans in his sleep.
Another nightmare.
Does he always have these fucking things? I raise up on my elbow, twisting to see him in the dark. I can hardly make out the line of his nose, my eyes are still adjusting to the dimly lit room. Hardly any moonlight penetrates the heavy curtains. I slip my finger down the bridge of his nose, listening to him ramble on his sleep.
“There’s not a—” He throws his head to the side, burying further into the pillow. “No salvation.”
At least there’s no blood this time.
“Stained like crimson with your—”
Ah, there it is. I slip my leg over his body and straddle Crane, his growing erection pressing against my middle. “What’s wrong, love?” I whisper into the dark, grinding down against him.
“I’ll cleave your head from your shoulders you insignificant whelp!” Crane jerks awake, his hand flying to my throat. In the darkness, I can make out his eyes open and focused on me. “Mackenzie,” he growls, rocking his hips up against me.
“H,” I moan. The grip around my throat loosens, and I lean my head down on his chest, kissing a soft line across his neck until I reach his ear. “FG, tell me about your nightmares, what do you see?”
Crane’s hand slides down my neck to my shoulder and caresses my arm. With a shaky breath he goes still beneath me. “It’s so dark inside my mind these days, Princess,” he whispers. “I’m not sure what’s real anymore. I see these . . . these memories—they feel like memories, like from a past life if that’s even possible.”
He sounds so torn, so upset, but I can feel his cock aching against my inner thigh. I nod, licking my lips. “Tell me about these memories, maybe we can work through them together.” I slide my hand up his stomach to his chest and nuzzle my head against his shoulder.
“People die. Lots of people.” He clears his throat, and I can tell he’s nervous. “I kill them. I can see myself slashing at them with an axe, or a hatchet of some kind. Sometimes, I take their heads. Their blood splashes against me, and it’s always so warm. . .” His husky voice sends a trill of excitement down my spine. There’s something strangely erotic about listening to him describe these murders.
“How does it make you feel?” I ask, trying to keep the heat out of my own voice. Crane’s fingers dig into my back, and I roll my hips down against him out of instinct.
“It feels—” He shakes his head.
“Tell me,” I whisper, pressing my lips to his neck again.
“It feels amazing, Kenzie.” He groans, slamming his free hand down against the bed. “What the fuck is wrong with me? I’m watching people being murdered, I’m murdering them, and it’s as real as you are right now, and I’m not horrified. I’m not scared. When their blood hits my skin it’s orgasmic. It’s like a woman cumming on my cock, tempting me to follow her.”
I gasp and sit up, leaning away from Crane. He stiffens beneath me like a statue. I can tell he’s worried he’s gone too far, but it’s quite the opposite. I can’t take this anymore without some kind of stimulation.
Leaning back on one hand, still sitting on Crane’s lap, I pull my sweatpants off and toss them off the side of the bed. Carefully, I maneuver my legs back down and lean backward, spreading my pussy lips with my fingers. Crane audibly swallows. I can hardly see him in the dark, but from the sound of it, his eyes don’t take as long as mine to adjust.
“What are you doing, Princess?” There was a time when the nickname annoyed me, but right now, the sound of it on his lips makes me want to ride him into oblivion.
“Tell me about your dreams, Crane,” I murmur.
“Say my name again,” he rasps, his hips rolling beneath me. I don’t think he can help it.
“Crane,” I moan as I slip my finger along my clit. That slight brush against the tiny bundle of nerves is almost enough to make me beg, but I remind myself I’m in control here. As I dip my fingers lower, I search the dark for his eyes as I slide a finger inside my wet entrance.
“Fuck,” he growls, sliding a hand over my knee and to my thigh. “I slice their throats. Sometimes, I hack their heads off their bodies. There’s this red haze that comes over my vision in the dreams when I start killing them,” he groans, his cock pulsing through his pants against my ass. “I imagine you there.”
I whimper as I listen to him taunt me with the details, slipping my finger around my clit in tiny circles. “Oh?”
“Mmm, yes,” he snarls. “My hands sliding over your gorgeous tits, smearing them with their blood while I pound you.”
A small moan slips out of me, and I bite my lip, trying to remind myself through the lusty haze in my mind that we have to be quiet. My finger strokes over my clit faster, my hips rolling down against Crane’s lap of their own volition.
“Watching their eyes fade as they die,” he groans. “It makes me want to cum.”
I can’t take this anymore. Sitting up, I pull Crane’s sweatpants down his thighs and straddle his hard cock, rubbing it against my dripping wet pussy. He sucks in a breath, his hands scrambling to pull my shirt over my head. I’m sliding down his length before the shirt is over my head.
The animalistic roar that comes from him sends a blast of goosebumps across my skin. He tosses my shirt across the room, squeezing my tits hard as I begin rocking against him. “Tell me,” I beg as I grind my clit against his cock with every pass.
“When we leave this place,” a deeper voice responds, and I slam my pussy down against his cock. Something about H’s voice sends me into a fury, riding him harder and faster. “We will bathe in their blood. I’ll fuck you in the blood of our enemies, Poppet, just like you want. Do you want to ride me like this, like a warrior Goddess? Or do you want me to take you in a puddle of blood while it soaks into your skin?”
I bite my lip harder, trying not scream as his hips begin rising to meet my thrusts. Crane’s cock bumps against my g-spot every time he moves.
“Yes,” I whimper. That’s all I can manage as
my fingers dig into his chest.
Chapter 17
Crane
My mind is a haze of pleasure and gore, visions of my victims flashing against my eyes warring with the beautiful woman sliding up and down on my cock. I can’t function past much more than to growl and clench hard enough at Kenzie’s hips to bruise. H takes up a constant rhythm in my brain, alternating between speaking only to me and speaking out loud. At certain points, It’s like I’m in the backseat of my own body, watching someone else fuck Kenzie with my hands, and yet it turns me on even more to think H and I are the same, that we are no longer two separate entities. Now, we can both take Kenzie for ourselves.
“You are gorgeous, Poppet,” I growl, my voice so deep it should scare me. I stare up at Kenzie with a red haze, both from the vision and the blood I can smeared across her body. It drips down her tits, and I have the sudden urge to run my tongue through it, even if I know it isn’t real, even if this is all pretend. I don’t resist the temptation, and it only turns me on that I can taste the phantom blood, the metallic tang sending my taste buds into a frenzy.
Kenzie moans in pleasure as she rides me, her sense of control nothing more than an illusion. The only one in control here is H. We’re both just along for the ride.
“The first head I will gift you with will be the orderly who dares to insult you.”
“Yes,” she groans, slamming down harder on me. I growl against her skin, pulling her nipple into my mouth and drawing hard on the sensitive bud.
“I will slice it free, cut through his spine, and hold it up as a gift. Then I will paint your skin with his blood and fuck you in his entrails.”
Jesus, I think, none of this should turn me on. I should be horrified. Instead, I snarl and clamp my teeth against the tender skin of Kenzie’s breast, drawing hard enough to leave my mark.
“Don’t stop,” she moans, her fingers threading through my hair and pulling hard. She jerks my head back and runs her own teeth along my throat, my vicious little Poppet.
“We will leave this place behind,” I repeat, raising my hips to meet her thrusts, slamming hard against her until she starts to make little screams of pleasure. “And when we walk from these halls drenched in blood, our enemies slain behind us, I will place you on my steed, and we will ride off to the sounds of screams and punishment. Together, we will make them all pay.”
Something comes over me with the words, and I no longer can tell if it’s H speaking or me. Maybe it’s both. Maybe there is no difference between us anymore. I lose all control, and the room fades around us. The only thing I see is Kenzie, her head thrown back in ecstasy as she rides me, as I slam inside her. Animalistic snarls rip from my throat as I bite at her flesh, marking her up, claiming her as mine.
“You belong to us, Poppet. You belong to us and no one else.”
“Yes,” she cries, her nails digging into my scalp. “Yes! Oh, God! Crane!”
A savage growl rips from my throat, and I slip my fingers around her throat, clenching just enough to slow her air, but not enough to harm her. Never enough to harm her.
“Who do you belong to?” I roar, squeezing gently with my words.
She gasps and rides me impossibly harder, her tits bouncing up and down, the blood across my vision running down, down, down toward the apex of her thighs. The sight sets me off. “You!” she screams.
We should be worried someone will hear us, but neither one of us know what’s what anymore. If someone were to come inside my room now and try to break us apart, God help them.
“Say my name!” I lean forward and bite her bottom lip, my own pleasure driving higher and higher. “Say who you belong to!”
“Crane! H! Fuck! Whoever!”
I don’t know if I like that answer. I stop, so suddenly it pains me when she mewls in displeasure. I pull out, just the tip of my cock resting inside her, just enough to tease.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she snarls, trying to move against me.
I keep her raised above me, one hand gripping her thigh, the other around her neck. Her protests are no match for my strength, H’s superpowers coming in handy. “Who do you belong to?”
“Jesus Christ!” Kenzie slides her nails across my chest, leaving red welts in their wake even with their short length. “You! I belong to you!”
“Say the name!”
“Which one?” She cries, slapping her hand against my chest. My cock twitches against her, and I groan. “Crane. H. Both! I belong to both!”
“There it is,” I purr, and slam her down on me. At the same time, I clench my hand around her soft throat and grind her against me, pushing her to the brink. She screams out in pleasure. “Together, we will make the world tremble at our feet. They will fear us, respect us, and we will be unstoppable. I will gift you with their heads,” I growl. “I will gift you anything you desire.”
The words send Kenzie over the edge. Her walls clamp down on my cock, milking me, until I snarl and sink my teeth into the soft tissue of her shoulder, drawing blood, and I mark her as ours. She screams, the sound alerting everyone to what we’re doing, but I don’t care. I fill her with my seed, taking her as mine, branding her. No one will ever know her like this, my savage little warrior.
Our Poppet.
Both breathing hard, our chests rising and falling rapidly, I lean my forehead against hers, releasing her throat. Sweat runs down my brow and the red haze fades enough that I realize just how wild we had gotten. Where I bit Kenzie on the shoulder, my teeth marks very clearly imprint her skin, droplets of blood rise to the surface. I don’t panic, don’t hesitate, before I’m swiping my tongue across the wound, purring at the taste of her blood on my tongue.
Kenzie chuckles. “That was some fucked up shit, FG.”
I can’t help the snort that comes out or the uncontrollable laughter that follows. Kenzie joins in and we’re a mess of hysteria and feelings before we know it. She falls backward off me, sprawling out on the small mattress, and I watch her with shining eyes. Gorgeous. She’s absolutely gorgeous, even with the phantom blood coating her skin, even with my mark on her shoulder.
“You know something, FG,” Kenzie breathes, her eyes shining as she meets mine. “For you, I might just drown in blood.”
My heart stops at the same time H purrs in my mind.
Ours, he growls.
I nod my head. Ours, I agree.
And never anyone else’s.
For her, I just might destroy the world.
Chapter 18
Kenzie
Pushing the tiny ship into the peg holes is harder than I remember. “Really, Mitzy?” I hiss, trying to maneuver my ships the way I want them. As crazy as the girl is, she’s calculating, and I hate losing. It’s why we can’t play Monopoly anymore.
While Mitzy arranges her battleships, my mind drifts to Crane. He’s not far away, playing some card game with Willie. We’ve spent the last few nights together, staying up until the wee hours of the morning talking. I grin to myself as I pop another ship into place. There is lots of talking going on at night. As twisted as it is, I love hearing about his nightmares. They’re gruesome, bloody, and sexy as hell. The things Crane says to me at night are enough to drive me absolutely wild.
Maybe there’s more wrong with me than I thought. I shouldn’t enjoy being fucked while my boyfriend tells me he wants to decapitate people. Something about the wrongness does it for me, though. And the way it affects Crane. . .
“Ready?” Mitzy asks, way too excited. I groan and nod. More than likely, she’s going to kick my ass at this game again.
“You got this, Princess,” Crane whispers against my ear from behind. His hot breath sets off a chain reaction of goosebumps that start on my neck and shoot straight down to my core. He runs a finger down the back of my neck, and my spine curves without my permission, reacting to his touch.
He’s been doing this a lot lately—touching me in public. It’s thrilling, sneaking touches in front of the orderlies, knowing we could be cau
ght. Flouncing the rules really does something for me, as immature as that is. Danny would be disappointed if he knew how excited I was by the idea of getting caught.
“Shh,” I whisper, narrowing my eyes on the game in front of me. I have my ships settled exactly where I want them. Now, I have to guess where Mitzy’s are. “D4,” I call out, my eyes meeting hers before they sweep over her board to see if there was a hit.
“Miss!” Mitzy announces, a smug smile on her face.
I purse my lips, my eyes flitting from Mitzy to the other residents at the tables around us. The common area is full today. The Halloween decorations are finished; spiderwebs cling to the ceiling and hang down from the corners of the doorways. A skeleton lurks in the corner, half covered in a black cloak. I’m surprised that particular decoration has lasted as long as it has, considering the number of residents who stop and stare at it. You’d think the doctors would have vetoed this one by now, but no, apparently, they are going to let us really have our fun this year.
With a frown, I realize all my ships have been sunk but one. “Goddamnit, Mitzy,” I grumble.
“Don’t be such a sore loser, whiny baby,” an unfamiliar voice calls out.
“Excuse me?” I snap. My fists clench, and I start to push away from the table, but before I can fully rise, I hear a chair scrape across the floor behind me.
“Your head will adorn my saddle beautifully,” Crane purrs as I turn around to face the brewing drama. Crane is a few inches away from a chubby man with a receding hairline, his chin tilted in the air. Has he been working out? I tap my fingers to my lips as I watch the chubbier look between the two of us.
“I thought you said you’d give them all to me?” I whine, slipping my arm into Crane’s like something from an old-school romance novel.
“Well, yes,” he purrs, pushing a stray strand of my mangled blonde hair out of my face. “How do you think I’ll get them to you, Princess?” His eyes bore into mine, so dark and intense. I’ve heard of people’s eyes changing color slightly during mood swings, but how dark of a blue is normal? I swallow, trying not to get lost in those deep, dark eyes, and squeeze his arm playfully.
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