“What do you mean?”
“You’ve got a choice to make, since he won’t take what I so generously offered.”
“Who? I don’t understand.”
“Choose me now, or I’ll bring Castle down, and you can beg him to take you instead. Either way, once I remove that plug, you’re getting a rough ass-fucking.”
I close my eyes as understanding dawns. Liam told him no.
Which means Pax wants him to do it. He wants the chancellor to hurt me.
This is Pax’s revenge.
I eye the metal spikes poking out from his glands and imagine them tearing through my rectum. The last thing I want to do is bring Liam into this, but any other option is unfathomable.
“Clock is ticking.” Pax taps his platinum gold watch.
“If I ask him to do this…I need your word you won’t touch me.”
“I’ll touch you as much as I want, but if you get him to fuck your ass, I’ll leave it alone.”
I’m suspicious of his terms, but I don’t see how I have a choice, considering I’m strapped down to a bench, and he holds all the power.
I make the only choice I can. “I want him to do it.”
If Pax harbors any disappointment, he hides it well. “I thought you might say that, which is why I told him to meet me down here.”
As usual, Liam has impeccable timing. The door to the dungeon open and shuts, echoing through the chilly, dark space, and my attention swerves to the stairs, where Liam descends.
“What the hell is going on?” he shouts, rushing to my side. “Why is she strapped down like this?” His tone vibrates with enough rage to bring down the tower.
Stroking himself in leisurely fashion, Pax gives the chancellor his signature smug smile. “As soon as that anal plug comes out, the queen’s getting a rough fuck in that tight little hole. The question is, are you doing her, or am I?”
“I will kill you for this.”
“I wouldn’t make such threats if I were you. You’re in enough trouble as it is.”
Liam lurches toward Pax, intense hatred distorting his gorgeous face. “I could beat the life out of you right now, and no one would miss you.”
“You could, but you won’t.”
Liam’s shoulders slump. He’s not a coward. He was raised to be a leader, a diplomat, and somehow—despite having been raised in such a misogynistic culture—he found a way to keep from selling off all the pieces of his gentle soul.
“Liam, please. I want you to do this. Please.”
“This isn’t a choice!” He glares at Pax, who’s still stroking himself. “This is his sick way of getting revenge.”
“I know. Please, I’m begging you. I want it to be you.”
Liam’s eyes cut to mine. “You wouldn’t let me do it on the island, but you’re begging now?”
“Yes.”
Running both hands down his face, he shakes his head. “Under these circumstances…without time and preparation…it’ll hurt, Novalee.”
“He’ll hurt me more.”
Pax snickers. “She’s not lying.”
“If I do this, how do I know you won’t hurt her anyway?”
“On my honor as the Brotherhood Enforcer, I give you my word.”
Liam hesitates.
Pax taps his watch again, muttering, “Tik-tok.”
With a frustrated, resigned exhale, Liam reaches for his zipper. “Where’s the lube?”
“You don’t get any. Use spit if you must.”
“This is bullshit.”
“Focus on how you’re saving her from me. I take ass all the time without a drop of lube or spit.”
“You mean the women who end up in the hospital after a session with you?”
“They’re willing. I never said they were sane.”
As Liam settles behind me, his warm hands settling on my ass cheeks, I understand him better—understand why he risked everything to get me out of this monster’s grasp. “Just remember how much I love you, my sweet girl.” He spits between my cheeks, and then he’s probing and grinding, taking my ass inch by painful inch.
Pax crouches in front of me, those soulless eyes searching my face. “Does it hurt?”
“Yes!” A sob breaks free against my will, echoing in the cavernous space.
“Novalee,” Liam gasps, my name a strangled apology as his movement falters.
“Keep going.” It’s my only plea, despite asking him to do the unthinkable, even though it’s breaking my fragile heart all over again. “Please, don’t stop.”
Because the faster he finishes, the faster we can put this behind us.
Things should have turned out differently. I should have let him love me the way he wanted on that island. Now it’s too late, and Pax knows it—realized what this would do to us before we had a chance to process the consequences.
Working his way deeper, Liam groans, his fingers digging into my flesh, his cock forging a burning path in my rectum. I can’t help but tense, my body desperate to eject the cause of such scorching, unnatural agony.
This isn’t how it should feel. Sebastian taught me that. Had I given Liam the chance…
Another gut-wrenching sob escapes my tight lips.