My breath was coming out in gasps, and I could feel my heartbeat soaring out of control in my chest. I’d never felt more like I was in the grasp of a predator than I did at this moment. With his clawed hand, he savagely ripped at my clothes until I was lying naked beneath him. I shivered in fear as I stared up at him.
He lowered his head abruptly and pressed his lips against mine. I was expecting his kiss to be savage, but his lips were soft as they moved, even as he trapped me against the bed. My traitorous body melted at his kiss. He took his time, kissing me slowly, sipping at my mouth like I was a glass of fine champagne.
Even when his hand released its grip on my hair, I didn’t find the will in me to move my traitorous body. All of a sudden, I was wrapping my arms around him, holding onto him instead of pushing him away. What was wrong with me?
He moved away from my lips, and I just stared at him, faintly aware of the tears still streaking down my face. They didn’t seem to affect him though. He began to move down my face, licking away the tears, nibbling at my neck, his tongue arcing down my body in decadent, sensual swirls that had my core throbbing. He was soft across my breasts, lightly biting down on my nipple and making me moan.
“I hate you,” I whispered even as his head dipped lower.
He didn’t seem to care, because his breath was hot across my skin as his hand trailed down to sweep across my clit, sending shockwaves across my skin. His finger moved in between my folds, and I hated myself along with him at that moment, because I knew I was soaking wet.
“That’s my good little wolf,” he purred, as his fingers expertly danced across my clit.
I briefly came back to life when his head moved in between my legs, and I tried to close them to keep him out. He pushed my legs apart like I wasn’t even trying, and then he began to lick and suck on my clit until I was a writhing, panting mess. I hated the pleasure coursing through my body. I hated that he had this much control over me, that he knew exactly how to play my body like an expert violinist.
My body felt like it was going to burn up as he continued to suck on me, adding his fingers once more to the mix. They pushed inside of me, moving in time with his tongue. I could feel my orgasm building up inside of me, and as much as I didn’t want it, there was nothing I could do to stop it.
He was too skilled. My body loved it too much.
I fell over the cliff with a loud moan, my entire body trembling as the pleasure shot through me.
It was a strange thing, to feel so good and detest something so much.
He finally pulled his head out from between my legs, and I snapped them close. He was wearing a triumphant grin, his lips shiny with my release.
And I hated him. I hated him so fucking much.
I turned my head away, determined that if he was going to take the next step, then at least I could look away, try to imagine I was anywhere else but there.
He leaned over me, and I braced my body for his next touch. “I’ll always own you, little wolf,” he whispered sensually in my ear as his finger took one more swipe across my aching, sopping wet folds. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him lick his fingers clean of me, and then he moved away and leisurely strode out of the room…leaving me ruined.
It took a minute for the tears to start, but once they did, they didn’t stop. Not for hours and hours.
* * *
The tearsfinally dried up around three a.m. I sat by my window, listening to the sounds of the waves in the distance crashing against the beach. As I sat there, I suddenly saw a familiar figure meandering clumsily from the mansion, out across the courtyard lights, and through the gate.
It was River.
I don’t know why I did it, but I went after him.
Hendrix hadn’t bothered to lock my door after what happened; at this point, he was confident in the fact that he owned me…as he displayed earlier tonight. The whole mansion was eerily quiet, though, as I slipped through the halls; I didn’t come across one guard my entire walk.
I made it out into the courtyard, breathing in the salty air like it could somehow cleanse me of the night’s events. I made my way out into the streets, feeling uneasy now because I was still not seeing guards.
But with the way River was walking, he could have been sleepwalking. And even though I shouldn’t care, I didn’t want him to get hurt.
Plus, maybe I could talk to him about what happened with Hendrix, gain an ally or something.
I got to the beach and found him stumbling along the water’s edge.
“River!” I called out, just as a giant wave, chose that moment to take him out.
I sprinted towards the water, continuing to scream his name. The lighting from the walls was dim, and I couldn’t make out anything in the inky blackness of the water. Suddenly, I saw him crawling out from the water, gasping and coughing as he did so.
I ran towards him and helped him get farther from the waves that were threatening to take us both back out there.
“Syn?” he asked breathlessly. “I was asleep. I almost drowned myself,” he sputtered, wrapping his arms around me and soaking my nightgown as he held on to me for dear life.
“I saw you out the window and decided to come after you,” I explained, my heart still racing from what just happened.
“How did no one stop me?” River asked after a minute, pulling away from me minutely and searching around like he expected a guard to appear at any minute.
But the strange thing was, I couldn’t even see the outlines of guards up in the towers on the wall. There should have been lights up there, but they were perfectly dark.
River stumbled to his feet. “Something’s not right,” he murmured, holding me close to him as he scanned our surroundings. “We need to get—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of a gun being cocked came from behind us.
Gleaming sharp teeth were all that I saw before there was a faint rush of air, and then something stabbed me right in the throat. My hand reached to grab it as I gasped, and my fingertips touched something that felt like glass.
I heard River grunt in pain next to me, but there was nothing I could do…
A second later, everything went black.