“You know, there was a time when you wouldn’t get away with talking to me like that.” Cayde strides forwards, his gaze pinning me, and something about it makes the heat rise in my veins despite how exhausted I am. “That mouth of yours—”
“Has better uses…yes, I know.” I look up at him, matching his gaze with my own. “What, Cayde? Are you going topunishme?” Even as I say it, I can feel the fizzy sensation in my blood, the anticipation of a battle with Cayde that will inevitably end in me stripped and spanked, forced to orgasm far past my body’s limits, making me flush from my chest to my hairline.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t want it.” Cayde is much closer now, his muscled bulk almost looming over me. “I know you do. You’re probably wet already, just from the mention of me—ofus—punishing you.”
A shiver goes through me at that, but I do my best not to show it. He’s right, of course. I can already feel the first tendrils of arousal spreading through me, making me start to ache for him, for all of them. But this is the game, and I’ve come to understand that in the darkest, most depraved parts of myself, I love it. I love the push and pull, the resistance, the way they force me to overcome it. The way they drag the pleasure out of me, transmuting pain to ecstasy, and the way it makes me feel afterwards.
If I just gave in and begged for it, it wouldn’t be nearly as fun.
“Don’t worry,” he says, his voice dropping an octave as he leans over me, those sea-green eyes capturing mine. “I set up something just for you. Dean isn’t exactly the type to take punishment for his actions, but you can take extra for him, I’m sure. And I’ll make him wait until last to be inside of you, as his price to pay. He’ll watch while Jaxon and I enjoy you for a little while, until we let him join in. How does that sound, little Saint?” His voice is almost purring now, like a predator toying with its prey, and it sends shivers of pleasure licking down my spine, my knees feeling weak.
It’s been too long. This is what I wanted, what I craved, what I knew I would need from them soon. I need this release, to let them do what they want to me, to take and take until they finally give, to feel all of it. To stop thinking, choosing, making decisions, and let them do what they wish.
It would feel so good. It’s what I need. And Cayde knows it.
He’s always known this part of me best, even better than Dean.
He reaches down, one finger trailing along my chin, and this time I can’t hide the shudder that runs through me. “I know what you want,” he murmurs, his voice dropping so that it feels like it’s just the two of us talking now. “I know what youneed. You’ve needed it since the day you woke up here, it just had to be awoken in you. I can feel you trembling, little Saint. I know what you crave. But you’re not our pet anymore, even if we still like to call you that, now are you? You’re ours, but we’re yours too.”
That admission, from Cayde of all people, makes me feel as if my bones have turned to water. I can feel my heartbeat speeding up, my pulse fluttering in my throat, and I can feel myself shifting over to that place where Iwantmore than anything, where everything fades away except for the aching need.
He holds my chin tilted up with one finger, and I know that he can see it in my eyes. “You have to ask now, little Saint,” he says, his voice rippling over my skin, dark and hungry. I can feel Dean and Jaxon’s eyes on me too, the atmosphere in the room thickening, and I feel like prey, like the three men are waiting to pounce, to eat me alive.
I fucking love it.
I love this, the racing heartbeat, the anticipation, the feeling of being stalked and hunted and knowing that being caught will be every bit as delicious as I could possibly imagine. And it’s even better now that I’m playing the game too, now that they’re no longer doing ittome, but with me.
“You have to ask for your punishment, like a good girl.” Cayde’s green eyes are dark as they search mine, hungry, and I know he’s been waiting for this. “If you beg, maybe we’ll make it even better for you.”
I swallow hard, my mouth suddenly dry, my hands shaking as I clench them together in front of me. Everything else slips away, so that there’s only Cayde’s eyes on mine, and the two men waiting in the wings, waiting to devour me along with him.
Waiting to make metheirs. But this time, more than any other, I’ll possess them too.
This time will be different. It’s the beginning of something, and I can see in Cayde’s face that he knows it as well as I do.
Hewantsit.
I lick my lips, raising my chin so that my eyes meet his, wide and pleading, but my voice is steady when I speak. I know what I’m doing, the darkness that I’m stepping into, and I’m welcoming it with open arms.
I’m welcomingthem.
“Please,” I murmur, and I can feel the shudder that goes through Cayde at the word, see the way his eyes heat. I know he’s hard as hell right now, that he wants me desperately, and I know that I have as much power over him as he does over me.
I always have.
“I want you to punish me,” I say softly. “All of you. I need it.”
“Are you sure, little Saint?” Cayde asks. “We won’t touch you anymore without your consent. That matters now. So one more chance to turn back. Because after this, everything changes.”
“I know.” I swallow hard, feeling the tremor that runs along my skin when he smiles down at me, cold and cruel, and I know that he’s going to make this one a night to remember. So I say it again, so that there’s no doubt.
“Please.”
15
ATHENA
We’ve never done it like this, all four of us. Never with Jaxon as an active participant. The one time he was a part of it, it was unwillingly, because Cayde ordered him to.