“You shouldn’t,” he sneers.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” I whisper like a mantra. I’m not even sure I’m forming coherent words anymore.
“I will destroy you,” he says as he unfastens my hands and ankles. He yanks on the rope. It zings across my flesh, creating a tension and rhythm, a vibration all its own.
“I know.” I do know. He will be my downfall, and if he ever tries to release me, my heart won’t cope. I’ll be an empty shell. I won’t survive my god of war, of pain. I won’t survive Ares.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Ares
Istare at my sleepingPet. Her milky skin is still marked from my rope and the heavy falls of my flogger. In all the years I’ve done this, I’ve never once felt Dom-drop, until now. I should have walked away, left her in Israel’s care.
I’ve never raised a hand to a sub in anger—true anger—in ten years. I may do a lot of fucked up shit to those I steal, but beating her because she told the truth, because she loves me, is the very worst. I’ve broken the trust I’ve worked so hard to foster. I’ve betrayed her, and it will haunt me for the rest of my miserable life.
I need a drink. I need to talk to my brother and get the hell out of here. Visiting The Ranch is difficult at the best of times. I both love and loathe my time here with my little Achilles, but having him and Pet in the same room, sharing her precious cunt with him, all of it eats me up inside.
I leave Pet sleeping and quietly exit the room, but the second I turn around, Israel grabs my face and kisses me. I pull away, less than pleased he’s topping from the bottom. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. His breath brushes my face. “I need you, Sir.”
“You need whatever your Master says you need.”
He bows his head, and I’m taken back to the first moment he gave me his submission two years ago. I’d never fallen for a slave until him, and it destroyed me to watch him be carted away. Thanks to Texas’s fat bank account, he’d ended up at The Ranch when the gavel landed on his auction. He’s in a far better place here prancing around as a pony than he ever would have been at my side. And Texas is fond of me, so he doesn’t mind loaning him out.
“Please, Master, take me. Please, please?” He clutches my shirt collar in his fist. His wide blue eyes are pleading, and so sad. My beautiful, perfect boy.My Achilles. I shake my head. His gaze lowers to his fist and he releases me, smoothing out the fresh crinkles in my shirt. “It’s her, isn’t it?”
“Stop,” I command in a whisper.
“You won’t fuck me because you’re in love with her.” His eyes turn mercurial. His anger is an ugly slash on an otherwise perfect face. “She tried to run from you last night. I saw her.”
I nod. “She didn’t get far.”
“I would never run from you.” He smooths my collar, his trembling hands gliding down my torso, and over the erection straining against my pants. “I’d be yours forever, if you’d only let me.”
I grab his wrist and pull him away from me. “Careful, little Achilles. You do not have permission from me or your Master to cross that line.”