Cake (31 page)

“
That is not true.”

“
Yeah, well, what’s this then?” I asked, bumping my hips up into his groin to make my point.

“
I desire you.”

“
No, you don’t. You only desire this body that you engineered to your specification. You don’t know
me
. Now, get off,” I said, trying to push him away.

“
No. You gave me permission to love you.”

“
What?”

“
I asked for your consent this morning before we were interrupted, and you gave it, so we are going to finish what we started.” Marcus lowered his full weight on me, effectively pinning me under him as he pressed his forehead to mine. “I want to take that frightened look off your face. I want to calm that frantic mind of yours. I can feel it battering your thoughts around like a wild bird newly caged. Claudius placed unfounded doubts within you, and I am going to ease them from you in a way that both of us will understand and enjoy.”

“
I don’t…” All I could do was just stare up at him, lost in those eyes of his that stared back down at me.

“
Shush, Little One. I will make sure to engage your mind this time.” He didn’t rush it which was another first for Marcus. Instead, he kissed my forehead, and then my eyelids, before leisurely moving down to my mouth. There was no blind mating of lips and tongues; every move he made was calculated and deliberate. He didn’t hold me with a physical binding or try to stifle my grunts as I tried to move. He just pressed his body down heavier on me, making me submit through his dominance.

“
Don’t…”

“
I have your consent, remember.”

He moved his mouth to my neck, letting his fangs descend, and he ran them gently down from my ear to my shoulder. I almost jerked off the seat. “Enjoy this, Little One. I only want to bring you pleasure.”

His hand moved down to my pants, his fingers slipping easily inside the low waistband. “I love seeing you in these clothes, though I did not realize how possessive I would feel when I saw you in my sweater. You can wear anything of mine that you want, as long as I am the only one who gets to take it off of you.”

Marcus shifted himself backwards down over my knees, and grabbing the bottom hem of the sweater, he pulled it off me, over my head. I shivered for a moment in the chill air conditioning of the limo, but I soon got warmed up again as Marcus swiped his tongue across my exposed stomach.

I had my head thrown back, relishing the feelings that were running through my body, when I felt it; a little brush of awareness in my mind. There was a warm breath of wind gently swirling through my thoughts, seemingly searching for that little hidden part of me that was shivering and begging him for more. It engulfed that feeling, and the sensations I was experiencing now were like a feedback loop which intensified and grew in magnitude, and I suddenly realized what was going on. Marcus was in my head. Somehow, he had gotten inside my mind, and he was manipulating my feelings. I couldn’t fight him there. I couldn’t get him out.

He took my member into his mouth, and I keened in the back of my throat, thrashing my head. My fingers caught his hair and I held him as he bobbed up and down on me. His mouth was oh so very talented. I would never be able to deny that. It was impossible. I couldn’t pretend to not like it when I was thrashing around on the seat and calling out his name as he set my body aflame with ecstasy.

“
Master Marcus, we are here.” Darius’s voice broke through the intercom, interrupting our erotic liaison. My cock hit my stomach with a wet thud as Marcus slurped his mouth off it, turning his attention to the front of the vehicle for a moment.

“
Keep driving, Darius. I’ll tell you when to stop,” he ordered before returning to his oral skills and sending me over the edge.

I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t move. All I could do was grit my teeth and tighten my hold in his hair as he took me beyond the dizzy heights of passion. I closed my eyes and tried to eject his invading presence from my mind, but it was like trying to bail water with a colander; A hell of a lot of effort, with nothing to show as a result. Whatever it was he was doing, he just as easily avoided my push. I tried again, and this time I found myself standing in a white fog. Those overwhelming sensations I could feel were battering around this bubble of calm like I was in a glass sphere. I reached out, and the fog swirled around my hand and moved away from my touch.

Where was I? Was I inside my own head? What the hell was going on?

I heard a cry of pain in front of me, and the mist swirled and eddied away, revealing a scene I really didn’t want to see.

Marcus was hanging from some rough hewn rafters by ropes that were tied around his wrists. Claudius was standing behind him, a short riding crop hanging from his lowered hand.

“
Is this enough?”

Marcus’s sable hair hung forward, hiding his face but showcasing his welted back. His head shook negatively at Claudius’s question, and the black-haired vampire sighed before stepping back and letting loose a series of strikes on the broad expanse of exposed skin. I cringed at the sound of the crop striking his flesh. Each blow shook Marcus’s silent frame until he finally cried out loudly and his legs slipped out from under him.

Claudius dropped the weapon and caught Marcus under the arms, lifting him back to his feet. “My dear boy, why do you need this?” he asked, brushing the loose sable hair back from Marcus’s face with the care of a loving father and leaning forward, his fangs descending to secure his hold on Marcus’s neck. Turning his hands into claws, Claudius raked them down the welted back, causing Marcus to stiffen and cry out further…but these weren’t cries of pain he now uttered.

I staggered backwards away from the scene, out of the clear sphere of the fog and back into my own mind where Marcus continued with his thought manipulation.

Having come from wherever that scene was, returning to these intense emotions, had all been too extreme a change for me, and I cried out as I exploded in Marcus’s mouth. My limbs were totally slack from the exertion he had wrung out of me, but my mind raced. This was worse than all those physical rapes he had performed on me. Those times, it had been just the body he’d invaded. But this…he had gone into my head and he had played around in there. I knew it. Somehow I knew he had manipulated me mentally. That vision…

I shuddered as Marcus cleaned my spent organ and tucked me back in my jeans. He easily manhandled me into position so that I leaned up against him, crushing me between his body and the back of the leather seat. Tenderly he kissed my temple and let out a contented sigh. He had no idea that what he had just done was so wrong. A tear leaked out of the corner of my eye, and I forced myself to blink it away. No. No more tears. No more crying. Tears had never done me any favors.

“
My beautiful Little One,” he whispered into my hair, his arm coming up and dragging me tightly against him

“
Don’t ever do that to me again,” I hissed. My voice was icy cold. I’d never heard myself use that tone before.

“
Xavier?” He stilled and tightened his hold.

“
You heard me. Let me go.” I tried to move away from his arm.
“Get off me!”

“
Tell me what is going on.”

I struggled against him for all I was worth, and still found myself just as useless being a vampire, as when I’d been nothing more than a human blood bag. “Stay the fuck out of my head!” I snarled at him.

He let me go, and I scrambled up and away from him as fast as I could, pressing myself up against the far door. I reached down and grabbed the discarded sweater, holding it up in front of me like a shield.

“
Xavier, I was only trying to engage your mind, just like you wanted,” Marcus said, sitting up on the seat and regarding me with puzzled eyes. I could tell he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand what he’d done.

I brought my hand up and tapped my fingers at my forehead. “This is mine. You don’t get to play there. Is that understood? Is that fucking understood?”

He caught me up in a bear hug before I had a chance to react, burying his face against me. “I am sorry. I am truly sorry. I will not manipulate your emotions again. I only wanted to give you pleasure. I never intended to distress you, Xavier. I only want to keep you safe and happy.”

It felt like my head was going to pop off my neck, the way he squeezed it so hard. I struggled uselessly. I was a butterfly newly pinned to his display board, and though I fought and twisted, I was trapped. I wasn’t getting away from this vampire, and so I stopped trying to struggle. But had I even wanted to escape his hold? Wouldn’t I be freaking out more than this? Shouldn’t I be clawing at his face, ripping his nose open again? Of all the things that Marcus has done to me, lying wasn’t one of them. So why should I start doubting his words now?

“
I only want to make you happy, Little One,” he insisted in my ear.

I tapped the back of his elbow to get his attention. “Let go. You’re killing my neck,” I told him, and he loosened his grip, just a fraction. I turned my head away, and looked out of the limo window while he continued to hold me to his chest until my body lost its stiffness. “And by the way,” I added, “we’re still just driving around the block.”

Marcus loosened his hold but kept his arms around me. “Darius, take us to the store,” he called out, and then he leaned forward, pressing his forehead against mine, and lowering his voice he said, “Just as I promised to protect you, I also promise you, Xavier, that I will never use mind play on you again.”

I blinked hard. I had undeniable evidence of how well he kept his promises. He had an indent in the middle of his sternum because he’d kept one. I nodded, and I could feel his joy as I relaxed totally against him. I was finding out that there were times when he could be just like a big teddy bear,
my
big, freaking, grizzly, teddy bear.

“
You enjoyed me sucking you, did you not?” he said, smiling now.

“
You didn’t give me a choice,” I whined.

“
Never again, my dearest,” he said, repeating his promise. He’d called me dearest? Well, that was better than Sex I suppose.

He let me go, and taking the sweater I still held, he began dressing me again like I was a kindergarten kid, and when my head popped out of the neck, he caught my face and dragged me to him for another of the new Marcus specials. I think my eyes crossed and my toes curled.

“
Are we okay, Little One?” he asked, pulling back and staring at me.

“
Yeah,” I confirmed as he tugged my ponytail out of the sweater, draping it over my shoulder as I shoved my arms into the sleeves.

His fingers rubbed back and forth along the end of my tail, caressingly. “You will never need to find a coven, Xavier, if you accept me,” he said. “They could never teach you all that you need to know to survive. I will keep no secrets from you. I would ask the same from you.”

“
I have no secrets,” I retorted.

“
What did Claudius tell you?”

“
Um…” That sneaky dog.

“
Remember, you do not lie well.”

“
I lie pretty damn good.”

“
Yes, you
are
a pretty good lay,” he chuckled.

“
Marcus…” I was getting a headache.

“
Let me tell you,” Marcus interrupted, becoming serious again, “that I have heard all of Claudius’s arguments against making you my mate. I put his objections down to his irrational fear of losing his son.”

I recalled the way the black-haired vampire had spoken to me in the closet. It was more than just fear he’d felt. Claudius honestly believed that I had some sort of influence over Marcus other than that of a bed toy.

“
He doesn’t want you hurt,” I told Marcus, finally conceding and telling him what he wanted to know. “He asked me…he asked me not to destroy you.”

“
Destroy me?” There was puzzlement in Marcus’s voice, and then he broke into a grin. “You would destroy me, Little One?” he asked.