Seize me From Darkness (Pierced Hearts Book 4) (10 page)

One of his fingers played with the corner of my mouth.
“Ready?”

L
ips parted, I breathed slower, entranced by his eyes.

T
hen I heaved in a deeper breath and was reminded of the creaking tightness of the leather. My fingers could barely wriggle in the mittens at the ends of the sleeves.

A little panic reached in and blotted out my thoughts.

“Pleeease, let me –”

After a single shake of his head, he wormed the blindfold into my mouth and tied it on.
“No. No. Be good.”

He kissed my forehead
then began to wind the whip around my breasts in a figure of eight pattern, linking it at the sides with the straps of the jacket, tying it all together in a neat pattern. Knotting it. “Pretty.”

T
hen he went to one knee, took a firm grasp of my breast, and licked me.

“
Uh.” I could still talk in a gargle, just not well. My eyelids fluttered down. That tongue of his... For all of one second, I wanted him to stop.

The pressure on my breasts made them feel odd, like they’d pop any minute.
Supersensitive, achy, but so nice when he sucked there. I shouldn’t succumb to this. I didn’t
want
to like this man touching me. Self-preservation drove me to wrench myself backward.

Only to be brought up short by the ropes at my shoulders and his
tightening grip.

“
Be still!”

The growl in his voice
then his teeth applied to my nipple had my mouth slackening. I froze, shivering, all too aware of how much I was at his mercy. I was nude except for the straitjacket, my legs were tied apart, and the gag between my lips tasted bitter.

Where
had the real world gone? I wanted to curl up on my sofa before my TV.

Wherever it was, I was here
, tied up so tight he could use me every which way and I could do nothing. He turned his fierce gaze on me, still with his teeth fastened on my nipple and dangerously close to biting it off.

“Umm.” I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say, but nothing
would come out intelligible anyway.

For the first time I saw
humor in the crinkles about his eyes. His other hand had drifted from my back to my stomach and I felt his finger toy with my belly button, circling it.

“Now I’m getting somewhere. I have you quiet.”

He released my ankles from the bar. Was Pieter letting me go after all? But he wrapped his hands around my thighs and with his tongue played games with my poor abused clit. He was gentle. I lost count of many times he circled it without touching, blew air over it, tapped it without engulfing it. The bastard. Need grew. I wouldn’t cave in to this. But the pressure of lust built. Giving in was inevitable. I gasped out a choked
fuck
through the gag, jerking at the last infinitesimal licks he’d done. A feather would have more pressure. God.

T
hen I pressed forward onto his face.

Nothing.

He slowly rose, sliding his bare chest up my body to tower over me.

My throat tightened as I took in his male bulk.

The throb from my clit mingled with the ache in my lower stomach, the clawing pain, and the
dub, dub, dub
of my heartbeats.

“
Hmm.” For ages he watched me and I wavered, swaying, watching him back.

I sank, half aware that he was in some weird way hypnotizing me but not caring at all.
His shoulder shifted and his hand pushed between my thighs. I felt the tip of his finger probe upward in the wetness of my slit, then slide effortlessly inside me.

I
sighed at the pleasure, rocked back my head, half shut my eyes. There was nothing I could do and it felt so good.

H
is mouth covered my gagged one and with surprising gentleness, his lips and tongue explored me there, while his fingers below widened me, fucked me, explored my pussy.

“
You know I want you. One day, I’ll have you stand still, unbound, so I can look at you before I fuck you.”

The statement
shocked me.

The craziness of that. I had no answer and I was certain my eyes were wide as beacons. I tugged and was strangely reassured to find my arms still would
n’t budge. His jacket. His hand at my waist. His whip tied about my breasts. His gag. In the real world, I was often lost, scattered, running in ten directions at once.

Here, I was pinned in one place.

He smiled.

Everything flipped
. Though I wanted away from here and them and their dirty voyeurism. Right now, here, I wanted him in me. And I wanted to be me, myself, I. And I wanted to be his. I wasn’t sure they were compatible. If I was his, there might be nothing left of me.

Was this what I had been missing all my life?

“I can see you thinking. Don’t.”

Since forever
, I’d shunned skin on skin. Yet in this moment it drew me, like a dewdrop of good among the horror. I leaned forward and kissed him once, chastely, with my bound lips, like a princess bestowing an honor.

His snarl and t
he roughness of his answer took me by surprise. He grasped both sides of my ass and hoisted me up to the level of his cock, shoving me back into the creaking hold of the ropes. I could feel the tip center at my entrance. At the first savage thrust, I yelped. Soreness reawakened. My legs were forced apart.

His flesh slapped
against mine in that dirty nasty rhythm of sex. Each time he withdrew, his cock almost pulled out, and in that split second when he moved to re-enter me, I wanted to wrench him into me harder. His bites on my neck, migrated downward and he bit my engorged breasts, leaving an exquisite path of pain, of possession, of teeth marks.

Stunned by his onslaught, I didn’t try
to wrap my legs around him, though my heels bumped on his butt with each thrust.

I was going to have bruises on my bruises. He rode
me hard, fucking me until I seemed one second away from coming. His own screaming grunt erupted as I felt his cock swell and cum fill me. I’d never heard a lover cry out. Though I hadn’t come, I was panting as hard as Pieter. He rested his forehead in my hair. With my arms secured, I couldn’t hug him, but his arms wrapped around me. When I hissed he muttered a sorry and moved his arms. At the
sorry
, I smiled. My thoughts wandered in that hazy zone of the well fucked, marveling that I had brought him to this.

When h
e pulled out, his cum dripped down my leg.

“Now you,”
he gasped, his breath warming my ear. “I’m going to suck your clit until –”

A hum arrived at the same time as a new set of lights flickered on.

“Step away, Mister Pieter. Time for me to assess your performance and have a little talk with Jazmine.”

Our gazes met. The co
ldness of this surreal little world crashed in. As did terror. It wasn’t possible for me to forget what Gregor had done last time.

Whatever protection I still drew from Pieter’s presence evaporated once he was restrained and towed aside. I knew why he couldn’t fight back
, yet I was disappointed. Stupid. He wasn’t superhuman. The clutch of fear on my heart was unhinging me.

When
the first sound of the speaker had died and we looked at each other, I’d glimpsed something unknown in Pieter’s eyes. A worm of fear perhaps, or doubt, or anger. One moment he was all powerful, the next he was mute and a victim like me.

I
strained to see the movements at the door from the corner of my eye.

Gregor
walked over with precise strides, stick resting on his shoulder like a soldier’s rifle. If ever a man could be called a shark, it would be him. He probably drank blood and ate the livers of his victims.

The gag was still in
my mouth. Nothing more had been removed. I was cocooned here in the middle of the room, my arms strapped to my sides, surrounded by men who didn’t much care if I lived or died. The chains above me clinked.

My nemesis paced around m
e, his stick tapping on his leg or resting on my skin when he stopped to examine a spot. I sucked in pain-laden breaths. My eyes watered. Poking made the throbs from the whip marks turn vividly hot.

“
Ahh. He has done well. I had thought perhaps I’d have reasons to hit you but no. The client is happy. I am happy. You are lucky, you know?” He undid the gag and pulled it down. “I would have made you bleed much more than this.”

T
hank god.
I sagged.

“And such wonderful fucking too.” His voice rose up at the end in that weird
, amazed tone he used. “Next time, whatever can we get him to do that will be better? Hmm?”

He r
aised his eyebrows and leaned down to kiss my cheek.

My shudder was small but I’m sure he saw it. How could Pieter do worse than this and not maim me?

The march back to my room was an exercise in staggering into walls as Gregor decided to pull me along by a leash. Without sight, I made errors. Though I sobbed after a few of the bumps, I managed to mostly be silent. Being naked was nothing in comparison.

I sat on the bed shivering
, hugging myself.

The room temperature would be hot enough to keep a python h
appy but I was cold. Gregor hadn’t stayed to apply ointment. For that I was grateful. When I finally wriggled around, ever so cautiously, to lie on my side, still naked, I fell into sleep.

Every five minutes...

I jerked awake...

Screaming...

By the next morning, I was stiff. My head seemed stuffed with knives. My muscles ached so much I wasn’t sure I could sit up let alone stand. But I managed. Naked, I padded over to look in the mirror. There were bruises galore on the backs of my thighs and butt, only a couple on the front of my thighs, and my breasts were unmarked except for one bite mark. Fascinated by this, I stared at it and poked it. His mouth had made that mark.

Most of the bruises higher on my back were th
in red and blue lines. Surprisingly, only three or four were cuts. I drank some water and returned to bed, wrapped myself in the sheet. The light faded.

A shuffling awoke me.

The cleaning lady arrived, carrying a tray with breakfast. I saw her through blurry eyes. She came closer and whispered something. Before I could get my fuzzed-out brain to check in, she went over and yelled something through the door. A young guard I’d not seen before hustled in.

A brilliant idea arrived. Pretend to be badly injured. I might get special treatment, even delay the next scene. Anything that might
achieve that was worth trying.

I lay there unmoving.

The sheet had stuck to the wounds on my back. A little later, someone sat next to me, peeled the sheets off me, then turned me onto my stomach and cleaned my skin. Gregor, I was sure. The heaviness of their body, the scent, the overzealous cleaning as if every welt had to be swabbed – it all said him.

I kept my eyes closed, only wincing at the worst pain.

“I don’t believe you to be as bad as you are pretending, little Jazmine.” He lifted my shoulder then rearranged me so I lay on my side.

Fuck.
I kept my eyes squeezed shut. Yes, it was Gregor. My stomach churned with horror. If he punished me...

“But, I will do as our client wishes. You will have a roommate from now on unless they stipulate otherwise. Now, open your eyes and look at me.”

I edged them open, a little, then wider.

T
hough his square face and shaven scalp repelled me, his eyes were as blue as a beautiful ocean. Disturbing, that anything about him could be pretty.

His lips curved up
. “Very good. Your roommate will be in charge of tending to your back. If you get sick it will go badly for both of you. In a week, we have another scene.”