Chapter 19

Strauss

C losing my eyes, I reminisce about the morning's activities. My fingers peak into a point underneath my nose as I glance out at the falling leaves beyond the study window. Her musk still lingers on me. Only a madman would lick them to taste it again.

So I do.

"Darling? Is there anything you require?" Dilan asks, like she wants to know more than the question spoken.

When I spin in the leather desk chair, its squeak fills the silent air between us. My feet find their way to the top, and I clear my throat, but the grin just won't leave my face. "Not yet."

As if she's human, her nails fidget over a marble clock standing on the ledge. Her dark blue eyes dance casually across my face. "The girl seems to be settling in quickly to her new role. Is there anything you'd like done with her? For training, I mean."

My cock springs to life at the thought of disciplining her. Spanking her pert little ass. How my brand turns so red when I do. Getting her thighs used to a whip or cane… Fucking her bratty mouth until her lips stretch and crack at the corners from my thickness.

"No. I think I'll handle it. She's doing just fine."

Letting the figure go, she straightens her posture and dips her chin. "I see. What would you have me tell the others? There's confusion about the roles now. About where they fall in line."

I shove away from the desk, shaking my head with a grin. "I'm sure. But there's no need for unrest. Yet." With a swift movement, I stand and meet my mistress's widened eyes. "I am the master. She is my wife. That makes Astrid the head of this household and everyone in it, except for me. Do you have questions about that?"

She schools her face into her usual stoicism and eloquently statues in front of me. Like a block of ice. "No, sir. None. I'll make this all very clear."

Slapping my hands together loudly, I proclaim, "Wonderful! Now…where is my little wife? I haven't seen her in a few hours, and it's time to make another deposit."

Her pearl collar bobs as she swallows. "In the library, sir. Studying maps . If that will be all, I'll educate the other women."

"Thank you, Dilan."

I'm practically skipping around the furniture as I slink downstairs through the conservatory. When I pass the pipe organ, I let my hand caress the ivory keys for a moment, sad it's been so long since I've played. But I find myself wanting to play with something else now.

Rows of high shelves crammed with dusty tomes fill the tight room. House staff have lit the tall fireplace, making it cozier than it normally is in the Strauss family library. A shuffling sound rings down from the second story. The brass railing lingers with the cold that lurks in this part of the manor.

In front of a large architectural table overflowing with ancient scrolls sits my little star. Looking every bit the angel she is as the afternoon light streams in from the Palladian window behind her. Her golden hair glows like a halo and, if I didn't know the shadowy curtains danced whenever the drafts hit, I'd think they were her fluttering wings.

So engrossed in her studies, she barely heeds my approach. Her fingers work over a blank sheet of paper as she sketches something that appears to be a rugged cabin. The land surrounding the place looks lush with flowers and plants, mountains lining the background. A covered porch surrounds the cottage and ferns dangle from the rustic rafter.

She doesn't move until I poke her ribs with an extended digit. Like I've punched her lung, a terrified scream erupts from her chest as she curls in on herself. When she realizes it's me, she picks up a tube of rolled paper and smacks my stomach with it while I roar out a laugh.

"Why did you do that? This place is haunting enough!"

Between sips of air, I manage to say, "I wasn't trying to be sneaky."

When I glance down at her studies, I notice some Belizean works among her drawings, as expected. Then her hands dart to fold up the other pages as she stammers. "Um, just looking at some stuff."

I stop her, snatching her wrist. "Wait." My heart races at what I think she had been looking at. "Let me see." She's reluctant to let the paper go, but I shove my body next to her and unravel it from her fingers. Spreading it out on the table, I give her a poignant look.

Her voice shakes slightly. "I wanted to know…about Gnarled Pine Hollow. About where I came from and where, uh, you came from."

I consider her for a moment, then hook a finger underneath her chin so she has to look at me. Her plush pink lips part with a breath as I do. "We were formed by the decay of evil men. Rot took root in this town until its roads were paved with a reckless desire for more . Cupidity led to covetousness and corruption. And you , the snake, and I, the bull, stand here today, a result of the wanton war for power."

Her little brow pinches. She's quiet, but there's so many words plastered on her forehead I want to shake her to get them out. The interest in invading her mind is taking over mine.

With a little rub against the north of the paper, she ponders aloud. "The organization that my brother worked for…that my family worked for… They weren't good people."

"No."

Not even with a flutter, her blue eyes capture me in a gaze so intense, I hold my breath. "And neither were yours."

"No. And I'm not either."

"But you don't want to take over."

My jaw tightens. Smooth, young skin greets my hands when I hold her face. Our chests almost touch, the closeness of her body surrounding me like a lullaby. "Not anymore. I only want one thing."

Reverently, she whispers, as if she already knows the answer. "And what is that?"

"Anarchy."

She takes a step back from me and scratches her head. "But why? And…how?"

"Because my lust for vengeance vies for vitality and will not sate until devastation envelops all the villains."

It takes a long time, but she blinks. Twice. "I don't understand. This is for revenge? Against who? And you didn't say how."

"It's ‘whom.' Move over."

Utter confusion crosses her face, but I pick up her little body, then take her spot on the stool. Placing her on my lap, I wrap my arms around her and point at the map. "Your people once ruled all of this, just like mine. Yours would not cooperate with the powers that be and so the Strauss family was sent to destroy your name. Except your great-great-grandparents got away. This family and this one and this one…they all serve the unseen forces Clavius and Herodius. They just don't know. To ruin their hold on this city, I'm going to take it from them. Because of what they took from me."

"Why don't we just tell the other families that those organizations are bad people?"

Pressing my forehead to her back, a smile cuts my lips. Warmth fills my chest, and I squeeze her tighter to me. I think, in just one na?ve question, my wife has become my favorite person.

And I don't like people.

"My precious angel. No one would believe me."

Her hair tickles my nose as she whips her head to the side. "Well, I'll tell them. Wyatt would have wanted me to, I'm sure."

My eyes follow my fingers as I dance them through her long locks and stroke some strands behind one of her ears. Then I place my lips against her soft cheek. "Your brother worked for them. And, because of that, you are part of them."

"That's ridiculous. I don't even know anything about them. If I could just speak with the other families?—"

Interrupting, I press my mouth against hers. The taste of winter coats my tongue as she shoves hers inside, then tries to back away. But my clutch on her neck is unforgiving. As is the erection threatening to bust free from my trousers.

I pant inside her parted lips. "Keep that sentiment. You'll need it in the weeks to come." Unrelenting emotion floods my soul, and I can't stop it. I yearn for her. "If I were anyone different, we'd meet at the Crystal Maiden. I'd explore the world with you."

The desire for something I can never have lingers in my loins. My longing for this little girl in my lap…it's overwhelming. And terrifying. Because we can never be.

I need distance. Which is difficult when all my body wants is to be inside her.

And not just with my physical being.

Reaching between us, I unzip and stand her up. "Pull down your pants."

With a coy glance behind her, she spies my thick cock in my hand while I stroke myself. Shimmying right in front of me, she loosens the silk pajama bottoms she wears and kicks them away. I grip her by the waist and fit her over my throbbing crown. The wetness of her lips is like the first drink after a day in the desert. I know it's only been a few hours…but my dick doesn't.

"Sit, angel. Slide down and bounce on it like a toy." She places her hands on the desk and does as she's told. The sensation of her tight entrance squeezing my needy cock makes me hiss with pleasure. "That's it. Such a good girl. Now, all the way down, sweet angel. Fit all of it in there until you're stretched out. Ugh…yes. Good." Sitting on my lap fully, she pants out shortened breaths. My hands caress her heavy breasts, then tweak the nipples as she wails in pain.

With a swift smack on her thigh, I instruct her, "Bob up and down on me while I spank you."

She nods and leans forward, then works herself up and down slowly. Her innocence only makes me hotter, my balls tingling with the longing to fill her womb with us . Each time she rises, I swat at her bare ass until she moans. By the time a red handprint fully seats itself on her skin, she's screaming.

"Yes. Take that pain and use this cock. Faster now."

She works me like a horse and rides my lap until her inner muscles flutter. An upstairs door swings open, and Brandon, the lackey, waltzes in. His balding head shines as he turns it left and right. He hasn't spotted us, but I'm sure Dilan sent him to find me. Or perhaps Sev. Either way, my thirst for blood increases as he scans the stacks, then sees us.

Astrid gasps with shock and tries to squirm away. But my fingers grip her thighs, then spread them over my own as my hips thrust inside her. I press a small kiss on her neck and mumble, "Brandon. Come here. What is it you need?"

Shuffling over, he sneers slightly at the sight of me with my wife. A smug look covers his face as his eyes rake over Astrid's little body sitting on my lap. "She new?"

"Oh. I forgot you were away."

His gaze never departs her breasts covered in my T-shirt as he nods. "Yeah, gathering supplies."

I whisper in Astrid's ear. "You ever suck a dick before, angel?"

Her pussy clenches down on my cock as everything in her body tenses. "N-no."

"We'll teach you."

Curling a finger toward my guard, I bid him over to us. As if waiting for the invitation, he lumbers closer and undoes his belt, then his pants. Astrid's big blue eyes take a peek at me before she looks at his dick. It's not hard yet, but not a complete floppy mess.

"Take it in your hands and stroke it. Can you do that while I fuck you?"

She takes a big breath in, which only thrusts her firm nipples forward through the thin cotton shirt. "Yes."

Wrapping her fingers around the base, she pulls him close as he stumbles a step forward. "Good. Now, stick out your tongue and lick the tip. Just get a little taste of him."

The tiny pink muscle snakes from her mouth and firmly touches the end of Brandon's cock. His head drops back as he huffs a loud sigh into the air.

"Do it a little more. Get it wet. Yes, good. Now, swirl your tongue around the head there." She nods and does as I say. "Yes! Good, girl." Helping her stand, I hold her waist and thrust in once as she moans. "Put him in between your lips, and I'll do that again for you. You like that? Me forcing my cock inside you like that?"

"Ye-yeah." Brandon's belly muffles her affirmation, but she takes him again. She hesitates for a moment until I shove my hips against her ass, delving deep inside her.

"Get more in your mouth. Yes! Such a good fucking girl." Spanking her, I grip her hair and jam her mouth onto Brandon's skinny length. "Take it. Take both of us like a good little slut. Look at you, learning to suck a dick. Big girls suck dick like this, and you want to be a big girl, don't you?"

Pressing her hands against Brandon's forearms to hold steady, she moans. I unleash on her tight cunt. Every bounce off my cock forces her onto the lackey, who's groaning and trying to stand upright, but struggling. "Fuck, fuck. She's sucking me so hard."

"Good, angel. I knew you could do it." After slapping her ass again, I reach around and find her throbbing clit, then stroke her rapidly. "Come while you have both of us inside you."

Watching my wife's lips surround his cock makes me want to explode within her and tan her hide for touching someone else. Perhaps both at once. So I slap her ass harder and push in as she screams around Brandon. Her orgasm ripples through her body so violently she shakes like a leaf under my grasp.

Brandon's hand grasps the crown of her hair as if he's going to finish in her throat, but I grip her neck and pull her up on my lap as he spews his spunk all over the ground. Some sprays our legs.

I use my wife's little body and grip her shoulder with my teeth as I release with a groan. My arms hold her steady as she turns to jelly in my embrace.

Brandon makes a small hop to pull up his pants and zips them. Before I slide out from my wife, I lean forward and grasp his handgun from his waist holster, then shoot him in the forehead.

Astrid screams and scrambles to get away from me, but my forearm holds her steady. "Oh fuck, keep trying to run, angel. Yes…" Her terror makes me immediately hard again. I think I could come just from her urgent need to flee.

The body slumps into her legs, which forces her even more onto my aching need. Grasping her hips, I work myself rapidly in and out until I come a second time while her nails dig into my hands. My ears hum from the gunshot and her wails of fright.

As I throb inside her, she twists out of my grasp and hurries down the stairs. Too spent to chase after her, I let her go. Sev walks in from the door she left open and immediately scans me as I'm pulling up my pants. Then the dead.

His shaggy eyebrow raises with a question, and I shrug in reply. "He touched what's mine."