23. Alec

23

ALEC

The chains rattled as my belladonna yanked at them, twisting and whining as I stepped closer, breathing in her panicked scent. It was sweeter than honeysuckle, my mouth watering as I grabbed her face, forcing her gaze to mine.

“There’s something wrong with you,” she rasped. “Something deeply psychologically wrong.”

“Indeed,” I agreed. “You. You are what is wrong with me. Ever since you came to Thorns, my entire world has been wrong .”

“Alec,” she rasped, pleading.

The pleading only made my cock harder. I closed my eyes for a moment, searching for some sort of moral compass that would make me stop. But I couldn’t find it. Not in her presence. Something about her made me want to devour her, as if I were some sort of beast dining on the most delectable prey.

She knew how to use her words. That much I had certainly learned in the last few weeks. And yet, she hadn’t asked me to stop.

“You can scream here,” I whispered.

I pressed my fingertips to the base of her neck, feeling the helpless flutter of her heartbeat. I closed my eyes, breathing her in and feeling my own beat fall in sync. Thump, thump, thump. I wanted to feel that pulse around my cock.

“This room was made for screaming. It was made for pain. But I won’t hurt you. Not unless you ask me too.”

“Fuck you,” she rasped, but the conviction had left her.

I looked up, tumbling into those dark eyes. The ones that had drawn me in from the very beginning. They held so much strength and pain and loneliness, a mirror of me. I wanted to see the mirror shatter.

I pressed my body against her and her eyes widened as she felt the outline of my erection. Her lips parted and I expected her to demand something, but instead, she whimpered .

“You can’t make those noises,” I whispered. “How can I let you go now? You’ve been dancing this dance with me for weeks.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said. “I haven’t done anything…”

I tilted my head and raised a brow as I watched her throat constrict with a hard swallow. Carefully, gently, I ran my palm over her chest until I curled my fingers around her pretty throat, squeezing the sides.

The marks that the monster left on her infuriated me. They had sent me over the edge. I couldn’t resist her any longer.

“You will beg me to fuck you,” I said.

“Does begging turn you on?”

There was her spark. The flare I’d been waiting for. She’d gone so still, her heart still fluttering like that of an entrapped being, but the fear had left her.

“It does,” I whispered. “Does begging me make you wet?”

Her cheeks flared pink, her glare harder than flint. “No. Of course not.”

“Let’ s find out then, huh?”

“Unchain me,” she demanded.

“No.”

I slowly knelt down to the cold stone floor. A floor that had been covered in blood and filth and gods knew what else, but I didn’t care.

“I quite like this night dress,” I murmured, running my hands over her hips. “What’s left of it, anyway. I like seeing the shape of you. Makes it easier to imagine you riding my cock.”

She let out a soft growl as I ripped the rest of it open, pulling it free of her body and revealing a swathe of silk. I pressed my face against the fabric and breathed in the scent of her pussy, my cock raging.

“This is against the rules,” she huffed.

“And yet you haven’t asked me to stop.”

Our gazes locked again and I saw her rage. I saw her lust. And that was the conundrum of us. We both hated how fucking much we wanted each other. Ever since I’d met her, she’d wormed her way into every waking thought, every waking moment, my dreams, my nightmares. She was in all of them, an undeniable unwanted force.

I buried my nose against her cunt and breathed in deep, her scent an aphrodisiac. I was getting high off her body, my personal toxic addiction. She squeezed her thighs together and I grabbed hold of her knees, forcing them apart as I slipped my tongue against her clit through the silk.

Her moan made me shiver.

I slid a hand up to cup her breast.

I needed her completely naked now .

A low growl left me and I raked her underwear down, exposing her cunt. It glistened, calling to me. Soon .

I rose and turned to the metal table. She squeaked as I picked up a knife .

I held the blade to her throat, imagining it for a moment. The vision was so vivid, the thought of being drenched in her crimson, covered in the liquid of her life. And despite how fucking hard that made me, I needed her alive.

“Be still,” I whispered.

I cut any remains of her nightdress away.

“You bastard.”

She’s mine. She’s mine.

She’s ours .

She was completely naked before me. Her skin was mottled with marks that wrapped around her like vines, cupping her breasts and thighs. I traced them with the edge of the knife, carefully dragging it down her flesh. Goosebumps erupted over her soft skin.

Nora went deadly still as I brought the tip of the blade to her taut nipple. Lowering my mouth to it, I sucked hard, moaning as I explored her further.

She belonged to me .

That was the cold hard truth neither one of us could escape.

And as much as I despised it, I belonged to her too. Her name was a brand on my soul, carved into my stone heart. She owned it to whatever fucked up end.

If she was going to own me, I would own her back.

My cock throbbed desperately, straining painfully. I dropped the knife and kept sucking her nipples as I undid my belt and slid down my pants. I straightened as my cock came free, watching as her eyes widened.

“Tell me to stop,” I moaned.

She was silent for a moment, struggling with her own demons. “I can’t.”

“Why can’t you?”

“You know why, Alec. ”

“Then tell me. I want to hear you say it.”

She glowered with such an intensity, but it only made me reach down to stroke myself. I closed my hand around my cock and stepped closer, the tip barely touching her. I thrust a little more, pressing against her clit as I started to stroke up and down.

Her breath mingled with mine, her eyes closing for a moment as her cheeks heated.

“Ask me to fuck you,” I gritted out. I was losing patience. But I wanted to hear her. I needed to fucking hear her. “Not him. You don’t belong to him, you belong to me. Ask me to breed you. Ask me to mark you.”

“Please don’t make me,” she whimpered.

“I’m not making you do anything,” I growled. “Ask me to stop and I will stop.”

“I hate you,” she rasped.

“I hate you too.”

She let out a breathless whimper, shaking her head. “Please fuck me. Please. I need you inside of me. I need you, Alec,” she pleaded.

Need but not want. I couldn’t help but smile as I replaced my cock with my fingers, circling her clit. She was so wet for me, so aroused. I moved my fingers over the nub, watching every small reaction. The way her muscles strained, her lips tugging with pleasure, electrified by the stimulation.

I caught her mouth with mine. She was as soft as I had dreamed. All of our reluctance and hate turned to hunger. Burning, raging hunger. Her lips parted for me, her tongue meeting mine. And I devoured her. I ravaged her. I fed the beast inside of me demanding more and more and more as I slid two fingers down further, feeling how soaked she was for me. I pushed them inside her with ease, biting down hard on her lower lip.

She gasped, her hips thrusting, grinding. Blood welled on her lip from my bite and I watched it glisten like a ruby.

“Does my blood turn you on?” she whispered.

“Yes. I want to bathe myself in it.”

I kissed her again, sucking the bite, tasting her blood. I thrust my fingers in and out of her slowly, the tension growing and growing.

“Please,” she moaned.

I was getting lost in her. I was losing myself to her.

I pulled my fingers free and brought them to her crimson lips. “Taste yourself for me.”

Her gaze locked with mine as she tentatively opened her mouth. I slid them over her tongue, feeling her mouth close around me, sucking her own arousal off my fingers.

Fuck.

I pulled them free and brought them to my own mouth. The taste of her cunt mixed with her blood was a drug.

I leaned down, looped my arm beneath her thigh and lifted, planting my other hand on the wall behind her as I lined up my cock with her pussy.

She gave the slightest nod of encouragement.

“Beg,” I whispered.

Her eyes lit with anger. “You can’t be serious.”

“Beg me.”

“You’re right there.”

“Beg me, Nora.”

Her name wilted on my lips, soft like a petal. I felt the power of her essence on my tongue when I said her name.

She shook her head and then closed her eyes.

I loved watching her fight herself.

I revelled in watching her lose.

“Please,” she whispered.

“Look me in the eyes when you beg me to fuck you. ”

She grit her teeth and her eyes flew open, two arrows striking me straight through my dead heart.

“Please fuck me,” she whispered. “Rut into me, you fucking monster. I want to feel you inside me. Breed me. Ruin me.”

My breath left me. I slowly eased forward even as my blood pumped, burning so hot for her, fire in my veins. We gasped together, breathed together, moaned together. She squeezed around me, so fucking wet for my cock as she took me, her whimpers melodic.

I sank my teeth into the base of her neck as I thrust all the way in. She cried out from the pain and pleasure, the chains rattling. I broke the skin, alarm bells ringing through my mind, the stray thought wandering through.

Am I a demon? Am I a vampire?

You’re much, much worse.

The answer to the question came from within, but I couldn’t question that dark voice now. Not with her blood in my mouth and my cock buried deep inside of her.

“Can you even feel pleasure?” she asked.

I looked at her and a cruel smile twisted my lips. Her question was earnest, and that made me chuckle. I dragged my cock back and then thrust fully into her, capturing her gasp with my mouth.

“Ask me again after I’ve fucked you senseless,” I whispered against her lips.

She had a moment to groan again before I felt my will snap. Something within me surged forward, a darkness, a demonic force that I wasn’t sure was me. Or maybe it was, and I just couldn’t face it.

She brought this part of me out.

The hidden shadows, the secrets, the pain.

I got lost inside of her, thrusting in and out. She clenched around me, her head tipping back in ecstasy as I took her. Blood dripped down her chest, a single line of crimson that ran all the way down to her breasts.

“ Alec ,” she moaned.

I grunted, thrusting harder into her. I kissed her again, fervent and desperate, driving harder. I needed to consume her. Devour her.

I leaned down and lapped at the bite mark, sucking hard as my cock slipped in and out. The sound of our skin slapping together echoed through the torture room, her cries growing louder.

I wanted to hear her scream.

Before I could stop myself, I sank my teeth into her again. She strained and fought, screaming so loud that my ears rang. I smiled against the bite, against the blood, against the way she yanked against the chains.

I wanted her to mark me too.

I pulled out of her quickly and picked up my pants, drawing out the key. I undid her cuffs quickly and she fell forward into my arms.

Her fist came from nowhere, striking me hard in the nose. Hard enough that it crunched and I saw dots. I let out a dark laugh, wiping the blood that dribbled.

She breathed hard, staring at me like a cornered animal.

My prey.

Mine.

Ours.

I lunged for her and she gasped as I lifted her onto the cold table. A table I’d killed countless monsters on. I drove my cock inside of her again and she arched, her nails raking over my shoulders. My blood mixed with hers and I smeared it over her skin, over her breasts and neck.

“ Monster ,” she gasped.

I didn’t want this to end. I wanted to keep her as my pet, trapped down here forever. I wanted to fuck her every day.

She dragged me into a feral kiss, her mouth hungry. I obliged, drinking her in as she cried out, her cunt squeezing me tight. I drew back in awe as she came around my cock, the prim and proper little Nora coming undone right before me. All walls down. All worries gone. I could see her now, in her rawest state.

I’d been right about her. I’d been right about her craving for pain.

Of course I’d been right.

I didn’t stop. My hips snapped forward as I grabbed her throat, holding her in place as I fucked her.

“Not inside,” she rasped. “Don’t come inside me.”

“It’s too late for that.”

She shoved against me, but I wasn’t going anywhere.

“You asked me to breed you,” I reminded. “You begged me to.”

“But what if?—”

“I don’t care. As if you can ever get rid of me now.”

The idea of getting her pregnant brought out something primal within me. I thrust once more inside of her and released, groaning as I filled her. She went still, panting hard in disbelief as I came inside of her.

She moaned, wrapping her legs around my waist and keeping me inside of her. More hot cum spurted inside her.

For these blissful moments, we were an alchemical potion. Blood and semen and power all mixing together into a concoction that would bind us forever.

She was elemental. A fucking poison, a venom, a drug. Her name was a hot sigil burned on my tongue.

Dark hair tumbled down her back, strands sticking to her forehead, to the sweat there. The bites I’d left would scar .

I’d marked her as mine.

You’ve mated her to us. You’ve doomed her.

I swallowed hard. The voice was right, though. I had doomed Nora Woulfe. I would never let another man touch her. I would kill them. I would never let her out of my sights, even if she ran away.

“This was a mistake,” she whispered.

I could hear the logic finally cracking through her emotions. I let out a dark chuckle as I pressed my forehead to hers.

It was a mistake.

But not in the way she thought.