Chapter Eleven

Atlas

I 'm obsessed with her. She's not like the other girls. Riot and Valentin feel the same even though they won't admit it. But Maureen Blackwell has gotten into all of our heads. She's full of secrets and mystery. Like a puzzle I have to solve, or it will kill me.

The way her body reacts to me makes my cock so fucking hard. She wants us as much as we want her. But she's too proud to admit it.

I come up behind her as she's studying one of my plants. "That one's called deadly nightshade. Isn't it beautiful? It reminds me of you." I place my hands on her shoulders, and she flinches.

"Why do you drink poison?" Her voice is breathless and raspy.

I reach through her arms to snip a leaf off from the plant she stands in front of. Her body goes rigid against mine. "I need it. Some say it's a curse. But I fucking love it. It's like the best fucking drug you'll ever taste. You'll see."

She doesn't stop me when I lift up her shirt and caress her belly with the leaf. I draw circles around her belly button, obsessed with the way she quivers and shakes under my touch. While Riot and Valentin want to torture her, I'm going to make her my muse. A doll for me to play with.

I pull the edge of her shirt up higher, so I can look at the rise and fall of her breasts inside her black lace bra. Her pulse quickens as she leans back against my chest. "Atlas… I feel dizzy."

" Good ," I hum in her ear. I take the tip of the leaf and drag it through her cleavage. "That's from the toxin. Don't be scared, pretty girl. Let it happen."

I move higher, dragging the leaf gently across her lips.

"Fuck… my mouth is tingling. It's starting to burn."

I smile into her ear as I remember my first time. "Relax… your body will build up a tolerance."

She bucks against me, and it takes everything I have not to bend her over my apothecary table and fuck her ass raw. I want to fill her up with poison and cum. But I have to be patient.

She lets out a little whimper as I slide the leaf down her chest again and slip it into her bra. I nestle it against her left nipple. "Oh, that stings. I don't know if I can do this."

The sight of sweat glistening down her belly makes my cock throb. I want to rip off all our clothes and grind against her body. "I'm going to edge the fuck out of both of us, pretty girl."

She clings to me as the toxin spreads into her pores. "I can't… breathe."

Fuck. I want to keep going, but she's not ready. I remove the leaf from her bra and spin her around to face me. Her eyes are glazed, hazy, like she's in a trance.

"Here, drink this." I place a cup of magnesium to her swollen lips.

Slowly, she drinks it down. I watch how her throat bobs and glistens under the pale sunlight. It's hot as fuck. She's drenched. Her hands shake around the cup, but she never breaks eye contact with me. Which makes me even harder.

I dab some of the magnesium onto a cloth. "Pull your bra down and let me tend to that pretty pink nipple of yours."

With a trembling hand, she slowly peels her bra back. I fight the urge to suck on her hard nipple. I want to watch her squirm as I lick the poison off. But I hold back.

"I-I can feel my lips again. What did you give me?" she murmurs.

I shake my head. "Don't worry about that, pretty girl." She shivers when I place the cool cloth against her breast and gently rub. "There… how does that feel?"

She tries to stifle a moan and it comes out like an adorable squeak. "Better. It doesn't sting anymore."

Fuck. I get just as excited with the aftercare as I do with inflicting the pain. "Good. We'll do more next time. It's time for you to go back to your room and get ready for Riot. He'll be pissed as fuck if you don't show up to the library tonight."

And like that, the spell breaks. Her brow furrows and her cheeks flush. " If I go. I fucking hate him."

No, she doesn't. She wants to hate him. To hate all of us. But she knows deep down inside, she's just like us. Riot knows it too. He just wants to take his vendetta out on her because she's the only Blackwell who was able to slip through the gate. A reminder of all his family has lost. A reminder of his curse.

I pull her shirt down and step back. Not touching her feels like death. "If you don't go, he will find you and punish you. This isn't Wickford Hollow, Firecracker. Riot isn't some overly aggressive frat boy. He's a monster. A devil. If you don't comply, he will torture you in ways that will scar you forever."

"And you're okay with that?" she snaps.

I shrug because she doesn't understand yet. "Of course, I am. I don't question his methods. Or those of Valentin either. We are all different, but we're loyal to each other. They have their reasons. Just as you have yours."

She grunts in frustration. "Fuck that, Atlas."

I pull her to my chest and look down into her golden amber eyes. It's like staring into the sun and all I want is for her to burn me. "When you stop lying to yourself, you will enjoy every second of our depravity. And you can come to me when their darkness suffocates you."

She shakes her head. "That's not what I came to Tenebrose for. You don't understand the things I've… I don't want to be that girl anymore."

So many nightmares plague her during the day, I want to fuck them all out of her. "This isn't a drunken night in the bathroom at a Halloween party, pretty girl. It's not a fucking game. You belong to us."

She sighs and turns to leave but pauses at the greenhouse door. "No. I need the three of you to stay the fuck away from me."

Her resistance makes me hard again. I charge forward and pin her against the door. "That's never going to happen."

She whimpers and stumbles back when I release her.

"Come to me after they hurt you, pretty girl. I'll be waiting."

Maureen is like a roll of the dice. She's impulsive, stubborn, and unpredictable. Which is why none of us are letting her go.