Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
I shuddered, and he brushed a kiss over my chilled cheek. His affection turned my stomach. He was enjoying this, getting off on my fear and Luca’s shame.
I stiffened at the sound of his belt unbuckling. I closed my eyes and took a breath, reminding myself that he’d promised he wouldn’t force himself on me.
He gripped my chin firmly. “Open your eyes. I want you to look at Luca while I punish you. This was his choice. You might’ve come down here to help him, but he should’ve known better than to kiss you. But he’s weak and gives in to his selfish impulses. He takes what he wants and doesn’t truly care about you. Just like how he raped you on your wedding night.”
Luca growled in enraged protest, but his cheeks were red with shame.
I shook my head wordlessly, eyes wide. I wanted to convey to him that I didn’t think of him that way at all, but the tightness around his mouth indicated his self-disgust. He believed what Dante was saying about him, about our wedding night.
But it hadn’t been like that. Had it?
No. Luca had made sure that I felt pleasure when he claimed me for the first time.
Just like Dante always forced me to feel pleasure when he toyed with me.
My lower lip quivered, and I bit it hard to keep from crying. The monster was getting in my head just as much as he was messing with Luca.
Cool leather caressed my bottom, and I jolted at the sudden sensation of the belt on my bare skin. Dante wrapped a strong arm around my waist, directing me to arch my lower back and offer myself up for punishment.
I pressed my forehead against the bars, bracing myself for pain. I’d chosen this. I’d decided to spare Luca’s friends by taking the punishment in their stead.
I could endure it. I was strong enough to handle it. I had to be.
Fire lashed across my bottom, and a scream tore from my chest. I was dimly aware of Luca’s answering bellow of pain as I rocked up onto my toes, moving away from the belt. Two more searing hits burned into my tender flesh, driving all the air from my lungs before I could cry out again.
Dante’s calloused fingertips trailed along the marks, tracing them. My skin tingled and danced beneath his whisper-soft touch, my nerves crackling from the whipping.
“So pretty,” he rumbled, his fingers dipping between my legs.
I tried to squirm away from the erotic stimulation I knew was coming, but he cupped my sex in his big hand and forced me back in position with his firm grip on my most intimate area. Keeping me locked in that unyielding hold, he rotated his fingers against my clit.
For a few merciful seconds, my body didn’t respond, my senses too consumed by the burning pain on my bottom to feel arousal.
His warm breath fanned my neck as he whispered in my ear. “Don’t fight me, pet. It will only be harder for you if you try.”
I drew in a shuddering breath and focused on Luca. His eyes were wild, his teeth bared like a cornered animal. But he hadn’t moved, as though his palms were glued to the wall. He was obeying Dante’s commands, sacrificing more of his pride to spare his friends. Our captor was slowly crushing his will, forcing him to bend to his insane desires.
I stared into his shining eyes, trying to convey my resolve. I could take this torment. We would both endure, and we’d get out of here together with our sanity intact. Somehow.
Dante continued stimulating my clit, ruthlessly coaxing pleasure from my body. I shuddered at the first ripple through my system, a warm, tingling wave. I kept my gaze locked on Luca’s, focusing only on him. I pretended it was his hand on my sex, his powerful body pressed against mine.
Dante clicked his tongue at me, as though he sensed what I was doing. “I’m your master, little bird. Not him. You belong to me.”
A tremor raced over my skin. He’d tried to force me to accept him as my master before. I’d refused to say the words.
I gritted my teeth against voicing the lie. If I said it aloud, I feared that the truth of it might work its way into my soul.
Cool air kissed my side when he stepped away, immediately followed by another lash of fire across my bottom. My head dropped back on a shriek, but he didn’t relent. Four more blows landed, the last catching my sensitive upper thighs. I yanked against the tie that bound me to the bars, desperate to escape the burning pain.
But another hit didn’t come. Dante’s fingertips circled my clit, and pleasure crackled through me. I released a sound that was somewhere between a moan and a whimper.