Chapter Twenty-Nine
Karter
Wandering through these woods, trying to track down my brat, wasn’t how I envisioned tonight going.
Nah. I had plans, filthy, glorious plans.
I pictured her bent over, ass in the air, dirt on her knees and my cock buried so deep she’d forget her name.
Maybe even strung up by that perfect little waist, suspended from one of these ancient limbs like the desperate thing she is.
Ropes cutting into her wrists, her screams echoing through the trees while I fucked the obedience back into her.
These woods were built for sins like mine.
Thick oaks. Thick silence. And soil that’s hidden bodies no one ever bothered to miss.
Wyck was the first to get his hands on her, of course he was. The bastard always gets his way. I decided I’d be the last. The one who'd finish what the others started. The grand finale. Her end, and her undoing.
But now I’m just roaming. Alone. Hard as hell.
The crunch beneath my boots is familiar, twigs, bones, secrets. The graveyard we never talk about. Our very own cemetery of traitors and loose ends. Their names don’t matter anymore. Just fertilizer now, feeding the roots of trees older than the lies that killed them.
My cock twitches thinking about fucking her on top of one.
My phone buzzes. I pull it from my pocket, thumb already itching. Group chat.
Wyck: Where is everyone? She’s only had me and Dash so far. Anyone else?
Dash: You got my alibi. I’m out.
Me: Negative.
Onyx: Still looking.
Wells: Got her. Passed out under a tree.
My jaw clenches.
Wyck: Good. Wake her up. Take her to the playroom. Remind her what happens when she disappears without a word. Then Karter… you’re up.
Me: I said I want her last.
Onyx: I’m out. Shit to handle.
Wyck: Fine. After Wells is done, she’s yours.
I break away from the trail and double back toward the estate. My feet move fast, but my mind’s already ahead, spinning wicked little punishments. I shoot Wells a separate message.
Me to Wells : Don’t go easy. Make her feel it. I want her wrecked by the time I get there.
What was she doing sleeping under a tree?
Only two of us had her and she’s already tapped out?
Or maybe… Maybe she’s more fucked up than she’s letting on. Or maybe she just wants us to find her like that. Vulnerable. Begging.
Perfect.
By the time I reach the main house, I’m vibrating with need. I follow the low light down the hallway toward the Devils’ playroom, our sanctuary of shadows, restraints, and forgotten inhibitions.
The second I’m close, I hear her.
“Agh! Wells, stop! That fuckin’ hurts!” she screams.
Good.
Hand on the cold brass knob, I twist and step inside.
The room is soaked in dim red light and the scent of sweat, leather, and wet heat. It smells like home.
Wells, no, Spade , stands over her, belt in hand, eyes cold and controlled. Athens is splayed out on the edge of the bed, legs shaking, cheeks damp with tears. Her ass is flushed crimson, bruises beginning to blossom.
A fucking masterpiece.
“You shouldn’t have done that, Athens.” Crack . The belt slices the air, striking her again. She jerks. Whines. God , she sounds divine.
“Wells, please. I’m sorry…”
“Not sorry enough.” He grabs her hair, yanks her head back, and sneers into her face. “Who did this?” he asks, eyes dropping to the hickey-chain wrapped around her throat like a twisted collar.
Her voice trembles. “Wyck.”
“You like what he did to you?” Spade asks, already undoing his belt, cock hard and eager to replace that belt in her.
“I-I loved it.” Her smile is defiant. Dirty. Glorious.
Spade chuckles, the kind that means pain is coming. “So what should I do to you? How should I mark what’s mine?”
She doesn’t answer fast enough.
He lets go of her hair just long enough to shove his pants down, then drags her legs apart like he owns the hinges of her body.
I stand there, watching, burning.
With one ruthless thrust, he slams into her.
“Wells!” she cries, body arching.
He growls, “I’m not Wells tonight. Call me Spade .”
His hand curls in her hair again, yanking her face up to meet his, eyes locked. The other hand snakes around her throat, tight. Squeezing until her gasp turns into a stuttered moan.
“You got an answer for me yet, little slut?” Spade hisses, voice rough with the rhythm of his punishing thrusts. “Or do I need to fuck it out of you?”
From the doorway, I smirk.
She’s not ready for me yet. But she will be.
Tonight, I’ll give her something none of them can.
Not just pain.
Not just pleasure.
But ruin .
And she’ll fucking thank me for it.
Brows knit. Tears streak her cheeks. And yet, she’s fucking perfect like this. Crumbling and radiant.
She hesitates.
Not out of fear.
Out of want .
Because she knows whatever answer she gives, it’ll mark her. Break her a little more. Make her ours.
And then, as if surrender blooms in her bones, her expression twists, pain melting into pleasure, lips curving into a smirk that’s goddamn sinful.
“Yes, Spade. I do.”
Spade leans in. “Say it.”
“I want you to carve your name into my ass.” Her voice breaks around his thrusts. “So anyone who ever sees me naked knows exactly who fucking owns me.”
My cock twitches.
Spade grunts, hand tightening in her hair. “I don’t own your ass. Not yet.” He pulls out, and the absence makes her whimper. “Don’t move.”
He steps away, grabs something from the dresser, comes back with a small bottle and a glint in his eye that spells danger.
“I’ll carve my name into your ass,” he says, voice low and lethal, “if you let me fuck it. Right now.”
Her head whips toward me, eyes wide, pleading, unsure.
She sees me now.
Standing in the shadows like the patient executioner I am. Her tether. Her Devil.
She's not asking for rescue. She’s asking for permission.
And with the smallest tilt of my head, I give it.
“Okay,” she whispers, almost breathless.
She turns and climbs onto the bed, ass high, legs trembling, but ready.
Spade’s voice cuts the room. “You ever done this before?”
She shakes her head. “No.”
He steps in front of her, raising the bottle. “This’ll help. A little.” His fingers stroke her jaw, then clutch her chin tight. “You scared?”
“Yes.”
“Good. You should be. I’m not soft, sweetheart. I’m not kind when it feels this good.”
Then he turns to me, eyes gleaming. “You want to help her take her mind off the pain? Fill that pretty mouth while I ruin the rest?”
Her gaze flicks back to me. Pupils blown wide. Lips parted.
She wants it.
The double-edged worship. The overwhelming stretch. The punishment for making us worry.
“Yes,” she breathes. “I want you both. Use me. Punish me. I deserve it.”
I’m already moving before the words finish leaving her mouth.
I shove Spade out of my way and take her face in my hands, kissing her like I’m claiming something no one else can have.
“Fuck, Brat,” I growl into her mouth. “You have no idea what you just asked for.”
Spade chuckles darkly. “I’m not going easy on her.”
“Wouldn’t want you to.” I move to the other end of the bed, undoing my jeans and freeing my cock. It stands tall, aching.
She licks her lips. My Brat. My mouth-hungry little whore.
Spade kneels behind her, spreading her wider with one hand and squirting the lube over her ass with the other.
She flinches at the cold.
“Open wider. Mouth too,” he commands.
She obeys.
Good girl.
Spade slaps her ass hard, and she gasps, but doesn’t speak. Just complies.
“Atta girl,” he murmurs, rubbing the sting in. “You’ll be begging for release before I’m halfway in.”
I slide a hand under her chin, stroking her jaw. “Still got that attitude?” I whisper. “Say something smart now.”
She keeps her mouth shut, eyes darting away from mine.
I grip her face harder, dragging her gaze back. “Thought so.”
She opens her mouth for me, but I wait. I need to see it happen in sync.
Spade holds up a pink vibrator, wets it in his mouth, then nods to me.
“Let’s begin,” he says, pushing the toy deep into her pussy at the same time I slide past her lips.
“Oh.” she moans, muffled by my length.
Spade's hand cracks down on her again. “This is pain and pleasure, Athens. We blend them until you don’t know which one you're begging for.”
His thumb eases inside her first, and she flinches.
“That’s just the warm-up,” he warns. “Relax.”
She moans around my cock as her eyes flutter up at me. Begging, brimming, broken.
Then he pushes in two fingers. Her hips twitch, thighs shaking.
I thread my fingers into her hair and start to move.
Spade looks at me, nods once, then goes in.
“All of it,” he groans as he presses past her resistance, breaching her inch by inch. “Take it, Brat.”
“Eyes on me,” I command, and she looks up, tears spilling down her cheeks as I slide deep into her throat, her body stretched at both ends.
She’s caught in the Devil’s crossfire, and loving it.
Her ass clenches. Spade slaps it again.
“Relax or I’ll pull out and start over,” he snarls, fighting to get all the way in. “There. Fuck, you’re tight.”
She whines around my cock, a sound I’ll bottle and keep forever.
“That’s the point,” I hiss. “Now suck. Like you mean it. Like you're proud of that mouth.”
And she does.
Like a woman trying to prove she’s worthy of our hell.
Spade starts to move, slow at first, then with purpose. The vibrator buzzes inside her. My hips rock forward. Her body twitches between us like a live wire.
“You’re doing so well,” Spade breathes. “Look at you. Taking both our cocks. Like a perfect fucking whore.”
I tighten my grip in her hair, fucking her mouth just a little deeper. “Show me what else you can take.”
Her lips are wet, drool sliding down her chin. Her eyes are wild.
But she’s not breaking.
She’s blooming.
This is her proving ground.
And by the time we’re finished, there won’t be a single inch of her that doesn’t belong to us.
Forever.
She moans, a ragged, muffled cry, as her throat stretches around me, and Spade slams into her one last brutal time.
“ Athens, fuck, I love you. Goddamn it, I do. ”
The words rip through the room like a detonation.
None of us expected it. Especially not her.
But her body doesn’t hesitate. She moves with it, shaking, unraveling, wave after violent wave of orgasm ripping through her. Her fingers claw the sheets, and she looks wrecked in the best way, smeared in sweat, tears, and come, but still aching for more.
That raw, shattered beauty?
It snaps my control.
I thrust deep, unloading into her throat with a grunt of satisfaction. “ Fuck, those lips… they’re heaven wrapped around sin. ”
She locks eyes with me. Obedient. Starved.
“Swallow it all,” I growl, brushing a thumb over her spit-slicked chin. “Like the filthy little slut you’re becoming.”
She doesn’t need to be told twice. Not anymore.
She drinks every drop, tongue licking me clean like she was made to.
Then… Bang.
The door swings open. The lights flash on, bleaching the shadows.
“ What the fuck is going on in here? ” Wyck’s voice is a whip across the room.
His eyes blaze as he takes us in, Spade still zipping up his pants, me tucking myself away, and Athens… well, she’s glowing. Bare, trembling, eyes still unfocused from the high.
“Wells,” Wyck’s voice drops to lethal levels, “I told you to punish her. Not fuck her.”
Wells shrugs, that smug smirk curling his lips. “I did punish her. Ask her ass. Took a proper lashing before she got a proper fucking.”
He smacks her ass again like punctuation.
“Figured she earned having my name carved into it.”
Wyck’s jaw ticks. “Says who?”
“She did,” Spade answers without flinching. “Asked me herself. Said she wanted everyone who sees her naked to know she’s mine too. I thought about carving it, settled on a tattoo instead. Cleaner.”
Wyck steps forward, his rage simmering close to boiling. “She’s not a fucking free-for-all, Spade.”
“No,” Spade says, stepping up to him. “She’s more than that.”
The air thickens. Something old. Something dangerous.
Athens stumbles off the bed, coming between them, bare feet silent on the stone floor.
“Stop,” she pleads. She cups Spade’s face, calming him. “Yes, I gave him permission. It’s my body. My choice. He wanted to make it permanent, but not brutal. He respected me.”
She turns to Wyck.
“This doesn’t have to be another Twilight pissing contest.”
Her voice is shaky. But firm.
I choke out a laugh despite myself.
Only she could throw vampire romance shade during a Devil’s standoff.
She turns and presses her ass back into me, grounding herself.
Then Wyck narrows his eyes.
“What’s that on your shoulder?”
Dash strolls in like he owns the air. “That was me,” he grins. “We fucked against a tree.”
Athens spins. “ You?! ”
“You blush real pretty, baby girl.” He grabs her face and kisses her hard. “Yeah. It was me.”
She’s panting now, head spinning. “Okay, but one more thing… Who was wearing the Guy Fawkes mask?”
We all exchange a look. Blank. Tense.
Wyck frowns. “None of us. We were all in Ghostface. You saw us.”
“Then someone switched during the chase,” she says slowly, the color draining from her face. “I thought the voice was off, but I chalked it up to the game. Please, one of you switched masks, right?”
No one answers.
“Athens?” Wells steps forward, tone suddenly cold. “Tell us what happened.”
She trembles, eyes wide. “He… fucked me. We had sex. You’re telling me… that wasn’t one of you?”
She breaks. Sobs into Spade’s chest.
Wyck’s phone is already out. “Seal off the property. We have a fucking intruder. No one comes or goes until we find this sick son of a bitch.”
“Yes, sir,” comes the answer from the other end before he hangs up.
He turns to the room. “When we catch him, he goes to the cellar.”
“Brat,” I growl, curling a finger toward her.
She lifts her tear-drenched eyes to mine and walks into my arms like a lost soul searching for a new devil.
“Karter,” she whispers, “who would do this?”
I press my lips to her temple. “That mask wasn’t an accident. Someone planned this. Someone wanted inside what belongs to us. ”
Her breath hitches.
“And things…” I lower my voice, menace curling around every syllable, “…are only going to get worse now that you’re one of us.”
I step back, meeting her gaze.
“The real question is, ” I brush her hair off her face, fingertips grazing her throat. “what the fuck are you gonna do about it?”