Chapter 27
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Lizette
I ’m numb.
Aching.
Hurting from unfulfilled needs.
Humiliated.
Not from what he did, but from his dismissal.
My eyes are dry and hot. Booty shorts uncomfortable, rubbing places I’m now hyper aware of, places chafed, sensitive, wet. Wanting.
Each breath makes my nipple sing from where he bit and sucked, makes them rub against the material that’s now like sandpaper. A thing designed to slough inhibitions until I’m left, bare boned, naked, the real me. Whatever that is.
I press a hand over my stomach. I pass my room and up a short flight of stairs, into the storage room.
My plan, which is genius in its simplicity, is to steal something strong and alcoholic. And then I’ll disappear into my room, drink a few glasses until the edges soften, and those new memories fade and sleep comes.
And tomorrow …
I clench my hand.
I’m not going to wallow too deeply. No matter how much I want to. Tonight’s for shallow wallowing and licking of wounds.
Tomorrow?
The lines of bottles in front of me offer an escape, however brief, and I need it or else I might do something stupid in the early hours, like run and land smack bang in the middle of whatever danger lies in wait for me outside.
Or worse.
I might return to Dante to take his brutal brand of sex some more.
Better to blur reality in my locked room and plot and plan and rampage, then when morning comes, work out what I’m going to do.
Work out the details, I mean.
Because tonight solidified something.
Staying here isn’t an option.
Not long term. If I do, I just might get chewed up. Bones sucked clean until there’s nothing left.
A smile tugs at my mouth, and it’s a bitter sting. At least I’m not holding little girl fantasies. I never did, but I also never pictured a world like this. One filled with wild beasts. Carnal, ravenous creatures that want to own and destroy. And… And even if I had, I’d have never believed I’d like it.
That’s the biggest problem, isn’t it? I like their touch, their violence, the sexual edge and the sweetest words that hide control and sexual desire.
It doesn’t matter if they’re honest or full of lies.
If I stay, there’ll be nothing left.
If?
Once they find a way to solve this problem, they’ll get rid of me. I don’t fit into their picture.
Any thoughts I might have harbored of finding a place here are dashed.
No, I need to go.
My hand goes to my throat and I touch where Knight marked me, and it sets off waves of desire, storms of need that spin out from that sensitive place.
Shit. I’m— I take a breath.
The bite will fade, I think. And hopefully with it, my insane awareness and attraction of the three pack alphas.
I touch one of the bottles, running a finger over the smooth, cool glass and paper label. Looking at the rum, I make an instant resolve, a promise.
I’m going to work hard, earn money, put it with the rest I have hidden away. And when I’ve got enough, when the danger is past, I’m leaving.
Trick is to leave on my own terms and in one piece.
I might need to stay a little longer, so if I can keep working, make myself needed, then they might do that.
Instead of getting rid of me at the first chance.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep and slow breath. “Keep this in your head, Liz. No matter how they make you waver, keep it in your head. Leave when you can. When you have enough. Fuck them, enjoy them, but don’t let them touch you.”
Not the inner most part of me.
If I can keep that separate, I’m golden. Safe.
A lovely thought.
And way easier to say, I suspect from how I react to them all, than to do.
I’m overwrought. I’m upset. Horny. Dante didn’t let me come, didn’t give me that big, beautiful orgasm I could almost touch.
God, I hate Dante.
I drop my hand to the shelf below the rum and grab the nearest bottle of something to forget what happened.
Because inside, the need is throbbing. I’m turned on and more than a little dirty and pathetic inside.
“That’s gross. ”
Almost dropping the bottle, I whirl around, eyes burning.
Knight’s there, smiling softly. He leans against the door frame, arms crossed. His fine cashmere sweater in moss green brings out the green in his eyes, the copper and gold in the caramel of his hair.
I wobble.
Thing is, he’s everything I need at this moment. An oasis in the storm. Everything good. He’s so many firsts. And he… Oh, he’s the antithesis of Dante. He’s light to the other man’s dark depravity.
I want to go to him, throw myself in his arms and breathe in that honey and lavender, the leather. I want his big hands to hold me, his lips against my skin, his heart beating with mine.
But I don’t move.
How can I do that when I’m nothing more than a…a…an oversexed girl? One practicing her resolve, one plotting her escape. And one who was just getting finger fucked by the world’s worst man, one who gave that man a blow job, a man who’s my enemy. An enemy I want as much as I want Knight and Reaper.
The gentle humor on Knight’s face is inviting, soft, welcoming and the resolve starts to slip, fast.
Because now, it doesn’t matter what I was thinking, it doesn’t matter that I sucked another man’s cock and he came deep in my throat. What matters is the need and want for him. For Knight.
How can this be normal?
It can’t be.
Because if he asked, I’d go to him, play the sweet submissive girl to his loving and stern Daddy Dom and let him teach me about sex. If he asked, I’d lay down and spread my legs and let him have that stupid virginity.
It’s depraved, wrong. Pathetic.
Another version of pathetic. I’m collecting them all, apparently .
“Whatever you’re thinking, Liz, stop. For one, you look like you’re beating yourself up, and for another, if it’s driving you to drink that shit, you’re in trouble.”
“I don’t care.”
He straightens and crosses to me pulling me into his arms, his lips brushing my forehead. “Oh, Liz, you do.”
“Thing is, I still feel like a prisoner.”
It’s true, in a way. But I’m channeling the lessons my father taught me. Thinking and cooling the emotion, pushing an agenda in a way that reaps the most for me.
Right now, that’s keeping a job, finding a way to be invaluable, or at least needed as staff.
“I think…” I swallow. “I think Dante’s not going to let me wait tables anymore.”
Knight doesn’t say a word, just strokes a calming hand down along my spine.
Dante did say that, and I continue with my mild manipulations. “A job means something to me, it helps me feel less useless, like I’m giving back.” I look up, smile. “And money is good.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Not with us. Right now, you’re in the Unholy Trinity pack’s fold. You won’t be wanting for anything. No rent, no groceries, no Council trying to set you up with an old fucker.”
He makes it all seem so good, a dream I never knew I wanted.
“Yes, but I don’t mean that,” I say. “I mean…” I let my words trail, making space.
“You mean it gives you the feeling of autonomy?” Knight asks.
I nod against him. “It’s just if I’m not out there, then I really am a prisoner. I want…I want to be seen. Even in that controlled part of the world.”
It hits me. I’m not just saying these things in hopes I get back the job that has the potential to make me money, I mean it.
The little note of anguish in my voice blindsides.
I didn’t know I had it in me.
“And I get that I can keep doing the bussing,” I say, “or…that I could start…cleaning for you all—not that I want to clean—but I’m not above it. All my life I’ve been hidden away. Even when I had a job, it was all cleaning or in the kitchen. It’s away from people. With Dad, it was because I didn’t have papers.”
“Ah, shit, Liz, I’m betting he told you to stay out of the light, because that’d call attention on you. And it’s not fair.” Knight brushes the strands of hair that’ve come out of my ponytail back from my face as he tips it up to him. “I’d be proud to walk in public with you. Call you mine. But right now…there’s the whole fucking Council bullshit and we don’t know why they’re so interested in you, and who else might be. I think your dad was someone.”
“Of course he was?—”
“I mean someone . Of interest, importance. But I was born to betas, and I didn’t grow up in a pack, just a house, with parents who were, and are, complete fuck ups.” He brushes my lips with his. “Reaper and Dante seem to know who he is. I can’t find anything about Connor Roth. And only a name, date of birth and not much else for Elias Enver. The stuff’ll be there, but so hidden I’m going to have to carefully track it down.”
“He was just…Dad.”
“Yeah, I know. C’mon, Liz.” He looks past me, and grabs a bottle. It’s wine, something fancy by the label. “I’m going to walk you to your room. I want to kiss you, maybe just hold you.” There are hidden words there, ones that echo in me.
He wants to fuck me. I want to fuck him.
But he’s being a gentleman.
Unlike Dante .
He laughs, gesturing to the door. “And yeah, that means fucking you, but not tonight.”
I drop my gaze and move out of the room, and we take the stairs down.
We pass Dante’s suite. But we don’t stop, instead Knight turns left and to my room.
“I…” I clutch the wine as he hands it to me. “I guess you don’t want to come in.”
Knight’s eyes glitter. “If I go in, I’ll have my way with you, and you definitely deserve a spanking for all the self-abuse going on. I don’t care if Dante pissed his claim in cum over you, or if he had every hole you own. I don’t care that you smell like him and sex.”
I can’t move, I’m riveted to the spot.
“Actually, I lied. I want your virginity. For me, it’s special and Daddy likes a good girl, and you’re the most perfectly perfect good girl I’ve met.” He leans in, his smile there, a stern light mixing with the sparkle of mischief in his eyes. “Want to know what Daddy likes even more?”
“What?” I push the word out, needing an anchor because I’m falling fast, but this isn’t like with Dante. This is into a warm satin-lined place.
“Daddy likes a baby girl who knows her damn worth. Who knows her power. Who is bad by testing limits and earning her punishment. Or doing good and earning a sweet fucking reward.”
My stomach flips and dances.
“Daddy fucking loves his girl to fall apart when I praise her, and have my praise send her to the brink.”
“Da-Knight?—”
“I don’t give a shit what you do with the other two. Will I feel a twinge of jealousy?” His dimples bloom as he smiles. “Maybe, a little, just to keep it fun. But Liz, we both know I’m the prettiest, and the best.”
“You don’t care? ”
He laughs, shakes his head, then turns serious. “If it’s them, no. But if you fucking touch anyone else, or if anyone else tries it on with you, I’ll destroy them. I’ll go a different route than either Dante or Reaper, but trust me, I’ll destroy them and make them wish they were dead. Ruin their lives, their pack, their businesses. I’ll drain their accounts and burn their reputations. I’ll deep fake shit so well, they’ll cut their own balls off and bleed to fucking death rather than face what their lives become.”
I stare at him.
Now…now I see why he’s one of the three alphas of the Unholy Trinity. He’s sweet, charming, self-aggrandizing enough to make me laugh, but there’s the same deadly, ruthless streak in him, too.
He just also happens to possess a heart and softness. “I… I get it.”
“No, you don’t. It isn’t a threat or a warning. It just is.”
I suck in a breath. “I still feel…” I flounder, trying to find the right word.
“In need of punishment.” He meets my gaze. “Yeah, you do deserve it. But not over Dante doing things with you. If he fucked you, took your virginity, well…that’s between me and fucking Dante, not you. I wouldn’t punish you over that.”
“How does it all feel right when it’s wrong?”
Knight drops his forehead against mine. “You are so innocent.”
Shame burns.
He traces my hot skin. “That’s one spanking, Liz.”
“But I’m not innocent. Not since I stepped foot in this place. I’m… I’ve fooled around with all of you and there’s only one time that I can blame it on heat.”
Knight smiles and I melt slowly inside. “The spanking’s for the red in your cheeks. Don’t feel regret, or shame. You’re perfect.”
I moan, trying to twist away, his words doing things, making it almost like my clit’s oversensitive. I’m not perfect. And the thrumming inside, low and perfectly pitched is just as effective as if he stroked my intimate parts. My pussy, breasts, ass.
“We’re a pack. Three alphas. And you seem to fit,” he whispers, kissing my cheek. “And yeah, okay. Wanna know a secret? I’m fucking jealous of Dante, of that room. I thought…well, it doesn’t matter.”
“He didn’t.” I stop. “I’m still a virgin.”
His eyes narrow, then he rubs a thumb over the corner of my mouth, and he dips in, kissing me. “He fucked your mouth.”
Knight steps back.
“I’m not going into your room tonight, and I’m not taking you to mine. You need to unwind, sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.” He takes my hand, kisses it. “Who knows? I just might have a surprise for you.”
I stare.
“Fuck.” He comes back in. “Don’t look so stricken, the only reason I don’t have you under me, or on my knee spanking you, is you’ve reached your limit tonight. Go to bed, lock the door.”
He turns and walks away.