Chapter 25
MIA
I love it when people underestimate just how unhinged I am.
If Sonny Crane thinks he can traumatize me by cutting me up, he has no idea how wrong he is.
I’m the orphan girl with the nightmare man.
There’s not much you can do to me that hasn’t already been done.
And not much that I won’t actually enjoy because I’m a little masochistic glutton for punishment.
The wooden stick in my mouth tastes like mothballs.
That induces way more nausea than the psycho waving a knife in front of my face.
I take a deep breath and give him a slight nod as if he needs permission to mark me.
As if I haven’t been tied to this bed for so long now that I can’t feel my wrists.
My dress is nothing but a shredded mess of fabric surrounding me on the bed, so it wasn’t too difficult for him to find the vials of poison hidden in the pockets of my skirts. He uses it to sterilize the dagger.
“I bet you want a little taste, don’t you, Mia?
” he taunts, knowing full well I do and that he has no intention of giving it to me.
That would mean I could escape the pain he’s about to inflict.
And that would defeat the purpose of this entire act.
He wants to see me scarred as much as he wants to be the one who scars me so that he can claim every single one of my screams.
I spit the stick out. “I’m done begging. My fate is in your hands. All I ask is that you make it quick.” He won’t, but my will is fading, and I fear that I will black out soon.
His eyes light up, amused with my defeat as he shoves the stick back into my mouth. “Shhh. Hold still now.”
Why do I still find him beautiful? Even now, when he is the most dangerous thing in existence, a predator I should want to run from… I can’t take my eyes off him. I can’t help but shiver when he looks at me the way he does.
He fingers my lower lip for a moment, entranced with it. I watch, my chest heaving, breathless and terrified, as he becomes mesmerized with my face. He drags the tip of the blade across my cheek, light as a feather. “So pretty. Like mine was once… Keep your eyes on me, dark one.”
My teeth chatter around the stick as the reality of what’s happening starts to sink in. I think I’m going into shock. Fuck. I cower back as I regret ever agreeing to this. I wonder if he really would’ve taken no for an answer.
“Mmm. I want to fuck you like this. You’re so much more pleasant when you can’t speak.” He presses the tip of the blade into my cheek. “Now you’re really going to hate me.”
I arch my back and scream as he drags the blade through my skin without mercy. My entire body contorts in pain. Tears burst like water balloons from my eyes, burning as they spill into my open wound, mixing with the blood that rolls down my face.
He places a hand on my chest and pushes me back down to the bed. “Shh. Shh. Exquisite.”
I grunt and dig my teeth into the stick. Fuck.
“Almost done, dark one. You’re about to get a taste of what it feels like to be me.
” He presses the bone to my cheek and stars dust my vision.
I blink a few times, but it just makes my nausea worse.
Little black dots swirl between us. But even as bile creeps up my throat, my pussy tingles.
My juices leak out and trickle down my thighs.
He presses the jagged piece of animal bone to my broken flesh, wedging it in between the flaps of the cut. I arch and cry out again.
“Relax, it’s almost over. But this is really going to hurt now.” His eyes glow with hunger and need. His touch isn’t gentle, but it’s not forcible either.
He threads the silk fiber through the eye of the needle with such precision as if he’s done this a thousand times before. Perhaps he has.
A tingling spreads through my pussy as his lips form into a sinister smirk. Why do his threats make me so fucking wet? No matter how he touches me, I crave it.
I gasp when he makes the first incision. The stick falls out of my mouth. “Oh, fuck. I need drugs. Or booze. Please, my flask… let me have a sip.”
His pronged tongue slithers out and darts across his lips as he focuses on stitching me up. He weaves the needle in and out of my flesh—each prick burns like fire. “Pain builds character,” he mutters.
Sweat beads down my brow and lower back. Drums beat in the distance. Are we close to the bonfires? I swear I can smell smoke. I can feel the flames getting closer. “Don’t let the fire burn me.”
Sonny chuckles. “You’re losing it, dark one. I’ve pushed you over the edge, and now you’re hallucinating.” He ties the end of the thread into a tight loop and cuts the end off with the dagger. “There. So fucking pretty.” He beams back at me, pleased with his work.
I’ve never been a vain person, but the thought of what my face looks like now makes me want to vomit. Do I look hideous? Am I a monster too now? I throw my head to the side and pray for a cold wind. I feel like I’m heating from the inside out.
The Skelker caresses my wrists as he unties them from the bedposts. A sharp pain shoots up each of my forearms as the blood rushes back into my veins. He reaches in between my legs and drags a finger down my slit. “You’re a wet fucking mess. I knew the pain would make you cum.”
I turn my head, ashamed to look him in the eye. “Fuck you.”
He chuckles as he slides his cock back inside me.
I gasp at the stretch. At the way my body responds to him like he’s the only thing that can soothe me, despite the fact that he’s the reason I need soothing to begin with. I spread my legs wider and open up for him, urging him in deeper. I want to swallow him, consume him, fuse with him. Fuck.
I roll my hips up so I can rub my clit against his chiseled abdomen. “More,” I beg.
“Mmm. I own your pussy now, dark one.” He licks my wrists, alternating between each one with kisses. He’s so far in, I can feel his cock in my lower back. The bones on his shaft are rough, but they stimulate every sensitive nerve inside my pussy, drawing me closer and closer to the edge.
I clench tighter, desperate for him to rub me raw. “Harder.”
He slams into me so hard the entire bed jerks back against the wall. The frame cracks, sending the top half of the bed crashing to the floor. We’re at a tilt now, which ironically gives him an even better angle for destroying me.
He laughs diabolically as he rides my swollen pussy. “So fucking pretty like this. I’m going to come out of your fucking eye sockets.”
His vileness only makes me more feral. A loud moan unfurls from my throat as my orgasm starts to build. I grind myself against him like a wild animal, grunting and writhing like one as well.
“You like being a whore for me, don’t you?” Thrust. “You like it when I fuck you like one.” Thrust.
“Oh. Fuck. Shit. I’m cumming. Whatever it is you’re doing, don’t fucking stop. Please.”
He hisses as his cock pulsates. “My pretty little whore… Uhhh. I will kill you. I swear to the ravens. Fuck.” He roars as his cum fills me hot and thick.
And it shatters me. I scream as we fuck the fury out of each other, our bodies slamming and smacking together, burning our flesh and bruising our bones.
He lifts both of my legs up and drives into me so hard the rest of the frame cracks, sending the entire cot to the floor.
I fear that if he fucks me any harder, it will send us crashing through to the ground floor.
“Sonny,” I murmur.
“Scream it or don’t say it at all,” he growls. His pace slows as his cum continues to flow into me.
In that instant, I’m wrecked, decimated by a vicious throbbing that builds from the pressure he applies to my G-spot.
I whine and clench as it consumes me. Claims me.
Owns me. I ignore the pangs in my wrists and reach up to grab a hold of his antlers.
I use them to anchor me as I finish unleashing my orgasm all over him.
“Sonny,” I scream, giving him what we both want—to claim and be claimed by each other.
“Good little whore,” he whispers into my ear. He kisses my stitches then licks the blood off my cheek. We both convulse as more of his cum flows into my pussy.
My eyelids weigh heavily. I’m so tired. So drained. “You’re the whore,” I murmur.
He’s cut off mid-chuckle by a door slamming. He jerks up. “Sounds like our fun is over.”
They’ve come for me…
“Mia!” Aries.
Footsteps scramble up the stairs, stomping loudly like those ancient drums I heard beating earlier.
“Mia, are you in here?” Draven yells.
I use all of my strength to turn my head toward the doorway. My three beautiful heathens barrel through but stop just short of us.
Bones’s mouth drops open, his eyes wild. “Fucking hell. What have you done to her, brother?”
Sonny leaps off the bed and crouches along the far wall.
I try to lift my head, but it feels like a bowling ball. Fuck. I shouldn’t have done that. The room spins. I lurch to the side of the bed and start to dry heave.
“Fuck. Mia.” Aries is at my side. He wraps me in something warm and scoops me off the bed. Through heavy lids, I look down to see what I could already smell. Sonny’s cloak. It smells like smoke and cinnamon and incense. I tuck into it and rest my head against Aries’s chest. “Don’t hurt him.”
“What the fuck did you do to her?” Draven roars.
“Hold on. Everyone, calm down,” Bones pleads.
Sonny hisses as he crouches on all fours, cornered. “She liked it. Ask her yourselves. Let her tell you how much of a whore she is for me.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you.” Draven charges him, but Bones is quick and intercepts.
I scream.
“Stop. Dray, you promised. Back off. Now.” Bones pushes him back.
“Don’t fucking hurt him!” Every cell in my body pines for him. To touch him and comfort him. He’s scared. Underneath the skull and the bravado, he’s fucking terrified. “Please,” I cry.
Aries grips me tighter. “It’s okay, little lamb. No one will hurt him. Isn’t that right, Dray?”
Draven’s chest heaves with rage as he glares daggers at Sonny. He takes three deep, deliberate breaths before he answers. “Yeah. Fine. But you better fucking sedate him, or I will.”
That’s better than the alternative. I knew they planned to do that before anyway. Whatever he did to me… it’s made me want to protect him with my life. And the last thing I want is to be caught in the middle.
I lift my head one more time, the last ounce of strength I have left. “Please, Draven. You don’t understand… I can’t choose. Please.”
“She’s bonded to him… Fuck. Give me the syringe,” Bones barks out. I can hear the defeat in his voice.
“Aries.” Draven’s eyes darken when he looks at us. “Help Mia get some rest.”
“Okay, baby girl. Drink this for me. It’s your favorite.” He puts a vial to my lips, and I can’t resist the sweet invitation. As soon as the liquid hits my tongue, I’m a goner. Everything goes numb, my face, my hands, my legs… I can’t even feel my throat. The room peels back, revealing darkness.
I try to hold onto the light desperately. But whatever Aries has drugged me with is far too powerful to resist.
I try to form words, but I can’t move my lips. I’m out of body, floating above myself. It’s pitch-black, cold, and empty. And all I can do is think over and over again, please don’t hurt him.