Chapter 27
Bella
I must have orgasmed so hard I passed out. When I come to, he’s wiping me down with a warm washcloth. He’s removed the gloves and the gas mask. He pats the washcloth over my pussy, checking for tears.
“Ow.” My inner muscles are sore.
Now I know what people mean when they say “he understands the assignment.” Kaiser understood the assignment. He could teach the course. He graduated magna cum laude. Emphasis on the cum.
There are small bruises on my skin where he gripped me, and I touch them in wonder.
“You okay?” He hovers over me, looking concerned. There are red marks on his face from the gas mask straps.
“I’m awesome.” I touch myself, checking for blood. “I thought I tore.”
“No blood.”
“Next time.”
He hums, swiping the washcloth over me.
I reach for him, and he stills when I touch his wrist. He doesn’t like me touching him, I’ve noticed that, but he’s letting me do it now. “I’m serious. I want it. I want you to make me bleed.”
His face is as stern as ever, but he has a smile in his eyes. “All in good time, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart?
“We have time. Remember? You’re going to be my wife.” I’m stunned, still caught up on the soft way he said sweetheart.
“We’re going to have years together. Years of me learning every part of your body.”
He touches my lips, and I realize my mouth is hanging open. What he’s saying is too much to imagine.
“Really?”
“Really.”
I can’t believe it. The picture he’s painting is… very attractive. Dinner and then a chase through the house.
It can be like this.
“Would you like that?” He leaves the question hanging while he returns the washcloth to the bathroom.
I’m still braindead, but a yes is on the tip of my tongue.
Then I notice he’s taken all the candelabras out of the room. The air still has a slight skunky flavor, but it’s a lot fresher in here.
“Did you figure out how I was drugging you?” I ask.
He gives me a flat look. “The candles.”
“What about them? I love candles. Lots of people have a candle obsession.”
“Especially when they smell like hashish.”
I knew I went too hard on the opioid compounds in the most recent batch.
“You even decorated the table with poppy flowers,” he says.
I giggle. “You noticed.”
“And you put on the episode of Vampire Varsity where the chess club gets high and gets possessed by the spirit of a succubus.”
“Season five, episode twenty-one. It’s a good one.”
He shakes his head. “You left so many clues.”
“It’s only fair. Supervillain code of honor. Make sure a worthy adversary has a chance to beat you.” I twist one of his curls around my finger.
“You think you’re a supervillain?”
I deepen my voice. “You’re in my clutches now, Mr. Blond,” I say in a fake British accent.
“No. You’re in mine.”
Kaiser
I lie back and pull her into my arms. I never thought I’d enjoy cuddling with a woman all night, but I want a lifetime of this. The fire that ignited after I took her virginity still burns under my skin, but I welcome it. Every time I touch her, I feel a little bit more.
She’s still playing with my hair. “You said you figured it out a week ago. Why did you wait so long?”
I cup her cheek. “To lull you into a sense of complacency.”
She grins. She loves that. “To get my guard down.”
“Yes. And study your every move.” I grip a handful of her hair in my fist. “Because I want to know you. I want to know everything about you and what’s going on in that brain of yours.
You act like you’ve had the upper hand all this time, and I needed to know why.
” I release her hair and put my hand around her neck.
She blinks. Her body softens, but her forehead furrows. She looks like she just realized something, something awful. “You figured it out. It was the candles.”
“I’m sure you have more tricks up your sleeve.
” I pull her forward until her forehead presses against mine.
“I will learn all your secrets, little bride. I’m going to turn you inside out.
I’m not a good person.” I squeeze my fingers until her pulse flutters and her eyes half close.
“I would own you if I could, but I don’t think I can. ”
Her sigh shakes her small frame. I release her and study her beautiful face. She’s wide-eyed, looking shaken.
She reaches for me, hesitates. I tense, bracing myself. It’s an instinct to stop someone from touching me. But her touch? I long for it.
Her fingers hover over my lips. A threat. Everything I ever wanted.
“Kiss me,” she whispers.
At first, I’m not sure if I heard her right. “Are you sure?” I need to know if she means it. “Aren’t you afraid we’ll fall in love?”
Her gaze falters. “I’m not worried about that anymore.” She looks unhappy. I’m missing something. “I mean it, Kaiser.” I love it when she says my name. “Kiss me. I want—”
I stop her words with my lips. I can’t wait any longer. I want to hear what she wants, but I want to kiss her more.
Her lips are soft and sweet. I can feel them. I can taste her. She’s so sweet. So deadly. The perfect poison. If I die tonight, I’ll die a happy man.
Our breath mingles. Her tongue slips out, touching mine. I groan and fist her hair, forcing her closer. She melts against me. Her weight is delicious, calming the raging fire in my skin.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I say.
“So are you.” But she sounds a bit sad.
“The minute I saw you, I wanted you. It was wrong, but I didn’t care. You were made for me—”
I tug her hair, and her breath catches. I’m rock hard again, even though I just came. I could break Thorbjorn’s record.
“I’m not a good man. I knew if I asked, they would give you to me. And you’re everything I want.” I want to chase away the pout she has on her pretty face.
“I’m a lot to take.” She angles her head so it’s half in shadow. “I’m not a good girl.”
“No, you’re not.” I tug her hair so her face is fully in the light. She still looks troubled. “You’re like me. Do you know how many men I’ve killed?” Her gaze sharpens on me. She was curious about this when we first met.
“I don’t even know anymore. Does that scare you?”
“No,” she says with a smile. “It turns me on.” She hides her mouth with her hand. “I sound deranged.”
“No, it’s okay. Give it to me. Give it all to me.” Because something is still bothering her, and the need to figure it out is crawling under my skin.
“I want to ask some questions.”
“Ask.” Because at this point, I’ll give her anything. I just want to be close to her. Breathe her air. Study her wicked little face. I can’t stop touching her, and even though my skin is more sensitive than ever, I want her to touch me.
“You told me you had to fight. You had to. Did you kill them all for Fraternitas?”
“No, there were years that I was fighting in the underground for a man known as Maestro.”
“I heard you killed your trainer.”
“He wasn’t our trainer. He was our slaver.” Her eyes search my face.
“He’s the one who made us fight. The one who figured out how to heal us so we could fight again.” I flex my fingers. The compounds he gave me numbed the pain but probably fucked up my nerve endings. That and the stuff he did to me at night, when I was helpless in a cage.
I shake my head to get off the path of those dark memories. “No one thought we would win. No one.”
“You and your brother?”
“Yes. Watching Jaeger fight was the worst. Knowing that at any moment, he could die. I would have done anything to save him from the ring. We trained together, taught each other everything we knew. We had to. And we met Atticus there. He learned how to heal people fast. How to dose us with stuff to make our muscles grow. He has a lab too, you know.”
“Lab Daddy.” She licks her lips. “He’s hot.”
“Yes. Watch it.” I tighten my grip on her hair again. “You’re mine, little bride, and I don’t share. I want you all to myself.”
Her gaze drops from mine for a moment. The predator in me can sense something is wrong, but I don’t know what.
“What is it, Bella?”
She shakes her head, sighing. Her tone is solemn when she says, “You have me.”
My heart surges in my chest. I want it to be true, but I don’t know if I can believe her. She sounds so reluctant. “You’re really not afraid of me. Even though I’m a killer.”
“Death is inevitable.”
“I thought you’d be this sweet innocent virgin. Too innocent for me.”
She gives me a wicked grin that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Who says I’m not?”
“No. I know better now.”
Her gaze drops to study my tattoos on my chest and shoulders. I feel uneasy, knowing she’s seeing the scars under the tattoos. Her fingers flex like she wants to touch them.
“You were made to fight. Is that why you don’t like to be touched?”
I guess it was inevitable that she noticed that. I ache, wanting her touch, but fearing it. Just under the surface, my nerve endings are on fire.“Yes.”
“It’s okay,” she whispers, pulling back her hands. “You’re safe with me.”