Silas
The door to my office clicked shut with a sound that was barely audible, but as soon as I heard it, I knew she was gone. For half a second when I opened my eyes, I stared at the empty room around me.
I assumed she hadn’t left because she was running. So, what were the chances she would reappear with that crooked smile? The more I thought about it, the more I quickly realized that was not the case.
I hadn’t imagined it, the bond that had solidified between us. There was no way she didn’t feel it now, that she didn't feel the fact we were made for each other. Moments before she’d asked me to touch her, but I had said no—would that be why?
My eyes locked on the door to my office as I stood. Up until this moment, I had given her every bit of control I could. If she was comfortable now, that meant I could take some back. Knowing her, that's what she wanted—to play.
She didn’t just get to surrender everything to me and then leave me.
She belonged by my side, right next to me.
I grabbed at the spot where my mask had been, only to realize it was gone.
I studied the empty space and rolled my eyes at her.
If her goal had anything to do with something outside of playing, she wouldn’t have grabbed that.
If it was any negative emotion, she would have done anything she could to break my rules out of pure spite.
A cold, razor-sharp clarity sliced through me, and I knew she wanted to be hunted.
I should have known right away, because this was her—this was my Ember. She was trying to play a game with me, one I had originally refused by saying no.
I laughed to myself as I grabbed a different mask.
I had two options. One was a fun form of primal play where I could hunt her down through the crowd.
This method would probably be her favorite, but selfishly, I knew it would be faster to use my security cameras.
For a second, I considered how to fuse both.
I moved to the balcony and looked out at the crowd.
The music swelled as I stepped out, and the lights streamed across bodies as they moved.
Everything below me churned with sin and sweat, with my girl now hiding somewhere within it.
Smiling, I realized it should be really easy to spot her.
Her shirt was stained with blood, and her bandages were not easy to conceal.
Both of those things would call out to me like a warning label.
My eyes searched, cutting through the crowd.
I scanned past all the masks and bare skin.
Interestingly enough, it was her hair that caught my attention first. For a brief second, it was almost as though she felt the connection and turned back to look at me.
I swore I could see the smirk on her face underneath the black mask.
My pulse picked up speed as I watched her.
I was trying to be what she needed, and at this moment, I wasn’t sure if she knew what exactly she was asking for.
The last thing I wanted to do was regress back to where I’d been with her.
The moment she ran from my office, she had started a dangerous game, one she was apparently confident in.
She walked in the opposite direction of my office, with no signs of fear for what was coming.
I lost sight of her as she ducked into one of the side rooms, but not before she looked back at me one more time and nodded.
Blowing out a breath, I pulled away from the balcony and headed back inside. One side of me was obsessed with this, the other was angered by the amount of people she was around.
Still, I didn’t just answer her request—I threw myself into the role. It took all of two seconds before I had crossed my office and tore open the door. The closer I got to her and to the room she was in, the harder it was to control my thoughts about how to punish her.
As I hit the dark hallway, I found the exact door she slipped through and opened it slowly.
To my surprise, I found her right on the inside of the door, completely transfixed on what she was watching.
Three people occupied the room. There was a man in a Dom mask lying on his back on the padded floor.
A Volunteer woman rode him while taking another volunteer in her mouth.
At first glance, it looked like she was being used, but the more you watched, the more you realized she was being worshipped.
Two men and one woman, completely in sync with each other.
Ember stood just off to the side, watching like she was studying something sacred. I moved up behind her and placed the mouth of my mask near her ear, just close enough that she could hear me over the music. “Why run?”
She stiffened slightly, turning her face toward me, like she didn’t want to look away completely. “Why say no?”
Because I wanted to say yes.
When I didn’t answer, she turned her head back toward them, and we watched as the woman came undone, filled by both men. They then moved around until she was in the middle of an Eiffel Tower situation, still filled completely.
I placed my hand across her lower back. “I said no because you just had a panic attack. You aren’t stable enough to make this kind of decision yet, and I don’t want you to regret it.”
That broke her concentration, and she fully faced me. The heat that came off of her shot straight to my dick.
“If I’m staying with you,” she said evenly, her voice laced with irritation, “you need to learn you do not make decisions for me. Ever.”
Before I could respond, or hide my hard-on, she stepped away from me and toward the center of the room.
In a way that only she could, she walked straight up to one of the men.
In one smooth motion, she faced me and lifted her hand.
I held my breath as she moved it toward him, placing it on his shoulders.
Slowly, she rubbed his back, like he was something she owned.
Breathe, I reminded myself, fully knowing she was trying to push my buttons.
When I didn’t react, she leaned into him, her hand trailing across his skin.
I balled my fists as I watched her whisper something in his ear.
Breathe, I tried to say again even though I knew it was useless.
The volunteer moved his hands to play with the woman he was inside of.
The room immediately filled with wet, choking sounds as Ember looked down and watched.
Without a single doubt, I was absolutely and entirely fucked. This woman not only had the ability to command rooms, but she had the same power over my soul.
Shifting her attention to the woman, she bent down and gripped her jaw.
Looking at me, she rubbed her thumb across her cheekbone as if in approval.
Then, her hands moved again, and I could feel myself take a step toward her.
Ember decided to push even harder when she took the woman's hand and placed them inside of her pants.
The demand was intentional and meant to rile me.
She had definitely succeeded, and my eyes were now glued to that area.
She was mine and mine only. She knew that.
Ember’s head lifted, as if she was actually pleasured by this. Then, it tilted toward me, as a reminder that I was the one being challenged. Every fiber of my being was on fire as I watched her do this, but still, I refused to move. She didn’t have the power over me she thought she did, right?
I was proven so very wrong as the girl I was obsessed with, stepped toward the man next to her.
My fingers twitched as she extended her hand toward him, like she was about to let him touch her too.
Every muscle in my body went rigid at the sight.
This was the fucking part she knew I’d fail at.
The second I saw his hand raise, something in me snapped.
NO.
“Out,” I said, my voice cutting clean through their sounds and the music.
The man standing next to Ember froze, as the woman pulled her mouth off the other and looked toward us. The Dom's initial reaction was to protest, but then he noticed Ember’s mask and figured out that this wasn’t a simple request from another member.
“Now,” I repeated, the edge in my tone sharp enough that even Ember looked at me. One man backed up, helping the woman to stand, and the other one collected their things. They all moved together to the next room, avoiding eye contact with Ember as they passed her.
At least she wore the correct mask this time.
As the door shut behind them, silence settled heavier than it ever had between us. I smirked from the stillness in the air, it was clearly an extension of her angst. I walked toward the door and locked it, letting my hand rest there for a moment.
When I turned around, she was still casually standing in the center of the room like she didn’t just intentionally douse me in gasoline. “What,” I asked, keeping my voice low and controlled, “do you think you’re doing?”
She shrugged, actually shrugged. Like this was no big deal, like it was all just funny to her.
In response, I let the darkest part of myself come free.
Three strides erased the space between us.
Unsurprisingly, she refused to back up, leaving us completely flush against each other.
A smile tugged at my mouth as I planted one hand beside her head.
She had planned this from the start. She wanted me to touch her.
Her breath came out in short pants as the air shifted from thick to suffocating.
I lifted my arm, letting my hand graze her neck and her jaw.
As my fingers slid into her hair, I pulled just enough for it to hurt.
The tension forced her head to turn up. “You will always be allowed to make your own decisions, Ember.”