16. Sixteen
SIXTEEN
THEO
S he darted across the street, narrowly avoiding a passing car, and raced toward the woods that bordered the far side of campus. I followed, my longer strides eating up the distance between us. She disappeared into the shadows of the trees, her red lingerie a beacon in the darkness. I plunged in after her, branches whipping at my face and arms as I tore through the underbrush.
I could hear her ragged breathing ahead of me, the snap of twigs beneath her feet.
She was tiring, slowing down.
She stumbled over a tree root and fell to the ground. I was on top of her before she had a chance to get up. We rolled in the dirt and dead leaves, grappling for dominance. She clawed at my mask, trying to rip it off, but I pinned her wrists above her head, my body covering hers.
“Let me go!” she cried, still struggling futilely. “Damn you, Theo. Get off me!”
“Shut up,” I growled, tightening my hold until she whimpered. “You don’t get to make demands, little bird. Not when I find you half naked and grinding on another man.”
“It wasn’t like that!” Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. “I just wanted to have some fun. ”
“Fun?” I scoffed. “Is that what you call rubbing yourself all over another man right in front of me?”
Her eyes flashed with defiance. “That’s exactly what I’m calling it. You didn’t think I would find out about your little ‘hunt’ tonight? That I would just wait for you to get bored with whatever whore you chased through the woods? Maybe I’m tired of waiting around for you to decide you have time for me.”
She’d found out about the Hunt. I had intended to tell her about it. In fact, I had planned on inviting her to be a part of it, but the thought of sharing her with Archer and Kai made me feel murderous. I was selfish. She was mine and only mine.
The laws of The Brotherhood could go fuck themselves.
End of story.
I chuckled darkly. “Oh, I’ll make time for you, little bird. Starting right now.”
A shudder ran through her body at my words, her pupils dilating with what looked like a mixture of fear and arousal.
Interesting.
She was turned on . . . baiting me.
“What are you going to do?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
I leaned in close, my lips brushing the shell of her ear. “I’m going to remind you who you belong to, little bird. I’m going to mark this pretty skin until everyone knows you’re taken.”
She let out a breathy moan as I nipped at her earlobe, my teeth grazing the sensitive flesh. I released one of her wrists to trail my hand down her body, my fingers skimming over the flimsy lace barely covering her breasts.
“Theo, please,” she mewled, arching into my touch. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you angry.”
“Shhh, I know.” I cupped her breast, my thumb circling her nipple through the thin fabric until it pebbled beneath my touch. “But you still need to be punished. You need to learn that there are consequences for your actions.”
I ripped the lacy bra away, exposing her beautiful breasts to the cool night air. She gasped as I lowered my head, taking one rosy peak into my mouth. I swirled my tongue around the sensitive bud, grazing it with my teeth until she writhed beneath me, soft whimpers falling from her lips.
“Oh god . . .” Her fingers tangled in my hair, holding me to her.
I shifted my attention to her other breast, lavishing it with the same treatment until she panted and squirmed, her hips rocking against me, seeking friction. I could feel the heat of her through the thin fabric of her lingerie, and it made my already painful erection throb with need.
I released her nipple with a wet pop and then licked and nibbled my way down her body, my lips and teeth marking her cream skin. She shivered as I dipped my tongue into her navel and then continued my descent. I nuzzled the lace of her bodysuit, inhaling the heady scent of her arousal.
“You’re soaked, little bird,” I rumbled approvingly. “Is this all for me?”
“Yes,” she breathed, lifting her hips in a silent plea.
Mollified by her words, I hooked my fingers inside and ripped the fabric, exposing her glistening pussy to the cold air. I groaned when her slick folds parted easily for my questing fingers.
“Is this what you wanted, little bird? For me to chase you down and claim you right here where anyone could see?”
“Yes,” she gasped, writhing beneath me as I stroked her clit. “Please,” she mewled. “Touch me.”
I released her other wrist and sat back on my knees so I could shove her thighs apart. She looked like a debauched angel sprawled out before me, all creamy skin and sinful red lingerie. I wanted to ruin her, to make her scream my name until she forgot about anything and anyone else.
“Did you think,” I snarled, my chest heaving with barely contained rage, “that I would let another man touch what’s mine?” I plunged two fingers inside her without warning, relishing her choked cry of surprise. “Did you think I was lying when I told you there would be no escape from me? I told you that when you are a part of my world, there is nowhere you can run that I won’t find you.”
I pumped my fingers in and out of her slick heat, savoring the way her tight walls clenched around me. She was so responsive, her body already trembling on the cusp of orgasm.
“Please . . .” she sobbed, her nails digging into my shoulders as she tried to pull me closer. “I need . . . I need.”
“What do you need?” I growled against her throat, nipping at her racing pulse. “Tell me.”
“You,” she gasped out. “I need you. Inside me. Now.”
I groaned at her wanton plea, my cock twitching with the urge to bury myself deep.
But she hadn’t earned that yet.
First, I would make her fall apart on my fingers, remind her that her pleasure belonged to me and me alone.
I curled my fingers, stroking that sensitive spot inside her as my thumb circled her clit. She cried out, her back bowing off the ground as I pushed her higher.
“That’s it. Come all over my fingers like a good girl,” I coaxed darkly. “Give me what’s mine.”
With a keening wail, she shattered, her inner muscles clamping down on my fingers as a gush of liquid heat coated my hand. I worked her through it, prolonging her pleasure until she was a boneless, quivering mess beneath me.
I withdrew my fingers, bringing them to my mouth to taste her essence. She watched me through heavy-lidded eyes, her chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath.
“You taste divine,” I told her, my voice a low rumble. “Like honey and sin.” I paused, and she watched me silently, completely entranced by my words. “Did you enjoy the attention from other men? Did you imagine them fucking you?”
She shook her head frantically, her eyes wide. “I was just trying to get your attention.”
“Well, you have it now.” I ran my hands possessively over her trembling body. “All of it. And I will make sure you never forget who you belong to.”
I ripped away the tattered remains of her lingerie, leaving her fully bared to my hungry gaze. She was perfection, with her soft curves and smooth skin just begging to be marked by my teeth and hands. I drank in the sight of her, sprawled wantonly on the forest floor, the flickering moonlight casting shadows across her flushed skin.
Unable to resist any longer, I lowered my head and sealed my mouth over her dripping core. She cried out, her back arching off the ground as I devoured her, licking and sucking at her swollen flesh. I thrust my tongue into her tight channel, fucking her with it until she was a mess beneath me.
Her fingers tangled in my hair, holding me against herself as I feasted. I would never get enough of her.
“Theo,” she sobbed, her thighs quivering around my head.
I doubled my efforts, suckling harder on her sensitive pearl.
“Oh god . . . I can’t . . . It’s too much,” she babbled incoherently, trying to wiggle away from the intensity of my oral assault. But I held her in place, my hands clamped like iron bands around her hips.
“You’ll take what I give you,” I growled against her slick folds. “Every lick, every suck, every thrust. You’re mine. This sweet pussy belongs to me. Say it.”
“I’m yours!” she wailed as I sucked her clit and flicked my tongue rapidly over the bundle of nerves. “Only yours, Theo!”
Her broken cries echoed throughout the dark woods as a second orgasm crashed over her. I lapped at the fresh gush of her arousal, prolonging her climax until she was shaking and whimpering, completely overwhelmed.
Only then did I relent, placing one tender kiss on her swollen, glistening flesh before rising over her once more. I quickly unfastened my pants, freeing my straining erection. Her lust-filled eyes widened as I fisted my thick length, pumping it a few times.
“Is this what you want, baby?” I demanded, rubbing the broad head through her slick folds, coating myself in her arousal. “You want my cock buried deep in this tight little pussy?”
She nodded, tilting her hips to grant me better access. “Please, Theo,” she moaned in desperation. “I need you inside me. I’m sorry. I won’t disobey you again.”
Her pleas were music to my ears, stoking the flames of my desire to a fever pitch. Unable to hold back any longer, I lined myself up and thrust forward, sheathing myself to the hilt in one powerful stroke .
We both cried out at the intensity of our joining, her silken walls gripping me like a vise. I stilled for a moment, savoring the blissful sensation of being buried inside her wet, scorching heat. She was so tight, her inner muscles fluttering around my invading length as she adjusted to my girth.
“Fuck.” I groaned, my jaw clenched with the effort to maintain control.
I withdrew almost entirely before slamming back into her, setting a brutally hard and fast pace. There was nothing gentle about my possession; each powerful thrust was a claiming, a branding of her body and soul. She met me thrust for thrust, her nails raking down my back as she urged me on. I felt her nails rip open my flesh and warm blood drip down my back, but the sharp sting only spurred me on, fueling my lust. I pounded into her relentlessly, the wet slap of flesh on flesh mingling with our harsh pants and grunts.
“You’re mine,” I growled against her throat, punctuating each word with a hard thrust. “This pussy belongs to me. No one else gets to touch you, taste you, fuck you. Just me. Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes, only you,” she sobbed, tears running down her cheeks, leaving black mascara smeared on her pale skin. Her tearful declaration only inflamed my possessive need. “Please, please . . .” Her words dissolved into incoherent cries as I shifted the angle of my thrusts, grinding against her swollen clit with every roll of my hips.
I could feel her inner walls clench around me, signaling her impending release. Determined to push her over the edge, I reached between our sweat-slicked bodies to rub tight circles over the sensitive bundle of nerves.
“I want to feel this sweet pussy milking my cock,” I commanded, my voice strained with the effort of holding back my climax.
My filthy words combined with the relentless stimulation proved to be her undoing. Her entire body seized up, back arching almost painfully as her orgasm crashed over her in waves. She screamed my name, fingernails digging into my shoulders and her head thrashing into the forest floor.
The feeling of her coming apart so violently beneath me, her sheath rippling and grasping me like a silken fist, shattered the last threads of my control. With a guttural roar, I slammed into her one final time and exploded, pumping her full of my release. Jets of hot seed painted her fluttering walls as I emptied myself inside her, marking her from the inside out as mine.
My climax seemed to go on forever as my hips jerked with the aftershocks. She clung to me, panting and shuddering, utterly wrecked by the force of her climax. I collapsed on top of her, my face buried in the crook of her neck, inhaling the intoxicating scent of her—sweat, arousal, and something uniquely her. Possessiveness surged through me, tightening my chest. She was mine. I would kill anyone who tried to take her from me.
We just lay there tangled together for long moments, hearts pounding in unison as the cool night air caressed our overheated skin. I could feel her trembling beneath me, little aftershocks still rippling through her body. I lifted my head to gaze down at her, taking in her passion-flushed cheeks and the red lipstick smeared across her swollen lips. Glazed with satisfaction, her gray eyes met mine, and something inside me clenched almost painfully.
“I meant it,” I rasped, my voice rough with residual lust and something far more dangerous. “You’re mine, Wren. No one else gets to have you.”
“But are you sure you’re mine too?”
My breath caught in my throat at her question, and I stared down at her, my heart pounding against my ribs. Her eyes searched mine, vulnerable yet hopeful, seeking the answer she desperately needed to hear.
“I’ve always been yours, Wren. From the moment I first saw you, I knew there would never be anyone else for me.”
Her eyes widened at my confession, and for a moment, I saw a flicker of vulnerability in their depths that she hid from everyone. But then she blinked, and it was gone, replaced by the playful fierceness that made my blood sing.
“Then prove it,” she whispered. “Show me that you’re mine, body and soul. Make me believe it.”
“I’ll do more than that. I’ll make you feel it in every inch of your body until there’s no doubt left in your mind or in your heart. ”
A slow, languid smile curved her mouth, and she reached up to caress my face with a tenderness that made my chest ache. “Well, now that that’s settled . . . I’m yours, Theo. I won’t forget again.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
I laughed at her teasing. I loved it. It was one of the things that had drawn me to her. Her ability to make me laugh.
Slowly, as the haze of lust dissipated, the reality of where we were sank in. The damp earth beneath us, the chill night air on our heated skin, the distant thump of music from the frat party.
She shivered beneath me, and I remembered she was completely naked while I still had most of my clothes on. Reluctantly, I pulled out of her warm depths and we stood. I quickly shed my jacket and wrapped it around her trembling form. She clutched it tightly, her eyes downcast.
“Hey,” I tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet my gaze. Tears glistened on her lashes. “What’s wrong, little bird?”
She shook her head, a few teardrops spilling over. “I’m sorry,” she whispered brokenly. “I just wanted you to notice me, to want me as much as I want you.”
My heart clenched at the vulnerability in her voice. I pulled her into my arms, hugging her tightly against my chest. I sighed into her hair. “If you only knew how much I crave you all the damn time. It’s taking every ounce of restraint not to lock you away and keep you all to myself.”
She pulled back to search my face. “Then why didn’t you choose me for the Hunt?”
I tensed at her question. How could I explain the primal, all-consuming need to possess her, to mark her as mine and mine alone? That the thought of Archer, Kai, or any other man laying a finger on her—even if purely out of obligation and duty to The Brotherhood—made me see red. What words could explain my own selfish desire to keep her separate from that dark part of my life?
“It’s not that I didn’t want you there,” I began, my voice rough with emotion. “God, you have no idea how much I wanted to chase you through those woods, to hunt you down and claim you in front of everyone. ”
Her breath hitched, and her pupils dilated at my heated words. I had to temporarily close my eyes to regain control before continuing.
“But The Devil’s Hunt . . . it’s a tradition that has been passed down through all the members of The Brotherhood for a long time, and it comes with certain expectations . . . certain obligations.”
“What does that mean?”
“Each of us chooses girls to participate, and it’s survival of the fittest.” I treaded carefully.
Could I trust her to understand that most girls didn’t survive? That the most primal instincts took over, and we watched as our chosen girls murdered each other for the chance at winning the respective apple of their masked devil? That if we decided that our chosen was fit enough to become our queen, she would be fucked by the sons of The Brotherhood’s patriarchs while said patriarchs watched like creeps in some dark, cold mausoleum? If we didn’t adhere to the Ceremonies’ rules, they would take her from me and use her for their own sadistic pleasure until she was nothing but a shell, and maybe, if she were lucky, they would slit her throat and throw her into a grave deep in the forests on the land they owned. Another forgotten girl in a nameless grave, a victim to the twisted traditions of our fathers and their fathers before them.
I gripped her shoulders, my eyes boring into hers intently. “I couldn’t risk choosing you for the Hunt. Not because I don’t want you—fuck, I want you with every fiber of my being. But the Hunt . . . it’s brutal. Primal. Most girls don’t make it out alive.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “What? What do you mean they don’t make it out alive?”
I exhaled harshly. “The Hunt strips away all pretense of civilization. Out there in the woods, it’s kill or be killed. The Brotherhood watches. Archer, Kai, and me, we watch as our chosen girls fight each other, driven mad by fear and the promise of being the prize of their masked devil.”
She paled, realization dawning. “And the losers? What happens to them?”
“They die. There can only be one survivor for each devil.”
Her hand flew to her mouth, horror filling her eyes. “Oh my god. ”
I squeezed my eyes shut, shame and self-loathing churning in my gut. I knew how it sounded, how evil and twisted the whole barbaric ritual was. But she had to understand.
“It’s all I’ve ever known. I’ve never had a choice.” I started to defend myself. I didn’t want to lose her when I had just gotten her. “This is the way it’s always been done. To refuse . . . would be seen as a weakness. Disloyalty. I’d be risking not just my own life, but yours too.”
Her brow furrowed in confusion. “Mine? What do you mean?”
I swallowed hard. “If I had chosen you for the Hunt and you survived, you would have been expected to participate in the Ceremony because I would choose you to be my queen. It’s a sick rite of passage where you’d be . . . shared . . . among the sons of The Brotherhood’s leaders.”
Bile rose in my throat at the thought. Sure, I’d participated in my fair share of Hunts, but I had never felt this way about any woman like I did about her.
“I couldn’t bear the thought of their hands on you, violating you. So I kept you far away from it all. You see now why I couldn’t choose you?” My voice was strained. “I’d rather die than see you subjected to that . . . than share you with anyone.” I cupped her face. “You’re mine, little bird. I’m too selfish, too possessive to ever let another man touch you—brother or not, I’d kill them first.”
She was silent for a long moment, processing my dark revelation. “And if you refuse the Ceremony? If the chosen victor . . . the one you choose to be your . . . queen . . . doesn’t want to . . .”
“Then the elders take her. And she’s never seen again.” My jaw clenched, old memories of haunted screams in the night resurfacing. “They use her until there’s nothing left. Until she begs for death.”
Wrenly shuddered violently, curling into herself. I gathered her close, stroking her hair.
“That’s why I couldn’t choose you. Why I’ll never let you anywhere near the Hunt or those sadistic bastards. We don’t get to choose our family. We are born into it. But I’d burn the whole Brotherhood to ash before I let them lay a finger on you.”
She tilted her head up, her stormy gray eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “I didn’t know . . . I thought . . .” A choked sob escaped her throat as she buried her face in my chest. “I didn’t understand. I thought you didn’t want me. That I wasn’t enough for you.”
“I want you. I want you so much, it consumes me. But I need to keep you separate, safe from the ugly parts of my life. From the monster inside me.” My hands trembled against her face. “Can you understand that? Can you trust me to protect you, even if I can’t always explain everything?”
She was quiet for a long moment, her face still pressed into my chest as she processed everything I had revealed. I could feel the rapid thud of her heart, the slight tremor running through her body. I held her tighter, silently willing her to understand, to not run away from the darkness inside me.
Finally, she lifted her head, her gray eyes meeting mine with a new depth of emotion swirling in their stormy depths. “I trust you. And god help me if I’m making a big mistake, but from now on, no more secrets. If I really am what you want, then I need the truth. Good or bad.”
Relief flooded through me at her words, so powerful, it nearly brought me to my knees. Despite the glimpse into the fucking black world I came from, she wasn’t running away. I gazed down at her, this incredible woman who had somehow captured my blackened heart. She trusted me, offering me a level of vulnerability and openness I had never experienced before.
I crushed her to me, burying my face in her tousled midnight hair. “No more secrets,” I vowed roughly. “You have me. All of me. The good, the bad, the fucking ugly.”
She exhaled shakily, her slender arms wrapping around my waist. “Take me home, Devil.”