Chapter Thirty-Four Wilde
The Middle of the Night
A Crumbling House in the Middle of the Forest
Waking Up from a Long Series of Strange Dreams
I opened my eyes to find Trey sleeping beside me.
I’d been bundled up into a bedroll while he spread out on top of it, effectively sealing me inside.
My memories were a hazy mix of dream and reality.
I remembered two kisses, one tasting like blood and one of apples.
The second was sweet enough to turn my stomach.
“You’re supposed to be sleeping,” Trey whispered, peeling one eye open.
“I’m afraid if I close my eyes again, you’ll disappear when I wake up.” The moment I spoke, I wanted to bite the words back and swallow them down, digest them until they stopped being true.
Trey swept a lock of hair behind my ear, fingertips brushing against my neck in a lingering touch. “I’ll stay if you stay.”
Did he expect me to teleport away again, run off in a panic when I realized things hadn’t gone as planned? Or did he know that I’d leave soon to take my part at center stage and begin the final act? “Where are we?”
“A few miles from Traumstead. Fitz says we’ll reach the Lord of Grimnight’s lair tomorrow.” He paused and corrected, “Today, I guess, since it’s definitely after midnight.”
Which meant I should leave. Now, before the others awoke. “I’m sorry,” I said, then teleported away.
Except Treasure came with me. He arched an eyebrow and showed me his wrist. “Going somewhere?”
I stared in horror at the chain linking us. The heat of my body had warmed the metal and I’d been so wrapped up in layers I hadn’t noticed it.
Thank the gods I’d teleported into my bedroom and not the throne room. I could still salvage this situation. All I had to do was unlock the cuffs and take him back. The round trip would be tiring but it’d be better than him learning that I was now the Lord of Grimnight he was trying to defeat.
I pressed my thumb to the glyph to unlock it. “Cramp.” Nothing happened.
“I already changed the command word,” he said with a smirk. He stepped toward me, and I stepped back. Because of the handcuffs, I couldn’t escape him, but I could keep some distance between us. “You’re too predictable, Wilde.”
For every step he took forward, I took one back, until my back hit the wall with a solid thump. He raised one arm above my head to block me in while the other hand rested on my waist. Even through my clothes I could feel each long, slender finger and the heat of his palm.
My heart pounded against my ribs, as trapped as I was.
Treasure was using his height against me, trying to dominate me through his size, and I would simply not allow it.
I glared up at him sharply and opened my mouth to tell him to stop, to step back, to unlock me.
But the dream-Treasure’s accusation still buzzed in my head: You have to control everything around you.
I snapped my mouth shut before issuing an order.
As if reading my mind, he asked, “What did the flowers make you dream about?”
I swallowed roughly and looked away from him. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Then go ahead,” Trey urged. “Order me around. Unless you want to stay like this all night?”
We didn’t have time for whatever game he was playing. He had to rejoin the royal champions, and I had to prepare for the fight ahead. “Unlock me,” I whispered.
“Say it like you mean it.”
I didn’t understand his goal. Why did he want me to command him? I needed him to release me, so if he wanted an order, I would give him one. I looked into his bright blue eyes and channeled every ounce of authority my stolen title gave me. “Unlock me.”
“Fuck you.”
He kissed me before I could react, parting my lips with his tongue, taking what he wanted without waiting for me to give it to him.
I tensed at first, expecting another overwhelming flood of sweet apples, some sign that this was another dream.
All I tasted was him, a defiant flavor I could drown in.
His hands moved to cup my ass, and he lifted me up.
I wrapped my legs around his waist and my free hand around his neck, holding him close so that we never had to break the kiss.
In this position, I could feel the hard length of his eager cock.
When he started walking, it ground against me with delicious, promising pressure.
My back hit the bed, and I gasped from the impact, unintentionally pulling away from him. He followed me down onto the mattress—he had no choice, he was as bound to me as I was to him. A laugh rumbled in his chest as he said, “How convenient that you brought us somewhere private with a bed.”
I barely registered the words, too upset at him for talking when we could be kissing. “Kiss me again.”
He threaded his fingers through mine and pinned my cuffed hand above my head. Then he pressed his parted lips against my neck, grazing his teeth over my skin.
And bit down.
The sharp pain tore through my lust. I stared at him, bewildered, as he grinned up at me, his teeth still buried in my neck.
When he finally let me go, he said, “You’re not in control right now. Does that scare you?” His free hand trailed down my side, sending a shudder through my body. “Or excite you?”
I gazed at him through heavy lidded eyes. “What if I tell you to stop?”
“I plan to make you beg ‘stop’ and ‘please’ and ‘yes’ and ‘no’ all night long, so if you really want me to stop, choose something else.”
I considered carefully before moving forward, then said, “Grimnight.”
His lip curled. “That’ll certainly kill the mood.”
“Good. Now shut up and kiss me.”
He laughed and shook his head. “I’d gag you, but it’d be less fun if I couldn’t ignore your orders.
” He grabbed my free hand and pinned it with the other above my head, then leaned forward to do something I couldn’t see.
It brought his chest tantalizingly close to my mouth, but he was still wearing clothes, damn him, so I couldn’t even nibble.
Metal closed around my other wrist. I tilted my head back to examine his handiwork. Somehow, he’d freed himself from the cuffs without me hearing the command word, then looped the chain through the iron bars of the headboard before locking up my other wrist.
Trey’s gaze lingered on the other pair of manacles attached to the headboard, the ones I’d hoped to use on him one day. Amusement sparkled in his eyes as he toyed with one of the cuffs. “I see you already have a set of your own.”
“They’re not as fancy as yours,” I said, rattling the chains. “Mine actually listen to me.”
He grinned. “Then I’m glad we’re using mine.”
The new position stretched my arms high above my head until my shoulders ached. I finally understood why the original command word was ‘cramp.’ The ache had a pleasant burn for now, but I could see how someone might tire of the position quickly.
“Where were we?” Trey murmured, his breath hot and teasing against my skin.
“You were going to kiss me,” I said, tracing my tongue over my lips in anticipation.
He arched a brow. “No, I don’t think I was.
In fact, I think I was going to do this …
” He carefully unbuttoned my waistcoat, peeling it open like he was unwrapping a present.
Once he’d pushed the waistcoat aside, he slipped his hands under my shirt, bunching the fabric up in his grip, dragging it along my skin.
Lowering his head, he gently sunk his teeth into my side, just enough to feel them.
The chains clinked as I tugged against the restraints. I wanted to touch him, twist my fingers through his hair and guide his head to where I wanted it. The cuffs didn’t budge an inch.
“You seem to be enjoying them.” He roamed his hands over my body, mocking my imprisonment by touching me wherever he liked.
Tweaking a nipple, scratching his nails down my ribs.
Any time I shifted to follow his touch, he lifted his hand away, held it out of my reach for a few seconds, and then explored somewhere else.
“Should I add another pair?” He lifted one leg in his hand and murmured the question against my calf. “One for each ankle so I can spread you wide and fuck you however I please.”
My stomach clenched at the image and my cock twitched in excitement.
I scowled down at it. He’s threatening not to use you, you know.
It didn’t seem to care, already dripping in anticipation.
I dropped my head against the mattress and ordered, “Fuck me, then. Make sure it’s deep and slow until I’m writhing underneath you. ”
“Are you trying to trick me with opposite orders?” Trey caressed a lazy line from ankle to knee and back. “Think I’ll change my mind and ride you hard and fast to prove you wrong?”
I peered at him through my lashes. “Is it working?”
He bit me again, a light warning nip. “No. If that’s how it went last time, and you were hoping I’d fall in line again, I’m happy to disappoint you.”
I raised my head to look at him. His blue eyes gleamed with mischief and his lips curved in a smirk. “You think your disobedience is cute.”
The smirk faded into seriousness. “I think it’s the only way you’ll trust that I want this.
” He crawled up my body until he hovered over me, looking me right in the eye.
“And I think it’s the only way you’ll trust yourself.
I don’t know what those hallucinations showed you, or what we’ve experienced together that I’ve forgotten.
But I know we can start something new if you stay long enough to try. ”
“I wasn’t going to leave forever.”
“Maybe I wasn’t going to either.”
I wished he could give me a firm answer.
Tell me what he was thinking before he left me alone in that bed while he went off to challenge his father.
Why didn’t he wake me? Ask me to fight with him?
Did he think I wouldn’t take his side? I would have done anything he’d asked, but I’d never told him that.
“Bite me,” I ordered.
He kissed me softly, keeping his teeth firmly locked behind his lips.
“Take off your clothes.”
He stripped my waistcoat and shirt off over my head.
Even with the enchanted cuffs it took some maneuvering and cooperation before my chest was completely bare.
He kissed a trail down my neck, my chest, my stomach, until he reached the top button of my pants.
Then he stripped everything else from me, tossing it aside, leaving me naked and exposed while he was fully clothed.
“There’s lube in the drawer,” I said, nodding to the bedstand. “Use enough so you aren’t in pain later.”
The mischief returned to his eyes. The one order he followed was to grab the lube and pour a generous amount into his hand. He unfastened his pants, lowering them just enough to free his straining erection. Then he stroked himself with his slick hand, covering himself from base to tip.
He hadn’t touched my cock this whole time. Watching him touch himself, I pictured how his hands would feel on me. The calloused palms from years of swordplay. Those nimble fingers circling me. The thumb swirling around the tip.
“Touch me.” For a moment, I forgot to order him to do the opposite. He did touch me, just not how I meant.
One hand held my waist to force me to stay put, as if he’d forgotten I was locked in place. The other hand slipped a single, tentative finger inside me.
We never looked away from each other as he worked, exploring and stretching me at the same time. The sensation was odd, unexpected, and I tightened reflexively. He paused, waiting for me to adjust and relax, then slipped another finger inside.
I broke our staring contest first, turning my head away, hiding my face against my arm. I didn’t want him to see how my expression shifted and changed in response to his touch, my own body outside of my control.
A jolt of pleasure thrummed through me, and I groaned in response before I could bite it back.
“Ah, there it is.”
The triumph in his voice warned me that he was up to no good. “Don’t you dare—”
Two fingers pressed against the spot, massaging it firmly, refusing to let up even as my hips jerked against his hold. Every touch sent another jolt straight to my cock, which twitched and trembled without finding relief.
He withdrew his fingers, and I slumped against my bindings, not sure if I was relieved or disappointed.
Until something harder and thicker pressed against my entrance. I inhaled sharply as he slid inside, so slowly I wondered if he was trying to skewer me with his cock.
“Easy,” he whispered, brushing hair off my sweaty face. He cupped my cheek and kissed my lips, a few careful pecks rather than the deep kisses we’d shared before. “Want me to continue or pull back? I’ll listen to you this time.”
I licked my lips and said, “Continue.”
He obeyed, sliding himself fully inside me one inch at a time. He pulled back slowly, then eased back in. Deep and slow, just how I’d asked when he was being contrary.
I tilted my head to whisper in his ear, “I changed my mind.”
He stopped immediately, halfway inside of me.
“Fuck me hard and fast.”
He obeyed, snapping his hips forward in a thrust that had me gasping and arching up to meet him.
After that, I forgot all about giving orders or who was supposed to be in control.