Chapter 6
Rage
A virgin.
I’d laid claim to a virgin, a woman so beautiful she’d managed to take my breath away. Was there guilt? Some, but whatever was driving us together refused to be denied. What I felt and had already experienced with her was highly unusual.
In the world of the damned, very little mattered.
Not the former fancy toys of the rich and famous, expensive sports cars defying gravity, the cost exceeding what most had earned in two years. If not more.
And certainly not the number of dwellings a person owned as most were little more than cracked concrete and twisted steel. The dwellings surviving the blast formed an entirely different skyline than depicted in the glossy magazines of years before.
While precious jewels did have their place in currency for illegal drugs and ammunition, money meant nothing.
Other than another substance to burn in hopes of withstanding another long, frigid night.
In the darkest bowels of every city, there were still secrets lying in wait, used against those considered traitors. And the level of brutality used for both punishment and pleasure was merely an extension of behavior coveted by those considered the rich and famous.
What continued to drive those suffering daily was hope for survival, wishing for better days.
Yet in the domed cities, hope was given freely in exchange for one’s soul, the people in charge ruling by fear and demand.
All fueled by the age-old condemnation of greed.
That was why the Freedom Hunters, a so-called movement to save humanity had exploded in power.
The people who’d lived through the catastrophe longed for even a mere taste of what had once been.
However, those who had been children or yet to be born knew no difference in their everyday strife, which was what made the Resistance so dangerous.
The Resistance was fueled by just as many powerful desires, only every one of them was completely primal.
Satisfying hunger was euphoric.
Quenching thirst was a call for celebration.
And feeding an insatiable need for sins of a carnal nature was the ultimate ecstasy.
Which was why once my yearning had been activated, I couldn’t seem to get enough.
Even after everything humans had lived through, there was an undying belief that right ownership brought significant power.
Things. Animals. Property. People.
Nothing had changed except for the acceptance of violence.
Was I any different than everything I’d fought against? Everything that I had taken all that mattered? At this point, I was right to question my motives. They weren’t acceptable.
Sometime during the moments after I’d walked into the shell of a building, I’d fallen prey to the effects of something I’d been warned against time and time again.
Unfathomable desire.
We weren’t animals in the wild and I knew for certain neither one of us had been affected by the initial blast, the horrific effects of radiation, or the subsequent plagues and their aftermaths.
How did I know that?
Because she was far too young, yet to be born when the collapse had stricken the earth.
I knew that instinctively by her actions, her words, and her lust for all things in the past. Let alone her natural beauty.
Her flawless skin without the haze and lines of bitter desperation proved the plague hadn’t touched her.
And with me? I’d been protected from the worst of humanity coming from all sides.
Then why was it that the longing hit me directly in the gut, the blow severe enough I was left incapable of thinking clearly?
Every time I gazed at her, instead of falling back on my orders of protection and nothing more, I’d been faced with what I’d call a crisis of morality. Fuck. In simple terms, I couldn’t keep my hands off the woman.
Her scent alone could drive a man to madness. No, only a Savage as we were the only ones capable of capturing her natural fragrance. Right now, my lungs were constricted from having my face in her neck and having her hair swept across me.
With my pulse thundering in my ears, there was a good chance I could lose more than just my sense of control.
Who was I kidding? I’d already done so.
Even worse?
She was a virgin.
That didn’t change the way I felt.
I wanted her.
The three little words had already damned me. I’d tasted her. Even now, the sweet tang of her pussy lingered on my tongue. I’d broken an oath.
To John, our spiritual man, the Resistance’s guidance through a dark holy war, only the fuel wasn’t about religion but about humanity.
To the mission at hand.
But mostly to myself.
I backed away from Star on purpose, the confusion hijacking my brain creating an anxiousness I didn’t need.
A single step away from her wasn’t enough.
Star turned around, remaining against the wall. She had the same crazed look in her eyes, something wild and unbridled that kept the air in the room dense.
The heat in the room alone was explosive, but the wash of electricity shooting through me was nothing I understood. Nothing I’d planned for.
I took another step away, feeling the heavy weight of my balls pulsing between my legs. This just wasn’t going to work.
“Get some rest.” Uttering the words had been difficult, taking every ounce of control.
She opened her mouth to retort before looking away. The slight shake of her head was out of annoyance.
Her defiance hindered me from walking out the door as I should.
“No.” The single word hung in the air as if she’d swung her sword in hopes of gutting me.
“No?”
“You heard me. No sleep. Not until we’re finished.”
The soft moan she emitted was done on purpose. So was the drag of her tongue across her bottom lip. A seductress after all. Whatever her reasoning, which could be nothing more than personal, I was losing hope I could just walk away.
Not when the draw had so clearly affected me. The brutal twitch of my cock was only one indication. There were others, including the catastrophic rush of adrenaline that often fueled the part of me that truly was nothing but savage in nature.
A man woven with threads of desire to invoke violence had no place in hungering for flesh in a different way. Yet there was no denying our combined attraction.
She took a step closer, defying every aspect of my command, whether from before or just now.
My mind continued to drift to my orders. There wasn’t a line stipulating I couldn’t touch her. Only that I would protect her with my life.
When I didn’t rebuke her approach, she moved even closer, her lithe body acting as if a cat. She even dared walk around me in a complete circle. What did she think she was doing, stalking her prey? At least the thought provided a smile since that wasn’t possible.
I shifted my head over my shoulder, studying her while refusing to touch.
For now.
Her eyes were wilder than before, the light from the lamp managing to highlight the flicker of gold that would hold any man’s attention.
When she was standing in front of me once again, her breathing hitched while she allowed her gaze to fall. No matter the time that had passed, she acted as if this was the first time seeing me.
Her long fingers touched the scars on my chest, her brows knitting together as questions formed in her mind. Her touch created another wave of longing that was becoming impossible to ignore.
“Time in Exile.”
She pulled her fingers free, curling them as she slowly looked me in the eyes. “It does exist.”
I laughed, the sound intentionally bitter. “In every domed city.”
Exile was the name of the penal system operation by the Freedom Hunters.
While there were several Freedom Hunters kept behind bars, imprisoned because of heinous deeds, the circular buildings were used to house Savages.
And the bastards didn’t distinguish between those created before the war and those considered Verndari.
“My God.” She almost pulled away but I stopped her, wrapping my hand around hers and pulling her fingers to my lips. One kiss of her heated skin and everything I’d been trained to avoid was about to be tossed aside.
“There is no God, Star. The sooner you realize the truth, the easier your life will be.”
“How very sad.”
“Perhaps,” I breathed before kissing her knuckle. “But very true.”
As her lips parted in frustration, she panted in ragged breaths, even softly laughing while trying to pull her hand away.
I refused, squeezing it instead.
She wasn’t moving, wasn’t even looking me in the eyes any longer. As if doing so was painful. Or as if she fully understood what I’d just said to her.
We had to make our own way in this world. No one was coming to save us. Not gods from the heavens or men in power on Earth.
And if there were aliens, they certainly didn’t want the earth left to them, scorched and barren much like the people holding court.
Instead of trying to pull her hand free again, she raised our combined fingers to her cheek. The sensations were more potent, as if a touch spoke a thousand words.
Uncurling my fingers, she rubbed her face into my palm and her acknowledgment of our connection was enough.
More than enough.
No, it was everything that shouldn’t be.
I pushed her toward the cot, tossing her down. There was no tenderness left in me, just a cold, hard need that threatened to consume what was left of my decency.
Star opened herself to me, yielding in a way I hadn’t expected. With her legs parting, bending at the knee and spreading wide open for me, I was momentarily locked in the sight of her beautiful pussy.
My breathing agonizing, for a few seconds I was blinded by my own twisted desire, as if a darkness had consumed me. She was mine. The possessive nature didn’t make any sense. For whatever purpose she was intended, I was certain it didn’t include a laboratory creation by her side.
Whatever.
Tonight was different.
Tonight was about forgetting all things brutal and unforgiving.
Tonight was about living.
As soon as I crawled onto the bed, she reached for me, the look in her eyes as if seeing a ghost. Or as if realizing our connection was as real as it was raw.