Chapter Eight #4
“Don’t touch me.” I tripped backward, but Victor’s fingernails sank into my feminine flesh, making me wince and freeze.
Henri went rigid, his eyes darkening.
“I’m glad to see your body is already betraying you,” Victor murmured.
“Soon, you won’t remember a time when you weren’t in a permanent state of arousal.
I’m told it’s far more addictive than any drug.
” He grinned and ran his thumb over my nipple.
All the awful lust Henri conjured died a quick, icy death.
“You’ll do whatever it takes to be filled.
And lucky for you, there will be many cocks to ease that empty, clenching desperation. ”
“You’re sick.” I swatted at his hand.
“I’m hard. But I find anticipation the best type of foreplay.” Victor’s vise-like grip let go.
I darted away.
I didn’t look behind me. I should’ve looked behind me. I slammed like an idiot into Roland’s awaiting arms.
“Hi.” His large belly bent me backward as his arms snapped tight around me. His hands clamped onto both my breasts, squeezing painfully. “My turn for a squeeze.”
I flinched.
Henri shifted toward us, his knuckles white around the box. “Roland—”
“Nice handful. Natural. What colour are your nipples I wonder?” Roland kissed my cheek, holding me tight as I struggled.
“Let go of me!”
“You heard her,” Henri snarled. “She’s mine.”
“Now, now, Henri, possessiveness will not do in Joyero. You have first right, but she’s for everyone to enjoy.” Victor’s voice hardened. “All my guests understand this. There are no favourites or singular jewels. You come to play with all my gems, not just one.”
My eyes locked with Henri’s.
We were strangers.
Utterly unknown yet disturbingly drawn to one another.
I feared him just as much as I feared these other men, but I couldn’t deny I already looked to him for safety.
As twisted as that was.
As messed up and ill-advised, I trusted him to use me but not break me.
You’re still just as stupid as you were in the club.
Henri’s face twisted with fury as Roland ran his disgusting tongue up my neck and bit my ear.
I cringed. “Fuck you.”
“I wonder how long that fighting spirit will last,” Roland breathed. “I hope I’m the one to finally break it.”
“I suggest you get your motherfucking hands off her, Olivan, or I’ll do it for you,” Henri growled.
Victor sighed heavily and shook his head. “What did I just say, Ward?” Marching toward Henri, he stole the box back and clucked his tongue. “I won’t put up with caveman shit in my home.” Brushing past Henri, Victor glanced at Roland holding me. “Don’t let her go.”
“I don’t plan on it.” Roland rocked his pelvis into my ass, making my entire body crawl. His erection dug uncomfortably against my tailbone. Shivers broke out down my spine.
Henri balled his hands.
He bristled and seethed but didn’t move as Victor stopped before me and cracked open the box.
I sucked in a breath.
No.
He can’t.
My eyes shot to Henri who stepped forward. His nostrils flared as he studied the three circlets nestled in black velvet. “You collar all your jewels?”
“Of course.” Victor nodded smoothly. “Hold this.” Passing Henri the open box again, he took out one of the smaller cuffs. “Give me your left arm, Ily.”
“And if I don’t?” I asked with ice.
“Then I will toss a condom at Roland here and let him fuck you.”
Henri sucked in a breath; air refused to enter my lungs.
“It would be my pleasure.” Roland snickered. Grabbing my left wrist, he shoved my arm forward. “Cuff or my cock. Your choice.”
All my power was stolen by images of abuse and assault from faceless men.
How many times would they expect me to submit?
How many men were members?
How long would I last before I lost every inch of my sanity?
Tears burned my eyes as the golden cuff snapped around my wrist. Tight but not too tight, cool but quickly warming, far too thick to be broken.
“The other one if you will, Roland.”
With a chuckle, Roland shoved my right arm forward.
The clink of my gemstone bracelets mocked me.
Each one I’d carefully selected for our trip.
Moonstone for safety while travelling. Rose quartz to open my heart to repairing things with Sam.
Howlite to help me sleep in strange places, and black tourmaline to protect me from other’s negative energies.
Turned out, not a single gem had worked.
Victor slipped each bracelet off me with gentle, almost fatherly fingers, then placed them into his pocket. “I’ll ensure these are added to the jewelry taken from my other girls. You’ll see them again when you’re taken to the jewel quarters.”
“You don’t steal them?” I asked, hating how frail my voice sounded. How sad and forlorn as the pressure of everything squatted heavily in my heart.
“Why would I steal jewels when I have the most priceless ones imaginable?” He smiled gently as he snapped a matching cuff onto my right wrist. A small solid ring of metal dangled off the cuff, tinkling as I moved.
Victor flicked the ring. “These are for the chains that will hold you in all manner of positions. The cuffs cannot be undone without a special key, and the convenience of you wearing them at all times means you’re ready and available to play whenever the mood strikes.”
My knees wobbled.
I no longer wanted to ask questions or learn answers.
Each one was worse than the last.
Victor plucked the final golden circle from the box in Henri’s clenched hands. “Henri, would you be so kind to lift her hair and remove her necklace?”
Shifting directly in front of me, Victor added, “I know most stones, but that one I’m unaware of. Is it jade?”
I blinked at my pendant. A green aventurine flower of life symbol that Krish had bought me online. He’d given it to me for abundance and prosperity after I’d complained of not having enough money to buy all the rocks I wanted.
God, Krish...
I’m so sorry.
I didn’t answer. Nothing on earth could make me share the pricelessness of my pendant with this bastard.
Victor merely shrugged. “No matter. I’ll look it up later.” Cocking his head at Henri, he ordered, “Her hair. Now.”
Dropping the empty box into the grass, Henri came close.
His presence sent my heart hurtling against my ribs, trapping me in a triangle of men. Avoiding my eyes, Henri reached around my neck, undid my necklace, gave it to Victor to add to his pilfered collection, then gathered my thick black hair in his fist.
I hated that his touch invoked stinging threads of awareness.
I hated that my breath quickened around him.
I hated that his energy was so thick, so potent it reached out to stroke mine. He pulsed with power. An invisible power that sucked up my meagre existence, stealing my lifeforce, knotting me to him against my will.
I trembled as Victor stepped even closer, sandwiching me against Roland whose breathing accelerated as I leaned back into him, trying to get away, all while knowing it was pointless.
With my chest aching and heart breaking, Victor snapped the collar around my throat.
The moment the heavy gold metal rested on my collarbones and the lock made the softest snicking sound, my knees buckled.
Roland chuckled as he held me up.
Henri muttered a slur.
And Victor merely said, “Welcome to Joyero, Ily. You may keep your name for as long as you wear my collar. You will learn to love it, as all my jewels do. You will lean into its protection and live within its bounds. You will be cared for and indulged, but heed my warning, my sweetling. Don’t try to take the collar off.
Don’t do what others have done and fight your new role.
Your past life is dead. You are nothing more than mine. ”
Kissing me on the cheek, he linked his hand in mine and tugged me toward the drawbridge. “For now though, let’s go show you your new home.”