Chapter Eight
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Henri
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MY MIND SWAM WITH POWER.
My cock swelled.
The temptation to order her onto all fours grew by the moment.
What’s stopping me?
I’d unshackled myself from normal society. I now lived in a Garden of Eden where beasts ate forbidden fruit and dined on feminine flesh.
Swallowing hard, my hand strayed to my jeans button—
“Fuck, you’re an eager one now you’ve slipped the noose. Temporarily, I might add.” Victor’s voice cut through the lustful buzzing in my blood. “Keep your cock where it is. We still have a matter of identity confirmation and payment before she’s yours again, Mercer.”
I whirled around, Ily’s thick, black hair still in my fist.
The animal inside me prowled too close to the surface.
I’d already hit Roland for touching what was mine.
I prepared to hit Victor for denying me my rights.
Victor cocked his head, daring me to do something very ill-advised.
I blinked a few times to rid the shadows curling over my stare. When I could talk like a man again, I snapped, “In that case, I wish to make a bargain.”
“A bargain?” Victor snickered. “I just let you live, you ungrateful bastard. I think—”
“I’ll give you everything Q gave me. I won’t begrudge a single euro...all I’m asking for is full ownership of Ily and your agreement no one else will touch her.”
Ily went stiff by my feet.
A few jewels gasped. Guests all voiced their very loud, very annoying opinions.
Slipping his hands into his slacks, Victor cocked his head.
“I’m aware my cameras could have better audio.
That you almost got away with your little act if it wasn’t for the moments when your conscience almost broke you.
Yesterday, your desire to own her came from the idea you could keep her safe...
so why should I believe this request is any different? ”
Pulling Ily to her feet, I tightened my fingers in her hair.
“She was my first. The first to set me free.” My voice turned hoarse with possession.
“And honestly? The thought of anyone else tasting what is mine, using what is mine, hurting what is mine? Well...” I shrugged.
“Let’s just say it makes me fucking murderous. ”
For a long time, Victor just studied me. Then he completely changed the subject. “Before we go up to my office, there’s the simple matter of discipline.”
Whose discipline?
Mine?
Guests who’d broken off and sat muttering over their forgotten breakfasts perked with interest. “Finally gonna punish them for being late, Vic?”
“Indeed.” Victor nodded. “Well, Henri is.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Punish who?”
“My jewels of course.”
It felt like another test. To see if I’d baulk.
Never again.
I sniffed. “How do you want me to do it?”
“Use your imagination.” He grinned. “But I expect you to punish them all. In one fell swoop.”
I frowned. “Does the remote allow you to shock more than one jewel at a time?”
“Yes. If they’re touching.” Victor smiled slyly. “In fact, they enjoyed touching so much this morning, I say we return the favour.”
My heart skipped, then went quiet.
My mind shot back to what Victor had accused. That Peter had kissed Ily. He’d put his mouth on hers. On what was mine. Fury boiled quick and black.
Letting Ily go, I pointed to where Peter kneeled by the fountain.
She wanted to touch him so badly?
So be it.
Backing up a little, I snapped my fingers. “Every jewel, get back in line. Now.”
A scurry of feet on pristine grass. A quick shuddering of hedges as they crawled from behind sculpted animals.
One by one, they all resumed their meek kneeling pose, close but not too close, heads bowed and waiting.
“Go join them, little nightmare.” I arched my chin at the trembling slaves. “Sit beside Peter.”
Her upper lip curled as if she wanted to throw some violent words my way before she obeyed and went to him. An Indonesian girl had to scoot sideways to give her space, pressing them all a little tighter.
Victor didn’t interfere, nor did he instruct.
He might not have shot me, but I was on thin ice. The hairline cracks were there. The occasional groan as stability threatened to give beneath my feet.
Grabbing the remote from my pocket, I held it up. “How long is usual for this type of infraction?”
Victor pursed his lips. “Let’s do ten seconds.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s plenty.” He scowled a little. “They still have a full day of service before them. Don’t rob their ability to behave just because you’re feeling...how did you put it? Murderous?”
“Only murderous if someone touches what’s mine.”
“Ah, so that’s why you’re so eager.” He grinned as his eyes skated to Peter.
“You really shouldn’t have kissed her, my pet.
” His loafers hissed through the grass as he stepped a little closer.
“And if I find you doing it again, I’ll cut out your ungrateful tongue.
” He laughed quietly. “I know, I know...I’ve threatened to do that before, but you always convince me to let you keep it because you use it so well.
But there will come a time when even a good blowjob won’t save you. ”
Peter bowed his head. “Yes, Sir V.”
Taking the lead, Victor splayed his arms, encompassing the line-up of thirty jewels. “You all looked so cosy this morning, cuddled happily against each other. Why are you so far apart now?”
The jewels all flicked each other a worried glance before ducking their chins and inching closer, thighs to thighs, hips to hips. When no space existed, Victor sighed as if they’d disappointed him. “Hold hands, my sweetlings. There you go.”
In a blur of obedient motion, each slave clasped the hand of their neighbour, creating a damn daisy chain of half-naked, fully-bare humans.
Bruises glowed on some, cuts on others, Ily seemed to shimmer the brightest as she tipped up her nose and clasped the hand of the girl on her left and Peter’s on her right.
Her eyes dared me to punish her.
My thumb hovered over the remote.
The jewels waited.
Silent and dull, broken into submission from so many mornings like this. So many days of unavoidable pain and constant agony.
My heart stirred.
Of course, it did.
I was a monster, not heartless.
To have their freedom stripped away. Their dignity bought. Their bodies rented to the highest bidder must be hell on fucking earth.
But...like Victor said: without predators, prey ran amok. I’d merely stepped over that dividing line and became the one who preyed instead of got preyed on.
I stepped forward. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I take no pleasure in punishing you in this way, but it’s necessary and it’ll be over soon.”
Ily caught my stare.
Her face filled with loathing.
I aimed at Peter and pressed the button.
He jerked instantly.
His hands clamped down on those he held, feeding the current all the way along the line.
I’d expected it to feather out like a wave. Oh no. It bolted through every bone and nervous system connected to Peter’s in a single, savage moment.
I didn’t count the passing seconds.
The ability to use numbers and words escaped me as I locked my gaze on Ily and watched her entire body ripple with electricity.
The eeriest thing was the silence.
Guests muttered and chuckled behind me, but not a single slave screamed.
I didn’t think they could with a million forks of lightning firing through their system.
“Enough, Mercer. Enough.”
Victor’s curt command brought me back, and I released the button.
The eerie silence became gasps for breath and guttural groans for mercy. One by one, the jewels let go of one another, shuffled to make space, then hugged themselves as residual jerks worked through their frames.
“Corine, I’m well overdue my morning massage,” a guest behind me barked. “Hurry now.”
With a weary sigh and tears in her eyes, the girl who’d been fucked by Peter last night clambered to her feet and went tripping up the deck. She dropped to her knees beside a toned gentleman with dark brown hair.
He saw me watching and narrowed his eyes.
Checking to see if Victor looked at him, he flipped me the bird, then clicked a leash to Corine’s collar and led her crawling behind him into the castle.
My gaze drifted over the other guests.
All of them either drew fingers over their throats to symbolise my death or outright ignored me.
Guess I hadn’t won any friends the moment they heard the word cop.
“Peter, sweetling.” Victor drifted forward. Waiting until Peter raised his head, he ducked and captured his jaw. His fingers turned white he gripped Peter so hard, but Peter didn’t react. Didn’t pull away. Didn’t flinch.
Ily did.
Her hands balled in her bare lap, forming weapons that she could very easily throw at Victor only to lose and be punished all over again.
Stalking to join them, I snapped my fingers—getting rather good at this whole owning a pet thing. “Ily. Heel.”
“Heel?” Her upper lip curled. “Seriously?”
“Now.” I scowled.
“Fuck you, Henri Mercer. Fuck you for every day you made me think you were different.”
Ducking to my haunches, I ignored Peter’s sharp inhale as I pressed my mouth to her ear, resorting to our previous game of whispers.
Only this time, I didn’t beg her to obey me or stop fighting.
This time, I merely said, “I am different. Just like you are. Want to know what I think? I think we were meant to notice each other. This was meant to happen. You were always meant to be mine.”
Shoving me away and crawling backward, she bristled with hate. “I’ll never forgive you for this. Never.”
I shrugged. “You have my permission to hate me, little nightmare. I can’t control your feelings. However, you will acknowledge me as your Master, and you will come if I desire it.”
“I would rather have sex with Roland.”
I rocked back on my feet, cupping my chest. “Ouch. That was low.”
“That’s how despicable I find you.”
“But that’s not what your body will say when I’ve got you spread on my cock again.”
Standing as graceful and as elegant as a swan, Ily stepped into me.