Chapter 7
Cyra
I closed the portal behind us back in Bressen’s study at Tide’s End and turned to him.
“I’m not sure we learned anything all that helpful,” I said. “Do you think Glenora was bluffing about Raina’s mother? We should see if we can find her, just to be sure.”
Bressen stood perfectly still as he looked at me, and I was taken aback by the intensity in his eyes.
I furrowed my brow. “Bressen? Are you-,” I started to say.
“Run,” he said softly.
I blinked at him. “What?”
“Run now, Cyra, because I have the urge to fuck you like I’ve never fucked you before, and I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”
My breath caught in my throat, and every muscle in my lower body tightened in anticipation. I started to smile and took a step toward him, but he held up a hand to stop me.
“You need to run,” he repeated. “I have no control right now. If I take you, I may hurt you, so go. Run and hide, and maybe – just maybe – I’ll have calmed down enough by the time I catch you that you won’t hate me when I’m done.”
I stood stunned. He was serious. He was actually afraid he’d hurt me.
When Bressen was angry, he needed to work through his rage, to let it blaze hotly and then burn out.
Several times in the past, I’d let him use my body to vent his frustrations.
I didn’t mind my sex on the rougher side, so I liked when Bressen took me hard and fast, pounding into me as he let his anger turn to carnal lust and release itself with his climax.
Those times teetered on the brink between pleasure and pain for me, but it made me feel useful to push Bressen through his anger.
I was the opposite. When I was angry, my rage or frustration needed to be smothered and tamed.
My anger only fanned itself if I let my passion go.
Rather than blazing and flaming out as Bressen did, I only burned more furiously until I nearly exploded.
In the days after Aramis’s death, Bressen had tried to let me vent my anger in the same way we did for him, but rougher sex had only pushed me hotter and hotter until I’d literally set the covers of our bed afire with my magic one night.
After that, we learned I needed to be calmed, that my inner flames needed to be smothered.
It had been that way when I tried to vent my powers of the beach the night after Bressen and I had made love at the Priory.
I’d created my own storm to draw off the excess power the gods had bestowed on me, but when I’d started an earthquake, it was Bressen’s soft words in my ear that brought me back from the brink.
The next night after I’d set our bedding on fire, Bressen had taken his time with me.
He’d held me close and whispered lovingly into my ear before slipping into me and setting a gentle rhythm, even as I’d cried, and thrashed, and tried to provoke him to go harder.
When I’d dug my nails into him brutally enough to draw blood, he’d simply taken my hands and pinned them down as he continued to make love to me until my pain and rage broke, and I went limp beneath him.
Then he’d pulled me into his arms, and I’d wept quietly against him until my tears went dry.
“Bressen-,” I tried again now, but his gaze fixed on me as his eyes blazed red, and I saw it all in his mind. His anger and frustration at Samhail and Aidan, his fear of what had happened with the demoni at Revenmyer, and his annoyance with me over what I’d done with Glenora and Clarice.
He took a step toward me. “I…said…run!”
His tone sent shivers down my spine, and I saw the exact moment his control snapped. Fear sparked somewhere inside me at the look in his eyes. I’d never seen Bressen like this before, and it ignited an instinct deep inside that told me he was right. I needed to flee. Now.
I turned and ran.
Like a predator attracted by its quarry’s flight, Bressen launched himself after me, and I felt his hand graze down my back.
It sent a sensation between thrill and fear spreading through my body, and I put on a burst of speed.
Bressen was right on my heels, so I didn’t stop to open the door to his study but instead ported right through it into the hall.
Adrenaline made me lightheaded as I ran, but fear made my legs shake as the door shuddered and groaned when Bressen’s solid body slammed into it.
He cursed loudly before the door was wrenched open, and he was again in pursuit.
He’d fuck me brutally if he caught me, and I didn’t know whether to be exhilarated or utterly terrified by that prospect.
I didn’t have time to decide which as I flew down the hallway and into the stairwell while Bressen’s footsteps pounded behind me, their rhythm at odds with my own thudding heartbeat.
I barely felt my legs as I tore down two flights of stairs before crashing into the door jam on the second floor.
I regained my equilibrium by porting into the hallway, then started to run again.
It was probably a mistake to exit the stairwell on the second floor since it left me few places to go, but there were too many servants on the first floor who’d see us, and I didn’t want to frighten them or, worse, put them in the path of Bressen’s wrath.
I didn’t think he’d hurt them on purpose, but I wasn’t sure what he was capable of right now.
You’ll find out soon enough, I told myself as I heard Bressen’s footfalls gaining on me.
The prospect of being caught was like nothing I’d ever felt before, and in the back of my mind, I considered asking Bressen to chase me again sometime when he wasn’t furious with me.
For reasons I didn’t understand, the promise of danger not only had my heart pounding out of my chest, but also the wetness growing between my legs.
Gods help me. I liked this. Liked being chased. Pursued. Hunted.
I didn’t need to look behind me to know Bressen was almost on me. I felt him within inches of me. I could port again to put some distance between us, but a tiny part of me wanted him to catch me.
I hesitated for a fraction of a second as I got to the doors of the great room, but I decided against going in. The sane part of me told me to keep running, to not trap myself in a room with Bressen.
The fraction of hesitation cost me, though, and I cried out as Bressen caught hold of my dress and some of my hair and yanked me backward.
I slammed back against his body, and then his arm was around my waist like an iron band so I could barely breathe.
On instinct I tried to scream, but his hand clamped over my mouth, anchoring my head to his chest.
“Too late,” he growled in my ear. “Time for your punishment.”
He dragged me into the great room to the large reading table and threw me down on top of it. I immediately ported to the far end of it, my last stubborn instinct of self-preservation telling me to keep fighting.
Bressen was ready for me, though. He pushed the table into me, and I cried out as I was knocked backwards onto my ass. By the time I recovered enough to get my feet under me, he was hauling me up again.
The room spun as Bressen pushed me back down onto the table so I was bent over it, and he kicked my legs open wide. His hand pressed against the back of my neck to hold me down, and I felt him working at the fastenings of his pants with one hand as he leaned over me.
“Say it,” he breathed against my ear.
I knew what he wanted to hear.
“I know you love me,” I assured him.
“Do you?” he asked. “Are you sure?”
I nodded my head against the table.
“And why do you need to know that?” he asked.
“Because you’re about to fuck me like you don’t,” I answered, reciting the lines we now used whenever Bressen was about to use my body to vent his anger.
Bressen let out a long breath. “Is this what you want, Cyra?” he growled into my ear as he pressed his body down onto me.
He always gave me the choice, one last out to be sure I knew what I was getting into, and that’s ultimately what eased my mind despite my fear. If he hadn’t asked, that’s when I might’ve fought for real.
I swallowed, knowing this time was going to be even rougher than normal, but I answered honestly. “Yes.”
Bressen went still. He was breathing heavily as he fought to bring himself back under control. His hand tightened on the back of my neck, but I only squirmed beneath him so my ass ground into his groin. He’d caught me, and now he needed to make good on his threats.
“Fucking hells, Cyra!” he snarled as he yanked my dress up and tore my undergarment off. The delicate fabric snapped easily in his hand, and he tossed it aside.
He notched his cock at my entrance, and I screamed as he drove inside me to the hilt with one brutal thrust.
“Don’t expect gentle,” he warned. “I’m not capable of it right now.”
I shook my head against the hand holding me down. “No,” I agreed.
He began to slam into me then, each thrust digging my hips into the top of the table as my fingers scraped along its smooth surface, trying to find some sort of purchase.
As I’d expected, the sensation was somewhere between pleasure and pain.
His pounding thrusts vibrated through my body making every nerve come alive, and I made a noise between a whimper and a moan as I gave in to the urge to enjoy the feeling.
I jerked as his cock hit something inside me that sent pain stabbing through my body. Bressen didn’t pause as he normally might have, and I wondered if he was too lost in his own rage and pleasure, or if I really had driven him past his endurance this time.
He drove into me relentlessly, and I cried out as my own pleasure started to build. My body hadn’t necessarily been ready for him before, but it was now as my own arousal gathered between my legs to ease the way for both him and me.
I screamed again as he thrust in brutally and once more hit something inside that sent pain shooting through me. This time his stroke faltered, but the pain was gone a moment later, and I bit down on my lip as I pushed my hips back to meet his next drive.