Prologue #2
“Open for me,” he says as he grips my jaw. His tongue moves suggestively along the seam of my lips until I surrender to his demand.
Brodie gives me a rough kiss that’s all tongue, and teeth, and lips.
I whine into his mouth, letting him hear my desire. With sure strokes, he explores my mouth, seemingly savoring my taste the way I am his.
Tearing his lips from mine, he nips at my bottom lip like he can’t stand to see me left unmarked before he puts a little space between us.
He turns his head to the side and eyes the gift box still clutched loosely in my hold.
“Open it,” Brodie tells me as he lifts me and moves us to his chair where he drapes me across his lap.
After that kiss, I feel like it’s my right to snuggle into him a little bit.
And if I grind my ass a little while I do it, well, that’s his problem.
I take the end of the bow on the box and pull until the ribbon falls to my lap.
When I remove the lid, an audible gasp leaves me.
Lying on a soft velvet cushion is a black chain with an almost web-like pattern.
Thin and delicate, with hundreds of little obsidian crystals interwoven along the frame points.
The chain is about half an inch thick—more choker than necklace—with enough length to lie just above my sternum.
A diamond spider makes up the pendant at the center.
The chain itself is permanent, evident from the black key that lies in the box.
Something meant to be put on and never taken off. At least not by the wearer themselves.
It’s breathtakingly beautiful.
Confusion and excitement bubble up inside of me because I think I know what this symbolizes, but I don’t want to get it wrong. “Brodie…I don’t understand, or I mean, I understand, but…” I trail off, not knowing how to ask what this means to him.
Lifting my chin, I look into his eyes. The blue washes out most of the green today. The pattern never stays the same, a constant battle between the hues with no real winner.
His large hand strokes my cheek gently. “Ari, you are mine. Mine. And I am tired of everyone telling me it’s too soon to claim you.
I don’t have all the flowery words you probably wished for, but I can promise you will never doubt me.
My love, loyalty, and obsession are for you.
Us. And the only people who need to understand that are in this room.
” A small smile I don’t quite understand reaches his lips when he says the last line, but I’m too overcome with emotion to dwell on it.
If this is a dream, someone sedate me for the rest of my life.
Removing the necklace, he unlocks the pendant, and the spider splits in half. Only I see now that it’s not just one spider; it’s two. One stacked on top of the other, almost completely covering it, both forming the lock itself. The spiders are locked together as long as the necklace is.
“Brodie…” I say quietly as he rearranges my legs so that I am straddling him. With a dip of his chin, Brodie scrapes his teeth against my neck, teasing me before he bites down. The bite is hard enough to guarantee a mark.
He trails kisses and sucks along my collarbone before he wraps the chain around my neck.
It lies delicately over the trail of marks he just gave me.
“I need to prove myself to The Order and earn my place as the heir, but I want you beside me while I do it, wearing my collar.” Clasping the necklace with a turn of the key, a loud click fills the room.
“I will own you—today, tomorrow, and for the rest of eternity.” Words like permanent and forever take hold in my chest.
“If you knew I wanted this all along…” Why didn’t you come for me sooner? The unspoken words linger in the air.
Brodie eyes the new chain around my neck and fingers it before he answers. “I needed to wait until you had the power to choose for yourself without interference.” He huffs, annoyance evident in his tone.
Living under the Araneae roof gave The Order power and potential for manipulation. Even though I grew up here, I wasn’t one of them. Not really. There weren’t any true protections in place for me.
So, even though I hate it, I begrudgingly understand it.
“Your name has been carved on my soul since I laid eyes on you. And I am going to make damn sure that mine is carved into yours.” With a tug of the necklace, he brings me closer for a brief kiss.
I nip at his bottom lip. “Well then, you better start carving.”
He groans and cups the back of my neck. “I am going to destroy you, Arianna.”
Reaching beneath me, he stands, and I wrap my legs around him. Taking three long strides, he drops me on the bed and follows me down.
With his body weight pressed against mine and his arms caging me, I feel surrounded.
“Took you long enough.” I sass. He huffs a laugh and dips his head, inhaling me before his lips trail down my body. With each kiss, he slowly strips the fabric from my body.
He tosses my dress aside and drags his rough cheeks against the sensitive skin of my inner thigh, his day-old stubble causing me to shiver. Exposed before him in just my underwear, I feel utterly vulnerable. But the dark look he gives me from between my legs sends a thrill up my body. Hunger.
Pushing himself up, he towers above me as his arms move around me to unclasp my bra. “Ditch the underwear, Ari. Show me how wet my cunt is while I feast on your pretty tits.” I choke, never having heard him speak so crudely directly to me.
A devious smile lingers on his face as he takes my nipple between his teeth, biting down on my skin again and sending a shockwave straight to my core. A need so achingly profound slams into me as I moan his name.
“Yes, that’s it. Let me hear you.” He grits out.
I work my silk panties down my body until I feel them fall to the floor. “Fuck, Brodie, please,” I beg, threading my hands through his blonde curls.
Brodie’s fingers graze my inner thighs and caress the soft flesh there. “Spread your legs a bit more for me, Ari.”
I grab Brodie’s wrist to stop him. “Brodie…I’ve never…not with anyone…”
Lifting his head, I watch as the heat shutters from his eyes and a coldness takes over. “Ari, if you had, I would have shot their dick off and fucked you on top of their bloody corpse.” His voice drips with disdain, as if just the thought of someone else touching me drives him wild.
I can’t help the whine that leaves me at the horrible thought, the possessive way he’s claiming me. Arousal floods me as I lift my hips to try to rub myself against him.
Brodie’s face radiates smugness at my response. “Don’t worry, Ari, you belong to me now, and I take care of what’s mine. Everything that’s mine.”
He peers over at the window. “Everything,” he emphasizes like we aren’t the only ones in the room. Aiden flashes into my mind briefly, but I shake the thought of his icy stare away as I release my hold on Brodie’s wrist and relax back onto the bed.
Brodie’s finger moves again, finding me wet enough that he can slide inside of me with only a little resistance. His finger dips in and out of me a couple of times, slowly opening me up for him. Getting me ready to take his thick cock.
As he adds another finger, the pressure increases, causing me momentary discomfort.
Why are his hands so big? To distract myself from the tightness, I lift a little and murmur against his lips, “I waited for you for so long. I think about you…” I hesitate.
Not knowing whether to admit the last part out loud.
Brodie removes his fingers and licks them. Tasting me. Holy hell.
“Tell me,” he half-snarls, a borderline feral sound.
“I think about you when…I touch myself.” Looking away, I hide my face against the soft sheets.
The sound that comes from him this time is animalistic and filthy. “Goddammit, Ari.”
His fingers find their way back inside me, and I soon find my hips meeting each thrust of his hand as my body loosens to accommodate him. Closing my eyes, I relish the feeling of Brodie finally touching me, embracing every moment of pleasure.
That’s when I feel his tongue. My best friend’s face is right in my pussy as his tongue licks me.
I could die just from the feeling of his tongue inside of me. He licks up my slit and stops just above my clit. Hot breath teases the vulnerable spot, and I cry out as I tilt my hips and rock back and forth, needing more.
“Please, Brodie,” I beg him.
At my request, he mouths the bundle of nerves there, then lashes my clit hard, causing my entire body to shake. His hands dig into my thighs as he holds me open to his assault.
With a loud moan, I arch up into his mouth. “Oh fuck, oh fuck. Brodie…” Brodie doubles his efforts, feasting on me like a man starving. Giving me exactly what I desire.
Brodie lifts his head and stares up at me with a lethal look in his eyes.
My dangerous fairy tale, finally coming true.
“I will never taste another cunt other than yours, Ari. Come on my tongue. I want to taste your release.” Redoubling his efforts, he growls into my pussy, and I can’t hold it back.
Grabbing his hair, I ride his face, chasing that pinnacle of pleasure.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” Relief and ecstasy drown me, ripping a scream from my throat as I ride out my orgasm on his tongue and cover his face in my release.
As my hips start to slow and my heart rate comes down, he looks up at me with my cum painting his lips. “One taste. One fucking taste and I am an addict.” His tongue flicks my clit one more time before he licks his lips.
Pressing up off the bed, he tears his clothes off, not caring where they land, and slots himself between my spread legs. I reach down and palm his cock for the first time. Stroking it, adjusting to the feel. My hand can’t even wrap around his hard cock fully. God, can he even fit inside of me?