Dark Need by Clarissa Wild

Chapter 12

Soren

My muscles are beginningto hurt from all this walking, but I can’t stop. Not until I’ve brought her to the place she belongs. But we’ll have to take another break soon because not just our bodies are getting tired. We’ve been walking for hours without much sleep.

But every time I think of stopping, I glance over my shoulder and see her again.

The woman who continues to torment my mind.

And it makes me want to keep walking, no matter the cost.

Because every time I glance over my shoulder, there she is … creeping closer every step of the way.

Even though she’s tied to me, her arms are no longer tied down. She could attack me. Try to choke me. Try to punch me so she can run.

But she must know any attempt is futile.

She can never beat me in a fair fight.

And if she even tries to take off the rope, I’ll notice the lack of weight in an instant.

I’m prepared for any shenanigans she might come up with.

Suddenly, her hand touches my shoulder, and I instantly turn around and stop in my tracks. She jumps back, her doe-like eyes widened like a wounded animal looking for help.

“What?”

“N-nothing,” she says.

My eyes narrow. I don’t trust this at all.

Still, I continue walking.

Within seconds, she does it again, but this time I clearly feel something soft, thick, and fleshy pressed up against my back. Her tits.

I spin on my heels and grab her wrist, preventing her from touching me.

“Don’t,” I growl. “Or there will be hell to pay.”

She gulps, visibly shaken by my visceral reaction to her contact.

But this wasn’t just some random touch.

This was gentle. Intentional. Almost … sweet.

And it stirs something inside me that has been lying dormant for so long it’d be unwise to wake it now.

When she doesn’t respond and merely raises her brows at me, it infuriates me. Is she trying to intimidate me? Or is she trying to give me a taste of my own medicine?

Regardless, we can’t waste time on this, so I turn around again and start walking. I try to focus on the path in front of me and the calm of the wind brushing through the forest.

After a few minutes, she inches closer again, and a hand dips down my lower back. Heat ignites within my body, flaring all the way to my cock, and it instantly starts to hurt.

Pain envelops me in anguish, and I roar out loud as I spin on my heels. In my fury, I grab her by the waist and push her down to the ground, pinning her in place with one hand on her wrists and the other around her throat. I’m right on top of her, my knees beside her small body, her shirt nudged up a bit from the fight, exposing her belly button right above where my dick is. My hungry gaze instantly swipes over her body, my length swelling with every passing second to the point that it makes me want to rip off our clothes and devour her.

But the panic in her red eyes makes me stop.

I release her throat, and she coughs.

“I told you not to touch me,” I say, grumbling out loud.

I unleash the rope around her waist and drag her up from the ground along with me, after which I quickly spin her around so her back is against me, where I tie her wrists up so she can’t try that again. All while ignoring the painful flare in my groin.

“Sorry,” she scoffs.

As I tighten the rope around her wrist, her body moves an inch closer to mine, and the excitement stirs the beast lurking within.

Fuck.

I have to get moving fast.

I close my eyes and turn around without responding, dragging her along with me. I cannot let myself lose control like that, but every step hurts because of my cock swelling against my body.

“What … just happened?” she asks after a while. “You promised you wouldn’t … hurt me.”

I ignore her, and for a while, it’s quiet again.

“You flinched when I touched you.”

“I didn’t,” I retort, sighing.

“Yeah, you did. I felt it.”

“No.”

“You looked like you were in pain.”

She just can’t let this go, can she?

I come to an abrupt halt and snarl at her over my shoulder. “Stop.”

She just stares at me, but a dirty smirk spreads across her lips, and I don’t like it one bit. Especially not when those tits of hers are also staring at me, the thin fabric of her shirt barely covering them.

I have to literally fight off my desire.

Stop!

I cannot fucking think about her like that, or I might have to kill her.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

The key to my release is still in the hands of my people. There is no escape. No way out of this except forward.

But fuck me, do I need a break … specifically from her.

As the night begins to fall, I finally find the sweet water brook that I’ve been searching for. We’re still on the right track.

“Water!” She immediately runs toward it and tries to pull me along, which is both annoying and cute. “C’mon.”

I allow her this time to tug me along to the water, but it’s only when her feet stand at the edge that she realizes she can’t do anything.

She turns to me. “Can you untie me, please?” she begs. “I just want to drink.”

I come to stand in front of her and cock my head. But instead of fishing my knife from my pocket, I grab my bottle and go to my knees to fill it up. When it’s full, I tower over her again and say, “Open your mouth.”

She frowns, flinching when I put the tip to her lips.

It takes her a good few seconds to do what I ask, and as the water slides into her mouth, I can’t help but watch her throat as she swallows it down. My cock tightens against my thigh again, but I will it to go down, forcing myself to think of something else.

Do not succumb to sin.

When she’s done, I gulp down the rest but spill a little. Water runs down my chest, and I catch her taking glimpses of the rivulets. When I pause and stare, she blinks and looks away.

I narrow my eyes and fill up the bottle again, determined not to let this … whatever it is brewing between us … overtake me.

* * *

April

He throwsthe bottle back in the bag and tugs at my rope. “Come.”

He drags me along with him, whether I want to or not, and puts me down behind a big-ass rock somewhere close but not too close to the water. He grabs two thick and heavy-looking tree branches lying on the ground and carries them to me with ease, planting them deep into the ground with all the might of a giant. Then he drapes the blanket from the bag over them.

“Are we sleeping here?” I ask.

He nods and unties the rope from his body only to tie it to a nearby tree.

Goddamn, and here I was thinking he’d finally let me off the hook. Guess not.

He points at me and says, “You. Stay.”

What the …?

“I’m not a dog. My name is April.” I throw him a scowl.

He licks his top lip while glaring at me. “April.”

The way he just said my name, his voice so low it set my body on fire, wasn’t just to affirm it.

He licked it.

Fucked it.

Owned it.

And I can’t even fucking breathe when he steps closer and goes to his knees in front of me, grabbing my shirt with one hand to lift my face up close. “Stay.”

Before I even know what to say, he’s already marched off.

I peek over the boulder, only to find him throwing off his shirt, revealing the tattooed muscular back that I could never get used to.

But what makes me gulp is the fact that he takes off his pants next.

Everything.

Until he’s completely butt naked.

Like fucking Adonis himself.

And I can’t help but gawk with my mouth wide open, unable to peel away from his magnificent body as he walks toward the lake.

But what surprises me the most is that there is still a single metal clasp around his waist, connecting to the front, but I can’t see what it’s for when he’s got his back turned to me.

He goes into the water until even the metal is submerged and starts washing. He goes underwater and comes back up, throwing his hair back like a beast and runs his fingers through it.

And for a second there, I almost want to join him.

No, April, what the fuck are you thinking?

Suddenly, he turns his head around to meet my gaze, and I’m momentarily struck in a blitz of panic.

I shoot down underneath the rock again, hiding my face in my hands because I’m too embarrassed by what I saw.

But after I’ve gathered my composure, I lean up and take a peek again.

He’s on his way back.

And my eyes should find his, but I cannot stop gaping at the contraption around his waist …

And penis.

My eyes widen.

Oh my God.

His penis is encapsulated by a barred, metallic cage.

What the fuck?

My eyes immediately swoop up to his, which are penetrating my skull like he wants to murder me.

Oh no.

I immediately hide behind the stone again and tug at the rope with all my might, trying to loosen it up so I can run before he gets here and actually kills me.

“Fuck!” I yell when it just won’t work.

Goddamn, I wish he hadn’t tied up my wrists.

The only way out is breaking them, and I don’t know if I can stomach that amount of pain.

“Had a nice look?”

A head pops up to the side of the boulder, filling my bones with dread.

“I wasn’t looking, I swear,” I lie, huddling closer to the stone.

He just grumbles and appears from behind, now wearing his pants again.

“Please don’t hurt me,” I say as he approaches.

He goes to his knees right in front of me, my heart almost beating out of my chest as his hand reaches for my face.

This is it. He’s going to kill me. Close your eyes and pray.

A soft brush of his thumb along my cheek makes my eyes burst open again.

I blink a couple of times, staring straight into his beautiful blue eyes that could make any woman crush hard. Then he holds up his thumb and shows me the dirt and blood on it.

“You’re filthy.”

I gulp.

Is that supposed to mean something?

He’s not going to wash me, is he?

“So you’re not going to kill me?”

A smile pops up onto a face, and it’s truly a strange thing to witness from such a gigantic beastly man. He lets out a short but low rumbling laugh that pushes all my buttons.

“No.” He fishes his knife from his pocket and leans in. “But I could.”

I swallow hard.

He moves to my back, and suddenly, I’m very, very aware of the fact that his bare chest is right behind me and his hands are on my arms. Within seconds, the ties around my wrist snap loose.

I rub my skin, which is red and sore. “Thanks.”

He gets up and towers over me. “I can trust you … or I can hurt you. Your choice.”

I smile awkwardly. “I choose trust.”

He cocks his head and points the knife at the stream. “Good. Go.”

I nod and dart off toward the water, glancing at him every other second. He doesn’t look away. Not even as I take off my shirt with my back turned to him.

A blush creeps onto my cheeks.

It’s not that I haven’t seen a man before …

But I’ve never been looked at like that.

Like he wants to take in every inch of my body.

Like he’s memorizing it.

Like he wants to own that too.

And for some reason, that makes my pussy thump.

Fuck.

I must be really losing my mind out here.

I sigh to myself. “Can you please look away so I can get undressed?”

He fishes a towel from his bag and throws it to the ground right behind me. “No.”

Of course not. He trusts me … but only enough to let me wade around on my own … not enough for me to have some alone time.

I roll my eyes and take off whatever’s left of my dignity, stepping out of my shell and into the lake naked.

His eyes never left my skin.

Not even as they skimmed my ass.

Took in every ample curve.

And fuck me if it didn’t make me all hot and bothered.

Lucky for me, this stream feels icy cold. At least it tempers some of the filthy thoughts swirling through my head. I really should not be thinking of him that way. But then why can’t I shake the thought of him naked in this very same water?

And what was that metallic thing around his dick?

I shiver from the cold and dive under to wash my hair and body. When I come back up, he’s sitting down on another smaller rock, burly legs wide open, hands on his knees, his eyes hidden underneath bushy brows.

His eyes are glued to my body, and something tells me he’s not going to look away when I get out. It’s like he both wants me more than anything and despises me for it.

But I didn’t do anything to him.

Except make his job harder, obviously. And I refuse to feel guilty for it.

He’s the bad guy, not me. I didn’t choose to become a prisoner.

I’m innocent, and I will never stop rebelling.

So I hold my head high as I march back out of the water. If he wants to play this the hard way, he can have it. I’m not scared. Even though I’ve never shown my body to a man before, if I have to use it to make a point, I will.

And as my body comes up to the surface, his eyes slowly swipe over my body, pausing on my nipples which are peaked from the cold water, only to slide down toward the crevice between my legs. His hand shifts from his knee, two fingers brushing his lips and beard as he takes me in.

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me feel sexy.

But I can’t succumb to his gaze, not unless it will give me my freedom back.

I pick up the towel he so generously threw in my direction and wipe myself dry before I grab my clothes and put them back on, even though I’m still not completely dry. I don’t care anymore.

He wanted a show? Hope he enjoyed it.

And as I approach him, I quip, “Had a nice look?”