Dark Desires by Candace Wondrak

Chapter Fifteen – Markus

It seemed I could trust absolutely no one. No one. That fact bothered me, caused more rage to boil inside me, than I’d like to admit. Who knew all it would take for everyone to lose their fucking mind was the same girl that had refused to leave my thoughts these past few years? Who knew they would go against me and my word—the law of this house—all for Juliet Osborne.

Her innocence was addicting, alluring, appealing in every way because it was something none of us could have. We weren’t even born with it, I didn’t think, and if we were, we all lost it a very long time ago—even Will and Jaxon, two brothers not by blood, but by circumstance. They were not born Scotts, but they might as well have been.

And yet they chose to go against me. They chose to try to take what was mine.

Juliet.

Juliet had been mine even before she stepped foot in this house, and by fucking God, I’d make everyone see it. She was mine to have, mine to command, mine to touch. Not theirs. Not theirs to fuck or steal glances with. Not theirs at all.

If there was one benefit to this, it was that Bennet was getting more duties. I didn’t trust him to be with her—I would put my faith in Juliet, for now—but with other things, things like drugging Will and getting him to the basement… Bennet was more than suitable.

I had a few calls to make after breakfast, and then I planned on heading downstairs and visiting Will. And my visits were not pleasant things. I did what I could, though I tried to stop short of killing him. I wanted to hear him admit it, to hear the words leave his mouth. I wanted to make Will confess his sins to me, his reckoning, his God, in this house.

I already knew what he’d done. I’d seen it. I had Juliet go out with Theo so I could install some secret cameras in her room. After what happened with Jaxon, I would not hold anyone in good faith.

A part of me knew I could not fully blame the men under my control. Juliet was far too tempting for her own good. She’d wanted to sleep with Jaxon, from what I understood, but with everything I saw on those cameras? She wasn’t exactly conscious when Will had her, when he touched her, and that made me more irate than anything.

Not jealous, just in a rage, for at least with Jaxon, she’d been willing. She had no choice when it came to Will, and I would not see her defiled like that. Not unless it was me doing the defiling.

I felt like I was losing control of everything. This house, the people inside it… my emotions. Everything I’d worked so hard all of these years for, I could feel slipping away through my fingers, intangible, untouchable, and it was all because of Juliet.

Dear, sweet, intoxicating Juliet and my strange need to save her from the fate that awaited her if I hadn’t. Surely she realized that? Surely she could see that living her life locked away in that house could only lead to one thing—and that wasn’t her living happily ever after when her precious daddy died.

No. Her father was not the kind of man who could let things be. He was kind of like me, in that respect, but the things he’d done and the reasons behind his actions put us on two separate levels of monstrous. Some animals could only be put down, and I had to show Juliet, make her see the truth of it all, but I had to do it carefully.

Soon she would realize there would be no going back to her father. Soon she would see there was only me.

After I did what needed to be done, I left my office, heading through the hall, to the basement door. I stood before it, fingers seconds from hitting the code to unlock it when I heard footsteps down the hall. I stopped, tossed a look over my shoulder, and saw Edward approached.

The blue-eyed, muscular blonde had come to us as a boy. An accident, at first. He’d been homeless; his parents did not approve of his… proclivities, so they’d kicked him out. He’d seen something he shouldn’t have—something we now did in our basement, to avoid any other incidences like that one—and instead of killing him, as I would’ve done if I had been in my father’s place, Edward was brought in and raised right alongside Lincoln.

Not unlike Will, in that way, I supposed, although Edward was much better at following orders; possibly due to the fact he liked barking out commands to Lincoln and Stella—and Killian, but that one was another story. They all were, really.

This family took anyone in, as long as they proved they could be of some use.

“Markus,” Edward spoke, stopping me just before I put the code in. I turned away from the keypad, eyeing him up with suspicion as he came up to me. It was breakfast time, so he should be in the kitchen.

“What is it?” I did not have time to talk to him right now, didn’t feel like asking him how he was and all that shit. I needed to get downstairs and visit Will, see if he would come clean about what he’d done to my Juliet.

And then, when he did, what would I do? Would I kill him? He had been a part of this family for nearly a decade now, and we Scotts valued loyalty and family above anything else. It’s how we were still around after so long, after killing so many people.

Will should’ve been loyal to me. He should’ve listened to me, not to the second head dangling between his legs.

“You’ve got someone looking for you,” Edward said, and when I narrowed my eyes at him, he added, “Juliet came to the kitchen. When she got her breakfast, she asked about you. She’s worried about Will.”

A sound escaped me, a sound that said more than words ever could. An annoyed huff of a growl. Of course that girl worried about Will; she didn’t know what he’d done to her. All of her concern, all of her anxieties were totally misplaced. I should show her exactly why that was.

“Now, I don’t know what’s going on, but I just want to say something.” Edward ran a hand through his yellow hair, sticking its short length straight up. “Sometimes things don’t work out the way you imagined they would.”

My jaw ground. “What do you mean by that?” The restraint I showed by standing there and listening to Edward drone on was legendary. I wanted nothing more than to turn from him and go downstairs.

But… maybe I should find Juliet and bring her with me. It could be a lesson for both Will and Juliet.

“If you would’ve asked me ten years ago if I ever thought I’d be in a long-term relationship with the woman of my dreams and Lincoln and another serial killer who was obsessed with her, I would’ve laughed.” Edward’s shoulders shrug once. “But here we are, the four of us, plus Tori.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Edward’s mouth thinned into a line. A few years older than me, he definitely looked it. “I’m telling you this because Lincoln and I fought it, fought Killian, for a long time, but he made Stella happy. It’s not easy, but sometimes you have to give a little.”

“I have no idea why you see the need to tell me this,” I muttered, speaking with an intense frown. This situation was unlike Edward’s and Lincoln’s with Stella. This was not even comparable. Will wouldn’t have even known Juliet existed, same with Jaxon, if I wouldn’t have brought her into this house and paraded her before their demons.

Lifting his hands, Edward shrugged. “Of course. My bad.” He said nothing else, turning and walking away from me, letting me glare at him as he left. The fucking asshole. Who did he think he was, coming to me, trying to tell me to cool off—basically saying why not let Juliet have all the dicks she wanted.

No. She would be mine and mine alone.

It wasn’t as if I’d come from a normal upbringing. Relationships around Scotts had always been… out of the societal norm. My father had many girlfriends, many wives. Stella had her little harem of psychopaths. Even Vaughn and Travis had found their girls and wrestled with themselves before agreeing to share. Sharing was something that was done a lot if you were a Scott.

But me, sharing Juliet? I didn’t think I could. I didn’t want to. Not right now. Right now I had a one-track mind when it came to Will and what he’d done to her.

When Edward was gone, I turned back to the keypad, lifting a hand to it, seconds from imputing the first number. I stopped myself short, thinking about Juliet. She was looking for me, and she wouldn’t stop looking for me until she found me. Perhaps I should find her, first, and bring her downstairs, tell her precisely what Will had gotten up to while she was asleep.

Never did I imagine someone could be that hard of a sleeper, but I’d never met someone quite like Juliet to begin with. However, this did make me wonder if maybe she had been oblivious to things in the past, where her father was concerned.

With what he did… no, I wouldn’t be surprised. And yet she still believed in the best of him. I would have to shake that belief, tear it down to its core and cause it to crumble into itself, until the only man she believed in was me.

So, I pulled myself away from the keypad, deciding to check my office. If she was looking for me, that’s where she’d be.

And it was where I found her. After a minute or so of walking, I came upon the hall where my office was, finding her exiting my office at the exact same moment. She froze when she turned and saw me, and I felt… something deep inside. Something I couldn’t quite name.

Was it obsession, or was it something more?

Juliet’s eyes were bright, their blue depths taking me in as I did the same to her. Barefoot, wearing a loose shirt that hung off her left shoulder, revealing a black bra strap, leggings clad on her bottom half. The waves in her blonde hair were uneven, almost unkempt, messy in a gorgeous way, making it easy for me to imagine weaving my fingers through its length and pulling.

“Looking for me?” I asked, even though I damned well knew she was. No one walked into my office of their own accord. They knew that place was mine, just as they should all know Juliet belonged to me.

It was simple, really, so I didn’t understand why none of these assholes could grasp the fact in their pathetic minds.

She seemed to snap back into herself, as if the initial sight of me had rattled her. Oh, it’d done something—caused a tempting flush to creep into her cheeks, and I hoped inappropriate thoughts to enter her head. She stormed up to me, angling her head back as she eyed me up. “Yes, I was, actually, and I think you know why.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. She stood two feet before me, and still she felt miles away. Not nearly close enough. My hands itched to grab hold of her and pull her closer, to feel that slender body curving along mine.

How fucking ironic it was that nearly everyone had gotten a taste of her but me. Me, the man who brought her here, the one who couldn’t get her out of his mind. Me. She should belong to me. I’d make her see that today. I’d already shown her Jaxon wasn’t worth her time. Will was next.

“Will,” I muttered, his name not nearly as pleasant on my tongue as hers. Hers was a prayer, and I was not a praying man.

Juliet nodded. “Yes, Will. What did you do to him?”

“A bold question. Are you really prepared to have the answer?” I asked her, and she nodded, all too eager to see Will. Good. Let this become a lesson for them both. “Then follow me.” I said nothing else, turning on my heel and walking away, knowing she followed me without hesitation.

Good girl.

I took her to the same door I’d been seconds from unlocking when Edward had come to me, and with my body, I blocked off her view of the keypad before entering the correct string of numbers. She might be listening to my orders now, but giving her the code to the basement was not something I wanted to do.

Down into the depths of the Scott house we went, down the narrow staircase. Into the fiery pits of hell, where we killed, where we maimed, where we earned our nicknames. The Angel Maker had brought his flair in with him when I’d allowed him to come live here, but Stella? She’d become something else. She had earned her nickname, the Butcher. She was happy to both have individual kills and ones she could share with Lincoln.

I brought her before a room, its door shut. Inside, the light was on, and Will stood, his arms above his head, chained to the wall. I’d forgone the chair in the center of the room, figuring it would be more uncomfortable in the long run to make him stand. His shirt was off, a dozen or so cuts on his chest and stomach. His brown-haired head bent down. I couldn’t tell if he was somehow managing to sleep or not.

Juliet gasped when she saw him, and those beautiful blue eyes turned to me, fury in their depths. Absolutely misplaced, which she would find out shortly. “Why are you doing this to him? What did he do?”

I looked at her, letting my gaze draw along her body, taking in her earnest expression. “You really have no clue, do you?” When she sputtered out an incomprehensible response, I went on, “You have no idea what he’s been doing to you.”

She blinked, shaking her head somewhat. “I don’t—”

“Come,” I said, moving to the door to the room, curving my fingers along the handle and pushing inside. “Let’s see if Will has the balls to confess his sins to you, Juliet.” She was stuck to my side like glue, but the moment we entered the room, she darted to Will. Watching her coo and worry over him sickened me.

“Will,” she spoke, lightly touching his face, causing him to stir. “Will, are you all right?”

Will let out a groan, lifting his head as he whispered, his voice dry, “I’ve been better, honestly.” And then he grinned at her, as if none of this should worry her. Maybe his grin was his way of trying to put her at ease, but in the end, it wouldn’t matter.

Juliet turned to face me, a scowl on her face. The expression would be amusing, like a kitten trying to be tough, but seeing Will, knowing what he did… the anger inside me started to return, growing and growing until I had to crack my neck to release some tension.

“Do you want to tell Juliet what you did, or shall I?” I asked him, running a hand along the chair in the center of the room, fingers tracing the armrest and the leather strap attached to it.

The easygoing look Will wore to put Juliet at ease faded as he looked at me. “I didn’t do anything.” He sounded truthful, to his credit, but he’d always been good at playing the game, at convincing people of things. It’s how he’d survived out in the world for so long.

Got everyone on his side, and when they finally discovered how bad he really was, their hesitation to believe it gave him all the time he needed to get away.

Finally, Juliet started to realize something else went on here. Her blonde brows creased, and she glanced between us. “What’s going on? Will someone just tell me?” She settled on me, and because she decided to stare at me, I told her.

“Will has been taking it upon himself to touch you at night,” I said, watching as she swallowed and glanced at Will over her shoulder. “But, just like any animal, he couldn’t be satisfied with stealing touches, so he decided to steal something else.” I stepped around Juliet, walking up to Will, grabbing his jaw and letting my fingers dig into his skin. “Tell her how you fucked her, Will. Tell her how you had your way with her while she slept.”

Juliet said nothing, and through my rough hold on his face, Will sneered at me. I released him, stepping back to stand beside Juliet. She looked frozen, as if she couldn’t move, couldn’t say anything. Her eyes were glued to Will, and I couldn’t tell if she was shocked or angry.

That was fine. I was furious enough for the both of us.

“Tell her,” I growled out.

Juliet spoke up, her voice uneven, “Is it true? Did you… did you really do that to me?” It looked as though her mind raced, and I couldn’t imagine what she was thinking, if she felt hurt, betrayed… abused.

I meant it when I said she was mine. Mine, and if I wanted to hurt her, I would. That did not mean the others had free reign to do the same. Will should’ve known, and yet he saw fit to do what he did. He was lucky I did not kill him for what he’d done. If he had been anyone else, if he wasn’t a part of the family, I would have. He’d be nothing but ashes by now, his body burned in our incinerator.

“I needed you,” Will spoke slowly, his usual charisma less overpowering, less believable, due to both the way he was chained up and the bruises and cuts lining his body. He tried to grin, but the grin fell flat. “I wanted you, Juliet.”

“And so he took you,” I told her, breathing hard, feeling the innate urge to lose control, to go batshit on Will and never look back. To teach him a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget. I did not turn to face Will again; instead, I raised a hand, lifting my fingers to her jaw, much gentler with her than I’d been with him.

Juliet’s eyes fluttered closed at my soft touch, and I could not tell if she was upset with Will or not. Perhaps she was too intoxicated by my presence, as I normally was with hers—however, this was not something I could let pass.

How badly I wanted to let my hand drop lower, to run my fingers along the smooth plane of skin between her collarbone, down along her chest. How badly I wanted to finally taste the girl that had dominated my mind since the beginning, made me lose control.

I never lost control. I was always, always in control, and to not have it… to feel myself losing it all because of a girl who didn’t belong here, an angel who didn’t belong with the demons in this house, was a peculiar sensation. I supposed I’d always known it would happen eventually: me, giving in. Me, doing the opposite of what my father had taught me.

Instead of forcing her to her knees for me, it would be the other way around.

Although much more metaphorical, in my case.

I pulled away from her, causing her eyelids to flutter open and those pretty, entrancing blue orbs to gaze up at me. Her full lips parted ever so slightly, but she said not a word—probably because I reached to the buttons on my suit jacket, undoing them slowly. Our stares were locked as I took it off. I folded it, placed it on the counter on the side of the room, and then I reached for my tie, loosening it and pulling it up and off from around my neck.

A ritual she’d watched before, but those had been completely different circumstances. I was not too proud of what I’d done the last time I’d had her brought into the basement, now that I knew her father had literally kept her locked up when she didn’t listen to him.

I would not be like her father. He and I were not on the same level.

The tie went on top of the jacket, and then my watch was next. I didn’t need to look at it to undo the clasp, and as I set it onto the pile, I heard Will mutter under his breath, “Ooh, yay. You’re going to put on a show for her again? You’re going to teach me a lesson, Markus?” He laughed, a dark, hollow sound. “Maybe some people just don’t want to learn. Maybe they don’t like being preached at by a man who thinks he’s God.”

I tuned him out as I undid the buttons on my sleeves, near my wrists. I did not need to be everyone’s God; only hers.

If I was God to her, what was she to me? My most precious creation, my beautiful salvation… my achingly sweet and tempting downfall. Never, ever had anything felt so right. I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, Juliet Osborne was mine—and she would be mine until the end of time.

I began rolling up my sleeves, fold by fold, until they sat bunched near my elbows. I tried not to dirty up my clothes needlessly, plus, when you were seconds from going at someone who was sane, they knew enough to whimper and cower in fear. It upped the anticipation, the dread, the anxiety of what I’d do next.

Will, on the other hand, was too busy rolling his eyes at me. He wasn’t scared. He’d take the pain, and I now understood he would never be swayed from her. He’d locked in on Juliet, much like he’d locked in on his previous girlfriend—but she’d denied him when she’d learned the truth, and my brother Travis had brought him to me. It didn’t seem to be going the same way with Juliet; she didn’t look like she hated him.

No, how could she hate him when she was too entranced in me?

Perhaps the hate would come later, or perhaps it wouldn’t. Either way, I could hate hard enough for the both of us, and even if I did not end up killing Will for this, I would make him regret doing what he did by breaking him apart, piece by piece.

I turned away from her, well aware she watched my every move, facing Will on the wall. His hazel eyes had narrowed at me, his chest rising and falling with even breaths, as if wordlessly asking me to bring it on.

Oh, I would. I could feel the rage inside me, the jealousy, the fury. I could feel my heart pumping fast, the blood in my body racing through my veins. My hands flexed, and though various metal utensils sat in the corner of the room near my clothes, just beside the window to the hall, I did not go for them.

Not yet, anyway.

“Maybe,” I started, my voice a deadly growl, “if you apologize to her, I’ll go easy on you.” Even as I said it, though, I knew he wouldn’t. One look at Will and anyone would be able to tell how very unrepentant he was, the opposite of apologetic. He would never say he was sorry, for he wasn’t. He’d do it again and again. He wouldn’t stop because he was obsessed.

Kind of like me, but I guess we all went about our obsessions in different ways.

Will’s lips curled into a grin, and he flashed his perfectly white teeth at me. None of them were crooked; his gums were free of blood. He’d look much less charming if he was missing a tooth. Maybe I could arrange that.

“I’m not afraid of pain,” he whispered. “Anything for her.” The way Will spoke, it sounded as if he believed this was a trial, a test, like he had to get through this in order to have Juliet. What a fucking moron. If he thought, for one second, I’d ever let him have her… he was stupider than I thought.

I didn’t hesitate. I curled my fingers into a fist and slammed it against his jaw, on his cheek. The blow was hard, all of my muscle behind it, and his head whipped to the side as a result. He did not wince, but he did chuckle, as if my punch had only served to amuse him.

Let us see if he continued to laugh after I went harder at him.

I didn’t appreciate the merriment, and I responded by hitting him straight in the nose. This time, when my fist connected with his face, I heard a crack. The cartilage in his nose gave way, but instead of letting him be after that, I hit him again.

And again.

And again after that.

I hit him so much I lost track of how many times my fists connected with his body. His nose had broken, my assault causing bright red blood to flow down his face, getting in his mouth and staining his teeth and gums. I hit him in the stomach, and I could hear the air being forced out of his lungs.

He thought he could take the pain? Let’s put that to the test. Let us see if Will could withstand an unrelenting attack from yours truly. He thought he could overcome the pain, that it was some test he had to pass in order to obtain Juliet? Fucking ridiculous.

Pain broke everyone. You had to simply find out what that threshold was. Clearly, I hadn’t yet found it with Will, but I would. I would, and then I would break him like I thought I’d broken him years ago.

Break him down, build him back up into our image. Maybe Stella and I had succeeded in that a little too well, for he was much too like Lincoln, wanting to do his own thing, regardless of the consequences. Certain brothers of mine were just not very good at thinking about things in that way.

I was not like them. Not like them in that respect, nor was I like them in the fact that they felt pain. Maybe there was something off in my brain, a switch that had never been turned on in all my life; it didn’t matter.

Being unable to feel it only led to my attacks becoming fiercer and rougher, harder and quicker. The skin on my knuckles might’ve cracked and broken, but I didn’t stop to pay attention to it. I felt the pressure on my fists when they connected with Will’s body, but beyond that, I felt not a thing.

Other than the rage inside, I mean. The rage, the jealousy, the total hatred I felt toward Will in that moment.

Juliet was mine. If he could not realize it, he would spend the rest of his life down here, locked up, withering away until he became nothing but skin and bones, starving for not only food, but touch.

Yes, killing him would make me feel better, but knowing he was alive and unable to have the one thing he wanted—Juliet—would fill me with an even greater pleasure. It would be torture, pure and simple, and if I had to set aside this room forever for Will, I would. I would do it gladly.

I couldn’t tell how long I went at him, but I went at him hard. Hard and fast. I broke open the wounds on his chest, where I’d cut into him in hopes of drawing out the truth from him. He bled from his nose and the injuries dotting his torso, new bruises already forming. He looked like shit. Absolute shit.

And still, the fool grinned at me, as if asking me to keep going, telling me he wasn’t about to break, even with the pain. Blood lined his gums, coating his teeth. His grin was no longer the grin of a boyish, charming man, but instead a ghastly, gory display of hubris.

His blood coated my knuckles, mingling with mine. My forearms had been splashed with some of it, too. Blood… such a messy, messy thing. Try as I might, it always found a way to get on me no matter what.

It wasn’t the blood I minded. It was my clothes. Blood was so hard to get out of a suit, you know. So fucking hard, I usually just tossed bloody clothes into the incinerator and bought new. Much less hassle that way.

At this point, I didn’t know how long I’d been going at him, how long Juliet had watched, and I didn’t care, nor did I know how long I would continue this assault. Maybe I’d keep going until Will passed out, but so far, he’d proven quite adamant he’d stay conscious and grin at me all the while, through the grunts he made with each hard blow of mine.

Oh, yes, I had it in my mind to continue this lesson, to make him see the error of his ways, somehow. I wanted to hurt him as much as I possibly could, and I didn’t think anything would pull me away. I raised a fist to hit him again.

And then I felt a hand lightly touch the back of my bicep, a gentle, soft touch, and that hand caused me to freeze. Will’s grin fell off his face, but I was too busy turning my head to see Juliet had stepped closer to me and reached out for me.

She’d stopped me.

What was even more amazing, however, was the fact I let her stop me. I didn’t have to. I could’ve pushed her away and resumed hurting Will, but the moment I locked eyes with her, something else took over. Something other than rage toward the one chained up. I found my body slowly turning toward her, and she dropped the hand off my arm as I lowered my raised fist, my fingers unclenching when they fell to my sides.

Juliet stared up at me with big, beautiful eyes. Me, not Will, as it should be. She seemed so tiny, standing before me, and yet she was able to lift her arm again, bringing a hand to my face. I felt her thumb run against something on my jaw, and I wondered if I’d gotten blood there.

But, really, did it matter? Did it matter how messy I was, that Will was two feet away, watching our interaction with a scowl? No. The only thing that mattered was the way the anger toward Will subsided inside of me, instantly replaced by something else.

Hunger. Desire I’d never known before. A craving for one particular person, one girl, one body and soul. The thing in my chest began to beat fast for a different reason entirely, and I shot a hand up to Juliet’s neck, pulling her close and causing her hand to fall off my face. The blood on my fingers, on my knuckles, such a stark contrast to the whiteness of her skin, and I smeared some of Will’s blood onto that precious, smooth flesh in doing so.

My angel did look good in red, even if she didn’t realize it.

I did not hold onto her hard, more firm than anything, and I hoped the look I gave her right then told her of my intentions. Maybe it was due to the adrenaline coursing through my system right now, but I was done holding back. Done waiting. I would have my innocent little angel, my salvation. I would make my claim on every inch of that body.

Juliet’s eyelids fell somewhat, and she stared at me with a half-lidded expression. Though I couldn’t peer into her head, I’d say she wanted the same thing: to submit to me, to my will, to surrender and give herself to me fully, in the way she should’ve from the very beginning. We’d fought fate up until now, but we were both done pushing it away.

Sometimes the light was meant for the dark. So different, and yet, in the end, so much the same. What need was there for salvation, if there were no sinners doing what they did best? I was the biggest sinner of them all, and I would claim my salvation here and now.

I let go of her neck, and when I did, Juliet did not step away. She stood, rooted in place, as I started to pull at her clothes. Neither of us said a single word, for there was nothing left to say at this point. Her shirt came off, first. Then her bra. The moment those beautiful tits sprang free, her nipples hardened into pebbles, and she shivered.

Not to worry on that, though. I’d make her warm soon enough.

My cock had started to turn to steel the moment I’d decided I needed to have her here and now, but as I helped her out of her leggings and the panties beneath them, it became so very hard to move. It strained against my pants, bulging, my balls aching with a desperate desire, an urgent need to be buried between her thighs, to feel her sweet sex swallow me up.

I was so hungry for her I didn’t even care Will was behind me, that he could probably see some of her naked body around mine. I didn’t fucking care, because I was too busy letting my gaze travel up and down her, eating up her appearance.

Fuck. She was perfect. Too perfect. Smooth skin, no blemishes or scars to be seen. No tattoos. Nothing but soft flesh and curves, tits to die for and a tempting space between her thighs. Her blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders, stopping just above her chest, its kinky waves looking even more undone now that she was naked.

Naked, gorgeous, and one hundred percent mine.

My gaze landed on her neck, where I’d smeared some of Will’s blood. Either she didn’t notice, or maybe she didn’t care; either way, she stood there, shivering every once in a while, as I stared at her.

Right. Now it was my turn.

Taking off the rest of my clothes seemed like such a hardship, not to mention a total time-suck. Why would I want to take off my clothes when she was already bared and ready for me? Why waste the time when I could simply undo my pants, pull myself out, and push into her?

That’s what I do. That’s what I needed to do: to feel her cunt wrapped around my length immediately.

So that’s precisely what I did.

My hands deftly undid my belt, and then I worked to undo the button and zipper to my pants. My cock was as hard as it could be, but before I pulled it out, I grabbed her and hoisted her up into my arms. In the next moment, I had her back pressed against the tiled wall, the one perpendicular to where Will was, the one opposite the wall with the counter where numerous weapons lay for torturing.

Juliet let out a soft gasp when her spine touched the cold wall, and I helped her get her arms around my neck, spread those thighs and let her wrap her legs around my midsection. My hand found her neck, tilting it toward me, and my mouth came crashing down upon hers. Her lips were softer than they looked, and they looked pretty fucking soft.

Her mouth melded against mine, heat and hunger behind the kiss. It was a desperate thing, and as I tasted her, I knew I would be forever lost. Lost in Juliet, lost in everything she was, everything she would be. I could never let her go, no matter what her father did on his next job. We could worry about that when the time came, but for now… right now, I needed to fuck her into oblivion.

I tore my lips off hers, panting as I let go of her face and reached down between us, pulling my length out. My cock stood straight, thick and veiny, longer than her body could take, probably. It didn’t matter. I’d push as deep into her as I could, and then I’d give in to the need I’d felt ever since she’d stepped foot in this house.

My cock needed no guidance. It seemed to know exactly where to go, and I did not hesitate to thrust my hips and push it inside of her. I could’ve gone slow; I could’ve relished in the way her cunt took me in inch after inch, but I needed to feel her too much, needed everything all at once.

Juliet moaned when I filled her, her eyes rolling back into her head as her eyelids fluttered shut. The arms around my neck loosened, as if she couldn’t hold herself up while I was inside her. Didn’t matter; she was pinned against the wall, my body and my cock all she needed to stay in place. Pierced by me, she wasn’t going anywhere.

And I meant that in every sense of the word. Dear, sweet, innocent Juliet was mine.

Fuck it all to hell, she felt amazing. More than amazing. My body shuddered when I buried in her core, my cock twitching when it felt her tight walls clamping down around it. A low groan came from me, and as much as I wanted to slow down and revel in the feeling of her delicious pussy, I couldn’t.

I had to fuck her, and I had to fuck her hard.

So that’s what I did: I picked up a fast, rough rhythm, fucking her with everything I had, everything I was. My body felt hot in the clothes I still wore, screaming to be let free, but I could only focus on the feeling of her inner core swallowing my cock, milking me for all I was worth and then some. I could only focus on the pressure steadily growing inside my lower half, the pleasure threatening to explode already.

She was too much. She felt too fucking good. I couldn’t control myself, couldn’t slow down and take my time in pumping my cock into that wet hole. Her body fit so well against mine, so small but so fucking perfectly. I never wanted to let her go, never wanted my cock to not be buried inside her cunt. Every sound Juliet could make, each way she could move that body… I wanted it all. I would have it all.

It was after one particularly hard and fast thrust of my hips that I moved my face to her ear, fucking her with all the gusto I had. I whispered, my voice coarse and husky, “I told you, Juliet, didn’t I? I told you from the beginning you were mine.” My hand found its way to her neck again, squeezing it gently. “I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you say it while my cock is inside you.”

Juliet could only moan in response, which caused me to squeeze that slender little neck a bit harder.

“I want to hear you say it.” That time, my voice was a growl, feral, almost. Juliet seriously made me feel like an animal sometimes, not the man in control I always sought to be. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a scary feeling; more like strange, bizarre, the kind of feeling I never thought I’d have.

Two years ago, when I’d seen her at the masquerade, I’d felt drawn to her, but I tried to play it off. After all, I’d always felt oddly protective of her. Juliet might not remember, but that masquerade party was not the first time I’d seen her.

She’d lived her life in shadows, but not the right ones. From now on, she’d live in mine, not her father’s.

Her body squirmed against mine, and I could feel her inner walls tightening around my cock, clamping down even harder on my length. The action drew a rough growl from my chest, and my hand never left her throat. If she didn’t say it, if she didn’t do as I told her, I would claim every hole on her body right now—and I wouldn’t be gentle about it. I’d stop only when every hole of hers leaked cum, until she finally got it in her thick skull.

Juliet’s voice spoke, a hoarse whisper amongst my wild fucking of her cunt, “I’m yours.”

“Who do you belong to?” I slammed into her harder, causing her to moan.

Her answer came swiftly, “You.”

“And who gets to decide who you spread your legs for?” Another thrust of my hips.

“You,” Juliet whispered, starting to tremble. I could feel her muscles begin to tighten, and I kept hold of her neck, keeping up the pace of my hips as I pulled my head back to watch her unravel on my cock. She came, her orgasm swift and strong, and she couldn’t have been more beautiful.

Watching her lose it, feeling her core tighten around my length, pushed me to my own release. Hot, searing pleasure exploded inside me, overtaking me in every capacity. A groan came from me, surfacing before I could stop it, a low, carnal sound. I jerked my hips against her, pushing my cock as deep into her cunt as I could go, the tip of my dick twitching as I shot my load straight into her.

I’d known, deep down, this was what would happen. Me, needing to claim her, needing to have her. It’s why I had Doc give her birth control when she’d first arrived. I didn’t trust myself then, and knowing how good she felt around me, knowing how tight she was between her legs… I think I trusted myself even less now. I think I just might do anything to get lost in her body whenever and however I could.

I didn’t want to pull out of her right then; I wanted my cum to stay inside her, to further mark her as mine. This heated exchange between us… it couldn’t be over just yet, so it wouldn’t be. No, there was more of a lesson to be had here, at least for the third party in the room.

Though it was the last thing I wanted to do, I pulled my cock out of her cunt, dropping her so she could stand on her own two feet. My length was still hard, raring to go another round—and we would, just not here. No, our second go would be much closer to the one chained to the wall.

Juliet wobbled on her feet, and I helped steady her by gripping the back of her neck, moving her to walk with me. On the wall, Will watched with a slight frown, and that frown was tossed in my direction, over her head. He’d never give such a look to her. All of this, everything he’d done, was misguided and misplaced; all for Juliet. What he needed to realize was she was mine.

I felt the jealousy surge inside me once more when I positioned Juliet between Will and me. I held onto the back of her neck, turning her to face him, letting his hazel stare take in her naked, disheveled body. He wasn’t shy about it, and with a drop of my own stare, I saw his cock bulged against his pants. He’d probably watched us, pictured himself fucking her. It’s what I would’ve done in his place.

But I was not in his place. I was the one holding onto the girl, the one whose dick was wet with her arousal. My cum dribbled out between her thighs, not his.

My hand moved to slither around her throat, gripping her neck as I stepped us closer to him, stopping only when less than a foot stood between us. Juliet’s body leaned back against mine, her chest heaving from our recent fuck. She did not make a peep—though she did squirm a bit when I dipped my other hand low, sliding it down her stomach. I slid past her swollen clit, running my fingers along her slit. The wetness I felt there was a mixture of her slick and my oozing cum, and I scooped some of it onto my fingers.

I lifted those fingers to Juliet’s mouth, moving my gaze away from the top of her head and staring at Will, my expression hard. Will’s lips thinned into a line as he watched me stick my slick fingers into her mouth, and I kept them there. I kept them in her mouth until she got the picture and her tongue began to lick them clean.

At this point, I was done playing nice.

Only after my fingers were clean did I pull them out of her mouth. Releasing her neck, I instructed her, “Face me, and get on your knees. Let’s give Will a show, shall we?” My voice came out hard and strong, menacing and cruel. I did not try to temper myself. No, now was the time she and I would make a point, show Will just how much she belonged to me.

I could sense Juliet was anxious over what I was about to do, what I would make her do, but that would not stop me from doing it. The point would be made to everyone in the room: to Will, to Juliet, to myself.

No more denial. Only submission.

Juliet turned to face me, blue eyes on me as she slowly sunk to her knees. I had to spread my feet apart a bit, and once her face was level with my cock, I took hold of its base. In the fluorescent light, its length was slick.

I held it just before Juliet’s mouth. Still those pretty eyes stared up at me, but soon enough they’d be forced shut when I face-fucked her. I wouldn’t be as rough as I’d been with her cunt—the last thing I wanted to do was suffocate her with my cock—but I wouldn’t be too nice about it, either.

Me and nice didn’t mix, even when it came to the object of my affections. My obsessions.

“Open your mouth,” I ordered, when Juliet didn’t get the hint of why I wanted her on her knees between Will and me. Juliet was hesitant, but in the end, she did as I told her to, parting those deliciously plump lips and inviting me in. I pushed into her mouth, a low groan coming from my lungs as I added, “Watch your teeth.”

Yes, teeth clamping down on my cock was the last thing I wanted, and since Juliet had never had a dick in her mouth—at least from what I was aware—I figured it needed saying.

Being in a mouth was far different than being in a cunt, but in the end, it was the same. You were there seeking a release, seeking to please yourself with the help of someone else. The body part didn’t matter; only the destination did.

Although, that said, since it was Juliet on her knees before me and not anyone else, it did feel different. Better. Like a mouth had never felt so good wrapped around my cock.

I let her mouth get used to having me inside before pushing a bit deeper. She started to gag, and I ran a hand along her head, digging my fingers in her hair as I whispered, “Fight it, focus on me.” In spite of myself, my gaze flicked up to Will.

Oh, how he glared. How openly he hated me. I felt a smirk forming on my face, and I didn’t bother to wipe it away.

I think I won this round.

Juliet was a good listener. She struggled at first, but eventually she got the hang of it. It helped that I wasn’t asking her to suck me off; instead, I wanted to fuck that mouth and do it in front of Will, make him watch while I made her mine, make him see me force her to swallow every last shot of cum from my cock.

I never thought I would be a show-off when it came to it, but with Juliet on her knees before me, it was easy. So, so easy to rub it in Will’s face. I had her, and he didn’t—and he wouldn’t. He would never again know how deliciously sweet her body could be. I wouldn’t let him.

As I fucked her mouth, as her head bobbed below me, Edward’s words from earlier rose in the back of my head. Sometimes things happened. Sometimes feelings grew, and even though you tried to fight them, you couldn’t. Such as it had been for Stella, Lincoln, Edward, and Killian.

But I wouldn’t be like them. I wouldn’t.

I couldn’t. I needed to be in control too much, and just the thought of letting someone else have Juliet sent me off the edge. I didn’t see that changing. Not now, not ever.

I became a slave to the thrusting of my hips, to the feeling of her wet, warm mouth around my cock and the sound she made every time I pushed a little deeper into her. Her jaw would hurt after this, but that didn’t stop me. Nothing would. My fingers tugged at her hair, my knuckles cracked and bleeding from beating on Will earlier.

My stare locked with Will’s, and it was as I glared at him that I started to go at her mouth harder. Quick, successive thrusts of my hips, her mouth obedient. I did not stop myself when I felt another orgasm coming; I kept at her, ramming my cock into her mouth over and over until I felt my body tense. Hot, salty cum shot out of my cock, straight into her throat. I supposed I could’ve warned her, but I was too busy reasserting my dominance to do so.

Once the pleasure had subsided somewhat, I pulled out of Juliet’s mouth, allowing her to swallow and lick her lips. She breathed hard, as if allowing me to face-fuck her had taken the wind out of her.

Maybe it did. I guess I wouldn’t know what it was like on the receiving end.

I stuffed myself away, and once my pants were fixed and my belt re-done, I ran a finger along Juliet’s jaw. She remained on her knees before me, her head angled back, as if waiting for my next command.

I liked her submission… but I only wanted her to submit to me.

Juliet made me feel things I never thought I would, made me want things I’d been trained against lusting for. The dark desires she awoke in me would never be buried again, I knew. Never had I been a slave to my emotions, but when it came to her, I simply couldn’t help it. I felt her under my skin, in my thoughts, in my heart, in my bones.

Perhaps it was not Juliet’s innocence that was desecrated here. Perhaps it was everything else; me. Her holy, blinding light had shattered the darkness that had surrounded me since birth, brought me to life in a way nothing else ever had. Nothing would ever be the same.

And as I stared down into those big, gloriously blue eyes, I felt more certain than ever.

Everything was about to change—for me, for Juliet, for Will and Jaxon and everyone else in this house. Whether or not the change was good, whether we would find ourselves in paradise or in purgatory, well…

I suppose we’d have to wait to find out which one it would be.