The Dove & the Darkness (Ceasefire Series book 5) Page 11

  A man has a woman pinned against a wall. “Fuck love. It causes nothing but torment and destruction. Now lust? That’s something I understand well.”

  I see them all.

  Hear them all.

  More just adding to the mix every passing second.

  Darkness.

  So much darkness. It scrapes impatiently at my consciousness like it has before wanting to come in. More flood through, suffocating me with emotions and sensations. I have no way to break above the flow. The current of the visions weigh me down taking with it any illusion I can escape. I’ve drowned like this a million times before. Trapped. Screaming silently with no one to hear me, sinking faster and faster.

  Outside awareness laps at the edge of my mind. One thread snagging on a branch of clarity in the swollen river of images playing through my head.

  “Cassandra.”

  The far-off voice winds itself around my soul, anchoring me in place. I recognize it. It brings a sense of peace that swells through the distress I’m locked in. A feeling of safety.

  Massaging, caressing a hand grips my hip, strong calloused fingers moving over the softness. Warmth creeps across my senses. The sensation of a large naked muscled body spooning my back. A rough male thigh wedged between my own.

  My eyes remained closed, the fragmented echoes of other people’s lives still choking me in their pull. Gently I’m turned until the mattress cradles my spine.

  “My beautiful Dove, don’t lose yourself. Come back to me.” Soren’s whisper is strangely strained.

  “Master, please.” His name is a whispered scrap of raspy sound in the air from my throat.

  A mouth presses to mine. Soft and gentle, it brings with it more consciousness. Shyly, I kiss him back, my own lips clinging to the contours of his.

  The storm in my head recedes.

  Eyelashes flicking up, I’m greeted with intense browns ones. Master looms above me. His huge, naked, muscular frame should be intimidating, but it’s not. Face pale, the silvery scars on the damaged side stand out in stark relief. His dark brown curls are a sexy mess.

  “You will not let your visions overwhelm you again like that when you are with me. Do you understand?” His voice is firm and scolding. All traces of the worry and concern I’d heard before are gone.

  “It’s not always that easy. Sometimes it’s like a storm I have no way of fighting,” I admit in a small, shaken voice, still anxious at how far they had taken me this time. Frightened one day I might not come back. What would I be then? Nothing. Wiped from existence.

  “You were far away. I could sense you getting further and further out of reach. Then you cried out for me.”

  I had? Just the knowledge that he’d heard me when no one else ever has makes me stare up at him in awe.

  A hand closes over my left breast. Fingers stroke my nipple to a hard peak making me cry out.

  Dipping to my neck, Master’s rough tongue licks along the curve up to my jaw. “No flying away unless I let you.”

  Greedily curving up, I press the globe more firmly into his touch. “Please…touch me. Keep them away. Keep me anchored. You’re the only one who can.”

  Traveling down, his palm finds the quivering flatness of my stomach.

  Biting the edge of my lip, I move restlessly under his touch.

  Finally his exploration discovers my core, which is throbbing with a life and need of its own. My thighs clamp automatically down on the hand that settles between my thighs.

  “These are my quarters. Here you will hide nothing from me.”

  “I’ve never…” I trail off. This beast of a man already knows I’m a virgin. Voicing it again would be a waste of words.

  Forcing them open to his hungry gaze, Master runs the tip of his nose up the inside of the left one. “I’m going to fuck you, Cassandra. Now. In my bed. Take what we both know was destined to be mine all along.”

  My mouth is so dry all I can do is nod. I think I might die if he stops now. Since the first moment he touched me when I first woke up in his keeping, a painful pulsation has been building in my pussy, which is only been getting worse. He’s become the focus of my world in this miserable confinement. A constant I can’t stop myself from craving. Why not give him my virginity before Mistress Kalia has someone else here take it against my will.

  Arching off the bed when his tongue darts between my folds, I fist the sheets beneath me with a death grip. I want to touch him. Caress his own body but I know I’m not allowed. I have no doubt that Master would punish me if I disobey his commands.

  “You're so wet for me. Look how you drench my hand.” A finger thrusts into my aching wet channel. Curling against a sweet spot on my inner walls, his tongue latches onto my clit. Pumping his finger in and out of me, he continues his assault.

  “Yes, please,” I babble in frantic abandonment. “Don’t stop.”

  An orgasm takes me swiftly as he rings pleasure from my pussy.

  Sagging on the bed bonelessly, my legs tremble with aftershock.

  “I’ve never tasted anything as sweet as you. Ambrosia pales in comparison.” Levering himself above me, Master’s brown, piercing eyes meet mine. “You’re a greedy girl for orgasms. You’ve haunted my dreams since you got here. From the moment I saw you, all I’ve been able to think about is burying myself inside you. It’s an obsession I’ve not been able to shake.”

  Lowering himself between my legs, his cock teases my entrance. I can’t stop myself from rolling my hips. It’s an instinct I can’t deny. A mounting sense of excitement takes me over.

  “Do you want me, Little Dove? Do you want me to rip away the last of your innocence and make it mine?” He says the words almost savagely.

  “Please, Master Soren.”

  “I want to hear you beg.”

  I crave the beast. The Dom. He sets my soul on fire. Consumes my attention every time he draws near. For once in my life, I want to forget my purpose and responsibilities. I want to selfishly indulge in what my captor is offering. Give in.

  He calms my spirit. Soothes my mind. A respite from the constant battle to stay lucid. My head has never been this quiet. So at peace. He’s become the lull in the eye of my non-stop storm. A haven from the visions. Whatever kinks and perversions he still has in store, I will embrace them wholeheartedly.

  There’s no hesitation as I give him what he wants. “Please put your cock inside me. Make me yours, Master. Fuck me.”

  The rough alien intrusion of his shaft spearing into me has my limbs tensing in discomfort. It hurts. Blinking back tears, I cry out with the pain. The anticipation I felt before diminishes at the realization I’m not prepared for this. Sex is nothing like I imagined it to be.

  Screwing my eyes shut, I feel the tears break free to slide down my cheeks. My pained whines at the loss of my virginity are muffled as lips crush my own in a brutal kiss. Opening without thought, I taste myself on his tongue, submitting to all the sensation tearing my body apart.

  Cupping my buttocks, he draws me even closer. Within me, his pulsating length swells and fills me with his own eagerness. Stilling he holds himself inside me.

  The kiss morphs into a slow, thorough claiming of my mouth.

  “You’re mine now, Cassandra. Your one and only,” he mutters heatedly when we break apart.

  “Yes, only yours,” I whimper in agreement knowing right down to my soul it's true.

  Thrusting slowly, he wraps my legs around his hips, the dark arrow of hair on his chest rubbing over my sensitive tits. It just adds to the stimulation. His muscled form against my softer one. The heat rolling off him.

  “Beautiful, beautiful girl.” He grunts, driving into me harder.

  Crying out eyes wide, I’m incapable of coherent thought. Master takes over my senses with everything he’s doing. The pleasure he generates feeds on itself, making me clutch his shoulders in unfamiliar desperation.

  22

  Soren

  Thrusting into Cassandra forcefully, I twist my hips on eac
h movement.

  I will conquer her.

  All of her.

  My dreams and fantasies finally flowering into reality.

  I’ve never had someone so responsive. I want to draw in her youth and vitality. Steal it greedily away and make it my own. Touch her sweetness.

  When fucking other female slaves, I’ve always used protection. There’s been no urge to impregnate a woman. Yet with Cassandra, the thought of having a thin covering of latex separating us has never entered my mind. I wanted to fill her up with my cum. My seed.

  I have no control. She brings out the beast in me. Seeing the lust on her face has driven me over the edge with a need for her. She’s mine. Has been from the first night she arrived. Every instinct I possess screams out in that moment of truth.

  Next time, I’ll pleasure her longer before I fuck her. Have her writhing and begging longer before I sink into her welcoming wet clasping heat.

  Taking her lips in another kiss, I drink in her sweet little cries knowing they’re my undoing.

  Somehow she’s managed to penetrate my walls. She takes everything I give.

  Blue eyes glazed with bliss, her tiny nails claw at my shoulders and along my back.

  I can’t get close enough. Even balls deep inside her, it isn’t enough. The need to curl up in the light emanating from her soul has me wanting to crawl within her and make it my home.

  Coming in one long, agonizing, beautiful shudder, Cassandra cries out beneath me.

  Following her over into paradise, I ram her down into the mattress. Hissing, hands on her hip’s, fingernails digging into her skin, I cum inside her violently.

  Cassandra convulses in innocent response to the carnal pleasure she’s just experienced. I know she’s lost control. She’s become nothing but sensation and ecstasy.

  Groaning I finish spilling the last of my seed. I watch the light play across her skin. She lays twitching and shivering with aftershocks. Easing gently out of her, I wrap her smaller body in my arms. I won’t bring her down from this high. For now, I am content to hold her while she flies in the freedom I’ve just bestowed.

  23

  Cassandra

  Cocooned in warmth, I wake. The sound of screaming and shouting infiltrate slowly through my drowsy mind.

  “What’s that?” Voice thick from sleep, awareness washes over me. The room is bathed in the soft glow of firelight from the hearth. Master’s rooms. His private domain, and I’m naked in his bed.

  Nestled on his chest, he continues to trace lazy patterns over the length of my spine. “The inmates.”

  “You mean prisoners? Is this a prison?”

  He hesitates before answering. “Tartarus. The place my kind confine those who displease them, along with many monsters.”

  His kind?

  I’ve given myself to him. It should feel wrong, shameful instead of so right. I wanted this. I wanted him. After he’d fucked me, I’d succumbed to exhaustion. He woke me more than once to have me again. Taking me gently, sweetly, drawing out the pleasure, sweeping me away until all I could do was whimper and beg. Not once had the visions plagued me.

  Tilting my chin up, I meet his hazel eyes. Gold flecks swirl in the deepest depths in such a mesmerizing way I’m instantly caught. Butterflies, a thousand of them, flutter inside my belly. Even damaged, this hulking male is a beautiful sight. Hewn from ferocity and carved in darkness, his muscular frame is mine to see at my leisure, at last, in the flickering fire light. Hair dusts his chest, arrowing down toward his groin. At the end of the leather cord around his neck, the gold ring I’ve glimpsed before lays gleaming.

  Boldly I raise my hand, my fingers outlining the raised scars on his flawed cheek, the softness of his dark curls brushing my skin. “Do they hurt?” I ask in a whisper.

  Watching me intently, he allows my curiosity. “They used to but not anymore.”

  “What did this to you?”

  Taking my wrist, he ends my exploration by tugging my arm away. “A monster.”

  Something that lives here? Something that had gotten out? Questions hover on my lips, but I don’t voice them. I don’t want to lose this moment. My muscles are languid and relaxed. One night sleeping in a real bed again instead of a hard bench, and I’m practically purring.

  Master brushes loose strands of hair away from my face, looping them behind my right ear.

  “Are you sore?”

  I can’t stop myself from smiling at the gruff emotion in his voice. “A little.”

  I see the passion in his eyes, the caring in his large calloused, brutal hands. Days ago, I could never have imagined finding myself here like this.

  It’s strange to realize I feel happy in the big sheltering embrace of his body. Safe, cared for, the focus of his attention I’ve steadily grown a need for.

  Swirling my fingertips over the ink adorning his chest, I ghost them over the skulls. “Do these mean something?”

  Master is silent for a beat. “They represent the lives of loved ones I’ve lost.”

  Startled at the revelation, I glance at them anew. All of them? There are so many macabre flowers on the curling vines. They cover his arms, chest, and back right down to his hips.

  His fingers sweep down my side, distractingly causing me to giggle and wriggle.

  “I like that sound. It’s as pretty as your tears.” Leaning in, his lips find mine in the gentlest of kisses. “Are you hungry?”

  Mouth clinging to his a moment longer, I reluctantly lounge away. “Yes, I’m starving.”

  Food sounds like a good idea. I’m confused with my emotions but having the comfort of something to eat is something I can start with.

  Rolling me to the side, Master rises to his elbow, dipping down to steal a few more kisses. “Breakfast awaits.”

  Tracking his movements, I watch in female satisfaction as he climbs from the bed. A behemoth of tattooed perfection, his skin is flawless and muscled. I can only guess at how he’s honed his masculine frame into a weapon.

  Hearing the muffled cries of the intimates grow in volume beyond the walls once again, I shudder with foreboding. I don’t want to return to my cell. To the dank dark place of isolation and despair. I’ll do anything to avoid it.

  Crawling carefully from the mattress, I wince as I move. I feel the unfamiliar aches inside my body. Sex, for the first time, was not how I imagined. Something tender, loving was how I’d pictured my first time with someone who loved me. Master took me with a rough, demanding urgency. His determination had both frightened and thrilled me. His experience had been more than obvious.

  “Stop thinking, Little Dove, and come and eat.”

  Attention snapping up, I find him watching me closely. A long table I don’t remember seeing the night before is in the center of the room. On its surface is a selection of cold meats, freshly baked bread, cheeses, and pastries.

  Stomach rumbling at the sight, I take the chair Master holds out for me. I should be embarrassed by my nudity, but after days forced to wear nothing, I’ve become used to it. I’m more fascinated in my captor’s. The hardness of his own muscular bulk and the restless power that it sheathes.

  Taking his own seat, Master fills his plate with food. Taking his lead, I gather what I can onto my own before stuffing some ham into my mouth. It feels like forever I’ve tasted something so good. Chewing quickly, I stuff another slice into my mouth.

  Master observes me with amusement lighting his dark eyes. “Slow down or you’ll choke. There’s enough food, and it isn’t going anywhere until we’re finished.”

  Wiping my lips with the back of my hand, I snatch up a pastry. “This is better than those packet sandwiches you’ve been giving me.”

  “Those are the standard meals for slaves here.”

  My appetite wanes. “Are you planning on sending me back to my cell?”

  Pouring wine from a jug into two goblets, Master pushes one toward me across the table. “Tell me what your visions tell you.”

  “You want me to give y
ou a demonstration. Perform for you like a pet monkey?” I answer dully.

  Why does that hurt? He’s my kidnapper, so this knowledge shouldn’t affect me, but it does. That’s all I’ve ever been worth. The power I wield. Not ever once wanted for myself. Who I am inside. Cassandra.

  “No,” he answers simply. “Your bloodline stretches right back past the Oracle at Delphi. I know very well what you can do and would never ask you to foretell unless you chose to. I was just curious why you can’t see what happens to yourself.”

  Chin dipping, I hide behind the curtain of my long black hair. He’s right. It’s rare I can see what the future holds for myself. When I do, it's my death. The images creep into my head, a reel over and over.

  Pain explodes through my chest. Merciless golden eyes glare down at me from above. I can’t breathe. The air is ripped from my lungs, but as my mouth opens, no sound escapes.

  Despair rising, I keep my attention glued on the plate, knowing the food will now taste like ash in my mouth. Is it Master I see or some other demented being that resides in this place?

  “It's other people’s lives I’m afflicted with,” I mumble. The scars on my arms itch with remembered helplessness. My only relief from things that have always been out of my control. Cutting for relief, to feel pain that’s mine not someone else’s.

  “The God Apollo fell in love with your ancestor who was also named Cassandra. He blessed her with the gift of sight as a token of his affections.”

  He knows of my heritage. Not even the Devil himself, my father, talks of it. What I know comes from my mother before I was taken to Hell. The rest I’ve researched and pieced together.

  “He cursed her, you mean. Condemned all of us who followed her.”

  “You’re connected to the very fabric of the universe. It’s only a war within you because you have let your abilities shackle and bind your mind,” Master continues patiently, although I know he’s heard the bitterness in my words. “It rules over you.”