Chapter 15: Alluring Darkness: Chapter 15

The street around me is dark and silent. Sitting on the bench at the bus stop, I wait for the next one to arrive so that I can get back into the city and then get a cab from there back to Blackwater. I drum my fingers against the worn wood. This took longer than I expected.

Missing three days of classes would’ve been terrible for everyone else on campus, but since I’m not going to become a real assassin anyway, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I have left Eli alone for three days. What if he has used that time to start messing with Connor again?

A pair of headlights appear at the end of the street. I’m about to stand up, thinking that it’s the bus, when I realize that it’s only a car. Remaining on the bench, I slide my gaze back to the buildings ahead instead.

Suspicion creeps over me when the car doesn’t speed past. I snap my gaze to it as it instead stops right in front of me. My heart does a double beat. It’s a black Range Rover.

Before I can get that realization through my brain, the passenger’s side door is opened and Kaden steps out. Jace appears from the backseat a second later.

“Hello, Raina,” Kaden says.

His eyes glint in the light from the streetlamp, and a shiver rolls down my spine. There is insanity in Eli’s eyes, but it’s a familiar kind of madness. The cold calculation that glitters like shards of ice in Kaden’s dark eyes is something else. Something crueler.

“Boys,” I reply.

For a few seconds, we just watch each other. I glance past Kaden to see Rico sitting in the driver’s seat. A strange sense of disappointment settles in my stomach when I realize that Eli is not with them.

“Get in the car,” Kaden orders.

I was on my way back to Blackwater anyway, and this will be much faster than taking the bus, so I just shrug and stand up. “Alright.”

Surprise blows across their features, as if they had expected me to refuse. With the two of them still watching me with wide eyes, I stroll past them and climb into the backseat. Since there are only four of us this time, I claim the other window seat.

Two thuds sound as Kaden and Jace get in and throw the doors shut behind them. Then Rico starts the car. After turning it around, he drives back down the street.

“Eli is not happy with you,” Rico comments from the driver’s seat.

“Aww, did he miss me?” I taunt, but I’m secretly kind of pleased to hear that my absence didn’t go unnoticed.

“You’d better have one hell of an explanation.”

“Why would I need to explain myself to him?”

“I would also suggest getting ready to grovel,” Kaden adds as if I hadn’t spoken. “Thoroughly.”

I snort and arch an eyebrow at him. “Do I really look like someone who grovels?”

From the seat next to me, Jace flashes me a wicked grin. “Everyone grovels in the end.”

Shaking my head, I roll my eyes and scoff.

Streetlights and houses turn into dark fields and forests as Rico drives us back to the area where all of Blackwater’s students live. I sit up straighter as we reach the first section, where all the dorm rooms are located. But Rico just drives right past it.

“Uhm, I live over there,” I say, turning in my seat and pointing towards the buildings we are quickly leaving behind.

None of them answer.

Since I’m not desperate enough to throw myself out of a moving car, I just turn back around again and shake my head at the three of them in annoyed silence.

Rico pulls up to a massive two-story building made of dark wood.

My mouth drops open. They live here? I thought it belonged to one of the professors or something.

As soon as we’ve stopped, I quickly unbuckle my seatbelt and slip out of the car while calling, “Well, thanks for the ride.”

I don’t even make it two steps before Jace appears in front of me, blocking my path. “Not so fast.”

With a quick sidestep, I try to dodge him. But he moves like a viper. Grabbing my arm, he twists it up behind my back hard enough to make me cry out. The sound is immediately cut off as he slaps his other hand over my mouth.

I uselessly try to fight him as he starts marching me towards the front door. Jace might be the youngest of the Hunters, but he’s definitely not the weakest. Pressed against him like this, I can feel his rock-hard muscles shift against my body.

Rico unlocks the front door and walks inside while speaking to Jace over his shoulder. “Get her up to Eli’s room. I’m going to grab some rope.”

A startled noise makes it out of my throat, but it’s blocked by Jace’s hand. Eli’s room? Rope? What the hell are they planning to do?

I dig my heels into every step up the stairs until Jace loses patience and lifts me up and throws me over his shoulder instead. At least it gets his hand off my mouth.

“Let me go,” I snarl, trying to twist my body out of Jace’s arm. “Or I swear to God, I will—”

“You’ll do what, exactly?” Kaden interrupts. He’s following us up the stairs, and that sadistic amusement gleams in his eyes as he gives me a mocking once-over where I lie across his brother’s shoulder. “You’re so far out of your league here that it’s almost ridiculous.”

Before I can retort, Jace yanks open a door and stalks inside.

My heart lurches as I’m met by an elegant room with dark wallpaper and polished wooden floorboards. All the furniture is made of dark wood. And everything, from the grand desk by one wall to the double bed opposite it, is neat and tidy. A testament to the fact that Eli demands control over everything and everyone around him.

The room even smells like him. I can’t pin down the exact scents, but it smells dark and mysterious and absolutely intoxicating.

For a moment, I’m so overwhelmed by that incredible scent that I lose track of what I’m supposed to be doing. The next second, Jace heaves me off his shoulder and tosses me down onto the large double bed.

The mattress bounces underneath me and the dark sheets rustle as I land back first on it. I try to scramble into a sitting position, but before I can, Jace straddles me.

Air escapes my lungs in a huff as he settles his massive weight right on top of my chest. Kicking my legs and pushing against his thighs with my hands, I try to get him off me, but his muscular body remains firmly where it is.

While I’m busy cursing him to hell, Rico walks through the door carrying a bundle of thick ropes. He tosses two of them to Kaden before starting towards my legs.

My heart pounds in my chest and a throbbing starts at my core as the two of them deftly secure the ropes around my wrists and ankles and then tie me to the bedframe with efficient moves.

Once all the ropes are in place, Jace climbs off my chest. I draw in a deep breath now that his weight is no longer pressing down on my lungs. Then I try to yank my arms and legs free. My restraints remain firmly in place.

Well, they sure know their way around knots.

Narrowing my eyes, I turn to glare at the three brothers now standing by the side of the bed, watching me with amused expressions on their faces.

“Seriously?” I pull at the ropes again. “Were you all boy scouts or what?”

Jace chuckles, and Rico gives me a nonchalant shrug. But Kaden only walks over to the desk and writes something on a piece of paper. Once he’s done, he returns with it and a paperclip.

My pulse thrums in my ears as he leans over the bed and reaches towards my chest. But all he does is to secure the paper to my shirt using the paperclip. I raise my head as much as I can and read the two words written there.

Have fun.

My stomach flips.

“Have fun?” I challenge, staring at them in disbelief. “Have fun? Fuck, has anyone ever told you that you’re a bunch of arrogant entitled assholes who don’t—”

“Kaden,” Jace interrupts. “Don’t you have something to shut her up with?”

A wicked smile spreads across Kaden’s lips. “Of course I do.”

I yank furiously against the ropes again while Kaden disappears out the door. “When I get out of these restraints, I will—”

“If you get out of these restraints,” Rico interrupts, “it will be because Eli allows it. So if I were you, I would take Kaden’s advice from earlier and start practicing your groveling. Like I said, he’s not happy with you right now.”

“He’s not happy? I’m the one who’s…” I trail off as Kaden returns carrying three items. My eyes go wide. “What is that?”

He holds them up one at a time while saying, “Blindfold. Noise-cancelling headphones. Penis gag.”

“Seriously?” Rico says, and sighs in exasperation.

“What?” Kaden replies.

“The blindfold and the noise-cancelling headphones?”

“Of course. Sensory deprivation only makes the waiting so much more… thrilling.”

They continue to bicker but all I can do is stare at that penis gag. It’s a black rubber ball with straps set into the sides. Except the ball isn’t completely round. On one side is a thick rubber penis that looks like it will fill my entire mouth.

Before I can get my wits about me again, Kaden climbs onto the bed and forces my jaw open. Then he shoves the penis gag into my mouth. It’s so big that it hits the back of my mouth when Kaden tightens the straps behind my head. I gag.

Kaden just smirks at me and gives my cheek a couple of brisk pats. “Remember what I said. Grovel.”

Then he slips the blindfold over my head and places the headphones over my ears.

Everything goes dark and unnaturally silent.

I shake my head, trying to get them off, but it only makes the rubber cock hit the back of my mouth once more. I gag yet again. Yanking against the ropes, I try futilely to get free. They don’t give an inch.

My heart slams against my ribs.

I have no idea if the Hunters are still in the room, watching me, or if they have already left. And I won’t know when Eli returns either. But there is nothing I can do about that.

Settling back against the mattress, I place my head in a position where the gag doesn’t hit my throat. And then I do the only thing I can do.

I just lie there and wait for Eli to show up.

It’s impossible to tell how much time passes. Just like Kaden said, the sensory deprivation screws with my perception until time loses all meaning. Ten minutes could have passed. Or ten hours.

All I can feel is my heart thudding in my chest and the ropes pressing against my bare skin.

Soft fingers brush against my leg.

A jolt shoots through me like a lightning strike, and I jerk my head up. The move makes the rubber cock hit my throat again. I gag and then force myself to lie back down again so that it won’t trigger another gag reflex. But I can’t stop myself from turning my head this way and that, trying to see or hear anything. When it doesn’t work, I yank against my restraints again.

Those soft fingers trail over my knee and up my thigh. And because I can’t see or hear anything, my sense of touch is incredibly heightened, so every brush of his fingers makes lightning crackle across my skin. I squirm against the mattress.

The fingers disappear.

My heart pounds against my ribs.

Then the headphones are lifted off my ears, and sound rushes back to me. Suddenly, I can hear the groan of the ropes as I pull on them, the sound of my own heavy breathing, and the faint rustle of someone’s clothes.

My heart stutters as those gentle fingers trace my cheekbones. Then they curl underneath the edge of the blindfold. I blink against the sudden light as the dark fabric is pulled off my head.

When my vision clears, I find myself staring up at a dangerously handsome face. A smirk plays over Eli’s lips. His dark hair is slightly messy, as if he has just showered and then dragged his fingers through it. And his eyes, those eyes the color of burnt gold, stare down at me with an intensity that snatches the breath from my lungs. I run my gaze over the scar that cuts through his left eyebrow and down his cheek.

Fuck, he looks like a ruthless god come to claim his vengeance.

Heat spreads through my stomach, and my clit throbs.

He cocks his head. “Princess.”

“Asshole,” I reply, but he of course can’t hear it through the gag.

“When I remove this gag, the first words out of your mouth had better be a satisfactory explanation detailing where you have been these past three days. Followed by a groveling apology.”

Since I can’t speak, I just raise my eyebrows expectantly, silently telling him to get on with it. Something flickers in his eyes. But in the end, he just climbs onto the bed.

The mattress dips underneath me as he swings a leg over my body so that he’s straddling my hips. I raise my head as he leans forward and reaches for the gag. His fingers deftly undo the clasp behind my head.

I draw in a deep breath as he at last pulls the thick rubber cock out of my mouth and tosses the gag onto the nightstand. He straightens but remains straddling my hips while I work my jaw to relieve the ache in it.

When I don’t say anything, he arches a dark brow at me. “Well?”

“I was finishing things up at my other school.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I dropped out three weeks into my second year without even telling them. So I had to go back there and formally withdraw from the program and clear out my dorm room and everything.”

“And you thought you could just do that without informing me?”

“Why the hell would I inform you about that? God, you’re so—”

“That’s right, I am your God now.” He leans forward and wraps his hand around my throat. “And you do not leave this academy without my permission. Is that clear?”

My pussy aches at the unflinching command in his voice and the power pulsing from his entire being, but instead of succumbing to the heat searing through my veins, I laugh up into his face. “In your dreams, pretty boy.”

His fingers tighten around my throat, and he rakes his gaze up and down my body. “Big words for someone who is tied up and helpless underneath me right now.”

The throbbing in my clit intensifies.

Eli narrows his eyes, studying me with a penetrating gaze that seems to burn all the way through me. Amusement, and what looks like satisfaction, blows across his features.

“Are you turned on by this, princess?”

Clamping my jaw shut, I just stare back at him.

He releases my throat and instead leans back. I try desperately to close my legs as he moves his hand towards my pussy, but the ropes around my ankles keep my legs spread wide open.

Heat rushes into my cheeks as he brushes his knuckles over my pussy, because I know that my panties are wet.

A glittering smile spreads across Eli’s lips as he locks eyes with me again. “So, being completely at my mercy makes you wet, huh?”

I shoot a pointed look down at the massive bulge in his pants. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about the fact that having me tied up in your bed against my will turns you on?”

“Oh, I’ve never tried to deny that I crave, and demand, complete control over others. In bed, and all other areas of life.”

I open my mouth to retort, but Eli draws his fingers along my entrance before I can, and a moan slips past my lips instead. He lets out a dark chuckle. I yank against the ropes while Eli adjusts his position so that he is kneeling between my spread legs instead.

He slowly drags hungry eyes over my body. “Look at you, just begging to be punished.”

A thrill races down my spine, and my clit throbs with dark desire.

Deep down, I know that I shouldn’t find this so fucking hot. That being turned on by threats and violence is wrong. But the part of me that cares about right and wrong is long gone.

The thought of my control being taken away from me, the knowledge that Eli can do whatever he wants to me right now and there is absolutely nothing that I can do to stop him, turns me on so fucking much that my body thrums with need.

As if he can read all of those forbidden feelings on my face, Eli smirks like a bloody satisfied panther. I start to retort, but I never find out what I was planning to say, because right then, he pushes aside the fabric of my panties and brushes his fingers against my bare pussy.

Lightning shoots up my spine, and I try to arch up from the bed, but the ropes keep me firmly trapped against the mattress.

I suck in a gasp as Eli circles my clit with his thumb.

The pent-up tension that has been building inside me ever since his brothers tied me to this bed roars to life. Another moan drips from my lips as Eli continues working his fingers, making the pleasure inside me grow.

“Do you want me to make you come, princess?”

Keeping my mouth firmly closed, I squeeze my eyes shut as he continues rubbing my clit with perfect precision.

He traces his other fingers right over my entrance, sending a jolt through my body. “Do you?”

My pussy aches from his sweet torture, so I force myself to press out, “Yes.”

“Then you’re going to have to beg me for it.”

“What is it that you and your psycho brothers don’t understand about this? I don’t beg.”

“Oh, you will.”

My eyes fly open as Eli pushes two fingers inside me. Pleasure courses through my whole body, making me jerk hard against the ropes, as he starts slowly pumping his fingers in and out while simultaneously rubbing my clit with his thumb.

Incoherent noises fall from my lips, and I throw my head from side to side, as the tension inside me grows to unbearable levels.

“Beg,” Eli orders.

Squeezing my eyes shut again, I clamp my jaw and instead try to shift my hips to get his hand more firmly against my pussy. He just moves it back and continues torturing me. I can feel the orgasm looming. But it never comes. His fingers are just a little too gentle. A little too slow.

A frustrated groan rips from my throat.

“Beg,” Eli commands again.

I writhe against the mattress, trying to force an orgasm from sheer force of will, but it doesn’t work. Eli’s clever fingers stroke my clit and slide in and out of my pussy, but it’s never enough. My mind threatens to shut down when he just keeps pushing me closer and closer to that sweet edge while never letting me fall over it.

“When training a new pet,” Eli begins, his voice like dark silk over my skin. “I’ve heard that it’s better to start small and work your way up.” His thumb circles my clit, making a shudder rack my frame. “So I will settle for a please this time.”

I suck in desperate breaths. It feels like my brain is going to melt. I need release. I need it more than anything right now. So I force my stubborn pride aside and press out that one word he wants to hear.

“Please,” I gasp.

A dark chuckle rolls from his chest. “Good girl.”

He shifts the pressure on my clit at the same time as he curls his fingers on the way out of my pussy.

Release explodes through my body.

A cry of pleasure rips from my lungs, and my legs shake with the force of the orgasm crashing through my limbs. Eli continues pumping his fingers, prolonging the sensation, while I come hard all over his hand. I yank against my restraints as pleasure crackles through my veins like electricity.

When the last of it fades out, all I can do is just to lie there and stare up into the dark wooden ceiling. My chest heaves and heat radiates from my cheeks.

Fuck, this guy knows how to use his hands.