Adara’s Pet

After I agreed to behave and not run off, Loch and Hael sent my friends home and left me to explore the mansion while they worked.

It felt like freedom, but also not. When Zayda and Thea had left and I walked with them to the front door, I felt a pulse run through me, pulling me away from the door. It was like a magnet, repelling me from the exit.

I felt it again as I walked around the mansion. Whenever I got too close to a window on the lower level, and again when I leaned against a balcony railing off a room on the second floor.

But the worst was in the garden off the side of the kitchen. The forest was just beyond it, and the force field surrounding the property took issue with me approaching the edge. Though I tried, I couldn’t step beyond the stone path and into the wildflowers on the edge of the forest.

~What the fuck were they playing with?~

I should have known that my ~freedom~ came with a cost.

My situation was looking more and more bleak by the second.

Loch and Hael would stop at nothing to keep me against my will.

But I resolved to remain strong.

I wouldn’t let them break me.

They thought I was just a meek little mouse that they could toy with, but they were ~so~ fucking wrong.

They’d always been at the top of the food chain, but me? I was used to being at the bottom.

I had to fight to survive every day of my life in Requiem City, and I wouldn’t stop fighting now.

But I wasn’t just fighting for myself.

~Darshan.~

~Harry.~

~Zayda.~

~Thea.~

They were my strength. I’d get through this for them.

I wouldn’t be the girl in chains who’d succumbed to madness in that movie I’d watched with the brothers so long ago.

~Date night.~

What a perverse thought that was now.

There’d been a brief moment in time when I’d thought I might actually feel something for the brothers.

I wanted to get to know the ~real~ them.

Well, now I had, and it fucking sucked.

Though, I also didn’t want to leave. There was something compelling me to stay.

I could admit to being somewhat turned on by their handsome faces, and sculpted bodies, and silky hair that I wanted to run my fingers through, and the touch of their hands on my body.

And a year before, they’d seemed so much nicer, much more willing to take my wants and needs into consideration.

But now I knew the truth. Underneath that billionaire-playboy sheen, Loch and Hael were nothing but pure evil. I couldn’t give in. Couldn’t let them take my virginity.

The longer I stayed here, the more danger I was in.

I found myself at the bottom of a staircase that I hadn’t climbed yet. I looked up but couldn’t see the top landing.

And then the pulse was back, pushing me forward this time. I tried to stay still, to not give in to its power, but I couldn’t. I took one step, then another, and another, all the way to the top.

With each step I took, I said a mantra to myself.

~I will not break.~

~I will not break.~

~I will not break.~

~I will not…~

I was paralyzed by what I saw at the top of the stairs.

It sucked every ounce of hope from my body, what little I had been storing up.

~Darren.~

But this was not the Darren that I knew a year ago.

This Darren was wearing a collar around his neck, and his bare torso was covered in scars.

There was a brand on his side of a coiled dragon, similar to mine.

No, this wasn’t the Darren I knew…

This was Adara’s pet.

Darren leaned oh-so-casually against the banister, sizing me up with mascara-blackened eyes. His biker outfit made him look like an undead punk rocker. He didn’t look at all out of place haunting this spooky mansion.

“You haven’t changed a bit. I mean, you’ve filled out some,” Darren said as his gaze drifted admiringly to my chest, still visible in the nearly see-through nightgown.

I folded my arms over my chest immediately.

“But that’s it. You don’t look a day older than the last time I saw you.”

“You do,” I fired back. Darren looked sickly. His gaunt face and chalky-white skin went beyond your typical starving androgynous emo look. He looked like he’d spent the past year locked in a basement.

“I no longer need to keep up my muscles. I’m not the thug you remember…if I ever was.” He shrugged. “Plus, it’s worth the trade-off to live here,” he said, gesturing to our luxurious surroundings.

“You mean…you’re happy?” I asked in a skeptical tone. Who could enjoy living under the thumbs—sorry—~the claws~ of a family of dragons? Darren looked as drained as a juiced orange. Nevertheless, he offered a tight smile.

“Happy? I’m better than happy. I get to fuck Adara five times a day, any way I want.” His voice lowered to a heated whisper. “She’s a total freak, Maddie.”

“I really didn’t need to know that,” I said, moving away.

“Don’t give me the good-girl act with that sexy little number you have on,” Darren scoffed, eyeing my nightgown. “You better not have been screwing around behind your mates’ backs.”

“How do you know about that?” I asked, stopping.

“I know more than you think. I know about the prophecy, the threats coming their way.”

He tilted his head and gave me a wink. “I know about your brand. I know you’re mated to two scaly Dragon Lords horny as hell for you.”

Darren’s eyes glowed with carnal energy. “We’ll have to trade stories,” he continued. “Dragons are masters of pleasure…and ~pain~.” The last word made him tremble with arousal.

“Pain?”

A sudden fear pierced my heart. There was no question Loch and Hael were into some fucked-up kinky shit. They were dragons, after all. But would they actually hurt me? What did Darren know that I didn’t?

“I’m sure you’ll learn about that soon enough,” he said with a mysterious grin.

But wait. He also said something about a prophecy. “What about the prophecy? What is it? And what does it have to do with—”

“Darren!”

Darren’s slumped posture straightened instantly. He stood like a soldier as Adara walked up the stairs, swinging a leather leash. “Morning, my love,” he said, his pheromones practically swirling in the air around him.

Adara hooked the leash to his collar and fiercely pecked his cheek. “You were supposed to be in my bed five minutes ago.”

Darren checked a nearby grandfather clock, his pale face turning paler.

“So sorry, my love…,” he said. Adara’s eyes bored into him like lasers. “I ran into Maddie here, and I just…lost track of time.”

“For which you will be punished,” Adara snapped, ignoring my presence. She turned toward the stairs, yanking the leash. Darren stumbled after her, his breaths turning raspy as the collar constricted his throat.

Adara treated him like an animal. Worse.

“Stop! You can’t treat him like that,” I shouted indignantly.

“Are you kidding? He lives for it.” Adara snickered, pulling the leash again. Darren lurched forward, nearly tripping down the stairs. “Soon you will too.”

Her confident tone gave me chills. But I knew I’d never be a sex slave. I didn’t care if I was fated to be their mate; Loch and Hael couldn’t break me. I wouldn’t give in to their sick desires and depraved demands.

At least that was what I kept telling myself.

“Have fun exploring, Maddie,” Adara shouted as she tugged Darren down a hallway. He gasped and wheezed under the ever-tightening collar. “Nothing is off-limits here. Except the exit, that is!” Her frightening laugh echoed in the cavernous space.

Explore? I was done with exploring. I wanted out of this place.

***

Despite wanting to escape, I was stuck exploring. It was just like Adara had said: the exits were off-limits. Every time I got close to one, the force surrounding the mansion would pull me back in.

So, I went back to exploring, walking through room after room. Hallway after hallway. The mansion went on forever. Hallways led to more hallways. One room led to another, and then another. Parlor to living room to formal dining room to family dining room to kitchen to pantry. It was never-ending.

And the upstairs was worse. Each bedroom seemed to have an en suite bathroom and a walk-in closet, plus a balcony. And there were so many bedrooms. ~What do three dragons need with all this space?~

When I stopped to look out the windows, all I saw were trees. A dark forest that probably extended for miles.

My chances of escape looked pretty dismal. But maybe I could hide until I figured a way out of here. There certainly seemed to be plenty of options.

Then again, thanks to my brand, the Dobrzycka brothers could just read my mind and find out exactly where I was—and exactly what I was planning. They’d done it before; there was nothing stopping them from doing it again.

I felt like a caged animal. I had to get out of here.

I found myself at the bottom of another staircase, this one leading to the third floor.

The brand on my back began to tingle, and I shivered as the sensation traveled down my body.

The pulse of the house was back again, pushing me up the stairs.

This time, I let myself fully experience it, allowing my body to lead me without thinking about it.

At the top of the staircase, I turned left and walked down a long hall. There was a strange door at the very end. It was made of black steel with a large metal spinner in the center. It drew me like a moth to a flame.

I was fixated on the smooth surface of the door, running my hands over it, already imagining the treasures inside.

I put my hands on the spinner and held my breath. “Sweet cheese,” I whispered. For a minute, I forgot my peril and recalled my original intention for entering Req Enterprise that fateful morning over a year ago.

Gold. Jewels. Treasures beyond belief.

Isn’t that what the stories say dragons guard? Treasure?

And if Loch and Hael were Dragon Lords, surely their treasure would rival anything I could pickpocket on the street.

I tried to move the spinner, and to my surprise, it turned easily, opening inward with a metallic sigh.

There was nothing but darkness. A black hole with no hint of what lay within. I cautiously entered, hoping to feast my eyes on stacks of cash or mountains of gold.

As I stepped inside, wall sconces turned on, providing a dim light throughout the room.

I looked around and deflated in disappointment. All I saw were black steel walls. Dim lamps. A cement floor. A nest of animal furs in the middle of the room.

What was this place?

A shelf in the corner caught my attention, and I walked over to study it. At first, I thought it was exercise equipment. Ropes…chains…whips…

My eyes widened.

This wasn’t a home gym.

It was some sort of…dragon sex dungeon.