: Chapter 24

Roxxane turns to walk away, so I snap out my arm, the reaction directed by my own anger and need. How dare she? She doesn’t get to walk away, she has to pay for her actions and words. Grabbing the back of her neck, I yank her around to face me and crash my lips onto hers. It wasn’t planned, but I can’t help myself. She isn’t allowed to walk away from me. Not now. Not ever. I would kill everyone in this fucking world for her, anyone who ever dared hurt her. She doesn’t get to turn her nose up at that and act like a brat. Not when there’s a scarred, hard-ass survivor underneath. She can’t know the true depth of feelings I have for her, that even though I try to stay impartial, that I try to hate her, I can’t.

Because I’m falling in love with her.

She freezes for a moment before melting ever so slightly, her lips fighting mine, meeting me head-on. It’s hard and angry, a fight like always with her. It’s a duel, a battle for dominance as I open her mouth and slip my tongue inside, tasting her sweetness. It explodes across my taste buds, the flavour of her now branded on me, and I know this was a mistake because I’ll never be able to go back. Never be able to not touch her, taste her, now. I just put my family at risk, and I can’t seem to care with her in my arms. All that anger, all that bravery and attitude, and she melts against me so easily. My little broken princess. She seems to realise it, and tries to push me away and starts to fight. Thrashing uselessly in my arms, she bites my lip until I taste blood, like I would ever let her go. No, she will be mine tonight. Tonight, I will satiate my lust, let all this desire for Roxxane out, and tomorrow…tomorrow I can be the Viper I need to be to protect my family. But for one night, I’ll be selfish. I will damn the consequences and take what I want—her. Chuckling huskily, I pull away, ignoring my pulsing cock as it aches to be buried inside her when she fights me like that.

No, she needs to learn obedience first, to surrender to me and my control. Only then will I let us bathe in pleasure.

I feel the pounding of her pulse against my hand as it lazily wraps around her throat. Leaning down, I murmur against her lips, unable to help myself. “There is nowhere in this world you can go, nowhere you can escape us, princess.” I crave her heat, her body, her mind, even her fight. She is my ever-growing weakness, a grey area blooming in my dark heart and stretching its colour across my soul until I can’t help but want to be a better man for her, to be the man she deserves. But I will never be, so instead, she gets me. She will have to learn to survive it and get used to it, because I have a feeling she’s going nowhere.

I wanted to punish her, maybe scare her, but I can’t seem to help myself. My cock is running the show now. I’ll sate my desire, then go back to keeping a cool distance. I can still control this, control her, and how I take her.

“Want to fucking bet? Let me go, and we’ll see.” She sniffs, but her lips are bruised from our kiss, her chest pressed against mine so hard, I can feel her stiff nipples just begging for me to play with them. I can see her need in the way her pupils are blown wide with lust as her gaze tracks down my face and back to my lips again, and in the slight tremor of her curvy body as I hold it against me. Roxxane hates that she wants me.

Feeling is mutual, love.

“Let you go?” I smirk. “Never. Now it’s time for your punishment.” She freezes against me, and I chuckle. “Didn’t think you were getting off that easy, did you?” I push her away, and she stumbles back, suddenly looking nervous, her chest heaving and cheeks adorably tinting red.

Circling her, I pick at the long shirt dress she’s wearing, the fishnets underneath letting me glimpse her pale, tattooed skin. Needing to regain some control, I push her until she’s bent over. “Stay,” I order, as I stand behind her.

Flicking open the button on my trousers, I slide my belt through the loops until it’s free, the noise loud in the silent room, and she shivers in anticipation. I tug up her dress to expose her ass and tiny red knickers, and I have to bite my knuckles as I stare at her to stop myself from dropping the belt and going to my knees to worship her like I ache to. I want to slam my cock inside her wet heat and hear her scream for me.

Me.

Not my brothers.

But I rein in that impulse, only just, my years of careful control shaky in the face of my greatest challenge. She’s wet, I can see it. Fuck. Shifting my cock in my trousers, I try to ignore the urge to just rip those taunting knickers away and thrust into her tight little pussy. No, punishment first. Then control. Only then will I have her. “Ryder, don’t you fucking—”

I bring the belt down on her unprotected ass. She hisses and falls forward, but I catch her around the middle, and when she’s steady again, I rub my hand across her plump silky ass, massaging in the burn before I swing the belt back and land it on her ass twice more. She cries out but stays standing, profanities and insults leaving her lips.

But she doesn’t move, doesn’t fight me…because she wants it. She wants my brand of control. She wants to surrender to me. She wants to be consumed by me, and I want that too.

Good girl.

Pushing aside her knickers, I feel her freeze against my fingers as I expose her to my gaze. I lick my lips and stare at her glistening lips, so wet. She smells delicious, and I bet she tastes just as good. Running my belt buckle across her center, I watch her cry out and push back, wanting more.

Laughing, I snap her underwear back in place, and when she can’t see, I lap some of her juices from my belt, groaning at her taste. “So fucking wet, love. Tell me again how you hate us when you’re dripping for my cock.”

“Fuck you, you cocky son of a bitch—” She whimpers as I bring the belt down again. Dropping it to the floor, I bite my lip at the redness across her ass. My marks. It’s hot as hell seeing her like this.

But she’s had enough punishment, and so have I. If I don’t have her soon, I’m going to come. I reach down and squeeze my cock. Not yet, I need her to understand who’s in charge. Who owns her body, as well as her mind. She needs to give herself over to me completely, and only then will she get the pleasure she seeks. I can’t let her know how affected I am.

How easily she breaks my control.

Turning away, I give myself a moment to breathe, and when all those roiling emotions are under better control, I sit down on the sofa, legs spread and arm thrown over the back as I stare at her still bent form. I run my eyes greedily down her thick, tattooed thighs and plump red ass. She’s fucking glorious, the most magnificent creature I have ever seen. She shifts uncomfortably, and I take pity on her. “Stand.”

She hesitates for a moment before doing as she’s told, whirling to face me, making me tut. “I didn’t tell you to turn, did I, princess? Shirt off,” I demand.

She bristles at the order, and I narrow my eyes. “Do I need to take the belt to your plump little arse again, love? I will, and this time, it will end in pain instead of pleasure. When I give you an order, you do it. Shirt off, now. Let me look at what I own,” I command.

“You don’t own me, asshole, no one ever could. Not you. Not your fucking brothers. There isn’t enough money in the world to buy me,” she snarls, and I have a feeling she’s right. It’s more of a pretence now that she’s ours. We all know Roxxane is not a kept woman or a toy.

She’s a fucking wild card.

But she still does as she’s told, because even though she fights it, she wants us too. With a snarl, she rips off her shirt, baring herself to me. I let my eyes run across her exposed skin. Her full breasts are heaving in a see-through little lace number, her rosy nipples pointy and staring at me. Her belly is curved, and her waist is tucked in, perfect to grab onto and toned, with a shining jewel pierced through her navel, begging me to trace it with my tongue. Her thighs are rounded and delicious, and I can see them wrapped around my head as I tongue fuck her cunt. Her legs are long and lean, and I can’t wait to have them draped around my head either.

She is goddamn beautiful, so beautiful it hurts. All pale, silky tattooed skin, thick thighs, and attitude. A combination I didn’t know I would find irresistible, but my cock jerks hard as I store every detail of her body in my memory. Every dip, curve, and scar.

She parts her legs, head tilted back as I drink her in, unashamed in her own body. No, Roxxane owns it. She doesn’t strive to make it what she deems perfect, doesn’t go for plastic surgery or alterations like so many in our world. She’s comfortable and confident in her own skin, scars and all, and it’s sexy as hell. Not to mention the tattoos painted across her skin like the finest works of art.

That’s what she is. A work of art.

One I’m going to stare at for the rest of my life.

“What next, asshole? Want me to crawl to you as well?” she scoffs sarcastically.

Hiding my grin behind my hand, I rub my chin before dropping it to my lap. “Yes, actually.”

“Wait, what?” she squeaks, before clearing her throat. “I mean, what the fuck?”

Leaning forward, I narrow my eyes on her, warning her not to disobey me. “Crawl to me, love.” She sucks in a deep breath, debating whether or not to ignore me. Wondering what it will mean to do so, but she wants the pleasure I have to offer.

She wants me more than she hates me right now.

“Fuck,” she shouts as she sinks to her knees. “I hate you.” She tosses it at me like barbed wire. I just laugh, though, since she says it so often, it’s becoming an inside joke now. If she didn’t say it, I would start to get worried. It’s better than her…than her saying she loves us. She can’t do that, but this? Hate and desire? This we can do and survive.

She drops to her hands and, eyes defiant and hard, starts to crawl towards me. She doesn’t even mean for it to be sexy, she’s too angry for that, but the way her body sways, her tits full and almost tumbling from her bra, her arse swinging temptingly…fuck. It’s so goddamn sensual, I nearly burst in my trousers.

Having her at my mercy is addictive, seeing her on her knees before me a beautiful sight. She stops when she reaches me, chest heaving in anger and lust, then leans back on her heels before she grabs my thighs and digs her nails in, making me chuckle.

Even now, she fights, even when she knows it’s useless. I will have her. She will be screaming my name, those little claws slashing down my back as I fuck her for everyone to hear and see. Those men she befriended, the guards outside the door, listening to whom she belongs to.

“Take my cock out,” I order, hiding my shaking hands as I watch her.

She grinds her teeth but reaches up and unzips my trousers, the hiss loud as she finds me bare and hard underneath. She gasps, her lips parting temptingly, and those dark eyes drop to my cock hungrily as she wraps her hand around it and pumps me as she pulls me out. “Tut tut, behave, princess.”

I stifle my moan at the sight of my cock in her tiny pale hand, at this one little woman controlling me so easily with just one fucking touch.

She squeezes me, making me groan before I can catch it as a smirk curls her lips. “Where is the fun in that? You want to control my every action because it means you can distance yourself from it, well, fuck that. If I have to be your goddamn slave, you don’t get to act the aloof asshole. You want to fuck me? Then fuck me. None of these games, none of the defences to keep me away from you. Make it hurt, make it good, I don’t fucking care, but stop trying to be this cold motherfucker when I can see how badly you want this…want me.”

I still at that, how the—how did she know? I search those eyes because she’s smart and the same. Her bravery and toughness are an act to keep people away. To stop them from gaining control over her. To prevent them from hurting her. I see it in her gaze, she hurts them, pushes them away first so that they can never hurt her.

Not again.

“You want my control, my coldness, love. Because without it, you wouldn’t survive me,” I admit.

She tilts her head defiantly, squeezing my cock again and making me thrust up into her hand. “Try me,” she dares. I freeze at her words, staring into her eyes as she stares right back. She doesn’t know what she’s asking. What she would unleash.

“You have a death wish?” I smirk to cover my unease at how quickly she’s destroying my defences.

“Everyone dies, plus I could have died every minute of every day with you guys. But I haven’t. I’ve accepted it will happen, so try me, Ryder. Show me what you’re so scared of, what you don’t show anyone else, and if it kills me? So fucking what. No one will miss me.”

That’s a fucking lie, I would. I would miss her so much, it sends a pang through my icy heart. To never hear her laugh again, to never see her challenge me, defy me…no. I would miss her.

My brothers would. They would kill me if I hurt her.

I watch her for a moment, trying to hold back. But I can’t. Her touch, her words, it crushes my control. It tumbles all my carefully built walls until everything I hate surges forward. The pain, the anger, the fucking need to cause damage. To wreck everything. To destroy everything good and beautiful.

Like her. To consume and take. The traits from my father I try to fight, his very last gift. Making me exactly what I abhor. Him.

I grab her and lift. She gasps and places her thighs on either side of me, her head higher than mine as I grip her thighs and hold her against my hard cock, letting her feel what she does to me even though I can’t speak the words. Even though I can’t give her that power. Reaching up, I pinch the clasp on her bra between her ample breasts and it flicks open, her breasts tumbling out into my waiting hands. I lean down and suck one of her nipples into my mouth, groaning when she whimpers, so I suck harder, digging my teeth in slightly, unable to help myself.

Pleasure and pain go hand in hand for me.

She cries out, arching into me as I roll her other nipple between my fingers. Gasping, she tangles her fingers in my hair, gripping it and sending a spark of pain through me as she rocks against my length, taking what she wants from my body. She’s unapologetic in her need and pleasure as she holds me close.

Releasing her peak with a pop, I give the other the same treatment before leaning back and watching her pant and writhe against me, her wetness soaking through her knickers. Her breasts are magnificent, I can’t stop staring. Fuck, how beautiful would they look with my marks across them? Disrupting those pale globes with all that soft skin marked up for me? I resist the temptation, leaning down and grasping some of her skin between my teeth, biting until she cries out.

Releasing her flesh, I lift my head to see my teeth imprinted across her breast, so I turn my head and bite the other one, leaving my marks. She whimpers, but pulls me closer. Stroking her hip through the pain, I let go and look at my masterpiece with satisfaction. Next time, she can wear my whip lashes. I’m thinking she would love it.

“Ryder,” she gasps, rocking harder against me.

I lift her and rip off those fishnets and knickers and toss them away before bringing her back down to my cock, pulling her back and forth across it. I let her coat me with her wetness. She whimpers again, her eyes dazed with pleasure as she feels every inch of me that will soon be inside her. Marking her until no other will do. Making her ours forever.

“You’re going to ride me right here,” I demand, leaning down and pressing my cock to her tight little entrance. My greedy little girl rocks harder, trying to sink down, but I hold her still, forcing her to look at me. She doesn’t get to distance herself if I don’t. She will know who’s fucking her, who is in charge of giving her such pleasure she can’t handle it.

As soon as those eyes meet mine, I drop her, impaling her on my cock.

We both groan. She’s so fucking tight, so wet. Gripping me like a silken glove, her inner muscles stretch around me. She sways harder, instantly moving, not waiting a beat. We’re both too desperate to go slow, to savour it—that will come later.

We’re both scared that if we slow down enough to think about all those worries, all those factors pulling us apart and making us enemies, we’ll stop this.

“Ride me, fuck yourself on my dick until you come,” I order harshly, as I lean back and watch her. Her body rolls with her movements, her breasts jiggling from the force of her thrusts. My cock is buried deep inside her as she rides me, doing just what I ordered. Taking her own pleasure.

It’s goddamn breathtaking to watch.

I can’t help but reach out and grip her winding hips, feeling each and every movement as I fight to thrust up, to grab her and take her hard and fast, just pounding into her. No, this is about her.

Her hands come up and pinch her nipples. This isn’t a show, she’s enjoying herself. I can feel her wetness dripping from her pussy, coating me. Sliding her hand down her stomach, she reaches her clit and starts to rub. Moaning, her head falls back as she writhes and rubs, chasing her release.

“I’m so close,” she whimpers, but I don’t help her, I just watch her, and with one more flick of her fingers she comes all over my dick.

She cries out, her body seizing and shaking, her pussy clamping down on me as she rocks her hips through her release. I have to curl my fingers into fists at her hips to stop myself from moving, it’s the sweetest fucking torture. Only when she slumps do I take over. Showing her exactly how much I want her. How wild she makes me.

Grabbing her hips, I lift and drop her on my dick, thrusting up and impaling her on my length. She cries out, her eyes flaring wide as she peers down at me. She’s fucking stunning with her chest flushed from her release, her skin sparkling in the sunlight with her sweat. Those noises she makes driving me mad.

But I want her screams.

She’s had her fun, now it’s my turn. She wants me? All of me? Buckle up, love, because you’re about to get it. Standing, still buried in her cunt, I switch positions, dropping her onto the sofa as I quickly shed my trousers. Usually, I stay dressed, but I need to feel her skin against mine. I come down above her, holding myself up, and slam back inside her tight pussy that’s quickly becoming my favourite fucking thing. Her legs automatically wrap around my waist, trying to pull me back to her body, her chest arching as she takes me deeper into her wet heat.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I murmur, licking down the valley between her breasts as I thrust into her, over and over. She’s so slick, I can get my full length inside, dragging it across her nerves as I reach down and rub her oversensitive clit, making it hurt just as much as I make it feel amazing.

She screams, her nails raking down my back and cutting my skin. That pain sinks into me until the last of my restraint snaps. Groaning, I let go of my control. There’s no rhythm or rhyme as I fuck her with deep, powerful thrusts. Harder and harder, chasing my own release, uncaring as she fights me. Her legs pull me closer, even as she continues to thrash. Her nails slice through my flesh, and I feel it part, the blood starting to drip down my skin. It only makes me harder, my face scrunching into a snarl as I lean back on my heels and grab her thighs, dragging her arse into the air in one smooth move.

She’s so perfect, too perfect. My little fighter. Watching my cock thrust in and out of her wet heat almost has me spilling. She’s too easy to lose myself in, too tight, too wet, too damn beautiful it hurts, and I can’t hold back, even though I want this to last.

I hit that spot deep inside that has her clawing at the sofa, her head thrashing as she fights me. “Come,” I order, not recognising the sound of my own gravelly voice, needing her to find her release before I can. I’m so close, too fucking close. This never happens, I always make sure they come at least three times before I do, but with Roxxane, I can’t help myself, this isn’t a chore. Something to tick off my list to sate my body. I want her with every fucking fibre of my being, so much it hurts. I want to paint my seed across her chest and into my bite marks. I want to take every inch of her body with my tongue and cock, but that will come later, for now, I want it to fill her, and I can’t hold back anymore.

She destroys me, and knowing she’ll walk around with my cum slipping from her, everyone knowing and seeing she’s mine, has me rearing up above her as my hips stutter.

“Now,” I demand, as I flick her clit.

She screams her release into the quiet apartment, her pussy clenching around me so tightly, I have to fight her channel until I can’t fight anymore. I roar with my own release, filling her with my seed. She whimpers as I thrust through it, my cock softening as I slip from her.

Panting, she shakes beneath me, her body spent as her eyes open and clash with mine. I’m struggling to breathe too, and my walls lie in splinters around me so she sees what I hide underneath. My blood coats my back from her nails, my cock wet with my girl’s release.

“Fuck, that was hot,” she purrs. “Next time, don’t hold back, I want it all.”

Next time?

Fuck, she’s going to kill me, and I might even let her.

But her eyes are drooping, and I know she didn’t sleep because she was waiting up for us. I need to look after her better.

“We need to sleep.” I gather her into my arms and stumble from the sofa, my legs weak. She giggles but snuggles closer. She’s too tired to fight me right now, not that she would, I think.

I should shower and get ready for the day, I have a lot to do, but I can’t seem to bring myself to as I head upstairs and into my room. Laying her on the bed, I slip into the bathroom and grab a cloth, wetting it before I return to her. She doesn’t even oppose me or shout as I part her thighs and clean her glistening, pink, raw sex. I can’t help myself, I lean down and kiss her pussy, and she groans and kicks me away, making me laugh. Tossing the washcloth in the basket, I slide into bed and draw her into my arms.

It feels natural, right. But it’s strange. I never sleep with women, never mind cuddle, but I want to. And when she drops her head onto my chest and slips into sleep with quiet, cute snores leaving her lips, I can’t help but close my eyes and drift off, pulling her closer.

What is she doing to me?

I need to be careful before she destroys us all. It’s my duty to protect them…but how can I when I want to burn in her flame? When her venom is racing through my veins, telling me that she’s exactly where she’s meant to be, and so am I. Changing me, mending me, freeing those emotions I hold back from everyone.

Tomorrow, or I guess later today, I’ll put my careful walls back up and slip into a suit, changing back to the cruel leader of the Vipers, but here and now, with her sleeping against my chest, our legs entwined and fingers laced together…I let myself be weak.

For just a moment.

For her.