Chapter 3 - Lethal Revelation

꧁ Marisella ꧂

With his back to me, he orders, “Go into the bedroom, kneel facing the headboard.”

My body tingles. Stealing one last look at his form, I spin just before he turns around. I have a feeling he’d realized my little game and was in on it.

We’d yet to see each other’s faces.

Dress still bunched around my waist, I saunter toward an open door. His gaze is a hot brand on my flesh.

The edge of the bed is visible from the living area, but when I step in, I freeze in my tracks.

Spread out on the matte black sheets is a ball gag, a glinting metal bar, and several leather restraints. A wicked-looking whip proudly circles the ensemble.

“Oh hell no…” I breathe, taking an instinctive step back.

Once again, my back collides with the hard planes of his body.

Always in the way of any escape.

He runs his fingers through my hair, voice husky, “I’ll be… gentle.”

I can tell from his tone he doesn’t want to be. So how can I trust that he will?

His fingers play over my nape, brushing my hair over my shoulder to fully expose my naked back.

“Exquisite,” he groans, low.

That hungry sound sends my desire roaring again. My thighs subtly clench at the promise of sin.

He deftly unlaces my halter, undressing me with fluid, methodical movements. Soon, I am naked, save for my gold chain.

Then he does something shocking.

Carefully tugging, he returns my hair to flow down my back, and he… braids it.

Whispering words I cannot understand, he finishes the thick braid, stroking it lovingly.

It feels like a ritual. Preparing me. Readying me—

“On your knees in bed.”

My gaze shifts back to the equipment, trepidation filling me once more.

I’d prepared for a spank here and there. Not… that!

At my hesitation, his grip on my hair turns harsh.

“Ten thousand. Obey, or go home.”

That gets me moving.

Feverish with a mix of dread and anticipation, I climb into the king-sized bed beside the arsenal he’d arranged. Then I catch sight of a bejeweled butt plug.

Oh Hectate, save me.

“Pick up the gag. Wear it.”

His voice sounds strained, as if he’s holding himself back by a thread.

Gagging myself with the shiny ball, I fasten the clasps behind my head, and note the severe air of the room.

A single strip of warm, gold lighting snakes along the ceiling, barely illuminating the space and leaving half the room in shadows.

“Chest down, wrists beside your knees,” he commands immediately after I’ve secured the last clasp.

Heart racing, I do as he asks, leaning my chest to the bed, raising my bottom in the air.

He grunts at the sight, muttering more Russian expletives.

My body flames.

The position, the circumstances, the act. I really am surrendering my body to this faceless man.

His hand flashes by my side to pick up the long metal bar with cuffs on the ends.

With ragged breaths, he eases my legs wider apart, fastening the ice-cold cuffs on each knee with deliberate calm.

He secures my wrists to the cuffs on my knees, sparks singeing where his skin touches mine.

The bar keeps my legs spread in a fixed, helpless angle. I can’t straighten out or move away.

I’m well and truly bound.

Rocking my hips, I’m startled by how turned on I am by the restrictions.

“Don’t do that.” He grates. “Don’t make me lose control.”

Oh?

Unease fades into daring. I ache to provoke the big bad wolf. This is my first and last opportunity to explore this strangely exciting ritual—with someone like him.

My hips rock wantonly, followed by a drawn-out moan that’s part plea and part wonder.

“For all your shyness, you love this. Don’t you?”

He sounds pleased. Seconds later, I feel strands of leather slink over my spine. The flogger.

My muscles tighten just as leather snaps across the backs of my thighs.

I gasp. The sting makes my eyes water.

Even as I whimper behind the gag, my ass juts out for more.

He obliges, striking my ass, my thighs, even my lower back and calves. He gives no quarter, no breaks.

Beyond the sharp pain, heat flares into hypersensitivity. Everything heightens my arousal. His grunts as he strikes. The unyielding ball in my mouth.

My limbs tremble, fists clenching.

When a stray lash catches my swollen clit, I keen against the ball, chasing the shocking pleasure.

He figures my intent, focusing softer lashes against my soaking lips.

My legs quiver, a tight ball of bliss gathering between my thighs. My desperate cries sound far away.

“Are you going to come like this, Katya? Don’t you dare, not until I say you can.”

Oh, that voice.

My mind readily supplies a face.

Dark hair falling over equally pitch-black eyes. Flawless skin taut over high cheekbones. That smooth, sharp jaw. Thick brows drawn together as he whips my ass raw.

Feverish need wells up inside me. Liquid snakes down my thighs, adding to the overwhelming sensations.

Boneless, I sink further into the bed, my eyes rolling back. Lips curling with crazed delight, I bite down on the ball.

My release rips through me in raw, shattering waves. Through clenched teeth, I scream my pleasure.

Core clenching around nothing, I writhe out my orgasm. Lights swell and dim behind my closed lids. Tears track down my face.

“You came so hard,” he rasps with disbelief. “Without permission.” He adds darkly.

He sounds pleased I’d disobeyed, if only to punish me again.

“Mmmhph…” I moan incoherently.

I have so much to tell him. Like, give me your cock, fuck me senseless. Use me.

“No use begging, Katya,” he hisses, “You’re about to get fucked. Hard.”

Both his palms land on my hips with a loud slap, rocking me on my weakened knees. Sweat pebbles my skin, chill against my heated body.

I dimly register contact against my opening when he whispers to himself,

“Look so much like her. The only reason…”

I can’t dwell on his statement as the plush tip of him circles my wet entrance, prodding but never breaching.

Swaying backward, I try to slip him into my molten core. But he grips my hips, holding me in place.

“So wet for me. Greedy girl.”

This tease is maddening!

I try communicating again, “Uhnnn mmmphh…”

Damned gag!

“Tell me what you need. If you can’t use your words, use your eyes, Katya.”

Desperate, I curve my neck to the side with my eyes wide and shimmering with a silent plea—

Our gazes lock.

He’d pushed just enough to sink the flared head past my folds.

My brain fights between greedily sucking in the torturous inch of cock he’s fed me, and reconciling the face with one from memory.

Though his powerful body freezes, his shaft continues to sink into me so slowly it might’ve been a dream.

Thick and veined, he fills me deliciously, the discomfort eased by the crawling pace.

He sinks to the hilt, still looking bewildered.

My pulse flutters.

My center clenches around the pulsing length seated deep inside me, milking it in the absence of motion.

“Marisella?” He rasps, voice hoarse, neck tight with corded muscle.

I nod. Slow, dazed.

He lunges backward with a shocked bellow.

Heat still pooling between my legs, my hips softly rock against nothing.

The way he gapes at me makes my chest ache.

Horror. Shock.

But still, one thought echoes in my head…

I wish he’d finished before we realized… he is Alexei—my stepbrother.