Page 30 of Contract Marked (Interdimensional Beings #1)

Chapter Thirty

Erin

T he Council’s Sanctuary had holding rooms for trials that extended for several days, or however long as time flowed differently here. After my denouncing Tatianna as my representative debacle, I didn’t want to return to Cal’s dimension. I also wanted a space bigger than a bedroom, so I chose to stay in one of their suites. It wasn’t a bad gig, with another expansive bed, soft mattress, full-size jacuzzi tub, and living room. It was more of a luxury resort, and I could almost forget I was in a courthouse fighting for my soul. Almost.

To my relief, I didn’t run into Dez, Cal, or Tatianna, and no one came knocking or barging into my room. Llewyn told me these rooms were protected so I could at least sleep in peace, and with Cal’s blood, I was able to have a good night’s rest without any nightmares.

My feelings of short-lived peace and quiet ended on day two when my stomach grumbled. While there had been spare clothes and hygiene materials in the closet and drawers, there hadn’t been any food, and I didn’t spy a silver slate anywhere. Either humans didn’t stay in these rooms very often, or their guests were expected to leave every once in a while.

Throwing on a spare white button-down dress I found in the closet, I took a deep breath and exited the room.

I passed other beings in the halls, but I was too scared to ask if there was a sort of room service. The way they flat-out ignored me also didn’t help my confidence in asking either. I guess I had to settle for the bar in the party room and pray I didn’t see any familiar faces.

The party room looked the same, with a decent chunk of people. I couldn’t tell the time as there were no windows there, and the layout reminded me of a casino. I slid past purple humanoid beings and a double-headed dog to approach the nine-tailed cat at the counter.

“Excuse me,” I said.

The hairless cat continued to whip out drinks as if I hadn’t spoken at all. I tried again but got the same response. I muttered an insult and left the bar when Henrietta, Jaslynne, and Savenellus entered the room. I shuffled behind a white pillar, judging the distance from here back to my room, but they were in my direct path. Would they even recognize me? Did I want to take that risk? Dezmandaro wasn’t with them, thank goodness, for small favors.

A masculine figure joined them, and judging by his height and abnormal beauty, I knew he wasn’t human. His hair fell in a single blonde braid down his back, but the most unusual thing about him was the doctor’s robe he wore.

I inched closer around the pillar, cursing my luck. If I had come a bit earlier, I would have avoided them. Or, at this rate, it would’ve been better if I hadn’t left my room at all, as my trip had been fruitless.

Jaslynne laughed at something the blonde being was saying when a girl approached the group. Her black dress didn’t do much to hide the black and blue bruises up and down her arms and legs. Her black-cropped hair barely veiled the lifeless look in her eyes.

Saya. It was Saya.

The doctor snatched the drink out of Saya’s hand, dumping the contents over her face, and pure rage pumped through me. The others laughed too loud for me to hear what he said. Saya nodded, her eyes kept on the floor, and the doctor grabbed her hand when she turned away. I heard the snap from here when he twisted it. Saya screamed.

I was already halfway across the room, my hands balled into fists, my vision red. I snatched a glass off a nearby table, hoping my aim was still as good as when I helped Megan coach little leagues one summer. The group of them turned to me when I stood a few feet away. I waited for the bastard to fully turn around before I shot the glass as hard as I could at his face.

He caught it before it connected with his perfect nose, only a few drops sloshing out the side. “What do you think—”

I kneed him right in the groin.

He collapsed like a folding table, wheezing in shock. I latched onto Saya’s arm and ran.

“No, Erin, what have you done!” Saya yelled behind me, but she didn’t slow down.

We exited into the foyer when someone took a fist of my hair and yanked me back. I yelped, whirling around to face a pair of cruel brown eyes so dark they almost appeared black. The doctor’s perfect face was twisted into a rage that matched my own.

“You’re going to pay for that dearly,” he spat.

I swung out my leg, but I wasn’t as lucky the second time around. He caught my foot and twisted. It cracked. Excruciating pain shot through me, and I collapsed to the ground with a gasp.

“Wyll, wait,” Jaslynne said, running after us. “She belongs to—”

Wyll stood in front of me for half a second before he was blasted across the room. He slammed against the wall with an audible smack, blood darkening the velvet, reminding me of the triple lion head as it exploded against the arena walls. I dry heaved, the movement driving white-hot pain up my leg where my ankle lay at an unnatural angle.

Through the haze of pain, I turned and was surprised to see both Cal and Dez. Dez’s jaw was tight, his body as still as the night I uttered Angelica’s name. For once, his piercing blue gaze wasn’t settled on me but on Wyll, who fell from the wall and struggled to get off the floor. Cal looked as if he wanted to walk back over and slam Wyll against the wall again. I’m sure, for the first time since their long-standing feud, Dez and Cal were in mutual agreement.

“Erin! Are you okay?” Saya sat down beside me, staring at my broken ankle, but she was still nursing her limp hand.

“I should … be asking you that,” I panted through the dizzying pain. I tried to avoid the smattering of bruises up and down her arms, but they stood out so starkly against her fair skin. Even with my throbbing ankle, it made me burn all over again. I was going to kill Wyll for what he did and for what he’s already done to Saya.

Beings started to gather around, their whispers echoing throughout the foyer.

Before I could protest, Cal lifted me off the ground. I gritted my teeth against the black dots swirling in my vision.

Dez’s nails dug into Cal’s shoulder. “Get your hands off her.”

Cal shrugged off his hand. “You don’t have any claim yet, Dezmandaro.”

“Yet, being the keyword, Caliphiste.” His eyes slid to mine, but I saw something else instead of the anger I was used to seeing in his icy gaze.

Fear.

In a blink, we were back in Cal’s bedroom.

“Take me back!” I shouted. “You had no right to take me out of there!” I pounded against his chest. Saya was still in danger. What would Wyll do to her now? Why wasn’t she here ?

Cal set me on the bed and threw out his hand. The iron headboard unraveled, locking my wrists on either side of me.

“Cal, take me back! Now !”

One of the quilts shoved itself into my mouth, and I howled into it in frustration.

Cal yanked up the bottom of my dress, and my eyes bulged as memories of Dez tying me up in his bedroom flooded back to me. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t seriously be happening right now.

But he stopped at the knee, pulling my injured foot into his hands. “Look at me.”

I met his eyes, flinching at the liquid steel there.

“Take a deep breath with me. One, two, three …” He pushed my ankle back into place.

I screamed.

The edges of my vision blurred, and those same black dots danced around Cal’s face as he came in and out of focus. He was saying something, but it was muffled.

“ Erin .”

I snapped back. The blanket fell from my mouth, and my hands were released from the headboard. “You could have fucking warned me!” God, it hurt.

“You’d have been more scared of the pain.”

Tears streamed down my face as he wrapped up my leg, placing it in a walking boot like I was at a clinic and not Cal’s tiny bedroom.

“With both mine and Dez’s blood in you, you should heal more quickly than usual. As long as you don’t do anything stupid.” The liquid steel was back in his eyes. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

I didn’t care if this was Cal the executioner, Cal who almost killed an innocent human and condemned her spouse to eternal imprisonment, Cal who almost watched Lucy die and did nothing, Cal who had threatened to kill me. I was pissed.

“Why isn’t Saya here ? Why didn’t you tell me she was back with him ?”

“I didn’t have a choice. I don’t have any claim on her, and Dez is … not in his right mind.” Cal’s eyes narrowed. “The reason I didn’t tell you is because you would’ve pulled a stupid stunt like this. Like you did in the arena. Do you want to die so badly, Erin?”

“Take me back.”

“No.”

I punched the bed. “I’m not leaving Saya with that being. Take me back, or so help me—”

“So help me what?” Cal gripped my injured foot, and I shot forward as if I could wrest it from his grip.

“Stop it,” I spat

“What are you going to do, Erin? What can you, a weak Lower Realms’ being, do against someone like Wyll? Against someone like me?” He jerked my foot to the side, and pain danced behind my clenched eyelids.

“You’re an asshole!”

Cal’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I never claimed to be anything else.” Then he vanished.

Yet again, I was stuck in Cal’s bedroom. I thought it was cozy the first time I saw it, but it now felt like my personal prison. The only upside was the greasy burger and fries that appeared mysteriously on top of the chest at the foot of the bed while I’d been asleep. I inhaled the burger in four bites.

My foot was on the mend, the throbbing gone within the first few hours of Cal ‘fixing’ it. It was still wrapped and kept in the black walking boot, but the swelling had gone down quite a bit, and it didn’t hurt to put pressure on it. Not that I will ever willingly accept Cal’s blood again, or Dez’s for that matter (though that had been done without my permission), but the whole accelerated healing thing was quite nice. It just wasn’t worth the tradeoff of having someone in my head, making me lose sleep for days on end.

I didn’t know if it was still the same day or if a full cycle had passed when Cal returned.

As soon as he appeared in a fitted black shirt and jeans at the end of the bed with a cup of coffee, I blurted, “I want to make a contract.”

He stared at me. “No.”

“I want to make a contract, Cal.”

He set the coffee on the nightstand by my side and leaned against the wall two feet away from where I sat on the bed. He peered down at me with an arched brow. “My answer hasn’t changed in the last two seconds.”

I licked my lips, holding his stare. “I’ll tell the Council about the Sylvain Silver. That you saw me use it and did nothing.”

He froze.

“I want to make a contract. Kill Wyll, and I’ll give you anything you want; just name your price.”

His voice turned deadly quiet. “You shouldn’t say things like that to me, Erin.”

“Name your price.”

He shoved off the wall, and I flinched, but his fingers were gentle on my face, cupping my cheek. He then jerked my chin up, forcing me to meet his gaze. “Be careful what you wish for.”

“Name your price,” I repeated before I lost my nerve.

His eyes fell to my mouth, his thumb brushing my bottom lip. “I don’t kill for anyone except the Council. That includes you.”

My nostrils flared, and I yanked my face away from his grip. One way or another, I was going to save Saya, but even if I rescued her, Wyll still haunted her dreams, was inside her head, tormenting her day in and day out, even after centuries of abuse.

Cal’s dagger earring caught in the glow of the bedside lamp. It was a guess, but maybe …

“Give me your dagger.”

His gaze turned lethal.

I shifted until my knees almost touched his legs, my chin arched up to confront his deadly expression head-on. “Lend me your dagger, and I’ll give you anything you want. Name your price.”

He bent down, his arms bordering me on either side. A strand of his black hair fell across his face that I itched to brush back. “What could you, Erin Jay Williams, offer in exchange for the only weapon in the realms that can displace another Higher Realms’ being?”

Sweat built along my lower back. “Please, Cal.”

“I told you begging doesn’t work on me.” His eyes fell to my lips again. “Actions speak louder than words.”

I swallowed. “What do you want?”

His eyes darkened, and my breath hitched. “You tell me. What are you willing to do for my blade?”

“You’ll give it to me?”

He cocked his head. “I’ll consider it.”

“I want you to promise me.”

He smirked. “Oh no, you don’t make the rules around here.”

My cheeks warmed. “Don’t waste my time, Cal. This is serious.”

He abruptly gripped my chin and tugged my face inches from his. I stopped breathing.

“I’m being completely serious, Erin.” His thumb traced the curve of my lips, teasing the entrance, and my body flooded with heat, remembering the last time his finger was in my mouth. “You know what to do.”

Keeping hold of his gaze, my hands trailed down the hard planes of his chest, feeling his muscles flex as I delved lower. I paused at the zipper of his jeans.

“Go on.”

Nerves rattled in my gut, but I focused on Saya and the fact I was willing to do anything to save her. I pulled down the zipper and felt myself instantly clench with anticipation. He was already hard and throbbing in my hands, my fingers not even clasping the full width of him. I’d only given a man head once in my entire life and I had been more than a few drinks in, empowered by alcohol to do something I’d never done sober. I definitely could not fit all of Cal inside my mouth.

“Cal, I …” I started, suddenly unsure.

“You what? Use your words.” He leaned back, his mouth curling into a slow smile. “Or don’t.”

My cheeks were on fire; wanting to wipe that stupid smirk off his face, I took the head of him into my mouth.

His groan vibrated my lips around his length, and it was so fucking hot. I twirled my tongue along the head of his cock, like I had his finger, and stared up at his half-lidded gaze.

“Show me how badly you want my dagger, Erin.”

My core tightened, my lower half aching to be touched, but I kept my hands focused on him. Feeling more confident, I gripped the base, sliding my hand up and down, meeting my mouth as I worked his silky hot shaft. His hands had moved to my hair at some point, fisting the strands on either side as he rocked against me. I tightened my grip slightly, stroking the base of him as my mouth focused on the tip, relishing in his low moan.

Then I started to suck.

A guttural growl escaped him, instantly dampening my panties. His hold became rougher as he rocked harder against my mouth. I tried to keep pace and relax my throat, but he was too big. Tears sprang to the corners of my eyes as I started to choke. I tried pulling back, but he didn’t relinquish his hold on the back of my head, locking me in place with half his cock still inside my mouth.

His eyes met mine, and my thighs clamped at the raw lust in them. My throat moved, humming a protest around his size. I needed to catch my breath.

His gaze hardened, and his words pitched low. “You started this; you will finish it.” His hands moved away from my hair to squeeze either side of my face, forcing himself farther in. “Either way, I’m going to cum inside that pretty little mouth of yours, Erin.”

Without breaking eye contact, he began to thrust harder. I breathed through my nose, not daring to look away. The built-up saliva made him slide in and out with ease, the tip of him teasing the back of my throat. He smirked as I gagged and worked on taking him all in, the bastard taking pleasure in my struggle. To win back some control, I cupped his balls and climbed up to stroke the base of his length. Gradually, I adjusted to his size and picked up speed. He matched my pace.

“Fuck.”

I hummed against him as he held my head in place, his cock slamming against the back of my throat. His fingers dug back into my hair, pulling hard enough that it brought me to a place of pain and pleasure I never thought I would like. Cal’s head snapped back, and I felt the heat of his seed flood my mouth, overwhelming me. I tried to pull away again, but his grip stayed firm, keeping me in place.

“Swallow it. Take in all of me,” he demanded.

I obeyed, taking him all in.

He smoothed back the strands of my hair sticking to my cheeks. “That’s a good girl.” The corner of his mouth hitched. “So obedient.”

He finally released me, and I reared back, scowling at him. He zipped his pants back up as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, still feeling the taste of him on my tongue.

“Are you going to give me your dagger?” I asked, ignoring the shaking in my legs, my body craving release.

He tilted his head, shooting me a condescending smile. “I told you I’d consider it.” Then he disappeared.

“Asshole!” I yelled.

Not long after he left, I slid my hand beneath the waist of my pants and touched myself, climaxing almost immediately.