Page 41

My chains hang from a hook above me, mounted to a track. I can move some.

Shifting up to my knees, I note my state of composure. Hair’s been washed. Skin too. Ananke has a whole staff at the palace. Servants and maids.

A finely made black dress adorns my aching body. Simple. Pretty.

The moments leading up to getting knocked out return, tightening a knot of fear in my gut. She has Ero. Captured him again.

Something shuffles in the dark ahead of me.

There’s someone else in here…

“Ero?” I whisper. No response.

Crawling across the floor, I tug my chains along the trolley mounted to the ceiling. I creep forward until I make out the outline of feet, legs sprawled out, strapped to bolts in the floor. A well-muscled body, bare chested and so familiar rests on the cool stone, arms outstretched overhead.

He’s drawn into an X by his bonds. Must have put up one hell of a fight from the looks of things. Still, they cleaned him up. Dressed him in fitted black pants to match my dress.

Meaning they intend to use us one last time.

I reach for Ero’s face, stroking his cheek and drifting up to tease his wavy mess of raven locks.

Peaceful. He always looks so peaceful when he sleeps.

“Hm?” Onyx eyes crack open. A flicker of a smile. That expression on his face will never cease to amaze and surprise me.

“My love…” I lean closer, letting him see me better, “Why did you?—”

“No choice.”

“Bullshit. You should have left me?—”

“First of all, fuck you. I will never leave you, no matter how frustratingly pigheaded you are. But that’s not what I meant. Bratva found me. Brought me as their negotiating tool.”

“They caved?” My lips curls in disgust. Can’t really blame anyone at this point. Ananke is unstoppable.

“They have their own agenda, I’m sure. I’m just glad I got to see you one last time before it’s all over.”

“Fatalist much?” I bend lower, kissing him tenderly.

“I died a long time ago. Only you wouldn’t let me stay that way. Fucking infuriating.”

“What can I say? I have a vindictive streak.”

“Then please, by all means, make me pay…”

“We do have some unfinished business,” I hum, kissing him deeply. Ero’s fire fills my core.

I don’t know what lies for us outside this room, what Ananke has planned. Whatever sick game she intends to play with us, I know it won’t be good. But I refuse to waste what little time we have left huddling terrified in the dark.

My body shifts unconsciously as I let Ero sample my lips, my leg looping over his middle. Straddling him, longing intensifies. Breath quickens, pulse pounds.

Ero grows tantalizingly rigid between my legs, thrilling me with anticipation. Just as instantaneously, I’m ready for him. Danger and urgency. It’s always been our most potent aphrodisiac.

Desire and need throw foreplay and subtlety out the window. “I need you inside me. Now.”

Ero’s low growl is all the answer I need. Not that he can do much about it.

And that fact makes me even hotter.

I work his pants down, rucking my skirt up. Settling myself over him, I don’t waste another second before I grab his full, thick manhood, and aim him right at my center.

Ero raises his head, watching me stroke him, seat him at my entrance. His eyes sear right into my soul.

“I—”

“Circe, I know?—”

“— love you, Fiero. Desperately.”

A rough inhale catches in his throat. “I live for you.”

His words mean more than I can even rationally comprehend. Our actions might not be our own. Ananke may force us to do unspeakable things, and has.

There’s nothing left to say.

I bear down, rising above him, planting my fingers on his chest.

As he ascends within me.

Bliss and blaze. Roiling lust and something far beyond love consumes my world in havoc and raging fire. Throwing back my head, I ride my lover like there is no tomorrow. Because it’s true.

Ero’s lance completes me, spreading my walls to envelop him with a slick, silken grip. I form to him like I was molded for this purpose.

Bucking my hips grinds him against that most tantalizing target, never once allowing him more than an inch outside my entrance. I love when he pounds me, all the times he slid so deep and dragged out just as languidly…

But this time, I need him in constant contact, as much of him inside me as I can. My inner reaches clutch him covetously, refusing to let go of that velvet embrace until there is no strength left, until he’s given me everything he has, everything I need.

“Circe … goddess …”

“Ero, my king.”

His back arches up off the floor, his hands and feet flexing against his restraints. I see how badly he wants to touch me, his eyes flaring with frustrated desire.

So I grin, wicked and wide, lifting myself using the anchor of my chains. The head of his pulsing column reaches my entrance, swelling as I swivel my hips in a scintillating caress of my flower petals across his most sensitive tip.

“Fuuu—!” His entire back leaves the floor.

And with a trembling grunt of laughter, I slam back down, driving him back to the ground and driving him back where he belongs, buried to the hilt in my core.

I rise again. Slam down.

My waist gyrates, my abs flex.

Again.

“Aaaah! All of you…I need all of you!” I wail, throwing my body into a rolling rhythm. Soon, I’m sawing across his lap with reckless abandon, gushing around him and painting his pelvic skin with the masterpiece of our oncoming release.

Ero’s chest and obliques tighten, his stomach curls towards me.

The leg-locking quake begins in the tendons of my groin, radiating out into a burning flush in my thighs, blossoming into a rush of flame in my tummy.

Twin coils of vibrant ecstasy spiral up my spine.

Pleasure flares behind my closed eyes, brighter than the sun. I soar into orbit, out into the cosmos.

And I plummet back to the earth.

My tide rises as Ero’s rushes in, submerging me in the heat of his expulsion, slaking my thirst for him right as my dam breaks. My climax expands, then contracts around my lover, drenching him in heavenly ardor.

“You’re unbelievable,” he gasps, pumping his ass cheeks against the floor and undulating, keeping us both in the shuddering afterglow.

“You’re insane…you make me insane …” And I mean every bit of the worship and wonder I infuse in the words.

“Go crazy for me, Circe. Go fucking nuts with me.” He hammers me with a meaningful stare. Like there’s more to what he’s saying…

“Wha—?”

The walls of our cell vibrate, a split appearing in the center, widening. Light pours in, glowing down from flood lamps beyond. An arena manifests as the wide gates swing back, exposing us to a shocking scene.

Roman architecture, massive steps of stone, ascend across the expanse of the semicircle just outside our alcove. The ruins have been manicured and the grounds curated for an opulent event. A show.

Every seat in the crumbling amphitheater house Ananke’s sordid guests. Senators. Dons. Kings and warlords. Their rustling and chattering die to a murmur as we appear.

Ananke’s voice echoes over the stillness.

“Ladies and gentlemen, my esteemed guests. Allow me to introduce my Spartans. The culmination of my research. The perfect soldiers.”

Rows of eager faces gawk at the spectacle before them, some aloof, others captivated, hunger evident in their poise. It’s a veritable who’s who of mafia, syndicate, delegate, and capitalist tycoons.

“Now, please, enjoy the show.”