Page 20

“Secret passageways?” Bella repeated, her mind whirling around the possibilities.

Trish nodded, nervously glancing over her shoulder at Jordan, who stood talking to a small group of soldiers, a mix of Cora and the Wolf’s men. The blonde wasn’t a very good actress—she was obviously agitated as she passed the information on to Bella and quickly whispered the way to open the panels while Bella tried to memorize it.

As usual, Alex was swimming his laps, frustration and anger written in every line of his body. Bella was pretty sure he still felt the effects of Cora’s torment, both physically and mentally. Last night they had slept wrapped around each other, but neither of them had known what to say.

Bella carefully committed everything Trish said to memory and tried to dampen her excitement. This was something Alex would want to know. He would hope the passageways could find them a way out of the compound. Bella wondered what else they might be able to learn inside the compound. A lot of questions had arisen in the past few days—not just about Earth and the Wolf, but about the Moon’s government.

Now she just had to figure out how to pass the information along to Alex.

* * *

By the time Alex pulled himself out of the pool, every part of his body ached. He’d been swimming for at least an hour, he’d scrubbed himself clean in the shower before that, but he still felt like there was a layer of dirt on his skin that wouldn’t come off.

There was a small group of three soldiers nearby, talking and joking. Two were the Wolf’s; one was Cora’s. Tidbits of their conversation floated on the breeze, but he wasn’t interested in listening. At least they weren’t talking about him. Then a tingle went down his spine as he heard something more relevant.

“... the Wolf and Cora…”

“... think they’ll run into any trouble?”

“... Jordan and Trace are still here…”

“Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”

Did that mean the Wolf and Cora were out of the compound, personally leading whatever mission they were on, while their seconds-in-command stayed behind?

Alex looked across the pool, past where Trish and Bella were deep in conversation, and over at the big blond. It wasn’t often that Jordan allowed Trish out of arm’s reach, but it looked like his attention was divided today. Soldiers would come into the outdoor area and head straight to Jordan and, as soon as he finished talking to them, would walk purposefully back out. Which was very different from the usual day, where Jordan would walk Trish around the gardens and watch over her exercise.

Now that he thought of it, Bella or Trish hadn’t gotten anywhere near the pool, and no one seemed to care. Something was definitely going on.

It became even clearer after he and Bella were fed and exercised and escorted immediately back to their room by some more soldiers. Jordan had already gone off, Trish in tow, and Alex hadn’t seen the big blond molesting her even once. She’d also looked incredibly nervous and had given Bella a little glance as she’d been pulled away. What had the two of them had been talking about?

When they got into their room, which was empty as usual, Bella looked over at him. He could almost see her thoughts churning inside her head as she chewed on her lower lip. There was something she wanted to tell him.

Alex glanced around the near-empty room and inwardly sighed before going over to the bed. His cock still felt a bit sore, his balls tight and achy, but there was no other way to get any kind of privacy. If they were observed whispering to each other, they wouldn’t be left alone for long. Even if the Wolf was out of the compound, they couldn’t be sure no one was watching.

He walked over to the bed and sat down, and looked over at Bella, who shifted nervously back and forth on the balls of her feet as she watched him. His cock and balls had been tortured yesterday, but Alex still felt the familiar stirring of arousal as he looked at her feminine curves, the tight, pink nipples tipping her breasts, and the puffy lips between her legs. It didn’t matter that he saw her naked all day or that it wasn’t by choice—whenever he focused on Bella, his cock got a little jolt of excitement.

He patted the bed next to him.

“Come sit down,” he said in a low voice, giving her what he hoped was a significant look.

Bella’s eyes widened, but she came toward him. Was it his imagination, or did her nipples get a little bit harder?

To his surprise, she didn’t sit next to him and instead crawled onto the bed, going behind him to force him to turn and follow her. Not that he minded. She lay down on her side, facing him. This would be easier to get close enough for them to whisper in each other’s ears while making it look like they had another reason for their closeness. He lay on his side, facing her, so close he could feel the heat of her body against his, though they weren’t quite touching.

Her cheeks pinked a bit as he leaned slightly over her.

The movement was deliberate: he crowded her and took charge of their interaction. Alex needed the return to control, the dominance, after yesterday with Cora. And Bella was definitely sexually submissive. It was like a soothing balm to his psyche; one he hadn’t known he desperately needed until this moment. His arousal stirred more as he looked down at her and saw her reaction to him.

It made his cock and balls tingle, in a not entirely pleasant way, as the remnant of yesterday’s torture still lingered, but he couldn’t help his physical reaction to those wide, brown eyes and the slightly parted, pink lips.

Alex swept her hair back off her shoulder and leaned forward to give her neck a kiss, his cock hardening as a shiver went down her body and her nipples lightly brushed against his chest hair. She shifted, giving him more access to her neck, making herself more vulnerable and arousing him further.

“I think the Wolf and Cora are gone today,” he whispered in her ear as he moved his lips up her neck. “And Jordan and Trace have been left in charge.” Alex brought his hand up to rest lightly on her hip. His fingers drew little patterns on the side of her buttock, eliciting more small shudders for him to enjoy. His cock began to swell and reach for her, uncomfortable as the skin stretched, but even without the cock ring, that tiny bit of discomfort wouldn’t be enough to deflate him.

One of Bella’s hands pressed against his chest, trying to push him back. He was pretty sure she wanted to be able to speak back to him and couldn’t because right now her face pressed against his arm and shoulder. But Alex didn’t want to lean back and let her on top, so instead, he relinquished his resting spot on her hip and grasped her wrist in his to push her onto her back.

Bella gasped as he leaned over her, half-covering her soft body with his harder one. He pressed her hand down next to her head and continued to explore her throat and collarbone with his lips, inserting his thigh between her legs as he felt her hips lift in response.

“The sheets!” Bella whispered urgently in his ear. Alex growled at the reminder that they couldn’t touch each other freely but released her wrist to reach down and grab the sheets and pull them up to cover the two of them.

With any luck, if the cameras in the room were on, whoever was watching wouldn’t realize anything more than sex was happening. Although, the last time they’d touched each other, no one had been watching. Maybe the cameras had only been turned on because the Wolf had known there would be a show after injecting Bella with the aphrodisiac.

Not that they needed extra help right now. Alex’s cock was hard and pressing against Bella’s hip, and, from the way she wriggled underneath him, he could tell she was just as aroused as he was. Her silky skin felt almost too intense against the sensitive surface of his dick, but it wasn’t nearly as painful as it had been yesterday.

When he moved back into position, he found Bella hadn’t moved her arm an inch from where he’d placed it, and he groaned as he buried his face into the crook of her neck to find the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. She gasped, her other hand sliding between their bodies to come up and wrap around the back of his neck, to hold him in place as she arched beneath him.

Bella twisted slightly and her lips found his earlobe. “This morning Trish and Jordan used a secret passageway.”

That got his attention, even as Bella sucked his earlobe into her mouth and nibbled on it. The suction went straight to his cock, and he pressed it harder against her hip, bringing his thigh up more to find the wet heat between her legs. She gasped and rubbed herself against his leg, as if she were riding his thigh, and her fingers tightened around his neck.

“Tell me.”

And she did. It was hard to concentrate while they caressed and moved against each other, her whispering words filling his ears even as erotic need filled the rest of his body. Bella was so soft, so willing beneath him… It was an incredible gift for her to be so willing, considering their situation. It was also hot as hell. Not being able to move away from kissing her neck and shoulders so she could whisper in his ear was slow torment, especially because Alex’s ears were on a direct line to his groin.

He slid between her legs and rubbed his cock against her pussy while she repeated the directions to open the passageways and tried to concentrate while pleasure and a slight amount of pain shot through him. There was soft, wet heat, but it was almost too much to bear. He cupped her breast and squeezed, and her nipple pressed against the palm of his hand as Alex enjoyed the way she writhed beneath him.

Her repeated words became breathless, ragged, as he aroused her.

Being on top of her felt right. It felt good.

It was easy to forget it wasn’t a necessity of their situation. As a gentleman, he should stop. Pull away. Stop trying to make her as horny as he was. Just because they’d touched each other, had an intimate moment, didn’t mean she would necessarily consent to sex. But he didn’t want to stop. He pinched her nipple and tugged on it, knowing how sensitive those little buds were.

Bella arched beneath him, her legs wrapped around the backs of his thighs, her heels digging in just above his knees as she tried to pull him into her.

“Please,” she whispered in his ear, interrupting her recitation of the sequence to press on the s -shape. It didn’t matter—he had it as committed-to-memory as it was going to get. He couldn’t concentrate anymore because all his focus was on not plunging his cock into her. But then she moved her hips and brought it up to him, rubbing her juices over the length of his cock.

Alex drew back just enough to angle himself correctly, pressed forward… and hissed between his teeth as her molten core gave way for him. It didn’t hurt like it had yesterday, but it wasn’t pure pleasure, either. She was incredibly wet, which helped, because her tight walls provided a lot of friction over the sensitive surface of his cock, and her muscles gripped him as he slid into her.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” she chanted under her breath, and, as Alex pulled his head back to look down, her cheeks were flushed a bright pink, and her eyes were closed.

“Look at me,” he growled, curling his hands under her shoulders to hold her in place as his cock nestled home inside her.

Eyelashes fluttered, and she looked up at him, her gaze hot and feverish, clashing against his as he shoved the last inch of his cock into her heated tunnel. Her lips made a small ‘o,’ and her eyes widened as he ground his body against her pussy lips and clit and she jerked beneath him in reaction.

Fuck…

This was exactly what Alex needed. Bella, wet and willing, not just allowing him to be on top, but wanting him there. Being turned on by his control. Her pupils dilated as he stared down into her eyes, and his hips flexed to pull out halfway and then thrust deep. She whimpered, but kept looking up at him, still obeying his order. Giving him that small amount of control in his life.

Something dark and needy unfurled inside him, and he growled again, low in his throat, as he slid his hands up her body and forced her arms above her head. His fingers intertwined with hers to make her stretch out beneath him and to hold her in place on the mattress. Bella moaned, bucking as her pussy clamped down in visceral reaction to his dominance.

“You would tell me to stop if you didn’t want me, wouldn’t you?”

It wasn’t really a question as he pulled back and thrust hard into her, but more a demand for her to acknowledge she wanted him, she wanted this. Bella’s eyes burned into his, shining up at him, as her body welcomed him in.

“Yes,” she whispered, and tightened her legs around him. Alex pulled out again before shoving back in, hard and deep. She made a sexy sound, low in her throat, as he filled her. It felt like her pussy was made of hot, wet, nubby silk, wrapping around him, rubbing against him.

“And you want me, don’t you? Tell me you want me.”

“Yes… Alex, please, yes!”

Bella shuddered and arched beneath him as he began to pound into her, hard and fast, fulfilling his need to claim her. Images of the Wolf and Trace double-teaming her ran through the back of his mind—images he wanted to erase from her memory and replace with himself. He pressed down on her hands and leveraged himself up to take her hard, sending slices of pain through their pleasure as he pummeled her with his sensitive cock. It only made the ecstasy stroke higher.

“Yes, yes, yes yesyesyes!” Bella chanted the word as if her life depended on it, her throaty affirmative voicing her desire, her joy in choosing him, choosing this.

And Alex reveled in it; wallowed in her passion the way he wallowed in her body, wrapping himself in her sexual need and allowing it to fulfill him in a way he’d never felt.

He’d never so badly needed a woman to say ‘yes’ to him. Never so badly needed to have control over both himself and someone else, or needed the peace that kind of trust could bring. He’d never been so out of control, never been sexually tortured, and never been so aware of the privilege of receiving that ‘yes’ before they’d been taken by the Wolf.

When Bella came, pulsing around him, writhing beneath him, the ecstasy was so great Alex felt it all through his body and in the air around him, as if their orgasms were too large to be contained by their physical bodies. It reached into his brain and touched his soul, his inner self, in a way none of the Wolf’s depravities or torments ever could. The pleasure, the connection, was pure… beautiful… and real.

Alex gripped her hands tightly as his cock throbbed inside her and shot jets of cum into her pussy with the same rhythm she clenched around him, as if she were pulling every pulse of pleasure from him.

Fuck…

Completely spent, he nearly collapsed on top of her. His body and head whirled with the combined effects of their passion and the information about the secret passageways.

Alex groaned as he turned and brought her with him so they were still connected as he pulled her on top of him. She was a soft weight, like a blanket over his body. With a sigh and a small wriggle, she settled in, her cheek resting on his shoulder.

A tender care stole through him as he stroked her hair away from her face and turned to place a kiss on her forehead. As much as Bella aroused him, she elicited much softer emotions from him, as well. Protective emotions that were all the more frustrating because of his inability to provide her with any kind of protection or care.

What he could give her was this: a gentle touch, a sweet caress, and soft kisses while she hummed with pleasure. A stolen moment to pretend they were just two lovers, cuddled together after their passion.

But even as he blinked and looked across the room, his eyes focused on the s -shape, his mind already moving away from the moment and toward the possibility of their freedom.

* * *

Toy, Pet, and the Wolf will return in the stunning conclusion to The Warlord’s Duet, His Pet.