Page 17 of Unseen

THE CLAIM

R UNRUNRUNRUNRUN.

The single word screamed inside my skull, my vision blurring as panic took over. I attempted to dig my heels into the ground, trying to find some way to prevent our advance towards the fireplace, but one swift tug of Azriel’s hand sent me stumbling forward.

I could not run, could not escape, no matter how hard I twisted my arm.

His grip promised no mercy, and I could not let him do this to me.

I would not let him. Not tonight, when lust and fury were whipping through his veins and I was sure he sought to cause me nothing but pain.

Not tonight, when we were not even husband and wife. Had I not tumbled deep enough into sin?

“Let me go!” I cried, lashing out with a foot, trying to kick him but only sending myself tottering painfully onto my ankle. “Azriel! What are you doing? Stop this!”

“I am helping you, beloved, as you requested.”

“I did no such thing!” I gasped as he snatched a knife from the fireplace, throwing out my free hand and clawing my nails down his cheek. “Are you mad? Let me go this instant! ”

“Absolutely not.” His eyes were glacial, and terrifying, the firelight catching the glint of the blade, and I turned to flee. With a cruel laugh, he twisted my arm and slammed me back against him, my arm pinned between us. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“Let me go!” I sucked in a breath as he dragged the tip of the knife down my cheek. “You vile brute. I demand you let me go.”

“I rather think you’re not in a position to demand anything, Evie.

” He shoved me forward, against the wall beside the fireplace, pressing my cheek into the crumbling plaster.

“And I have no intention of letting you go. Not now, when that which I desire most of all is right here before me.” There was pressure against my back, and the sharp hum of a blade against fabric.

With a loud rip, he sliced through my bodice and the laces of my stays.

“No!” I writhed against him, a fruitless endeavour as his enormous body kept me pinned in place.

“Do you have any idea how I have suffered?” Another sharp rip, a pinging of fabric as my skirts came undone, the bindings whipping away from my body. “The agony I have endured? Being forced to watch my father take what was mine, day after day. Night after night.”

“I am not yours,” I spat out, angry tears streaming down my cheeks.

“I never will be.” My skirts came away, falling into a puddle at my feet.

My fingers scraped into the cracked plaster, and air brushed at all the places where my skin was now bared.

With a strangled gasp, I was spun around to look up into his face, his eyes two bright beacons in the firelight.

“I am the first man to have you seeing stars, beloved.” He dropped the blade to the floor, and gripped the top of my chemise with his bare hands.

“That means something. That means I own something that has never belonged to anyone else.” He ripped the fabric hard, and it gave way easily.

“There is no point fighting it.” He stepped back, inhaling sharply as he took in my naked body.

“My god, Evie, look at you. You are so beautiful.”

My arms flew up, curling protectively around me, my legs clenched together. “Don’t touch me!” My chest was heaving, my legs itching with the urge to run, and put as much distance between us as possible. “Do not come anywhere near me!”

He tore his shirt off over his head, and I seized my chance. I ducked to the floor, stepping out of my fallen petticoats, and rushed at him with the knife.

Azriel glanced down at the blade with a smile, keeping his hands raised. “And here we are again. Your favourite position, beloved.”

“Indeed.” I pressed the tip of the knife into his flesh. “But this time, I will be the victor.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.” I twisted my hand so the blade nicked his skin, a droplet of blood welling at the wound. “You think you can tear off my clothes and ravish me? You think I would be so easy a conquest?”

“To be honest, I did.” His grin widened. “But this is infinitely more fun.”

“At least you will die happy.” I glared up at him. “Rot in Hell.”

His hand shot out and snatched my wrist, the edge of the blade dragging at his skin but nowhere near deep enough to kill him or even hurt him. I was once again spun against him, my arms crushed by his as the heat of his body melted into my back.

“I think you thoroughly enjoy these games, Evie.” His teeth nicked my earlobe. “But you see, I will always have the upper hand.”

“I hate you.” I gritted out, struggling against him.

“I know you do, and that is how I know you will be the most extraordinary fuck.” He pushed me forward, so my knees came to rest against the edge of the armchair.

“You’re aching for me, aren't you? This cunt is dripping for me, and aching to be impaled by my cock.” He pressed his mouth to my neck, his tongue darting out to lick my skin.

“No!” I whimpered as his teeth sunk into the soft flesh of my throat. A strange feeling began to bloom in my belly as he remained pressed against me. My nipples peaked as he continued to lick and suck my skin, and I cursed my wantonness. My body was betraying me just as it had in his bed.

“Now, we won’t be needing this,” he said, plucking the knife from my hand and throwing it across the room. “Are you going to behave yourself?”

“Why would I do anything of the sort?” I tried to twist my head to look over my shoulder at him, but he seized my hair in his fist, forcing me to look forward.

“I was so hoping you would say that.” There was a rustle of clothing, and I suppressed a shriek as his obscenely swollen manhood was pressed to my back. His dangerous laugh rumbled through his chest. “Acting like a maid when I already had you moaning in my bed? What a fine actress you are.”

“Go to Hell.”

He locked his arms around me and lifted me off my feet, carrying me across the room as though I was made of air.

He threw me down at the foot of his enormous bed, my knees crashing against the upholstered chest at the end of it.

I scrabbled at the sheets to try and escape him, but he hauled me back by my hips.

“Now, now, my little viper, fighting won’t help.” He leaned over me, pinning one arm down to the bed as he stroked my jaw with his hand.

“Is this how you intend to take me? Bending me over like you did your whore?”

“I think you’ll find I have much more imagination than my pathetic old father.

” He ran a hand down my body, taking a hold of his manhood to run it through my slickness, causing me to shudder.

“And see? You love it, Evie. Being pinned down and used, just like I said. Can you feel how wet you are for me?”

I half-laughed, half-sobbed, writhing in the suffocating heat of his body as he kept me pinned to the bed. “Is this your triumph? Violating your pretty new bride in your chambers?”

“If she screams like a whore, and she comes like a whore, then she must be a whore,” he snarled, his teeth snapping at my ear. He straightened, kneeling between my thighs, and spread me open with his fingers. “And what a pretty cunt you have, too. I shall enjoy claiming it.”

“No!” I tried again to scramble away from him, but he once again pulled me back to him, his fist again in my hair. I shook my head as he positioned himself at my entrance. “Azriel, please.”

“You must calm yourself, Evie.” He let out a soft groan as he pushed softly, barely the tip breaching me. “Breathe now. Or this really will hurt.”

My fingers dug into the bed linens, and with a hard thrust of his hips, Azriel had filled me completely. My mouth tore open in a silent scream, and I sucked in a breath.

“That’s it, Evie. Breathe.” He let out a heavy groan. “Oh fuck, nothing I ever imagined could compare to this. Fuck, like sweet heaven.”

There was a bite of pain as he withdrew, then slid slowly, slowly back inside me. But the sting of pleasure was even worse. It thrummed through my body, liquid and languid, and I could already sense the rise within me, just as it had been when he had used his hand.

But this was more, so much more. I exhaled, my bones softening as I slumped on the bed, and he thrust again, harder this time, and the sensation was such that I was sure I would split in two.

“Please. Please.” I sputtered out that useless word, knowing he would not stop, and not even pleading for that. “Oh god, Azriel, please slow down.” I gasped as his hips pounded against me. “You are too big!”

“And yet your needy cunt is taking me so well.” Another dark laugh rumbled through him, low and threatening, and the groan he let out made my toes curl. “Tell me you hate me, Evie."

“I hate you.”

His pace increased. “Tell me you wished I was burning in Hell.”

“I do.” I hated myself as I moaned, the feeling of him stretching me a fiery collision of pain and pleasure. “I wish… Oh god. I wish you…” I shuddered, my eyes rolling back in my head as his movements rubbed up against a place inside me that set all of me aflame. “I wish I’d killed you.”

He laughed, followed by a jagged breath, and his fist in my hair flexed, forcing me to arch my back. The breath was sheer knocked from my lungs as he slid even deeper inside me.

“Look at you, beloved. So obedient.”

“God damn you!” My voice was breathy and high-pitched, the unbearable heat and pressure building in my belly. “Y-You’re not going t-to… Ah. No. You won’t do that to me…. Again.”

He yanked me up against him by my hair, his other hand wrapping around my throat. I screamed, shaking and breaking out in sweat as he pounded himself into me .

“I’m going to fill this pretty cunt up with my seed and wipe away any trace of the man who was there before me,” Azriel breathed against my ear. “You’re mine, Evie. Your pain.” Thrust. “Your pleasure.” Thrust. “Your heart.” Thrust. “All of you, it’s all mine.”