It had been almost three weeks since she defied death in the virtual reality. No one was sure what happened. The construct worked alongside Mia’s brain patterns. Dylan shouldn’t have been able to tap into the program. Mia was certain he’d found a way to hack into the mainframe. Two people trying to control a closed virtual reality environment had caused a clash, a meltdown in the code. As their blood infused in reality, their minds merged in the VR.
It defied explanation. Especially to her, a psychologist. Despite all her denials to herself and to the other Company psychologists they insisted she speak to, Mia felt deep down something she dared not admit in the light of day.
She had changed. She was linked to Dylan. She shared his past and his present. Did she share his future? Shivers ran down her spine as she imagined abandoning the life she’d constructed for herself, of letting go and sharing his world. Criminality. Illegality.
A life of freedom, a life where she didn’t have to pretend. It seemed so tempting. Appealing on a base level. To live every day with someone who knew her mind, body and soul. No secrets, no chastisement.
Even now, just thinking of him, her body heated. Primed. She wanted him inside her, gripping her hair and fucking her hard. She wanted him to tie her down and torture her body to the heights of pleasure. She wanted to be whipped, to have him mark her, brand her as his.
At times she hated and despised him. Yet she was fascinated by him, drawn to him. Burned for him.
Tonight was just one of many dreams they had shared. They talked of childhood. Of watching her mother as she fucked for money. They’d spoken of her brief time as a sex slave. He regaled her with tales of growing up on the streets, of fighting for survival, of learning everything he could so he could enact his revenge.
Tonight felt different, more vivid.
She unwrapped herself from the sheets and padded into the bathroom. “Lights up.” She cursed as the light drove shards of pain into her mind. “Lights dim.”
Her heart hammered violently as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair hung limp, soaked through with sweat. Her sallow complexion was marred by dark circles due to long days underground in prisons full of criminals.
The only time she felt alive was with him. In their dreams, she glowed with vitality. His presence ignited her nerve endings.
He’d unleashed a part of herself she had denied. The feral, primitive part. The dark side of her soul that she’d locked away. The side that needed, craved.
Dylan had unleashed it and now she spent every waking moment trying to fight it.
It was anger, passion, want. The need to fuck. To take. The loss of inhibition. The slipping of the façade she wore all the time.
The need inside her grew with every passing day. Desire more ardent. It was all she could do to stop herself from jumping on some passing guy and fucking him senseless.
Raising her head, she looked at herself in the mirror. “Damn you, Dylan.”
She saw him in her mind, sitting in his cell, the edges of his lips curled up into a smile.
Rage coursed through her, a scream of anger built in her throat as she raised her fist and smashed it against the mirror. Glass shattered. Shards embedded into her skin. Rivulets of blood ran from her closed fist.
She hissed in pain.
She felt Dylan shift in his cell. Did her pain cause him pain?
Switching on the cold tap, she ran the cut under the soothing water, hoping to ease some of the burning sensation. She tended to her wound before pulling down the toilet lid and sinking onto it.
How had her life come to this? Linked to a criminal who was haunted by his past. She’d had a glittering career in front of her. She’d locked her own past in a box along with her feral side.
She was one of the best psychologists in the galaxy. Now her career was almost in tatters. The Company had interrogated the fuck out of her for the past three weeks.
What had happened when she was unconscious? What about Dylan? Did he tell her where the money was?
She dared not tell them of their link. They would lock her up in a cell and experiment on her. They feared Dylan more than the worse murderers or mercenaries. He had hit them where it hurt the most—their money.
She dared not even tell Ramierez. Sweet, lovable Dr. Ramierez, who had both saved her life and ended it in equal measure.
She could never go back to what she was before. She could never push aside the primitive side that had been unleashed. One day she would have to sate the desires inside her.
Chapter Five
Dylan rubbed his chin. Mia’s chained and blindfolded form struggled against her bonds. Seeing her chained to the floor made his cock burn.
“What the fuck are you doing, Dylan?” She twisted and turned, strained against her shackles. Her teeth gritted in a grimace. Sweat beaded on her forehead.
His Mia, his beautiful fucked-up psychologist, shackled before him. His cock hammered, jerked in his pants. He wanted to take her, fuck her, claim her, brand her. Their shared consciousness allowed him to play out his fantasies.
To tease. Tempt.
Something had changed between them.
This time he needed to earn her trust, break down the barriers of her past. Buried deep inside lay a scared, vulnerable teenager. A girl who still blamed herself for the abuse those sick fucks put her through. She needed to understand he wouldn’t hurt her. Not the way they had. That she shouldn’t be ashamed, that unconventional sex didn’t have to mean abuse.
He burned for her. Wanted to own her heart. Possess her soul.
Possessing her was the only thing that mattered to him. He had to have her.
“Answer me, you asshole. Arggh.” Iron clanged as she smashed the links against the wall.
“Feel familiar, Doc? Don’t struggle. I’m not going to hurt you. But I’m not letting you go.”
She stilled. Her body stiffened, spine rigid. Brow furrowed, slashed mouth, panic obvious on her face.
Dylan inhaled. Tension shot through his veins, hammered in his gut. He didn’t want her afraid of him. He needed to make her realize she was in control of her desires. She could choose what pleased her now, what could take her over the edge.
“Please, Dylan. Let me go.”
He crossed to her in two strides. He sniffed her hair. The musky scent of arousal filled his senses. His cock twitched. Despite her fear, she still wanted him. The element of submission turned her on.
He combed his fingers through her hair and gripped a handful of the silky strands. “I’m going to touch you and when I’m done you’ll beg me to fuck you. I know you want this. Crave it. Give me your orgasm.” He nibbled her earlobe, reveled in her soft moan of pleasure. “Trust me to hurt you, Mia.”
She thrust her breasts forward and he palmed them, flicked his thumbs over the turgid rosy buds.
A deep groan filled his ear. He smiled. “Like that?”
She nodded. “Mmmm.”
“Good.” He pinched her nipples, tugged hard before releasing.
“Dylan.” She screamed his name.
Was she wet? Dipping his hand between her thighs, he ran a fingertip along her slit. Her juices coated his skin. He hadn’t been wrong. She enjoyed his harsh touch.
“I can feel how wet you are. What would Ramierez say if he could see you now, creaming because I hurt you?”
“Please—”
“Please what, Mia? You want more? ’Course you do. You’ve wanted this for a long time. It’s time to let go. Don’t be afraid, I’ve got you.” He spun her round, bent her forward. Her naked ass stuck in the air, ripe as a peach. “You have a spankable ass. Ever been spanked?”
“Yes.” She hissed out the word.
Dylan traced the curve of her buttocks. “Did you enjoy it?”
“Sometimes.”
He slapped his palm against one fleshy globe. She moaned and he spanked her again with more force. “More?”
She mumbled something inaudible.
“If you want more, ask for it. Take what you need. You control what you need.”
“More. Please more.”
He spanked her continuously, spanked until his hand burned. Her skin mottled. Heat radiated from the marks.
His brand.
Triumph roared like a beast in his soul. This beautiful, intelligent woman belonged to him. His Mia. The fragile bird with a core of steel. She’d wormed her way into his life, possessing him, making his dead heart beat.
He wiped sweat from his brow and stepped back. “Stand up straight and face me.”
She did as he commanded. Her chest rose and fell due to her labored breathing. Her pussy lips, swollen and puffy, glistened. She wasn’t afraid anymore. She wasn’t thinking about shame or her past. Right then, her eyes alight, she wanted him to fuck her.
It took every ounce of control not to ram his cock inside her.
“Look how wet you are. Are you ready to come?”
She blinked, strained against her chains. “Yes. Oh god, yes.”
“How long’s it been since you had an orgasm?”
“Years. I can’t come.”
He raised a brow. “That’s a lie. You can come.” He gripped her hair, jerked her forward. “I can make you come.”
“Yes—”
“But I’m not going to. Not here.” He sank his teeth into her shoulder, biting gently, marking the skin. He wanted to mark her all over. Claim his territory.
She shivered in his arms, whimpered. His pulse spiked in response. She drove him insane. Her need for pain spoke to his own darkness.
“I can give you what you need, Doc. Never forget that. Yin and yang. We belong together.” He soothed the bite mark with his tongue and whispered, “Now wake up.”
* * * * *
The sound of her heels clicking along the pristine corridor grated on every nerve ending in her body. No decorations graced the space. Everything was white. The walls. The floor. The ceiling. The only thing that broke the monotony was the guard desk at the end of the hallway.
Moving toward a palm scanner, Mia ignored the greetings from the guard. She placed her hand on the scanner and leaned forward for the retinal scan. This was the fourth set of security procedures in a long line she’d followed to get to the sublevel. When the facility housed the most notorious criminals in the galaxy, it paid to be cautious.
A mechanized voice broke the silence. “Authorized. Dr. Simon.” There was a heavy
whoosh
and a thick metal door swung open.
“You goin’ in to talk to him, Doc?”
Mia turned her head slightly. The guard who had asked the question was young, barely out of the Academy. He stood against the desk while his partner, a middle-aged, more jaded member of staff, idled back in his seat, a large gut protruding over the waistband of his pants.
She returned her attention to the younger guard and saw a blush rise in his cheeks as she fixed him with a stare.
So young. So innocent.
Sucking in a deep breath, she reined in her emotions. “Yes, I’m going to see the prisoner.”
The guard nodded. “You be careful, ma’am.”
Stepping through the doorway, she was glad of the semidarkness. The formation of the corridor was the same as the outer one except this one was darker and lined with five cells. Usually when the door swung shut, she felt a sense of unease. Not today. Today she was here for a specific purpose.
She nodded to two more guards and walked toward his cell. There was only one in this part of the Company facility. No windows except for a large observation pane, no human contact except the guards. After Dylan controlled the VR, the Company establishment had decided he was too dangerous for a normal maximum security prison. They wanted to keep him from any outside contact. Fear ran rife. Until they discovered how he obtained so much information on his captors, they wanted him locked far away.
Maybe they were hoping he’d roll over and confess.
She stopped, turned to the wall of glass behind which Dylan sat. Lights blazed in his cell. He had his back to the wall, legs outstretched. A smile played on his lips as he drank in the sight of her.
“Dr. Simon. To what do I owe this pleasure?” The words were cool, calm, lilted with only a slight hint of disdain.
She walked closer. Even from this distance, she wanted to fuck him.
“You know damn well why I’m here.” She clenched her teeth, hoping to keep some of her anger in check. It wouldn’t do for the guards to see her so ruffled. They would report it immediately and she needed continued access to Dylan.
“Really?” He tilted his head to the side. “Why’s that exactly?”
He was toying with her, fucking with her again. The difference was this time he wasn’t the only one who could play such games.
Placing her palms on the observation pane, she looked straight at him. “This.”
At that moment, she dropped the tentative shields she had put in place to block their strange link. A floodgate opened between them. She felt him rush into her, and she into him. Images fought for dominance. She wouldn’t back down, refused to be the weaker one.
Her blinked, glanced away and the link broke. Her lungs burned and she sucked in deep gulps of air. Sweat beaded on her forehead. The only sign it had affected him was the nerve twitching in his jaw.
“Stop tempting me. You are driving me crazy. Why are you doing this to me?”
He raised his palms slowly and shrugged in a dismissive gesture.
She wanted to scream. To pummel on the glass and rip his head off. She wanted to climb into his lap and ride his cock until they were both sated.
She shook her head to dispel the powerful image. “This is you. This is all you. The anger. The need. The…” She didn’t finish her sentence.
He raised a brow. “Are you sure?” Dylan rose and crossed to the glass. She hated herself for admiring the stealth and grace of his movements. “Or could it be you? Your needs? Your desires? Remember, I know what you need. Don’t deny me. We belong together.”
He barely whispered her name but she heard him. Coming from his mouth, her name sounded erotic, as if he’d caressed an intimate part of her body.
She stepped away and put some distance between them. “No. It’s all you.” The lie tumbled from her lips so easily. The feelings she had weren’t just his, they were hers too.
Her defenses crumbled. She wanted him so badly it hurt.
“You didn’t finish.”
She looked at him, puzzled. Hadn’t finished what?
“The anger. The need. The…” He quoted her words back to her and heat flamed in her cheeks. He finished the sentence for her. “The desire.”
Another game. The way he whispered the word, like he’d whispered her name, it was almost…obscene.
“Yes. Desire.” Moving closer to him, she pressed her fingers to the glass again. “The need to fuck. To take. It’s there all the time. Not the nice fuzzy feeling of sex, but a deep-seated need to fuck.” She licked her dry lips. “Is that what you wanted to hear? Did you want to hear me say it in
this
world?”
He smiled. “Yeah, that’s what I wanted to hear.” He put his fingertips against hers. The only thing separating them was two inches of glass. “Yin and yang, Dr. Simon. You choose which one you wanna be.”
“I can’t be what you need.” Did she honestly believe those words? He knew her more completely than she knew herself. It exhilarated and scared the fuck out of her. “I will find a way to break the connection.” She had to, for her own sanity.
He snorted. She could almost feel his breath on her neck. “No one can satisfy you, Mia. No one but me.”
It was her turn to snort. “Rather large ego you have there.”
“Not the only thing I have that’s large.” He laughed as she stepped away from him.
“Well, we’ll never get to test that theory.” She wanted to smile at his arrogance but she refused to let her stony mask slip. “Stay out of my head, Dylan. I won’t give in to whatever this thing is between us. Not ever. Do you understand?”
Dylan raised a brow again. “That so?” He was silent for a few heartbeats. “I can feel the conflict in you. I am the only one who understands you. Let me be what you need.”
An image flashed into her mind.
She knelt on all fours, her hair spilling around her. Dylan moved behind her, pounding furiously into her. The air mixed with their grunts and moans of pleasure, the animalistic fury of flesh slapping against flesh. He brushed the hair back and sank his teeth into her shoulder, drawing blood. She hissed in pleasure and demanded more.
In the corridor outside Dylan’s cell, Mia’s breath hitched. Her nipples tightened in desire. This was what she wanted. The fury of him. The archaic need to take and be taken.
The image faded. She stumbled backward and forced it from her mind. “I can’t be like you.”
She heard his laughter as she walked briskly to the door.
“You already are.”
* * * * *
Closing the door to her office, Mia rested her head against the wood. She rubbed at the tension in her neck and tried to dispel the image Dylan had projected into her mind. Her body still ached with arousal.
Damn him.
She wasn’t like him. She couldn’t live like him. She couldn’t live controlled by impulse and longing. She wanted to go back to her carefully controlled existence where the only frustrating thing was her inability to orgasm.
Yet the compulsion was there. Something different, stalking the hallways of her mind. It moved around inside her, pacing, waiting for completion. She took a few deep breaths, calming the raging anger and lust inside.
She felt more stable and turned toward her desk. The surroundings of the upper level contrasted starkly to the Spartan style that housed the inmates. Up here, the emphasis was on comfort. A sublime elegance.