Destiny Forgiven (Shadows of Destiny) (14 page)

_{“Maddox!”}

_{What happened? Did his father take him? Was he in trouble? And what the fuck were they doing with her? Fear seized her and she started to hyperventilate.}

_{“I’m here.”}

_{She turned to the sound of his voice then let out a sigh of relief. He stood off to the side, grinning down at her greedily.}

_{“What –” The glitter of his eyes was unsettling. “What are you doing?” She squirmed, testing the bindings, but there was no give.}

_{“It’s clear I can’t hurt you,” he stepped closer, “so we’re going to do things differently now.” He ran a finger over the skin under her breast.}

_{Her body did a full shudder.}

_{His smirk was smug. “My options are limited.
I need you to give me information. It’s my job to…convince people to share what they know.” With a grin, he slowly perused her naked body. “I don’t usually have so much trouble getting what I want. But you, little girl, have become quite the thorn in my side.”}

_{The gleam in his eyes was wicked, not evil. For that, she was thankful. “I’m not sorry. You need to remember.”}

_{“You’re the only one in this room who needs to do anything. Get that through your head, Felicity. None of this Maddi shit.”}

_{She picked up her head as far as she could. “You need to hear the Maddi shit.” Flopping back down, she murmured, “Do what you want to me, I’ll never give up.” That might’ve been a lie but there was nothing wrong with bluffing now and then.}

_{“Big words for a girl in your position.”}

_{The taunting was getting annoying. “Just get on with it. I’m going to fall back asleep here.”}

_{With a dark chuckle, he walked across the room. He picked up a box and set it on the floor at the foot of the bed. He looked at the box, then at her. Seeming to come to some conclusion, he stripped off his shirt.}

_{She wasn’t shy about ogling him.
So much muscle. He hadn’t looked this hot – and dangerous – when he’d been hers. Dangerous. She tried to guess what was in the box. Thumb-screws? Surely, they’d moved onto something higher tech than that. Besides, he’d said he couldn’t hurt her anymore. He was so close to remembering – she could almost see the memories coming back in his eyes.}

_{Maybe he’d force her to listen to bad kar
aoke on YouTube. She kept her fingers crossed for that one. Her cousin was a terrible singer – maybe she’d built up a high tolerance for ear torture over the years.}

_{“Are you wondering what’s in the box?” he taunted. “
I’m sure you can imagine the nature of the items, considering how I have you tied to my bed.” He sat next to her on the mattress and her hips tilted slightly toward him, drawing his eye. “This might not be too terrible for you, considering how many men you’ve been with.”}

_{Felicity tried to catch his gaze, bu
t he avoided eye contact. It was probably easier for him to do his job if he didn’t have to think of her as a person. “There’s only ever been you, Maddox.”}

_{“You seemed eager
enough to give yourself to Dalton,” he spat. “Your cell was being monitored.”}

_{She stared at him, willing him to look at her, to see the honesty in her eyes. “
I’ve
never
been with another man. I waited for you to come back. I prayed and hoped and waited for years.”
And you never came.}

_{This time he did look at her – his
brows furrowed. “You knew?”}

_{“Of course I knew you were acting as Dalton!” As if she could ever mistake the two for very long. “You could glamour yourself to look like the Pope and I’d always know you. Always.”}

_{“But you still…”}

_{“Fucked you? I would have if you
hadn’t run off like that.” She lifted her head again. “Was your carriage going to change into a pumpkin, Cinderella?”}

_{A bark of laughter escaped him. She smiled. This was the Maddox she knew. Free with his laughter.}

_{“You can’t rape the willing, Maddox, so just do it.”}

_{Brave words again. Really she was just getting impatient. The rope was digging into her wrists and her arms were aching.}

_{With a roguish grin he pushed off the bed and went to the box. “Who said we were having sex?” He leaned down and sifted through things that clanked and rustled and slid.}

_{Her nerves finally made an appearance.
“Do you customarily torture women in your bed?”}

_{“No. You’re the first
. Does that make you feel special?”}

_{She weighed her options. Keeping him amused might make him more lenient and sympathetic to her, but that sliver
of recognition was right there. If she pushed him he might remember – or he might snap. The risk was worth it.}

_{“No,” she said. “It doesn’t make me feel special.
But the way you used to hold my hand when we lay on the riverbank in the sun,
that
made me feel special.”}

_{Although he seemed to ignore her, the clenching of his jaw gave him away. When he straightened up
, he was holding something unexpected.}

_{“Um…
. None of my hair has grown since I got to this weird place. What are you going to do with that?”}

_{He got onto the bed and knelt over her, holding the
old-fashioned shaving brush and smirking. “I’m going to drive you crazy. You’re going to whine, scream, beg, and tell me everything I need to know.” The menace of his body language and his intense gaze made her fight again.}

_{She
struggled, but could barely move. Maddox watched in amusement and waited for her to tire herself out. The man had every intention of making her beg for her own ravishment. He may have been her friend and lover once, but he was still the enemy.}

_{The brush dangled between his fingers and thumb, the soft bristles hovering above her throat. She steeled herself against its touch, but when he finally allowed it to make contact, she jolted. Ever so softly, he dragged the brush over her skin, from her throat to her belly butto
n, then back up to her breasts. He circled them one at a time, and her nipples tightened even though he stopped before he reached them. The brush ran up along her sides, making her jerk and twitch while she tried to ignore how much it tickled.}

_{Maddox leaned
over her and she watched his handsome face – his emotion was plain there now. Lust.}

_{His
voice was rough as he held the brush just above her nipple, not touching. “This is going to get less pleasant for you as time goes on. Why don’t you start singing the things I need to know, little bird?”}

_{Mesmerized, Felicity arched up into the
featherlight touch. Tendrils of pleasure curled around to her spine and down to her sex. Her nipples hardened and she gasped.}

_{Maddox jerked his hand back and swatted her thi
gh. “Bad girl. You get your orgasm when I say so and only then.”}

_{She gritted her teeth.
“You want me to start talking? Fine. Remember the first time we were together, Maddi? We’d been friends so long that it felt surreal when it finally happened. It was so awkward and neither of us lasted longer than about two minutes. Remember I was lying on my shoe and I didn’t even notice until afterward?”}

_{He
knelt above her like he’d frozen in place. Then he made a sound of annoyance. “That’s not what you need to be talking about. Tell me who’s supplying your little rebel team with weapons.”}

_{“I’ll never forget what you said after.” Tears pricked her eyes. “You said, ‘I’m finally whole.’” She blinked back the tears and chuckled. “I don’t think you knew what you were saying at the time. What teenage boy talks like that, right?” Looking into his distant eyes, sadness crept back in. “Though…you’ve always been different from other guys. You’ve always been…more.”}

_{“Fine.” His voice hardened. “You’re going to make this difficult for yourself.”}

_{She almost laughed. What more could he do to her? Make her orgasm to death? H
e knelt between her legs and ran the brush from her belly, down to her ankles – sometimes in broad heavier strokes, sometimes in little circles that barely made contact. She felt like he’d woken up her skin, sensitizing it to every little movement and breath. He tickled it up the inside of her thigh, skipping her sex, then dragged it down the other thigh. She squirmed and panted in the bonds, watching the desire build in his expression and the tension in his body. At least she wasn’t the only one affected. The brush played along her body over and over, becoming almost painful.}

_{At some point he tossed the brush aside and started to use the tips of his fingers, drawing them over her like
he was painting her. Her muscles kept locking together as she fought the urge to strain toward him, trying to direct his fingers to do what she wanted.}

_{What she wanted? Didn’t she just want to get free?}

_{This wasn’t about passion, it was about him doing his job. Too bad her body didn’t give a shit about his motives. Job. She had a job. Survive.}

_{Panting, voice barely audible, she said, “You used to lay
me in the grass by the falls and kiss me until I felt dizzy. I’d spend so long breathing your air, it was like the only thing keeping me alive was you.” She swallowed at the lump in her throat. When he’d gone, her life had felt so empty. When something funny happened, she’d get excited to tell Maddox, only to remember moments later that she couldn’t. At least the letters had been something to hang on to. Until they’d stopped coming too. Only then did she move on – or try to.}

_{His torture stopped being polite.
An eternity later, her skin felt like it could burst into flame. She wasn’t sure when she’d given up the struggle to keep her body under control, but there was no hiding it anymore.}

_{Maddox’s mouth on her skin was hot. He sucked, leaving angry purple bruises here and there. He nipped, making her buck and squeal. Her breasts were raw from his mouth and his stubble. The mixture of pain and pleasure hazed her thoughts. Sometimes he tapped her clit with a finger, or caught it between his kn
uckles for a moment. She panted and moaned. Sweat slicked her body. His tongue was everywhere.}

_{He
lay on top of her, the bulge in his pants pressing hard on her sex. “Tell me your weapons source and I’ll show you some mercy, little rebel. Just one answer for now. That’s all you need to do.”}

_{Felicity ground her hips up against him,
seeking relief. “You taught me all about weapons, you know.” She groaned and her voice dropped. “It started when you called me girly. I put up such a fuss,” she panted through the words, “that you agreed to teach me how to fight.”}

_{Then he left her and went to that
damned box again. There was a clacking noise and he reappeared, leaning over her.}

_{How much more
could she stand before she told him everything? How could she have thought this was a joke? Her body ached for the relief it knew he could give her. It hurt, being kept this close to the edge for so long. Had it been hours? Days? No. Couldn’t have been. She wasn’t hungry. Except for him. She eyed his crotch. She wasn’t the only one hungry. Would he fuck her? Could she entice him to?}

_{The last scrap of self-respect she’d kept was that she hadn’t started to beg yet. But she knew that it was coming.}

_{Cold wetness. She screeched and bucked, but he kept touching her – skimming between her breasts then circling them. The man with the ice cube in his fingers smirked at her evilly. It touched here and there. Her eyes squeezed shut. She couldn’t look, but not knowing where it was going to touch next was almost worse. His warm tongue followed in the wake of the cold, and her goose bumps grew goose bumps. A few nasty words escaped her before he abruptly stopped.}

_{She gasped for breath, her senses overwhelmed. Taking a chance, she opened one eye. Fuck – the ice cube was in his mouth.}

_{Cold lips on her chafed nipple made her writhe. “Oh, gods! No! Please don’t.”}

_{He sucked her nipple into his frigid mouth and she cried out.}

_{Kissing and nipping his way down her belly, he moved until he was between her legs again. He bit the inside of her thigh hard and she screamed. Her hips tilted toward his mouth. She couldn’t help herself. She needed his tongue…there.}