Hope Restrained (Estate Series) (8 page)

He brought his mouth to her ear, bit down on the lobe
sending small hints of the wave that would wash over her if he bit harder. Blowing
lightly against her heated and sweat-soaked skin, he commanded her again.

“Beg for me, Hope …”

Bit and pieces flashed in her mind: the deep brown of his
hair, the violent edge to his cheekbone and jaw, the way the muscles of his
body rippled along his frame when he moved, reminiscent of a prowling threat, a
hunter who stalks in the shadows.

He hovered above her, his chest colliding against the tips
of her breasts and wave after wave of sensation drove itself through her; the
smallest touch eliciting anticipation of his painful strike. Every inch of her
skin was desperate and on fire, the nerves so awake that his breath brushing
over her body felt like ice.

“Beg for me, Hope.”

The words were jumbled. They resonated from deep within
something far from where she lay, but she wanted him back, closer, touching her,
driving her. She floated inside a bubble of fire and ice, of day and night. Thought
was obsolete and meaningless, the only things necessary were pleasure … and
pain. She’d beg, now that she’d been pushed to a point of abandon and carelessness,
she’d beg for more, for it never to end. Her strength was her weakness, and now
that he’d discovered it, he forced her body to betray her, to mock her for how
feeble her mind had become.

“Please.” Her plea was muffled by her intoxication and she
opened her eyes to see his wicked grin. He didn’t look real. He wore his
strength and command over her like he would a piece of clothing, every inch of
his skin sticky with masculinity and power. Drops of sweat dripped down his
brow, sliding along his skin, breaking apart against the stubble of his jaw. She’d
trembled when he’d raked his cheek along the inside of her thigh and she wanted
to feel it over her breasts as his teeth bit into the tips.

“Please what?” He laughed softly and his words vibrated
through his chest, tickling her skin where he touched her. Every few seconds he
would run his length between her thighs, tempting and teasing her — promising
to fill her so full, her own body would break apart around him and her mind
would shatter within her skull.

 
“Break me … please”

His eyes widened in reaction to her words, surprise flitting
across his features before his pupils dilated and his eyes appeared black. Small
streams of light flickered across their skin, absorbed by shadow as they moved.
In one swift push forward, he stretched her to limits she’d never known; the
delicate skin torn by his girth, the salt of his skin seeping into the
fissures, the light caress of discomfort and torment. It was enough to sedate
her, to cripple her, to stop every bodily function so that she only knew the
sensation of him sinking inside. His hand curled into the hair at the base of
her skull and fire ran across her skin, her head pulled back, her neck
stretched and taut. When his teeth sank into the skin, already stretched to a
point of tearing, she exploded around him, a volcano erupting within her body,
the slice of steel and brush of velvet. His fingers raked down along the skin
of her back as her body violently arched into him, she needed more, another
push, another fix of the numbing effect of the pain. She wanted to become lost within
his tempestuous storm — dominated, controlled, a puppet tied to strings
made of glass and razors, of satin and fur.

He breathed out hard above her, the brush of his breath
relieving the inescapable heat of her inflamed skin. Her body writhed and
contorted, each muscle flexing and relaxing, she’d become nothing more than a
tool of pleasure, a soul in need of torment.

A scream built in her chest until it pressed up into her
throat, eventually tearing from her mouth into his. He pulled her hair tighter,
bent her neck back impossibly farther until forcing her to release around him
and over him. Still trembling within the waves of exquisite oblivion, she heard
him and felt him growl, his teeth sinking once again into her skin as he
powered forward one last time.

~
   
~
   
~

Her eyes rolled back in her head and he gripped her hair so
tight, it cut into the skin of his hands. Her neck was bent so far back, he
knew that with the tiniest flick of his wrist he could snap her spine — and
she wanted more, needed more. She was a woman designed to ache for the sadist hidden
inside him.

Reaching his own peak, he released inside her, claiming her
as his pet, his prize. He watched her face contort, waves of pleasure rushing
down her body, small quakes still shaking her beneath him. His palm slid down
her cheek, fingers digging trails along her neck until he could wrap his hand
around, push his thumb into her pulse, feel her heart thunder through her body
for him.

Placing soft kisses on her face, he watched her become lost
to obscurity — a nirvana created in her mind from the rush of blood
poisoned by passion, fueled by the drugs and forced by his hand. Allowing his
forehead to lay atop hers, he grinned to see her eyes move beneath the lids, to
hear the small moans escaping her lips while she lay trapped in the euphoric
state in which he’d placed her and had allowed her to go.

The next noise he heard was like a shot to the heart and to
the head. The front doors were being beaten against by someone’s fist.

“Fuck!” Pushing up from the bed, he grabbed a towel and
wrapped it around his waist to answer the door. He swung it open, the movement
so fast and violent that his rage was pouring out into his strength. “What!”

Emerald green blinked back at him, a blank expression on
Aaron’s face except for the hint of fury hidden behind his jewel toned eyes.

“Where is she?”

It took a second for Xander to shake himself of the hormones
in his blood and clouding his mind. Stepping back, he allowed Aaron to enter
the living room, noticed how Aaron’s eyes surveyed the candles peppered
throughout the room before turning back to him. “The bitch. Where. The fuck. Is
she?”

Xander tensed, his back straightening in response to the
question. “She’s here.”

Aaron’s eyes slowly opened and closed, his disapproval
instantly visible across the features of his face. Looking down at Xander’s
naked state, he commented, “I can see that. What I would now like to know is
why she’s here.”

“We need information.”

“Did you get it?”

“No.”

They stared at each other, neither man moving or blinking. Aaron
was the first to speak again. “Is she bound?”

Xander motioned towards the bedroom. “You’re welcome to
check. If she can escape those binds, then she deserves her freedom.”

Aaron shot Xander a look before stepping into the bedroom. He
closed his eyes to find Hope spent and sated, her body spread limply across the
bed, nothing on her body except for a collar and a chain. Bringing his hand to
his face, he pinched between his eyes, the veins in his neck popping out from
rage. When he spoke again, his voice was low and controlled, his words were a
warning.

“You were supposed to be getting information out of her, not
fucking her senseless!”

Xander couldn’t suppress his grin. “I’m taking care of both.”

There was no amusement in Aaron’s expression when he
ordered, “Get dressed and be in my quarters in fifteen minutes. We have some
issues to discuss. Jason will be joining us as well.”

Xander nodded his understanding and didn’t turn with Aaron
marched around him and out of the apartment. When the door slammed behind him,
Xander let out an annoyed sigh. Cursing under his breath, he moved to his
closet, quickly dressing in black sweat pants and a t-shirt. Walking past the
bed, he sat down on the side of the mattress, cupping Hope’s cheek with his
palm. She smiled and pushed her face against the heat of his hand.

Looking down, he whispered, “I’ll miss this side of you when
you wake, because I know you’ll hate me in the morning.”

~
   
~
   
~

“You instructed that I make her talk. You weren’t specific
in those instructions except to say that I should employ any method that I
decided would be useful.” He paused before quickly adding, “And I believe I was
also instructed to seduce her.”

“That was Maddy!”

“Whatever.”

Aaron’s face had turned from red to purple at the flippancy
of Xander’s response. He stepped closer to Xander until both men were nose to
nose. Their bodies straight, their muscles tense and their feet set in a
position to balance them when they fought. The pitch of Aaron’s voice was
dangerously low when he asked, “How exactly is drugging her and fucking her
going to make her talk? She was unconscious when I saw her. How, exactly, do
you intend to pull information out of a limp body?”

Xander stepped back, the knowledge that Aaron was slipping
into a rage so deep, that his instinct to destroy would cloud over logical
thought. “Calm down, Aaron.” He struggled to keep his own anger at bay when she
answered, “She’ll tell me everything we need to know tomorrow.”

They stood in the center of Aaron’s living room, the large
iron chandelier hanging proud over their heads. Maddy and Jason sat on the
couches that surrounded them and Xander forced himself into a relaxed stance,
not wanting to trigger Aaron’s rage further.

“How can you be sure of that?”

“Because, I’ve agreed to fight her for it.” Xander stepped
back again after admitting that small fact. When he looked at the murderous
expression plastered across Aaron’s face, he took another step back just to be
sure he was out of range.

“Okay, you know what?” Maddy stood up and crossed the space
to place her hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “We should all sit down and talk about
this.” Aaron’s torso slowly twisted on his waist when he turned to look down at
the petite beauty by his side. The controlled quality of his speech and
movement made it frighteningly clear that he was on the verge of violence.

“Madeleine, you will go back in our room and out of my sight
for now. This conversation does not concern you.”

Her eyes widened in recognition of his tone. She looked
quickly at Xander, fear written across her face. Without arguing, she did as
she was told, knowing better than to argue with Aaron when his anger had
reached a boiling point. Xander watched her as she disappeared down the hall,
wishing he could disappear as well.

Returning his eyes to Aaron, he flinched in reaction to Aaron’s
razor edged gaze. “I want you to explain to me what you mean by that statement,
Xander, and I fucking hope to God that what you say to me is logical and well
thought out. I would hate to think that the person I have in charge of the
majority of this network is a fucking lunatic!”

“She said she’d fight me for the information. I win, she
tells me what I want to know.”

“And if she wins?”

“She won’t.”

“How can you know that! She’s a trained assassin and from
what I’ve learned since we’ve captured her, she’s a professional at what she
does.”

“Because I know something about her that I can exploit to my
advantage. She won’t win, Aaron.”

“You’re too arrogant and she’ll exploit that. This is not
some ordinary woman, she is a
trained
killer. Even I would use caution in a fight against her, and you’re standing
here telling me there’s no way she could win. You’re not thinking clearly and
there’s no fucking way I’m allowing this to happen.”

Xander’s own rage settled over his shoulders to hear Aaron
question his decision. “She’s injured, starved and dehydrated. Add to that the
drugs I’ve been feeding into her system for the last twenty-four hours and I’m
not concerned that she’ll somehow defeat me!”

There was a dangerous tension in the air when a third voice drawled,
“You two argue like brothers. It’s amusing.”

Their faces turned in unison towards Jason.

“As entertaining as this is, I’m not sure how any of this is
a fucking problem. The bitch is probably some psychopath who thought she’d make
her name by taking out Aaron. I doubt she has any information and is toying
with you, hoping for a slight chance that she can escape this place. Just
fucking kill her now and work the other networks to find out who sent her. You
don’t need to hear it from her. In fact …” He stood up. “I’ll do it for you.”

“You’ll have to kill me first.” Xander immediately stepped
towards Jason and Aaron’s hand gripped Xander’s bicep to keep him from moving
farther.

“Calm down, Xander; now.”

He stepped back, but only because he wouldn’t disobey Aaron’s
direct order in front of Jason. Even though Jason had proven himself a good
ally when they’d taken The Estate from Joseph, and he’d also proven himself
useful as a unit leader within the network, he wasn’t trusted enough for Xander
and Aaron to let down their guards.

“Jason, sit down. Xander will handle this. You’re here
because I want sweeps run of every house on the compound tonight. Contact
Patrick and organize the searches.” Aaron turned towards Jason. “And do not
fuck this up.”

Jason held up his hands and sat down. “I’m not trying to
step on anybody’s toes, gentlemen. I simply thought it was a reasonable
solution.” Apparently unaffected by Xander’s rage, his voice was relaxed and
humble.

Aaron let out a frustrated breath. “Of course, however some
of us …” His eyes flicked to Xander quickly before falling back on Jason. “… have
other interests in mind at the moment. Once you are finished with the sweeps,
if you’ve found nothing here, then I want the smaller networks questioned, if
they won’t talk, kill them. I cannot allow anybody to think that The Estate has
become weak because of my father’s death.”

Turning back to Xander, he paused, his green eyes searching
Xander’s face. Jason was right, they were like brothers, and Aaron could read
Xander’s thoughts just by the look on his face. “I’ll continue this talk with
you in private, but you can get it out of your fucking head that I’d allow you
to fight that bitch. The instant she took the advantage, I’d cut her fucking
throat.”