TWISTED (Eternal Guardians Book 7) (11 page)

She hesitated, one hand on the door handle, then turned her head back into the room, just enough so he could see the supple line of her jaw and the plump perfection of her lips. But she didn’t meet his eyes. And as it had before, that feeling that she was as much a prisoner as he slammed into him.

Which would be worse? To be tortured? Or to be forced to torture others and live with the knowledge of what you’ve done day after day after miserable day?

“Because I’m not the monster Zagreus is,” she whispered. “Not yet, anyway.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

C
ynna was shaking by the time she made it back to her room.

She dropped the bag on the floor, closed the door with a snap, and leaned back against the cool wood, gasping for air.

What she’d just done… It went against everything Zagreus had commanded her to do. She lifted a trembling hand to her forehead and stopped. Nick’s scent was all over her. Her body hummed with sexual excitement and her own need for release. Watching Nick’s body shake, feeling the power of his orgasm rocket through her hand… She could only imagine what that would taste like in her mouth. What it would feel like spreading through her own body.

 
She lowered her hand and drew in a deep breath. She had to get his scent off her. She couldn’t keep smelling it, couldn’t keep wanting. Because wanting in this place was as dangerous as hope.

She rushed into her bathroom, didn’t bother with the light. When she reached the sink, she flipped on the water and scrubbed her hands with soap beneath the stream. It didn’t help. She could still smell him on her clothes, on her skin where she’d pressed up against his back. The only way to get rid of him was to shower. To get naked. To—

“That was… How should I put this?” a male voice said at her back. “Interesting,
agapi
.”

A cold gust whooshed through Cynna, bringing every thought and need and want to a bone-chilling halt.

Her hands shook again as she flipped off the water, but this time not from arousal. This time true fear quaked in her muscles as she turned to face Zagreus.

He leaned against the doorway to her bedroom, his body relaxed, his arms crossed over his chest. But his eyes… They blazed with a fury she knew he was about to unleash.

She swallowed hard as he pushed away from the wall, as he ambled toward her, all coiled muscle and simmering power she knew could grind her into dust, and stopped directly in front of her. He leaned down, close to her ear, the heat of his body making her skin twitch, and drew in a deep whiff. “You smell of my uncle.”

Her eyes slid closed at the sound of his snarled words, and her heart pounded hard in her chest. She’d let herself forget that very small fact. As Krónos’s bastard son, that made Nick Hades’s half brother and Zagreus’s uncle. And even though Nick had yet to unleash those powers his father had hidden inside him, when he did, Nick would one day be more powerful than Zagreus, a reality the god at her front never forgot.

“You wound me
, agapi
.”

Skata
, this was it. He was going to kill her. Right here. Right now. He was not a god who gave second chances, but surprisingly… She didn’t want one.

The knowledge caused her pulse to slow, pushed the cold outward from the center of her chest. Yeah, she might die, but she didn’t care anymore. Because at least she’d done one selfless thing in this hellhole. When Nick had thanked her the other night, she’d known she hadn’t deserved it, but tonight… Tonight she’d given him a tiny piece of pleasure in the middle of an endless misery while she’d taken nothing for herself. And for that she could be proud. Proud because even if she spent all eternity in the fire of Hades’s hell paying for all the awful things she’d done in life, at least she’d go knowing her soul wasn’t completely black. Not like Zagreus’s.

Slowly, she lifted her gaze to his. The god was close. Mere inches away. And the rage building inside him… She could see it in his eyes, in his taut muscles, in the lines on his perfectly sculpted face. She wasn’t stupid enough to egg him on, but she wasn’t backing down either. Not anymore.

“Yes,” she said in a voice she knew shook even though she tried to stop it. “I did.”

 
His face turned red. His jaw hardened until it was as rigid as stone. She braced herself for his wrath, but it didn’t come. Instead, he stepped back, his hands in fists at his sides, his muscles straining as if he were fighting to hold something back. Not looking away from her eyes, he called, “Guards?”

Shuffling sounded in the other room. Cynna’s gaze jumped past Zagreus to the hulking satyrs rushing by him, one of whom she recognized as Lykos.

“I’ve been waiting for this,” Lykos growled.

Panic spread through every inch of Cynna’s body. She shifted, tried to move to the side, but the two beasts caught her by the arms before she could get away.

Zagreus stepped into her bedroom. The satyrs dragged her kicking and struggling through the doorway. Zagreus nodded toward the bed. “There.”

“No.”
No, no, no, no, no…
She thrashed, tried to fight against them, but their grips were too strong. She’d been wrong. He wasn’t going to kill her. Not yet, at least. He was going to let Lykos and the other satyr have their way with her first. She’d seen what Lykos could do to a female. She’d never survive it. She didn’t want to survive it. She struggled, kicked out, tried to nail him in the balls but missed.

“On her back,” Zagreus ordered.

The satyrs maneuvered her like a rag doll. Cynna tried to fight, but they were too strong. One pinned her arms above her head; the other wrenched down on her legs. The bed dipped, and she sensed Zagreus move in close, felt his big hand tug her pants down at the hip. Winced as something sharp stabbed into her flesh.

A burn ripped through her muscle and spread through her leg and belly. She screamed, tried to kick out, but her muscles were growing lax, her limbs heavy. Whatever he’d injected into her was immobilizing her within seconds.

“Shh,
agapi
. That’s it. Let it work. You know you deserve this.”

Tears pooled in Cynna’s eyes. She tried to roll to her side but couldn’t. This was how Nick felt. What it was like to know misery was coming, powerless to stop it. She did deserve this. But not because she’d defied Zagreus. She deserved it because she hadn’t defied him sooner.

“That’s better.” Zagreus’s hands landed against her bare belly, tracing a slow circle where her tank had ridden up. She could feel it. Could feel Lykos’s hands gripping her wrists and the other satyr petting her legs. Her stomach rolled, and sickness threatened. She could feel everything, but she couldn’t react.
 

“Get it,” Zagreus said to Lykos. Then, “No, in her arm.”

A sharp stab pierced the flesh of her inner arm, this needle bigger than the other—way bigger—and something passed into her skin. Something solid. Cynna cried out, but she still couldn’t move.
 

“That’s so I can find you again, my love.” Zagreus ran his fingers over her belly, pushing her tank higher until cool air washed over her breasts, baring them to the beasts holding her down. Growls echoed in the room. Growls of lust and approval she didn’t want to think about.

“I was very upset when I discovered what you’d done,” Zagreus said, still touching her, “but then I realized how we could use it to our advantage. You were right,
agapi
. He’s not going to break at the hands of the nymphs. But he will break thanks to you. I saw it in his eyes when you pleasured him. He wants you.” The tips of his fingers traced over her nipples. “Oh, how I understand that wanting.” He pinched one tip until pain shot through her breast. “And I’m going to let him have you. For a price.”

“Release her,” Zagreus ordered. “And leave us.”

Lykos growled low in his throat. Pain forgotten, Cynna stopped her useless struggling and tried to focus on what was happening around her. Even though she couldn’t turn her head to look, she recognized the sound of the satyr’s fury.

Zagreus’s head snapped up. “Do not tempt me, satyr. I’d like nothing more than to rip someone’s throat out, and right now I don’t care if it’s yours.”

Hands lifted from her body, but still she couldn’t move. Tension crackled in the room, mixing with a cacophony of lust and rage, and though Cynna still couldn’t see them, she knew a power struggle when she heard it. Also knew if she wasn’t careful, she’d get caught in the middle.

The other satyr, the one Cynna hadn’t gotten a good look at, growled, “Come on. We’ll find the nymphs.”

Tense seconds passed, then footsteps sounded, followed by a door slamming.

“Smart satyr,” Zagreus muttered.

Cynna wasn’t so sure. Zagreus had just taken away the one thing Lykos wanted more than power. And he’d be gunning for her the next chance he got. But even that thought faded as Cynna realized Zagreus’s footsteps were moving away from the bed.

Recognizing this might be her only chance, she tried to roll to her side but couldn’t. Frustration and fear and anger welled inside her, but the drug he’d given her was doing its job, and she couldn’t move a single muscle.

“My sweet, sweet Cynna,” he whispered, coming close once more. “This is only temporary,
agapi
. Until we can be together again.” She tensed as he lifted her upper body, as he sat in the pillows behind her and cradled her head in his lap. Bringing a goblet to her lips, he tilted her head up. “Drink.”

She’d said the same word to Nick earlier. Zagreus had to know. But this wasn’t cool refreshing water as she’d given Nick. Before the thick, warm fluid reached her lips, she knew it was blood. His blood.

It poured into her mouth and down her throat. She gagged, coughed, tried to force it out, but her tongue wasn’t working. The salty, metallic liquid gurgled between her lips and slid down her chin. He tipped the cup higher, holding her mouth to the edge. “Drink it all.”

Tears spilled over her eyelids. She couldn’t breathe, was sure she was going to choke to death. And then he was pulling the cup away, rubbing his bloodstained fingers through her hair, smoothing his hand down her cheek. “That’s all. No more. You did well. Breathe now.”

Cynna couldn’t do anything else. But she wasn’t well. She could feel his blood settling in the pit of her stomach, sending a rolling, nasty heat all through her body.

“That’s it. Let my blood become part of you. I know this won’t be easy, but to break him, we have to give him something to live for. That’s you, my love. You were right, and I should have listened sooner. This is the only way.”

She didn’t know what he meant, but a fire was building in her veins. One she was suddenly afraid would consume her.

“You’re going to earn his trust.” Zagreus stroked her hair as if she were a pet rather than a person. “You’re going to make him think you’re saving him, make him fall for you. He won’t be able to resist. He’s halfway there already. All he needs is a little push. And when he finally turns his back on that useless hero honor and chooses you over his precious people, then we’ll have what we want. Then I’ll come and reclaim you both.”

He leaned close to her ear, so close his hot breath was all she felt. That and his bloody hand closing tight around her jaw to squeeze until pain made her eyes water and darkness creep in at the edge of her vision. “But remember that you are mine. No matter how you fuck him. Whether it’s with your hand or mouth or your slutty little body, never forget you belong to me. My blood flows in your veins now. Mine and no one else’s. We made a deal, and you will never be free of me. Not until I have what I want. That I promise.”

He let go of her jaw. And vaguely, she felt his hands traveling down her neck, across her bare breasts and over her abdomen, but she didn’t care. That darkness was claiming her, pulling her under, drawing her into a murky abyss. And she relished it. Because there she wouldn’t have to endure whatever else he had planned for her. And there she couldn’t worry about what he was going to do to Nick.

“Sleep now,
agapi
. And know I will come for you. Soon.”