Page 23 of Striker

Before I can move away, he’s shot forward, on his knees in front of me, his hand at my throat. My cards fall to the bed, scattering like dry leaves. Thick fingers dig into my pulse, making my heart stutter. I swallow the whimper his harsh grip creates, though not just from shock.

I lift my chin. “So you got your dumb name because you’re quick.” Now I smirk. I’ve been testing him for days now, tossing around subtle insults, seeing what sort of reaction I get fromthem. Breaker is level-headed. Striker is so calm, it’s weird. But Viper? He reacts toeverything. “How clever.”

His fingers tighten at my throat. “I got it because I’m mean.”

I grip his gloved hand, nails scraping across the course material. “Howoriginal.”

Viper chuckles, and even though he doesn’t let go, I relax hearing the coarse sound. Still gripping me by the throat with one large hand, he drags me with him as he sits back and I’m forced to my hands and knees. My breath huffs from me, my pussy throbbing.

God, I’m fucked up.

“Cruel. Cunning. Fast.” His grip tightens a little more, my breath catching on the pressure. “Vicious. Spiteful.”

“You’re describing the man who raised me,” I manage to say. “Am I supposed to be scared?”

The mention of Rune creates a ripple of darkness behind his eyes, but he lets me go. I sit back on my heels, resisting the urge to rub at my neck.

“Rune plays at being powerful,” Viper says, tossing his thick legs over the edge of the bed and standing, adjusting his hard dick as his gaze slips over my body. “You were raised by a weak man who thinks power is in controlling others.”

I laugh, looking around the room. “Because keeping me locked up isn’t controlling me?”

He leans in, resting his palms on the bed, the skull face and its fanged mouth so close to mine I can feel his warm breath on my lips. “I don’t think anyone controls you, butyou.”

My belly dips. If only he knew how wrong he was.

“I’ve been controlled since I was born,” I say, leaning forward so my mouth is almost brushing his. “I’ve just learned how to reduce how much of my power isstolen.”

“Power isn’t stolen.” The coarse material of his gloved hand lands on the side of my neck, almost tenderly, his thumb brushing along my jawline. I tilt my head to look into his eyes. My pulse skips when I see the softness in them. “Power is created.”

His thumb skims over my bottom lip and there’s a part of me that wishes he’d take his gloves off again. I enjoy watching his large hands with the pale dusting of freckles across the backs, and how his long fingers flip the cards. I really like how they touch me.

Closing my eyes, I shut the thoughts down and lean back, kneeling in the center of the bed. “Power is created by taking consent. By inciting fear.” I lock my eyes with his. “So tell me,Viper,whose power are you creating by locking me in this room? Yours or mine?”

He cocks his head to the side, inspecting me. “You think power and control are the same thing,” he says, letting his gaze drag down to my knees peeking out from under my dress. “Stealing control differs from earning the privilege of being given it. That’s where the power lies, little Vixen. Earning over taking.”

My brows knit.

“You, sly fox, know Rune Gavin like no other, don’t you?”

My heart skips, my stomach instantly clenching.Does he know? It’s impossible.No one knows what Rune has done to me.

What I’ve allowed.

Maybe he’s right. I stole some of my power back from Rune the second I changed the way he used me. I created something new with his control over me, influencing how much it affected me, but I’m still helpless. Rune’s still stealing bits of me every time he touches me.

But I may give him chunks of my soul, yet he’s never going to earn the privilege of my heart.

“You know every detail of his life,” Viper says, and relief makes me dizzy, glad they don’t know details of my relationship with Rune. “You know exactly what he’s like, who he’s pissed off, and why someone would want to make him suffer.”

Now my belly is churning for an entirely different reason. “So you’ll hurt Delly and me to hurt Rune.” It’s not a question.

“There are many ways to hurt someone,” Viper says, slowly removing his gloves one at a time and placing them on the mattress. Lifting a knee, he places it on the edge of the bed. It dips under his weight and he crawls forward until his masked face is near mine again. “Without ever breaking the skin.”

I swallow, my pulse skyrocketing as he dips his head to brush his nose along my jaw, breathing in deeply through the material of his mask. “Does this hurting involve broken bones? Or necks?”

His dark chuckle in my ear sends a zing through my core and I back away, but land on my ass. He uses both his hands to part my legs and crawls forward, the heat of his skin sending a confusing pulse to my core.

Slowly he moves forward, leaning me back until he’s hovering over me, laid out between my thighs, hands bracketing either side of my head. My heart’s racing so fast I can barely breathe, and when his dick presses to me, I gasp loudly, my back arching off the bed at the contact.

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