Page 117 of Darling Wildfire
THERON
The following week, we’d just finished working out and were starting a strategy meeting when the guards came into the yard—something they never did.
“Kraven, Vetticus wants to see you.”
“Why?”
“Fuck if I know, hands behind your back.”
I looked at Nyx and Atlas, both looked ready to protest, but I barely shook my head and while they didn’t look happy about it, they both refrained from acting. I did as the guards said and after they cuffed me, the concerned looks of the men followed me as I was escorted out of our building towards the mansion.
Instead of leading me into the same room as before, I was escorted into a dining room where a large table dominated the center of the room. The guards put me in a chair and cuffed my wrists in front of me, attaching the middle to a ring in the table.
“Good evening!” Vetticus said cheerfully as he swept into the room. He was followed by a group of kitchen staff carrying dishes that wafted amazing smells throughout the room. They set everything down on the table and Vetticus shooed them away and regarded me with a smug look on his face.
“Hungry?” He asked.
I didn’t answer. He came and perched on the edge of the table next to me.
“I was thinking about our conversation from last week,” he said. “All the other men are so…dull. They just curse and call me names and then plead with me not to fuck them.”
He reached across the table and grabbed a bottle of wine that he poured into a glass, speaking as he did.
“It made me realize that you and I have something…special. I’m not supposed to have favorites but, well, here you are.” He held the glass within reach.
“Wine?”
I looked at the glass and then away and he chuckled.
“Ah, I see,” he took a sip from it. “If I wanted to poison you, it wouldn’t be through wine.”
He stood up and grabbed my hair, pulling my head back. “Open your mouth.”
I refused, glaring up at him, my hands twitched on the table where they lay cuffed. He smirked and took another sip of wine then leaned over me, letting some of the liquid fall from his mouth onto mine. My breathing picked up as I tried to keep my anger in check, as the wine spilled over my chin and down my bare chest.
“Do you want to see what happens when you don’t play nice?” His eyes jumped over to a monitor on the wall and it flickered on. I saw Nyx, Atlas and Preacher all tied to chairs, naked and blindfolded. “I pulled your favorite three—I figured you wouldn’t care too much for the others but these are the ones you seem to be the mostpossessiveof.”
Fuck. I cursed silently, my jaw clenched tightly in rage. Vetticus turned my head towards the screen more and I watched someone push the button for Nyx’s tracker. Electricity shot through his body. There wasn’t any sound, but I saw Atlas and Preacher struggle, their mouths open as they yelled at whoever else was in the room.
“Stop,” I growled.
“Are you going to play nice? Look, you’re the one who wanted my attention and now you have it.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes from the screen, my breathing growing erratic. The shocks finally subsided and Nyx slumped forward in the chair as much as his bonds would allow. Vetticus dragged my chin back to his.
“I won’t touch your team as long as you do what I say,” he said. His gaze dipped to my mouth, still sticky with wine. He ran his tongue from my chin up my jaw, cleaning up any lingering drops of liquid. “Do we have a deal?”
I didn’t reply quickly enough because he sighed and made a motion with his other hand. My eyes jumped back to the screen to see a man approach Atlas with a knife. He dug it into his chest and I watched a line of blood appear as he dragged it across his skin. Atlas took it with gritted teeth until the man dug his fingers into the cut, coated his hand in blood and smeared it on Atlas’ cock.
He went rigid, his chest heaving as the man roughly handled him. Istruggled against Vetticus’ grip, the cuffs clashing against the ring holding me to the table.
His hand dug into my scalp. “I’ve half a mind to watch Reaper lick the blood off Phantom’s cock but I think they’d enjoy that too much. Don’t you?”
He pulled my head to his again. “Do we have a deal?”
I took deep breaths through my nose in an attempt to control myself, feeling like at any moment I could detonate. My gaze flickered over to the screen again to see the man still abusing Atlas. He was yelling something and then his head snapped forward and he head butted the guard who quickly punched him in retaliation. The guard returned and trailed his hand through Atlas’ blood again, drawing a path down his stomach.
I looked back at Vetticus.
