Page 51 of Cruel Pawn
“There’s nowhere to run,my opera,”I called through the dense trees that stretched in all directions, filling the air with a loamy, fresh scent. She’d put enough distance between us that I couldn’t be sure she heard my voice, but I taunted her,nonetheless. I wanted her heart racing, her eyes widening, and goosebumps covering her chest under the shirt she must have stolen from me. I got a kick out of seeing her in my clothes, my hindbrain fucking purring at the sight, at the thought of her wearing my scent like perfume, informing every other person on the planet that she wasmine.
Not that she’d encounter anyone on her panicked run through the woods. There was no soul here but us, unless you counted the officiant I had tied up in the outhouse. I wondered how long it would take Priya to realise how quiet it was, how eerily abandoned, how remote. A smile crossed my face when I pictured her reaction as she found the edge of the woods.
“Run, run, pretty Priya. If I catch you, the things I’ll do to you will make your toes curl.”
I made sure to find every twig underfoot and pictured my future wife flinching at every snap. It was wishful thinking because she was cool-headed and calculated under pressure and by fucking god, did I love that about her. But I wanted to torment her a little for thinking she could run from me. I knew she would, of course. That’s why I brought her here, where it was completely secure.
“You’ll never escape me, my opera,” I shouted, one glance at my phone where I had the tracking app open showing I was closer now. Enough for her to hear me. I grinned. “There’s nowhere you can run that I won’t find you. I’ll chase you to the ends of the Earth, Priya McFadyen.”
If I knew her, she was muttering about that not being her name.Oh, but how wrong you are, my opera. Very, very soon itwillbe your name.
I just had to catch her first.
“Did you have time to clean up before you ran?” I called, unable to hold back a huge smile. “Or is my cum still all over that gorgeous cunt? Can you feel me dripping out of you as you run?”
A glance at the app and my smile sharpened into a smirk. The little blinking dot that was my future wife was stationary. “Do you think you can hide?”
Was her body doused in adrenaline like mine? Was she afraid, or was she giddy to be caught? My bet was on both. Because she had no idea what I’d do when I caught her. She’d presume I’d be angry, as if I hadn’t been waiting for her to break free since we got here. Priya was not the sort of woman to be caged. That was why I loved her. My deadly opera, my pretty killer, my beautiful destruction.
And I had no doubt what I actually had planned for today would frighten her far more than my rage.
“Come out, come out, my darling Priya, my clever Rook.”
It had felt like a victory when I found that name, during those awful months we were apart. The Rook, a mercenary with a kill sheet as long as a shopping receipt. Professional, clean, and so good at her job she was a ghost even among killers. Her victims were so varied, methods always different, weapons never the same, that even the police hadn’t connected most of her victims.
I stopped crunching leaves and softened my steps, placing them carefully, soundlessly. I was close now, and I didn’t want to startle my prey from her hiding hole until I was ready. The GPS tracker led me right to her. I was honestly surprised she hadn’t found it and cut it out of the shoe. Maybe she underestimated my determination to keep her. Or maybe she wanted to be kept.
I don’t know what gave me away. Maybe a shadow, or maybe my opera had exceptional, superhero-level hearing, because the second I came within five steps of the tree she hid behind, she shot out like a bullet.
I grinned, pausing for a moment to watch her. Her black hair was unbound, streaming behind her, and she wore my clothes. I got a kick out of that, even as I was sad that her glorious, golden legs were hidden.
“You can run, my opera,” I called, breaking into a sprint. “But you know I’m faster. You know I’ll catch you, and trap you, and devour you.”
She didn’t waste breath to reply, and that only filled me with a warm sense of pride. Damn, my girl was good. Sadly for Priya, she was running right to the edge of the forest, and she was not about to like what she found.
I increased my pace, ready to catch her, already itching to feel the warmth and softness of her in my hands. Would she fight me? I groaned. God, I hoped so. There was something about Priya giving me everything that was so fucking hot. Her, and only her.
I glanced at my phone and smiled. I broke out of the tree line in time to witness a spectacular scream. Priya yelled so loudly she threw her head back, her spine arching beautifully as frustration poured from her. I waited a few steps away while she got it out of her system, admiring the water that rushed up onto the muddy bank she stood on, the rising sun turning the water to a sparkling gold that reflected on my future wife so perfectly.
When her voice died, I crept closer, my heart thumping hard. When I was close enough, I pounced, taking her to the ground, cushioning her fall as much as I could.
“You psychotic fucking bastard,” she snarled, struggling, writhing that plush ass against my cock and tearing a deep groan from my throat.
“Keep doing that and I’ll cum in my pants before I even get inside you.”
“You think I’m going to fuck you?” she demanded with an unhinged laugh that gave me butterflies. “I’m going tokill you,Arden McFadyen. Tell me this isn’t a private fucking island.”
I kissed the back of her head while she tried to fight me, smothering a smile. “I did warn you, there was no escaping me.”
“We’re surrounded by water,” she hissed, throwing her head back suddenly. White pain blanked out my vision for a moment, my nose crunching under the impact of her skull, but if she thought pain and a broken nose would unseat me, my girl didn’t know me very well. “But you left somehow. Where’s the boat?”
“It comes once a week,” I said, conveniently leaving out that a single text or call would summon it, too.
Priya screamed, a hoarse, growling sound of rage.
“I told you,” I said, my voice thick with blood, my nose smashed to bits. I’d care about that later. “For always and ever. You’re mine, and I fucking mean that. All mine, for all time.”
I pressed my chest against her back, keeping her pinned while I worked a hand between my hips and her ass, yanking down her sweatpants then mine.
