Page 55 of The Hidden Falling
“You can handle some pain, it’s not like you don’t deserve it,” he growls.
“You’re really doing this now?” I huff, snuggling into the furs more and closing my eyes. “Don’t be an asshole, Darius. I’m tired.” He can take his ass elsewhere. I need to sleep.
We have been in the same space constantly for three days, and he’s not once brought up anything from outside the cave. No Elites, no laws, nothing. We have been too focused on each other, on him owning my body like it has never been before. I let him, my heat tearing down any willpower I had left. He and I both knew I wouldn’t be able to resist.
He grabs me, my body moving like a rag doll as he pins me down with his weight on top of me. I growl, opening my eyes and giving him a deadly stare. “I will do what I want, when I want, Rhea.” His fingers tighten around my throat, cutting off most of my air. “Stay still.”
“You have to be kidding me?” I croak. What suddenly crawled up his ass? “I’m not in the mood for your shit, Darius.” I dig my nails into his hand around my throat, drawing blood as Runa lends me some strength.
“I don’t give a fuck.” He slips between my thighs and shoves into me, his smirk cruel as he tears a small groan from me. “That’s it, little wolf. Feel what I’m doing to you.”
He rocks into me, his fingers tightening around my neck, and my eyes roll into the back of my head. He leans down, his breath at my ear as he slams into me, over and over again. With every slam of his hips, they become harder, angry. My vision starts to blur, both my hands digging into his wrist as he groans above me, enjoying me at his mercy. He lets his fingers up every now and again so I can get air in as he drives into me, before cutting it off all over again. He keeps his pace, only slowing when I’m nearing my orgasm to deny me of my release, and I shake my head in frustration, tears stinging my eyes.
His fingers suddenly tighten around my throat painfully, his other hand grabbing my hair and yanking my head back as he growls into my neck, his thrusts becoming jerky until I feel his essence filling me. His fingers loosen, and I take in gulp full of air, tears sliding down the side of my face at him getting his release and denying me of mine. Over the last few days, he’s never left me without coming. In fact, he’s pushed my limits demanding more, like he needed to see how many times he could make me come. And now he just decides not to give it to me?
When I can speak, I grab his hair, shoving him away from my neck as he laughs. “Get the fuck out of my cave, Darius.” He slips out of my sore flesh, standing in one fluid motion as he looks down at me.
He takes me in, from my feet all the way up to my center, his eyes resting there, watching his cum leak out of me with furrowed brows. He then takes in his markings on my breasts, my shoulders and neck until he reaches my watery eyes. His voice is cold when he speaks, his lips curling as he looks at me like I’m a piece of shit, like what he sees disgusts him. I barely suppress a flinch.
“You weren’t a bad fuck, Rhea,” he shrugs, tilting his head at me. “I wonder how many males have slipped between your thighs beforehand though. Is that how you became Alpha of this pack? You fucked the old one, and he had an unfortunate accident?” I jolt at his words. “You say bad shit happened here, yet I don’t see the cause of that bad shit. Only scared people and you opening your legs so easily to anyone willing to climb between them.” He tilts his head the other way. “Or is that lying, bitch mouth of yours still spewing bullshit and manipulating her own pack?
I’m frozen, wondering where this is coming from. What caused this change in him to make him so cruel? We have been at somewhat of a truce. I let him inside my body, and he wanted it. He came to me. Yet I let just anyone in? Why is he doing this now?
I get to my feet, my legs shaky with exhaustion as I face him. I stand there, bare, trembling and feeling more vulnerable than I can ever remember while his cum drips down my thighs. But my voice is hard, no emotion shows in my tone as I tell him, “Careful of the words you throw around so carelessly, Darius. Be careful how far you dig, because you might not like what you find just below.”
“You think I care what you think? All I want right now is to find this missing woman, get the fuck out of here, and drag you and the rest of your pack with me to the Highers. Don’t get attached to my cock, Rhea. It’s not yours. You’re just a hole for me to use, and I will make that a part of your punishment.” He flicks my hair over my shoulder before his fingers press into one of the many bite marks I have there. I grind my teeth, refusing to show him the pain he’s causing me. “By the time I’m done with you, little wolf, you will be all used up, crying and begging for mercy.” He gets lower, his face now directly in front of mine as our noses touch while I keep silent. “But you’ll do well to remember, I have none.”
He stands, picking up his discarded clothes as the space fills with tension, and without another word, he walks out of the cave. Walks away from me again. My legs collapse beneath me, unable to hold me up any longer, and I grip the furs, my head hanging low. I’m exhausted. Not just physically, but mentally, and his words hit harder, deeper than they ever should.
Having the Elites here has me on edge. I’m waiting for the moment they find Sarah and drag us all back to the Highers. Kade is acting differently, and that’s making me question if I can even help him. I’m trying to find a way to get Darius to keep Eridian out of my punishment and let it remain a secret. I thought I could convince him to keep the pack out of it. I thought if he saw them and realized how strange their behavior is, he might consider that they needed to stay here. I thought with what we shared over the last few days I could speak to him, maybe even soften him a little toward me. But how fucking stupid am I? I have just given him another way to punish me, another way for him to slowly break me down. He’s only the second person I have let into my body, and he treated it like it was nothing, accusing me of giving myself to many. When to me, it was so much more than that.
My skin feels like it’s crawling. I feel dirty with his cum dried on my thighs and shame fills me with what I did here. In my space. I clench my eyes closed, biting my lip until I draw blood, until the pain brings me back to the now. It’s for the pack, I remind myself. It’s for Kade.
I’ll do whatever it takes. This was my choice. This is my body. No big deal.
I repeat this over and over in my head as I stand. As I walk into the pool and wash his scent off of me, rubbing furiously at my skin even as Runa whines at me. As I get out and walk numbly toward my carvings, my bare feet slapping against the stone floor. I repeat it as I pick up the wolf I made years ago and examine its twin tails. I bring it with me and lay down in my furs.
Wisps float near me, the glow reaching past my closed eyes, and I pull furs over me to warm the chill in my bones. Fingers run through my hair. It’s gentle, soothing.
If only they could sooth my soul instead as I drift off to sleep.
“Mommy?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Are you and daddy bloodmates?” I ask, picking the grass between my fingers.
She sits next to me in our garden, a sad smile on her face as she replies. “We are not, but we chose each other. Love is love, and me and your daddy are very much in love. It’s how we made you.”
“With love?” I wrinkle my nose at her.
“Yes,” she laughs, and bops my nose. “Without our love, you wouldn’t be here, and you are very precious to us.” Her face turns serious as her eyes, the same as mine, look back at me. “Love when you can, sweetheart, and love hard. You don’t know when it will be taken away from you. So keep it close. Hold it close and never let go.”
“But I love you and Daddy and you’re here. You are always here,” I say with a frown.
“We won’t always be with you, Milal,” she tells me as her eyes tighten.
“What? Why?” I grab onto her as she pulls me closer, and I burrow into her side. She’s scaring me. Mommy never scares me.
