Page 20 of Tribute
“Undo my belt, take out my cock, and fuck me, Anna Lee,” he murmured. “Fuck me blind.”
Before he could latch on to her nipple ring again, she pushed him backward until he lay on the bed, and worked on his pants to expose his big, stiff cock. He wrapped one hand around his shaft and drew it away from his stomach.
“Fuck me.”
She considered him for a long moment, waiting to see if he’d grab her and order her to comply, but he did nothing but lie quietly and wait.
“And what if I don’t want to?”
“You do. You’ve been dying to ride me and to make me beg. Tonight’s your chance.”
“You have that slightly wrong.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ve been dying to kill you.”
“So do it. Wrap those hands around my neck while you fuck me and steal my breath.”
There was something poignant in his gray gaze that made her swallow hard. She tried to shake off her sense that they were connected far too intimately now to ever be free of each other.
“I’ve heard some guys get off on that asphyxiation shit.”
“Not me. Palk tried . . .” He stopped speaking and briefly closed his eyes. “Just fuck me, Anna. If this is our last time together, let’s do it right.”
God, it was cold . . .
Anna glanced over at the hollow faces of her fellow trainees and wished she hadn’t drunk so much on the previous night. Although for the first time Akran had let her take the lead while they fucked, he’d still dictated the pace and frequency of their encounters, and she was sore. They’d all been checked over by the medical team, given another armful of shots—including some to speed up normal healing—and pumped full of nutritional supplements. None of which was reassuring her about what was to come. The fear of not knowing—of not understanding what she had to face—was worse than anything.
The door behind them shut, leaving her staring at a huge, round metal entrance with a fifteen-meter diameter, lodged in the side of the black, mountainous rock.
“This is the portal to the world of theUngrich. We will be here in a week to await your return.” Akran bowed his head. “May the gods keep you safe.”
The remaining trainers went to stand by the closed door at the back, and only Akran approached the portal.
“Please advance to the metal plate in front of the door.”
He did something to the control panel, and lights flashed around the circumference of the door, followed by the low hum of machinery as the platform began to rise and vibrate.
Anna held her breath as the door started to open, but it revealed nothing—only a gleaming pink, marbled space.
“Step into the room.”
Akran’s voice echoed through the enclosed cave as they all marched forward. Before Anna could even turn to take a last look behind her, the circular door closed, leaving the six of themalone. She immediately noticed the increased moisture in the air and breathed more slowly, forcing her body to adapt to the decrease in oxygen, and slowing down her anxiety.
Instead she focused on one of the walls, listening for the arrival of theUngrich. Was there a light approaching from behind the wall? She squinted as the mottled texture of the surface seemed to undulate and expand.
“Trent, look out?—”
The words had barely escaped her lips when the entire wall behind him moved and exploded into a tangled mass of webbing and protuberances. She tried to scream as something wet wrapped itself around her neck, pulling her back into the heated embrace of an entity that reminded her of nothing more than a pile of living, pulsating intestines. Everyone was screaming now as they were drawn into the pink, writhing mass.
Another tentacle coiled around Anna’s throat and she fought back her panic. What had Rehz said? Let them do what they want, don’t fight them, don’t resist? But God, she felt like she was about to be suffocated in warm guts. She screamed again as the probe tightened and a sharp pain under her ear brought the coppery tang of her own blood and the sense of something living pushing up inside her skull.
It connected with her mind, and she forced herself to concentrate on the sensation.
“Female?”
She made herself relax into the heated mesh of theUngrich’s mind, watched the other men do the same. All except Trent, who was fighting off the attempt of one of the probes to infiltrate his skull.
Anna wanted to call out to him, to remind him not to panic, but even as she tried to yell, another tentacle inserted itself into the cavity of her mouth, stifling all sound. She tried to remember to breathe through her nose, to frickingbreathe.
“No!” Trent’s screams deepened, and he ripped at the probes, tearing into the fine webbing of theUngrich’s flesh. Anna could only watch helplessly as more and more probes attached themselves to him, puncturing his skin in many places, filling his nostrils, his ears, his . . . God, he was disappearing as they writhed over and then within him, under his skin, lifting him higher and higher into the air until?—
