Page 34 of Song of Tenebrae

Instead of swatting his hand away again, I step in closer, and grin when he tenses. I grab his throat - exactly as he used to grab mine - and move up to the tips of my toes, bringing our mouths closer.

“I will kill your friends and this time, I won’t miss. My knife will slice through their very throats and it will be me covered in their blood.” I give him another squeeze before I step back and grin at the confused look on his face, “I’m not anything like the girl you had here last year, you can thank Hail for setting this one free.”

I take another step back just as his green eyes blaze with an inferno and he grabs my arm, hauling me into his rock-hard body. His other hand grabs my ponytail and he slams us both into the wall, my back ricocheting off the wainscotting. He relinquishes my arm and presses his hand into my stomach, right over his mark. He bends down into my face and snarls, his perfect straight teeth protruding from his taut lips.

“You’re mine.” Those words, the same ones he said to me many times before, set me off and I slap him hard across the face.

“I’mmine.”I growl back just as his hand moves and brushes aside my skirt, slipping up under the slit. “Don’t you dare-” I begin but I’m stunned silent when he cups my pussy in his large hand.

“This is mine,” his voice is low and sounding deadly. His fingers skim along my folds and I forget everything as my head hits the wall behind me. It’s been so long since I’ve been touched and his is the only touch I’ve been craving. “Do you remember the last time I claimed it?”

His words send a rush of cold over me as I do in fact remember the last time. As the images of me hanging from the ceiling in the basement flood my mind, he hitches my leg up to his waist, and sinks three fingers into me roughly.

“No!” I scream out but he continues his assault, those fingers bringing me pain and pleasure, as is always the case with Raiden. “Stop.” I grit out.

He fucking laughs into my ear, his hot breath coating my skin, and then bites down on the fleshy lobe. “Did that help you last time?”

He’s so fucking cruel and when I feel myself tightening around his fingers, tears skim down my cheeks. I hate myself for the conflicting emotions and I hate him for making me face them. Just as I’m about to detonate around him, he yanks his fingers out, and wraps the wet digits around my throat. He squeezes and my air supply is suddenly taken from me, making me claw at his arm.

“Did you think you could come back in here and switch roles? That you could be in my house and rule over me?” Low calculated words spoken directly to my sinking heart, “you’re nothing Tempest, and if I decide to fucking make you fly… you will fucking soar.”

With one last squeeze, he releases my throat, and shoves my head off the wall. I suck in a breath of air and watch as he turns his back on me, stalking back down the hallway. He disappears around a corner and I find myself smiling.

At least I know where his room is now.

Raiden

She is different and it makes me so fucking mad. She no longer fears me like she used to and I hate that. It means I’ve softened on her somewhere along the way, somehow made her believe she was safe, and now she thinks she can disrespect me in my own home. Not a fucking chance.

I know my feelings have changed for her, I’ve admitted that I feel her, and I know she belongs to me, but I won’t change for her. I won’t let myself become weak like my brothers fear I will and she’ll be the first to learn. I own her, not the other way around.

The music spills out of the speakers in a wave of angry electric guitars and I sit at the table, watching my brothers drink. They’re trying to forget the last year, our internal struggles, and the moral compasses we’re all suddenly forming. We were trained to feel nothing as we watched someone slowly drained of life; we were taught to never question if someone was deserving of their lives ending and most of all, we were told to forge our own paths no matter who was standing in the way as long as we were the ones left standing in the end.

The girls aren’t partying at all, just standing off in a corner, and huddled together, drinking only beverages that can be unscrewed.

“Ladies!” Torrent stands, finally having had enough, “if we were going to kill you it would be in the bloodiest way, not by spiking your fucking drink.”

They look at each other and then Demon’s gaze lands on me. I raise a brow, challenging her with one look, and biting into my lip when she rolls her eyes. I watch her slap a hand on the counter and point to the expensive bottle of tequila behind the bartender’s head. He looks to me for permission and I give him a quick nod. He hands Demon the bottle, and she opens it immediately, taking two gulps. She passes it to Tiny who brings it to her nose before sipping it. Sky flat out refuses and I hear Hail mutter something about her needing to die soon.

I don’t know if he means it, I can’t tell where his emotions are lately, and I feel like he’s withdrawing from me a bit more each day.

“Got something else you might like, stripper.” Torrent taunts Tempest as he throws a bag of coke on the table, “I remember how much you loved it last time. Actually, I remember you laying across bags of it on this very table.” He licks his lips with his forked tongue and I watch as Demon’s shocked gaze once again lands on me.

She’s looking to see if I will have a reaction and I can’t show her how much those words profoundly affect me. She needs to believe she means nothing to me. I look away and turn to Squall.

“Did you tell Tiny you were going to make her fly?”

His head tips back and he looks to the ceiling with a groan, “it’s better than getting mixed up with me.” His hand slides through his white-blond hair, “I don’t know what’s going on half the time.”

“Are you having those episodes again?” I lean in, “are you taking your meds?”

Squall has PTSD from the things we endured as children and as a result, he would have horrendous nightmares. Sometimes, his reality and subconscious would bleed together, causing him to have periods of disorientation. When that would happen, he would lash out in anger or sadness and most of that was aimed at one of us, but now I worry for Tiny. If she’s affecting him more than he wants, he may just snap and get rid of her.

I hear her heels click along the tiled floor at the same time Squall mutters, “I’m fine.”

I grab the neck of my beer and take a swig just as her ass comes into view. She stands beside Torrent, her back to me, and my knuckles whiten as I grip the bottle. She doesn’t spare me a glance as Torrent dips his pinky finger into the powder and holds it out to her. She steps into him and I hear her sniff it, my teeth clenching with their nearness. She moans at the bliss and I see Torrent’s dark eyes roving over her. I hate it and yet, I need to act like I don’t.

Torrent though, he knows me well and besides all of us being brothers, he has the same blood flowing through his veins as I do. He leans into her, looking at me over her shoulder, and whispers something in her ear. I see her tense and when she begins to turn her head to look at me, he stops it by wrapping his hand around her chin. The scars on her back begin to tremble and I can’t help but harden at the sight of them. It brings me back to that night and the last time I was inside my demon.

---