Page 41 of Enveloped By the Darkness

Come on,I willed, straining around the gag.

Of course, I loved the bondage and humiliation, but this wasn’t the time. My pleasure couldn’t be used as a tonic to murder. Wringing every ounce of focus I had left in my body, I just managed to slip my wrist free as the next wave of hedonism loomed.

“Oooo!” I hollered as the plastic tormentor pushed my clit back over the precipice, my body lurching as I jerked in place.

Reaching between my legs, I yanked the damn vibrator away, sending it crashing to the floor with the tape still attached. Catching my breath, I watched as it continued to buzz, dancing around the tiles like a feral animal. Tugging at the strap that held the gag in place, I eased the giant ball from my lips, gasping as it fell to my collar bone. Working the buckle loose, it soon joined the vibrator on the floor.

“Thank fuck,” I panted, using my left hand to loosen the ropes at my other wrist.

Exhausted, I leaned forward, unbuckling my ankles from their fetters before I rose on shaky legs. There was no time to stop and catch my breath. I had to pray Kade hadn’t locked the door and get out there to stop Lucas’ death. Lurching forward, I grasped the handle and yanked it open. Relief flooded my system as I realized I was free and possibly able to prevent another unnecessary death. Grabbing a long cardigan from the nearby rail I pulled the fabric over my arms before stumbling on. I had no idea where I was heading and scarcely knew what I was heading into, but it didn’t matter. There had been so much death already. I had to stop him.

Bizarrely, every corridor was brightly illuminated as if Kade had been there before me, switching all the lights on. My brow creased. That didn’t sound like the Kade I knew. He usually favored a covert approach. Anxiety rippled in my belly. I wasn’t sure if the idea of my master being challenged was welcomed or not. Lucas should have been on the couch where he’d left her. It should have been simple, yet experience had taught me that things so rarely were.

Exhaling, I wrapped my arms around my middle, anxious to stifle the rising sense of unease. Kade had ruled over me with an iron fist. We’d had more ups and downs than most couples had in decades together, and yet fundamentally he was right—Lucas was a threat to everything we had—and although I didn’t agree with his murderous intent, she did have to be stopped.

Fiddling with the buttons of the cardigan at my chest, I crept forward along the halls. My heart raced as I passed empty rooms, each of them eerily lit although no one was inside. Barrington was an endless maze, with countless unused spaces, many of which I still hadn’t properly explored, but why would he have left lights on everywhere? Kade had seemed hellbent on destroying Lucas when he’d left me, so the light show in every part of the house didn’t make sense.

“Something’s wrong,” I whispered, finding consolation in releasing some of my trepidation. “Maybe I’m too late? Perhaps he’s already killed her?”

My questions were partly answered as I turned the corner toward his study. There, sprawled out on the floor at the other end of the corridor was a body, but as my feet sped up, I realized it wasn’t Lucas’. Dread ballooned as I broke into a sprint, my feet kicking something that had been discarded on the floor. Glancing back, my pulse spiked as I realized it was a gun.A gun?The horrific thought reverberated around my head as I dashed to him. Why was there a gun in the house?

“Master!” I fell to my knees beside him, rolling him toward me. “Oh, God! What’s happened? Have you been shot?”

Looking around him, there was no obvious gunshot and thankfully, no evidence of blood loss. Lifting my palm to his mouth, I sagged with relief as I sensed his breath on my skin. He was asleep then, not dead.

Clearing his long hair from his face, I noticed the red swollen mark on his temple and in those few seconds, the whole scenario fell into place. Kade had come back to kill Lucas, but she’d already woken up—the dose of sedative not as efficient as he’d hoped—and she’d managed to get free of the ropes.

That was my fault.

I blanched, recalling how I’d pleaded with him to loosen her binds and imagining how she’d used her liberty to good effect as she knocked my lover out with something heavy. Glancing into the study, it was easy to see what she’d chosen—his crystal decanter was discarded on the rug and Lucas was nowhere to be seen.

This had gotten out of hand. Whatever my ethics about either Kade’s or Lucas’ actions, I couldn’t allow it to go on. Reaching into his pocket, I pulled his out his phone and dialed the emergency services.

“What’s your emergency?” The monotonic voice on the other end of the line burst into my eardrum.

“Someone has broken into the house,” I blurted, barely able to hear my response over the pounding of my heart. “My boyfriend is unconscious.”

“Are you in danger?” The unknown voice asked.

Was I?

“Y-Yes,” I panted. “I think I am.”

“Is your boyfriend breathing?”

I glanced down at Kade’s chest, reassured to see its natural rise and fall.

“Yes, he is.”

“Then find somewhere to hide. With a little time, we’ll be able to track your location from your phone and—”

I didn’t hear the rest of his sentence, although I was aware of the responder still speaking. All my focus shifted to the back of my head, or to be more precise, the hard implement thrust against it.

Shit.

I knew without having to turn around that it was the barrel of the gun.

“Hang up the phone,” Lucas growled, pressing the barrel harder into my skull.

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