Page 108 of Filthy Royal

A tingle ran up her spine, her mouth opening before she could command it to stay shut. Compulsion. He was using his power as an Alpha, the force of his dominance, to sway her.

He’d done it before, but never with such potency.

Scarlett panted through the discomfort.

Resisting an Alpha command wasn’t easy. Especially when every instinct clamored to please him, whatever it took, an impulse to obey that slithered just beneath the surface of every omega. But when the male was her ex-fated-mate, it was even more acute, a near-agonizing burn that licked across her skin.

Except she’d had a long time to get used to pain.

Spine stiffening, she tilted her head upward and met his glower head-on. “No.”

“Strike two.” A flash of what looked like respect flickered in his gaze, but it was wiped clean in the next breath, replaced by a frightening determination. “Such a stubborn thing you’ve become.” He sounded eerily calm. “But you’ve never had to withstand the full effect of a taming chain.”

Her heart raced.

“Or maybe you simply want my hands on you again, Omega?” Damien stepped closer and knelt, putting his face only inches from hers. “No matter how I use them.”

Her mouth went dry. His words were too close to the truth.

“I must admit, I was almost hoping you’d choose this path.” He got to his feet again, looming over her, his expression demoralizingly detached. “But don’t expect it to go like last time.”

The taming chain’s amplified vibrations stole her breath and made her core clench. Each tiny pulse was a direct tap to her clit, clouding her mind with need and making it almost impossible to think straight.

Panting, her control slipping, she felt every bit of the vulnerability of her position. Chained on her hands and knees, forced to endure whatever Damien decided to make her feel. Pleasure. Pain. Humiliation.

To him, it must be the sweetest of revenge. To her, it was ecstasy and torment, and some part of her knew this wasexactlywhat she deserved.

“So many times…” Proving his thoughts traveled in the same direction as hers, he trailed his fingertip across the chain at her throat, and to her shame, slick dripped from her and coated her thighs, her short skirt doing nothing to hide it from his eyes. “I’ve played those last moments of ours in my mind.”

She had too. Wishing she could have done something differently.

“I recall the way you came all over my leathers.” He traced the line of the chain along her spine, taking his time, his fingers traveling over fabric and flesh, lingering over each bump, letting the effects of the taming chain build and meld with the impact of his touch.

Scarlett curled her fingernails into the dirt to keep from arching her back and spreading her legs.

His siege continued, his claw dragging lightly across the dip of her back. “I remember too how, after our last embrace, you handed me that water container as if you cared—and all the time, you were plotting against me.”

Sweat dampened the nape of her neck, her skin trembling beneath the warmth of his touch as she remembered too: Damien drinking the drugged water, then wading into the ring. Crex falling, his eyes empty. The dawning realization in the gaze of the male she loved that she’d been the one to drug him.

It was at that moment something inside her had fractured. A wrenching tear in her soul that had never healed.

She doubted it ever would.

And now, her reckoning was due.

But if she told him everything and Darvish followed through on his threats, it would all have been for naught.

“So very stubborn.” He shifted to the side, but she was too busy trying to keep her body from shattering to find the strength to lift her head and follow his movement. “Perhaps a little extra incentive might help.”

Damien yanked up her skirt. His warm palm curled around the curve of her ass, his thumb sliding over her puckered rosebud, his touch purposeful, as if claiming that forbidden part of her was his right.

“Oh gods.” She shook beneath him.

“No celestial beings. Just me.” His touch ghosted over the sensitive spot once again. “Shall I find another hairbrush and take you here? You fucking loved it last time.”

Head hanging low, she trembled, her arms shaking. Not out of fear. Out of sheer, white-hot need. The memory of that rendezvous, when he’d introduced her to a pleasure unlike anything she’d ever imagined, was almost enough to make her climax on the spot.

Almost.

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