Marcus squares off with Tyler and dives into the hunt.
I could feel my knuckles popping as I clenched my fists and stalked over to my half-brother.
This whole thing… it had his stink all over it.
Natalie and Tyler had dated briefly, and after confronting him in the Catskills, I’d learned that the only reason he’d pursued her was to get to me. He was like some spoiled twelve-year-old lashing out.
Was that the reason Astrid had demanded that I bring Natalie? So Tyler would have the opportunity to hunt her? Did he have something on Astrid? Or was she just interested in seeing us fight?
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You've got to the count of three to give me a good reason why I shouldn’t—”
A hand against my chest stopped me cold.
The person it belonged to had creamy skin who had done a lot to stave off the effects of age, but was starting to show signs of losing the battle. The hand lacked a certain ‘plumpness’ that came with age. Faint blue lines where veins ran suggested thinning skin. A few faded sunspots marred an otherwise perfect complexion.
The press-on fingernails had been professionally done, and I might have mistaken them for real had I not spent so much of my time around women. They were a light crimson and applied perfectly.
My eyes traveled up the arm into the dark green eyes of Nina Gerrard Haley—my aunt. She’d been my father’s younger sister, and the last time I’d seen her was months ago at the board meeting that had caused me so much trouble. She hadn’t bothered to talk to me… hadn’t even looked at me.
She was looking at me now.
She was older… early fifties, although, like with many of the women in high society, she looked a little younger thanks to diet, exercise, and cosmetic surgery. She had the Gerrards’ high cheekbones and a chin that was just a touch strong, with a prominent cleft. Her lips, covered in vivid crimson, were a little on the thinner side, but not unpleasant, and her nose had a touch of Greek to it—strong without being overbearing.
Light signs of care were etched in her face—a thin spiderweb of creases at the corner of each eye and similar lines around her mouth that gave me the impression she scowled more than she smiled.
She was wearing a turquoise toga made of shimmering silk that left one lightly freckled shoulder naked. I couldn’t help but notice that her neck, left bare thanks to having her dark hair piled high on her head, was soft and smooth, almost completely free of blemishes save for a faint splotch almost too faded to notice—a hickey covered with foundation. She’d seen action recently.
Before I could stop myself, I wondered who it could have been. Who’d grazed on that lovely skin aged like a fine wine? Who was the lucky bastard—
I blinked and tried to clear my brain of that image. She was a striking woman, but she was my aunt. God, I was getting into a really bad habit of seeing every woman as a sexual object first and person later, and if this wasn’t a perfect example of why that could be problematic, I didn’t know what was.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she said in a tone that suggested I was five and had just broken a lamp.
“About to beat my brother with his own rifle. Wanna watch?”
“You’ll do no such thing.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Take your hand off me, or you’re next.”
The confrontation was attracting more attention with each passing moment as we stared each other down.
“Didn’t your mother teach you better than to threaten violence on a woman?”
“Yeah,” I admitted, “But she’s not here, and everyone keeps telling me the normal rules don’t apply to me.”
Nina smirked. “Cute.”
I spared Tyler a glance. He hadn’t moved from his perch on the table, his hands resting on his gun.
“I didn’t know you would be here,” I said, looking back at Nina.
“We knew you would be,” Tyler said, smirking.
“Cool,” I said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “What are you doing here?”
“Networking,” Nina said.
“Going hunting,” Tyler said. “I saw my eye on a couple of cuties. I thought I might reacquaint myself with one of them… or go for something new.”
He was talking about Natalie and Erin.
I batted Nina’s hand away from my chest, the warmth of her touch suddenly absent on my bare skin as I stepped forward. “Sorry… it sounded to me like you just asked for another beating.”
Tyler slid off the table, chin raised as he gripped his gun like he’d swing it at me.
Nina’s hand landed on my shoulder, halting me after two steps.
“Quentin!” she snapped. “Would you get me a drink?”
Tyler looked at her, lip curling, but he didn’t move.
“Please,” Nina said, her voice remaining hard as granite.
My brother turned his gaze back to me, jaw working. Then he broke out into another smirk and said, “Sure. What kind?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Nina said. The drink wasn’t the point.
He gave me another two seconds of a dick-measuring glare before finally turning around and sauntering away.
Some of the attention from the onlookers began to drain away as my brother left, laughter erupting at some joke I didn’t hear as people turned their attention back to their rifles, or to each other. I heard deals being made… what sounded like alliances possibly being formed.
Nina stepped back in front of me, her fingers sliding off my shoulder. She glanced at Tyler’s disappearing form and gave an exasperated sigh. “Boys.”
“Uh-huh,” I said dismissively. “I’ll ask again—what are you doing here?”
She regarded me with a gaze like frozen pine needles. “And I’ll tell you again—networking.”
“Networking,” I repeated, hardly believing it.
“Yes,” Nina sniffed. “When left with very little, we have to do our best to find new friends where we can. What better place than the Wyn’s annual rich-people party? Some of the biggest deals of the year are made at these things. People are always looking for new opportunities here, and even if we lack the Gerrard funds, the name still opens some doors.”
She was ass-pained over the inheritance. I mean, it was understandable; anyone in the family used to the kind of lifestyle the Gerrard fortune could provide would be pissed to find out that all of it went to someone they didn’t even know existed.
“I didn’t ask for this,” I said.
Nina snorted. “You didn’t exactly turn it down, either.”
“C’mon, Nina,” I said, leaving off the ‘Aunt.’ She hadn’t earned it. “Put yourself in my shoes. Would you?”
“Of course not,” she said, her jaw set. Her answer hung in the air for a moment before she continued. “But put yourself in mine.”
“Yeah. I get it. I’d be furious.”
A gleam of righteous indignation ignited in her frosty stare; she was about to respond, but I cut her off.
“But you didn’t even give me a chance,” I said. “I know my lawyers reached out to you. They didn’t hear anything until the CEO vote came up, and even then, after everything, you wouldn’t even look at me.”
She looked away, and I glanced around, noting that some of the partygoers were still trying to listen in. Fortunately, it was so noisy that it would have required superhuman hearing to make out anything.
I stepped closer to her and dropped my volume slightly, just in case.
“Set the money aside for a moment. I’d just discovered that I had a whole bunch of family out there. I didn’t know you existed either. I would have loved to get to know you, but up until now, the only impression I’ve had of you guys is your cold reaction to seeing me… and Tyler.”
I glanced in the direction he’d disappeared. “And he’s a psycho. He dated someone I cared about and abused her just to get to me.”
“I had nothing to do with that,” Nina snapped.
“Could’ve fooled me,” I said. “I know he’s been visiting you, and now, you guys show up here together? What’s up with that?”
“Two Gerrards carry much more weight than one,” she said. “That’s all this is.”
“I’m a Gerrard,” I said. “And I’m much better company than him.”
She simply eyed me, obviously ingesting what I was getting at.
“Grandpa really left you with nothing?” I asked.
Nina gave a pair of ladies sitting at the next table a dirty look, and they quickly began whispering amongst themselves. Then she grabbed my arm and we walked over to the table Tyler had been sitting on. She sat at the vacant table, and I dropped into the seat at the corner to her right.
“Essentially,” Nina answered my question. “He left us with a few assets… a few million in trusts.”
“Millions?” I said, dryly, hardly feeling sorry for her.
“I’m part of this family!” Nina growled. “I’ve given so much of myself! I’ve endured monsters for this family! My life… my husband…”
Aware that she was raising her voice, she glanced around and softened it, though the harshness was still there. “Millions of dollars is enough to be comfortable. It certainly doesn’t help you build anything real. I didn’t deserve to be cast aside just because I wasn’t my father’s favorite!”
She bit off whatever else she was going to say and fell quiet, clearly growing uncomfortable with the daytime talk-show level of family drama she was spilling. I couldn’t blame her—this wasn’t exactly the ideal place to air out our grievances.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly, feeling a few beats of sympathy for the woman. “Your husband…”
“It was a long time ago,” she said gruffly.
I imagined what it would be like if Hiro or Tyler killed Erin or Natalie, and I wasn’t sure that I’d be over it even twenty or thirty years later.
“Still,” I said. “It’s a tragedy that no one deserves.” I hesitated and then added, “It was really your brother?”
“Logan,” Nina said. “You think Tyler’s bad? Be grateful that’s all you have to deal with. Thankfully, he hasn’t seen the light of day for decades.”
“What about the rest of the family?”
“Great uncles and distant cousins,” she sniffed. “They come around once in a while with their hands outstretched.”
“I meant my sister,” I said. “Tyler’s twin. I don’t know anything about her.”
“Ah. Quinn. No, I imagine you don’t.”
“Why? Is she locked away somewhere like Quasimodo? Or Sloth from the Goonies?”
Despite her obvious attempt to bury it, that actually got a small chuckle from her. “No. Nothing like that. She broke away from the family a long time ago. Quentin is the only one she’ll talk to, but like her mother, she wants little to do with the Gerrards.”
I wanted to know more… wanted to ask why, and where she was. She already sounded more pleasant to be around than Tyler, but that, along with the talk of her husband’s death seemed almost drive Nina to the point of shutting down.
I glanced at the gold ribbon tied to her bare arm and decided on a different question.
“Who is your attendant?”
Nina still looked like she was living in the past, and it took a moment for her eyes to clear and register what I’d asked.
“Oh,” she said dismissively. “Some Amazon that works for Tyler. His bodyguard.”
“Liz?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t know her name. That may be it.”
“Did you know what the game was?” I asked. “Did she know what she was getting into?”
“She gets paid enough to do whatever Tyler needs her to do,” Nina said, clearly not giving a rat’s ass that Liz was in a situation that she may not have signed up for.
The answer tracked. Nina was cold, embittered by a lifetime of disappointment. It was obvious that the posthumous dismissal of her father had hit her hard and had caused her empathy to wither—if she had any in the first place. She certainly didn’t seem to care that there were people here who might not be interested in playing this game, but didn’t have a choice.
Still, she was different than Tyler. More reasonable, if unfeeling.
And she seemed to have some kind of sway over Tyler. Maybe I could work with that.
“You look like him, you know.”
I understood who she meant, and met her eyes once more. The ice in them had melted a little.
“I do?”
Nina nodded. “Obviously, you take more after your mother—especially around the eyes, I assume, but the nose… the mouth. Those are all him.”
“I don’t know much about him.”
Her lips twitched, the closest thing to a smile I’d seen from her so far, even if it was sad. “Shame.”
“Were you close?” I asked.
“Yes, we were…” She looked like she was struggling to find the right word. “Yes. Close.”
“Okay…”
“He wasn’t an easy man—much like our father. Getting close to him was hard work…”
That smile grew, and I detected some warmth around her eyes. “But it was so rewarding.”
“You must not have been that close. You didn’t know about my mom or me.”
“I knew about your mother,” Nina said, some of that geniality fading, “but I never met her. I must admit, I didn’t know about you at all. After Col died…”
Col.
It must have been my father’s nickname—something new I didn’t know before.
It made me feel slightly closer to the man I knew so little about.
“Our father said your mother was taken care of,” she continued. “I never asked.”
Silence fell between us as I absorbed what she’d told me.
I had so many questions…
God, the last thing I’d expected was to have a deep conversation with my Aunt. All this time, I’d seen her as a distant enemy. Like Russia and the US during the Cold War.
Now, sitting there, not able to meet my eyes, chewing on the side of her cheek as she people-watched. She picked at one of her fingernails nervously.
She seemed so real… so human.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” I said quietly. “I’d love to get to know my family more.”
Nina finally looked my way, appraising me, but before she could answer. I saw Tyler weave into view with a drink in each hand, gun slung over his shoulder like the eager hunter he was.
Nina must have noticed something in my demeanor shift, because that moment of vulnerability suddenly evaporated. Once more, I was met with cold indifference as she held up a hand without looking over her shoulder.
Tyler placed one of the glasses in her hand as he said, “Family time without me?”
“I was just telling him a little about your father,” Nina said, taking a sip of her drink.
“Better wrap it up.” Tyler checked his watch. “The game will start soon. Don’t want to give me a head start, since we’re hunting the same thing.”
I stood up, using every bit of my three- to four-inches of height to the fullest effect. “Leave them alone.”
“Or what?” Tyler asked, looking unaffected.
“Or I’ll kill you,” I said coolly.
I heard a gasp somewhere to my right, as someone obviously overheard the threat.
Tyler ignored the eavesdropper. “Careful, Marcus. Threats of violence aren’t tolerated here.”
“Didn’t you see me on that balcony? I’m the guest of honor. Pretty sure they’ll forgive me. Leave them alone… drop out of this whole thing and take Liz and Nina home.”
“Leave me out of this,” Nina said. “I intend on playing.”
“You’re what?”
“I’m not particularly excited to, but I’m also not interested in becoming a social pariah. I can’t afford it, so I’m going to find the first available young man, shoot him, and enjoy the rest of the evening sipping free drinks and charming everyone.”
“So, you don’t have to use the person you get?”
“No,” she said, “but I imagine I’ll spend the evening with him between my legs.” Her look grew smoky and heated. “It’s been a while.”
Tyler chuckled, which made my blood boil.
“Good luck, I guess,” I said to Nina, then turned and shouldered my way through the crowd.
“Relax, Marcus!” Tyler called out. “It’s just a game!”
I ground my teeth, already under pressure from the Wyns to keep playing. If I didn’t, everything my team and I were working for could be in jeopardy of falling apart. This feud would not only continue but likely get worse.
And now Tyler was in the game, threatening to go after Natalie again.
He’d hurt her once, and I wouldn’t let him hurt her again.
And I’d never let him lay a finger on Erin.
So, as much as it disgusted me, if Tyler wanted to play, I’d fucking play.
And I’d win.
And then, once Erin and Natalie were safe, I’d figure out if there was anything else I could do for the rest of them.
But Natalie and Erin came first.
I made my way toward the front where the servants had the guns, keeping my eyes peeled for—
“Ah!” A skinny young man fighting a losing battle with acne said. He was dressed vaguely Helenistic. “Mr. Upton, do you need a gun?”
“Yeah,” I said. “And I just want to make sure I understand the rules.”
“Of course,” he said, handing me one of the cloth cases. “You’ll have two hours to find and tag your quarry. Once you’ve done so, help will arrive to bring you back to the mansion.
“The signal will sound every thirty minutes to let you know how much time you have left. You can’t intentionally hurt or hunt any of the other hunters. The quarry, however, are allowed to hunt you if they manage to get a gun.
“Alliances and deals can be made in the arena with anyone.”
“Okay,” I said. “What if time runs out? What then?”
“The Masters get anyone who has not been hunted for the duration of the event,” he said.
My stomach turned, and I seriously considered calling it right then. I glanced around the crowd and assessed the players—most of them were old and overweight men. I could out perform any of them. The only thing I would have to do is locate the girls before the rest of them. And I was pretty sure I needed to make absolutely sure they didn’t end up under the Wyns’ control almost as much as Tyler’s. They were manipulative and devious… and both of them were well aware of how much Natalie and Erin meant to me.
Damn… and what about Sachiko? Could she be a serious liability if she fell into the wrong hands? Did I need to worry about what happened to her? What if someone else tagged her in the game? Just how motivated would she be to get out of the obligation the game put her in? Would she cut some kind of deal with her captor to avoid shaming her father in front of the Wyns? Could any kind of agreement that she came to with someone else affect me?
Argh! Now, I possibly had three women to worry about.
“Great. What’s your name?”
“St—Argus.”
“Argus,” I repeated, sure the kid was about to give me his actual name. “Is there anything you can tell me that isn’t on the approved list of things to say?”
“No, sir. That’s everything.”
I stepped closer and put my hand on his shoulder, making it look like I was pointing out something about the case I was holding. “Listen… Argus. My girlfriend is out there. She's scared and alone, and there are a couple of assholes out here who would love to use her to get to me. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to her. I’m in a real bind, and you’d be doing me a huge favor if you just told me something. I’d be in your debt, and having me owe you one is a really good thing for you.”
The young man looked around to make sure no one was paying any attention to us; he looked caught between a rock and a hard place, but I was past the point of caring. He was working for monsters.
He leaned in close and quickly said, “The arena has traps and cameras everywhere. Be careful.”
“Traps? What kind?” I asked.
“Stuff you find in woods. I don’t know details. Just be careful.” He looked like he was about to step away and then hesitated. “Oh, and we've had some kind of animal trainers here.”
He backed away before I could ask any other questions. “Good luck, sir.”
And then he turned to grab another gun and hurriedly walked away from me.
I glanced back down at my gun as I turned and walked away.
Woods.
Traps.
But animals? Was this game actually deadly? They wouldn’t go that far, would they?
No… not if there were cameras.
I imagined they had an entire team of professionals cutting to camera angles to give them the best show possible. They probably even recorded it to sell the entire thing to people who couldn’t make it…
And then a thought struck.
The way they kept fishing for details when we met… asking me about my plans and intentions.
They’d been recording me.
I turned and looked up at the balcony and spotted Aurelia, still leaning against the railing as she watched me.
Even the way she had asked her questions about Carla and my dungeon—she had to have been recording the conversation.
And why would they be recording private conversations with wealthy guests? Why would they be recording something like this hunt?
Was all of this a smokescreen? An attempt to attain incriminating evidence of the ultra wealthy?
Aurelia smiled at me, and my blood ran cold. This time, it felt much less sensual and a lot more predatory.
The Wyns weren’t just in the business of philanthropy. They were extortionists.
Just how much dirt did they have on everyone here?
Fuck. Had I said anything incriminating?
Without returning her smile, I turned and made my way back to Astrid, finding her where I’d left her. She was sitting in a chair, sipping champagne and simply… waiting.
“Just so you know,” I said, dropping the gun case on the table. Two abandoned glasses toppled over, their contents spilling out across the table. Neither of us acknowledged it. “Once we get through this, I don’t want to see you again.”
“You’re cute,” Astrid said.
“I’m serious.”
“You said that last time.”
“He was one hell of a gift,” I said, avoiding Roger’s name in case the tables were bugged. “It bought you some time, but this stunt?”
I grabbed the zipper and tore open the gun case like it had personally offended me. “This stunt is the straw. We’re done.”
“It’s just a game, Marcus.”
“We’re literally hunting people, Astrid,” I retorted. “Natalie and Erin are being hunted, and you and the Wyns are basically holding a proverbial gun to my head.”
Astrid rolled her eyes.
I slid the gun out of its sheath and checked it. It resembled a bolt-action rifle, which I’d handled a handful of times—once at my uncle Francis’s farm, my dad’s brother, and then a few times when Chloe took me to Hannon for firearms training. Most of our time had been spent with pistols, but she’d at least familiarized me with other types.
I glanced over my shoulder, scanning the crowd again as I asked Astrid, “Did you know my brother and aunt would be here?”
“I didn’t,” Astrid said, looking annoyed as she stared up at me. “But it’s hardly a surprise. Of course a Gerrard would be welcome here.”
I turned my attention back to my gun and slid the bolt back and checked the chamber to find it was empty. The case held a small, clear container with three darts. I popped it open and took one out.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Astrid asked.
I fed the dart into the chamber and slid the bolt back into place until it clicked shut.
“I know enough,” I said.
Wherever you are, Chloe, I hope you can see how good I’m making you look right now.
“We should work together,” Astrid said.
Somewhere nearby, a horn sounded. It was the low rumble that you could feel as much as hear, deep and rich… like the kind I imagined brought down the walls of Jericho.
“That's the signal?” I asked.
She set her glass down and stood up, taking her gun by the strap and slinging it over one shoulder, leaving the case behind. “It is.”
I did the same, pocketing the case with the remaining darts as the two of us followed the rest of the crowd toward the back of the house, leading to a massive swath of yard dotted with torches at random locations. More characters dressed in ancient garb, as mortals and immortals stood like statues or engaged in lewd acts.
A dias made of old stone stood in the middle of the yard, looking like it’d been there for centuries. On it sat a rotund man on a throne that a casual glance suggested was made of gold. At his feet knelt two women, one resembling Nyrissa, except that she was completely bald. Next to her knelt a curvy woman with lustrous blonde hair cascading down her back and shoulders in loose curls.
Both of them had their mouths and hands on one of the largest male organs I’d ever seen. Even with both of them having a hand around the tool, there was still more than plenty available for their mouths. Both of them were lovingly painting it with their tongues and stroking it with their lips.
Fuck. I certainly didn’t have any reason to be ashamed of what I was working with, but I’d bet a billion dollars every man in the crowd felt inadequate.
Next to them, on a slightly lower level of the platform, a woman with raven black hair spilling around her shoulders in tight curls was on her hands and knees, a gold collar around her neck with a thick chain of the same metal. Two men, equally as naked as her, hairless, oiled, and muscular, stood on either end of her.
Her generous breasts bounced back and forth as the two roughly fucked her. The one in front had his formidable cock buried all the way in her throat while the other pounded in and out of her, using the chain attached to her collar as leverage.
On a closer look, the woman’s face was bright red, and she looked almost distressed, the thick mascara and eyeliner smeared and running down her cheeks.
“Jesus,” I said, my stomach turning. I started to move forward, and Astrid caught my arm. I looked back at her, annoyed.
“It’s fine. Look.”
I glanced back just in time to see the man in front of the girl pull his hips back. His grip in the woman’s mass of black hair kept her in place as he pulled his cock free of her lips. Even from here, I could hear her ragged gasps as rope after rope of cum painted her face. An almost comic level of fluids coated the forehead, cheeks, and mouth.
And then the music started.
It was all percussion—giving the entire display a barbaric feel… as if we’d just left Hellenistic civilization for the untamed lands beyond.
And all the men and women, still as statues, came to life. They began dancing, fluid and graceful, weaving through the crowd with such precision that it almost looked as if their dance had been choreographed with this particular chaotic arrangement of onlookers in mind.
A woman whirled in front of me and pressed her gold-painted curves against me, raising a perfectly toned leg and caressing my crotch with it. Her knee pressed against my abs.
Then she whirled away, then stopped, her back pressed to another man, frozen in place like a statue once more. Then she sprang into motion, leaping at me, pressing her full front against mine.
She reached out with a hand and caressed the side of Astrid’s face. Liquid amber eyes stared up at me intently as she froze once again.
And then she skittered away.
She was immediately replaced by another slender blonde who dipped back against me, resting her head in the crook of my shoulder. She reached around to grab Astrid by her hair and gently brought her in for a kiss. At the same time, she wrapped an arm around my head and pushed my face into her neck. My lips immediately began traveling up her warm, smooth skin. My arms encircled her waist, and pulled her impossibly slender hips into me. Her tiny ass ground against my painfully erect cock.
A male dancer stepped in front of the willowy blonde, his blue eyes smoldering as he looked at me. He raised his arms over his head and writhed against the woman, hips swaying in time with the primal beat.
The woman in my arms tore her lips from Astrid’s and turned her head toward mine, brushing our lips, tongue snaking out and seeking mine. Meanwhile, the man and Astrid began kissing, and I couldn’t tell which one was dominant as they struggled to devour each other.
The same queasy feeling twisted through my chest and then dissipated. The same thing I’d felt the night I’d seen other men take Jessica, my old girlfriend, in front of me in the hot tub. Jealousy had played briefly around the edges of my mind… some kind of knee-jerk reaction, the remnants of primitive instinct that wanted to claim every woman around me as my own.
It was gone almost the moment I felt it.
Astrid wasn’t mine.
I didn’t want her like I wanted Natalie or Erin.
I didn’t care if she was being railed by multiple men like the woman on the dais. In fact, part of me wanted to see her get fucked like that.
I hoped it hurt.
Fuck this bitch, who’d brought me to this island. This woman who’d caused me so much trouble… who now was directly responsible for this mess.
No. I wasn’t jealous.
She was as bad as everyone else on this island, reveling in their ability to use and abuse others. They were all dancing, like they all belonged to some primitive tribe about to start some kind of ritualistic hunt. The weapons manufacturer I’d met on the ferry was dancing between two young women, taking it in turn to make out with both of them.
A man not much older than me had a bottle of champagne in his hand and was spraying it all over another couple making out with each other, the small woman clinging to a man much bigger than her like a koala to a tree.
Another man and woman had dropped to their knees, the man's head under the skirt of a shipping mogul. While the woman ran her tongue up his leg.
The entire dance was quickly devolving into a hedonistic celebration of the wealthy’s power to treat everyone else like commodities they could trade at best… unwilling sex toys at worst.
And Astrid had subjected my girls to all of it.
My fucking girls.
So, no. I wasn’t fucking jealous.
Bobbi was more precious to me than this bitch.
She parted from the kiss with the man, shoved him away, and ran her tongue up the cheek of the blonde woman I was making out with.
I broke the kiss, reached up, and wrapped my fingers in Astrid’s fine blonde hair and tugged on it hard.
The woman in my arms immediately spun away and disappeared into the crowd.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I growled.
“Enjoying myself,” Astrid hissed, pressing herself against me. “With you.”
Her face moved toward mine a fraction, but I kept it firmly locked in place.
Still, her hand covered my crotch, still throbbing from grinding against that little ass. She cupped it in her hand and squeezed hard.
I yanked firmly on her hair, forcing her head back. Her eyes rolled down, keeping her gaze on mine as they seethed with pure arousal.
I pulled her roughly against me and pressed our cheeks together as I whispered in her ear, “If anything happens to those girls tonight, I’ll fucking ruin you.”
Her grip on my cock tightened to the point that it was genuinely painful.
“Yes,” Astrid growled through gritted teeth. “That’s the Marcus I want to see.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I said, giving her head a vicious shake. “Are you fucking insane?”
This time, she grabbed my hair and pulled me back so we could stare at each other.
“I’m bored,” she said, “and you’re interesting.”
Then she kissed me. Hard.
And as much as I hated to admit it, she was a hell of a kisser.
For a single moment, I lost myself in the kiss, letting her tongue lay claim to my mouth. Her lips were a welcome warmth against the cool weather crowding in around us. Her fingers reached up and touched my face… almost delicately as if she were checking to see if this moment was real.
The kiss softened, and for a moment, it felt like… tenderness?
Another body pressed against my back, pillowy breasts warm and soft against my bare skin. A pair of pillowy lips pressed against the back of my neck. Hands slid over my hips and traveled down my thighs, searching… exploring.
And for a moment, I let myself linger in Astrid’s world.
What would it be like to not constantly worry about everyone else?
To not care about how the man with 2.5 kids and a retirement fund that reacted so easily to my whims.
To just forget about the homeless veteran shivering on the streets.
To ignore the feelings of human beings who’d been coerced to play in a sick game for the amusement of a few hundred people like me.
To simply lose myself in the game.
I could go down there and just take whoever I wanted. There’d been so many—Vic’s gorgeous wife… the oil barron’s young daughter.
Astrid and I could do it together. I could watch this deceptively strong woman do utterly depraved things while simply sitting back and enjoying a drink… maybe while taking some exotic dancer’s pretty mouth.
Sandwiched between gorgeous female flesh, I shuddered.
God, I needed release.
And I could so easily have it.
To not care.
For just a moment, that felt like a wondrous thing.
But the fact of the matter was that I did care.
I cared about the everyman.
I wanted to do good for my community.
I didn’t want innocent people to be terrified.
And two of those terrified innocents were women whom I loved.
I wasn’t a perfect man.
But I was better than these people.
I internally sighed, gripped Astrid’s jaw, and then pulled her off my mouth.
Just before I pulled her free, she bit down on my lip enough to break the skin. The taste of hot iron was strong on my tongue.
I started to speak. “I don’t—”
The rumble of the horn cut me off, loud enough that it made the insides of my ears itch, and I could feel it vibrate my teeth.
The touch of the dancer disappeared, and then, as I looked around, each performer grew still as statues again.
“Gods and Goddesses of this time and space!” The man on the throne bellowed. He stood up, the two women on their knees, sucking his cock crawled to either side of him, clutching to his thighs like he was some kind of hero.
“The hunt has officially begun!” The man waved out at the expanse beyond the throne.
So many of us had been caught up in the ritual and pageantry that we failed to notice that not too far off, the yard ended abruptly. We were standing near the edge of a cliff.
Lining it were more servants, holding what appeared to be cables attached to pulleys suspended over the edge, resembling structures used to haul equipment up and down sheer surfaces. There had to be twenty of them.
Several of us approached closer to the edge, including me.
Sprawled out at the bottom of the ravine was a dark forest on sloping hills.
At least, it would have been dark had it not been for the glimmering pinpoints of light that dotted the forest like stars. The forest was almost uniform, save for the occasional break where a structure rose from the canopy. One in particular glinted in the moonlight—a glass domed roof.
“Those you seek are down there!” the man bellowed again. “Good hunting!”
And with that, one of the servants holding a harness reached out to offer it to the man next to me.
“Oh, fuck no,” he said. “This is too much.”
He turned to leave, but the man next to him grabbed his arm.
“The fuck are you doing? You wanted to come. I’m not jeopardizing everything we’ve worked for just because you don’t have the stones to go through with this.”
The quitter started to say something, but I was distracted by Astrid, who had walked up to me. Her well-done hair was slightly disheveled from my manhandling it, but otherwise, she looked as good as ever.
We stood there in silence, looking out over the expanse of what was supposed to be the arena while some of the more courageous of the party-goers were among the first to slip on the harnesses and jump off the side of the cliff, where they dropped like stones. The cursing drifted up from the sides of the ravine.
Astrid and I stepped up to the edge; a railing had been installed to make it at least marginally difficult to fall off the side. The people who had gone first had slowed their descent as they neared the tops of trees. Then they disappeared.
“I might have told your ladies where we would rendezvous,” Astrid said.
I glanced over at her, and she stared at me, one fine eyebrow arched. “Before they took off. I gave them a rendezvous point.”
“How’d you know where to tell them to go?” I asked.
Astrid shrugged. “The grounds weren’t a secret. I saw this before the announcement… while you were inside the manor.”
“Are you going to tell me where you told them to go, or are you going to dangle it in front of me?” I asked, still unsure of whether to believe her.
“The glass building,” she said.
I looked back at the view, studying the dome surface glinting in the moonlight. Then back at her.
“Believe me… or don’t,” Astrid said with a shrug. She looked back over the forest. “Either way, that’s where I’m heading. Perhaps I’ll see you there.”
“I thought you wanted to work together” I said, a little surprised. I’d been half-prepared to turn her down, but now that it sounded like she wasn’t offering, I started to wonder if I was missing out on not going with her.
“No,” she said. “You’re still a spoilsport, and I’m afraid you might ruin my fun.”
Then she leaned back into me, grabbed the back of my head, and laid another fierce kiss on me. “But we’re working on that, aren’t we?”
Then she backed away. “Good luck, Marcus.”
She turned and reached the nearest servant, who had just retrieved a harness, and Astrid began strapping herself into it. “You'd better hurry, or someone else will beat you to your precious Natalie.”
She blew me another kiss and then dropped off the side.
“Fuck,” I groaned and quickly shouldered past the two business partners still arguing. “She’s right.”
As I strapped into the harness, I had a decision to make—whether or not Astrid was sending me on a wild goose chase or not.
Turning to face the edge of the ravine, my toes hanging off the side, I found I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I’d be. I guess being shoved out of a crashing plane made this seem easier than it would have otherwise been.
Disgusted with all of it, and heart pounding in my chest for a myriad of reasons, I jumped.