The Price of Power

CHAPTER THREE — Blood-Stained Ecstasy

The chain bit deeper as Aria strained against it, her eyes locked on Isabella over Viktor’s shoulder. “You always did have terrible timing,” Viktor said, his voice a graveled threat as he reached behind him, his fingers brushing Aria’s bound wrist. With a sharp twist, he unlocked the clasp, freeing her hands just as Isabella’s smile turned lethal.

The metal links slithered away from her raw wrists like dead snakes. Her freed hands flew up, not to push him away, but to claw into Viktor’s sweat-slicked back, her nails carving half-moons into his skin. "Is she just going to watch?" Aria hissed, her breath hot against his ear, her hips meeting his next brutal thrust with a wet, punishing slap.

"Let her," Viktor growled, driving into her with a force that shoved the leather couch across the marble floor an inch. He captured her mouth in a biting kiss, all teeth and shared blood, his hand fisting in her hair to hold her still. Isabella’s cold laughter floated from the doorway, a sharp counterpoint to the slick, obscene sounds of their joining.

Viktor’s mouth trailed down Aria’s throat, his tongue lapping at the sweat pooling in the hollow of her collarbone. "You feel that, myshka?" he grunted, his pace becoming relentless, a piston seeking its ruin. "That’s you coming around my c**k while death watches." Aria’s head fell back, a broken moan escaping her as the coil in her gut wound impossibly tight, her inner muscles fluttering around his ruthless length.

She was unraveling, the danger feeding a perverse hunger deeper than pride. "f*****g use me, then," she choked out, her legs locking around his waist to take him deeper, her heels digging into the hard muscles of his ass. His answer was a raw, guttural sound as he slammed home, his own control fracturing.

The world narrowed to the animal rhythm of their bodies, the bite of leather under her shoulders, the acid-sharp scent of gunpowder still clinging to his skin. Viktor’s thrusts lost all rhythm, becoming a savage, final pursuit. "Mine," he rasped against her lips, the word a dark promise as his release tore through him, pumping deep into her clenching heat.

Aria’s climax followed, a silent, shattering wave that arched her spine off the couch. She bit into his shoulder to stifle her cry, the taste of salt and violence flooding her mouth. For a long moment, there was only the sound of their ragged breaths mingling in the cold air.

Then, a slow, mocking clap echoed from the doorway.