as much as it is what happens after. Hearing people cheer for what is essentially rape.”
“The slaves agreed-“
“I know that,” I whispered, my voice shaky as his finger traced a circle over my clit.
The heat of his tongue trapping the lobe of my ear, his teeth closing down to nip. “Then change it. The family is yours.”
“It’s yours,” I corrected him, a moan slipping from my throat as his thick finger pushed inside me.
Callan was driving me mad with a painfully precise rhythm, enough to stoke the flames inside me, but too little to shove me over the edge.
“It’s yours,” he said, his lips against my skin. “All of it. You’re Marcus’s daughter, and that makes your claim on everything more valid than mine. You can make any changes you want.”
I wanted to argue, but he slipped a second finger inside, pushing them apart, stretching me in ways that forced a full body shiver through me.
My legs threatened to give out, my hands locking over his shoulders as he continued toying with my body, trapping my thoughts, stealing my ability to think clearly without guilt for doing it.
“Yes,” he whispered when I gave in, his voice pure approval for my obedience.
With nothing but his fingers, he drove me to my first orgasm, my legs buckling as his arm wrapped around me to hold me in place against him, his breath too hot, his mouth tasting and teasing me as his name fell over my lips.
Eyes fluttering open, I stared out at the dark expanse of forest in front of us. “You’re going to kill me one of these days doing that.”
A grin against my cheek. “Sounds like a good way to die.”
“The best.”
He laughed, the sound dark and so hauntingly soft. “I think I’ll keep you alive for a few more years. Death is no fun without torture.”
A thought came to mind, my voice breaking the silence of the night.
“Will you help me change things? Will you agree with my decisions?”
His lips pressed a gentle kiss to the side of my head, his hand pulling away to let my dress fall back into place.
Callan spun me to face him, and my breath caught on the dark shadow of him against the backdrop of roses.
Fingers trapped my chin, tilting it up as our eyes met.
“Once Moritze is dealt with, you can make whatever changes you want. And if I have to snap every neck of those who don’t like it, I will.”
“But the family-“
“Is yours to do with what you will.”
The sincerity in his words was staggering. “Ours,” I said.
He grinned. “If that’s what you want.”
It was relief to hear those words, the sickening feeling I’d carried all night dissipating with the knowledge that I had a quiet strength backing me who would destroy whatever challenges I faced.
Callan’s power wasn’t simply the strength of his body, it was an unbending strength of his will when he fought for what he wanted.
Despite his assurance, though, there was something in his eyes that worried me. Before I could ask, he ran his gaze down my body, wicked thoughts flashing in his expression that primed my body all over again.
“But, for tonight, I plan to take you up to my room, strap you to my bed, and make all the decisions about what will be done with you myself.”
“The torture begins?” I asked softly.
His smirk was pure male arrogance.
“I’m not sure you’ll survive it.”
Leaning down, he closed his mouth over mine, our tongues dancing as if in battle, my body submitting without hesitation to his every devious whim.
Callan
The next week passed far too quickly, each day ticking past with no news from the spy Franklin had in Mortize’s house.
We were on to the third fight, the last of Mortize’s new men, and despite my argument, Jacob insisted he’d be the one going in the ring.
I didn’t fucking like it.
But the asshole assured me his ankle was healed, bounced around on it to prove it, and then met me punch for punch when we sparred. There was nothing I could do to keep him out of the pit unless I wanted to overstep our friendship and use my position in the family to demand he back down.
Unwilling to do that to him, not only for the knock it would be to our trust in each other, but also the blow to his ego that I didn’t have as much confidence in his ability as I did the other fighters, I relented and was now standing