Page 74 of Viper’s Reign

“Dimitri…” I moan throatily when the feather floats over my clit.

He curses under his breath.

Then it stops.

Something drops softly to the floor, and that’s the only warning I get before his hands are on me, palming my tits over the clamps.

“Dimitri!” My entire body shudders as I scream his name, pain and pleasure cascading through me.

His hands don’t linger. They drag down with purpose, and I hold my breath, waiting.

He cups my soaked core, and his groan rumbles through my body as his fingers slide through my slippery folds. “You’re fucking drenched,” he grates out, voice thick with need—pulling a moan from me as my hips buck into his touch.

“Who sent you?” The question comes as a harsh growl, and his hand withdraws as I grind against it. Frustration rips through me so hard I cry out, the denial twisting like a knife in my gut.

“Please, Dimitri. Please, let me come—please.” My voice breaks as I strain against the cuffs, chasing him.

“You can beg all you want, solnyshko. But you know how you get what you want. You know what I want to hear.”

“I can’t tell you!” Sobs choke the words out. “Don’t you think if I could, I would have?” I twist against the restraints, desperately searching for him, needing friction, needing him to fill the ache that’s consuming me. My head spins, every nerve screaming for release, my pussy throbbing to the point of pain.

“You mean you won’t,” he corrects, almost sounding angry, but I can’t tell because I can’t see him, blindfolded as I am. But the thought of his anger pierces through me.

“I can’t. My friend—” I cut myself off with a whimper, clamping my mouth shut. Shit. I can’t tell him about Millie. What if it brings her more pain, or worse, gets her killed? The thought slices clean through the haze of lust.

But it’s too late. He latches onto my slip. “Is someone threatening you with your friend? Were you blackmailed into poisoning me?” His voice sharpens.

I shake my head hard, hot tears prickling my eyes, dampening the blindfold. My body trembles, not only from need, but from the terror of it all crashing down. The terror I’ve felt since that man dragged me into that alley, the lies I’ve had to tell, the uncertainty, everything.

“Who got you the invite to my expo, Grace?” Softer this time, breathing warm against the shell of my ear.

I shake my head again, lips trembling as I press them together tighter, fighting the urge to spill everything. The words burn in my throat, but I swallow them down. I have to protect Millie.

He curses and steps back, and the loss of his heat stings worse than anything that came before.

Then his fingers are on the clamps.

He releases one nipple, and blood rushes back in, pins and needles exploding into pain and pleasure that has me moaning helplessly. The second clamp comes off, and my head falls back against the wall as my body shudders through the overload. Every inch of me feels raw, oversensitive. And still so unbearably needy.

He uncuffs my ankles next, then my wrists, and my arms drop uselessly, my legs buckling beneath me.

He catches me before I fall, strong arms banding around my waist. One hand steadies me while the other slides the blindfold off, and light floods in again, too sudden after the darkness.

Before my eyes fully adjust, I’m lifted clean off the floor. I cling to him as he cradles me against his chest, and the warmth of him after all of that is the thing that cracks the last of my composure.

The tears come quietly at first, then all at once. I bury my face into his neck, inhaling his delicious scent as the dam finally breaks.

28

GRACE

Once the tears start, I can’t stop them.

My chest aches with it, the kind of deep, pressurized ache that comes from bottling feelings up for too long and finally letting them find a crack. Dimitri’s steps slow, and I feel him glance down at me, but I only bury my face deeper into his neck, hiding there as if it might somehow hold me together.

He adjusts me in his arms and changes direction in the hallway. I want to ask him where he’s taking me, but the sobs won’t let up. I can’t talk, I can’t do anything except feel.

Excruciating pain. Loneliness—God, the loneliness is so suffocating. I’ve carried everything alone these past few weeks and endured so much by myself. Whatever this thing is between Dimitri and me… It was ruined before it ever had a chance. Built on lies, every layer of it is tainted. It can never be pure or mine. He can never be mine, not really. That makes me cry even harder. I clutch him tighter anyway, in the hope that clinging to him could somehow make it different. It’s pitiful. Pathetic.