Pretty Painful Read online

  I blink, barely breathing as he grabs my arm, but I slip away, trying to race past him to the door. I think I’m about to make it, my foot slipping past the door frame before I slam into a solid chest. Looking up into those mean eyes, I shiver in fear as he smiles, revealing he has no teeth. “Hello, pretty one. Goodbye, pretty one,” he jokes, just as I feel a needle imbed into my neck, making me thrash against them both as they laugh.

  Everything tilts and my eyes shut without my consent, dropping me back into the void of darkness.

  Dabria

  Warmth, breath blowing over me, the smell of blood, metal, and something… darker…something…all man. That’s what I notice first before I even open my eyes. My body is sluggish, probably from the drug they pumped into it again, and I can tell by the cool floor I’m lying on that I’m no longer in the same cell. They moved me…but to where?

  I manage to finally blink my eyes open, my lashes heavy, and my eyes sore and dry. The room beyond is blurry, all apart from the floor I’m currently lying on, with my cheek pressing into the grey concrete.

  Groaning, I slowly flip onto my back, my body uncoordinated and hard to control. My head connects hard with the cement, forcing a grunt from my mouth, but I slam my lips shut when something slithers in the room with me. Pushing to my knees, my body weak, I peer into the darkness eclipsing the other half of the room. A twisted laugh tumbles from inside it and my eyes widen, my heart racing as I freeze in terror. My body recognizes a predator when it feels one and right now…I’m prey.

  The slithering sound comes again, like metal being dragged on the floor, and I squint my eyes, trying to see who else is here with me. It reminds me of being a child who’s scared of the dark, like if you don’t move or look then it won’t see you. But this one does, he does more than see you.

  Something darts out of the darkness, snapping at my face and making me scream, before I fall back on my ass and then to my back. That laugh comes again and I stop breathing as my eyes finally clear enough to see the male face hovering over my prone body.

  “You smell like food,” he whispers, licking his lips. “Well, are you? There are only three reasons they throw someone in here with me—to kill, eat, or fuck. Which are you, little one?” he growls, his voice deep and rumbly, like ocean waves crashing against the cliff below.

  His tone is so deep and dark I shiver again, and the growl he makes in response is purely animal so I freeze, my chest barely moving as he leans closer, sniffing the air above my face before he leans down and licks blood from my cheek. Pulling back, he closes his eyes with a groan before they snap open and focus on me, unblinking and intense.

  His eyes are black, like a bottomless pit or the night sky. Just utter blackness that when I stare too long at, I feel like I might fall in. He has a trimmed beard, with pink, plump lips, dark slanting eyebrows, and short black hair. He is perfection, like a Greek god, all hard lines and sharp edges. His chest is bare, his shoulders wide and bulging, his arms muscular and tanned. His torso is the same as his face—all hard lines. A six-pack is carved there, so deep the lines look painful. I try to peer down to see the rest of him, but he begins sniffing again which has my eyes darting back to his.

  A pulse of something I don’t want to look too closely at shoots through me, mixing with my fear at the stark, hungry look on his face. I don’t know whether he’s going to eat me or kill me, but my mind hangs on his fuck me option and I find myself shivering for a whole different reason before I drag my mind from the gutter. If this man is chained up, even inside a cell, then he is dangerous. Not to mention I can taste his power on my tongue, his strength and darkness. There is nothing soft about this man, he is a monster, a cold, dark monster.

  “What’s the matter, little one, cat got your tongue?” he jokes.

  “No,” I whisper shakily. “Where are we?”

  He grins, it stretches slowly across his face, and drawing dimples on his cheeks, but it has a mocking edge to it that has me swallowing hard, and finally remembering my backbone. I sit up and push him away, hoping he doesn’t attack me. He watches me with interest as he sits back on the floor, his arms behind him, chained, and stretched to their limits just to meet me. I cross my legs and tilt my head higher, not wanting him to see how utterly terrified and confused I am. They have at least covered my body this time. I can feel panties on under the plain, loose white dress.

  He sniffs the air again. “I can smell your fear, little one, no point trying to hide it.”

  Despite his words, he hasn’t touched me yet, so I find myself relaxing, stupid but true. Even if he is a monster, he can’t be any worse than what those animals did to me. “I’m not, I’m just done being afraid. It didn’t stop them from raping me, it didn’t stop them from killing my sister. It didn’t stop them from throwing me in here.” I shrug, my voice catching over my words. Rachel’s empty, dead eyes flash in my mind, making me wrap my arms around myself to hold it together.

  “Pigs,” he spits, and I tilt my head, considering him.

  The dark surrounds him, almost shadowing his face and body, but I can still see his muscles tensing and the sheen of sweat across his tanned skin.

  “Raping women, probably the only way they can get them,” he snarls.

  “You offered to eat, fuck, or kill me,” I remind him with a horrible smile.

  “I don’t rape anyone,” he roars, but I sit in the face of it. “It is dishonourable,” he finishes.

  “Huh, you don’t rape them,” I mutter, and before I know it, he’s in my face again, those black eyes taking up my whole view.

  “If I was to fuck you, little one, it would be because you were begging for my fat cock and come to fill you,” he says bluntly.

  I suck in a shaky breath as a strange warmth unfurls in my stomach at his dirty words.

  “They will be back soon enough, wondering if I have killed you,” he offers, before standing up.

  I stare up at his face, my eyes dragging up his thick thighs and body. He looks like a mountain. He’s huge, towering over me, with strength and hunger in every line of his body, but all he does is turn away, his chains slithering with him as he moves into the darkness. His back is covered in scars, some look like whip marks, other burns, disrupting the huge, black dragon tattooed there. I gasp at all the proof of his suffering and he turns his head, looking at me over his shoulder.

  “Do not pity me, little one, I have done worse to them, and once I get free from these infernal chains, I will rip them to pieces with my bare hands and wear their blood like a coat,” he vows, before disappearing into the dark.

  His words should horrify me, but I find myself nodding with a small smile on my face. These men deserve death and if this…creature thinks he can give them that, then I should help. Maybe I could get him free somehow? Earn his trust? He might not kill me then. It seems strange, seeking protection from a monster against humans, but then again, the monster you know is better than the one you don’t.

  I shuffle back until I sit in the corner, tilting my head against the wall as I close my eyes, trying to push away the memory of Rachel. Maybe I’m being too accepting of this and what happened to me back there. I killed those men like they were toys. I don’t understand and that terrifies me. Is there something inside me?

  Something that likes the taste of blood and death? I shiver again and wrap my arms around my knees, bringing them to my chest and pressing my head to them, trying to force myself to sleep. I don’t know how, but I can still feel his eyes on me, and for some reason that settles me, so I find myself drifting to sleep under his watchful gaze.

  Mishal

  I watch the tiny human female as her breathing evens out and she…sleeps. Slanting my head down, I sniff at the air, drawing more of her sweet-smelling scent into my body. It fills me up, wrapping around my chest and squeezing, making my cock rock hard. What I said was true, I won’t touch her unless she begs, but fuck, I wish she would beg. In the last one hundred years I have spent in his hell, I have never
wanted something so much…maybe not even before then. She smells alive and oh so fucking sweet, but humans are so easily broken, and with my dragon just barely controlled under my skin, the only thing keeping him back are the chains. I know I would break her in two with my need.

  It has been a long time since they threw a female in here, maybe fifty years. They usually toss in men who they want dead or punished, and I am only too happy to oblige, taking out my fury on them when I wish I could take it out on the fuckers who keep me here. Like so many dragons, I had gone to rest, but unlike most dragons, my rest was interrupted. My tomb under my church, where they used to pray to me, was broken into, and my body was drugged before I could fully wake. I had been asleep for a lot of years and was confused and weak, they took that and used it. I was powerless, and now I am their prisoner. A fallen dragon god, their fucking toy. Oh, if my brothers could see me now, they would fucking laugh.

  Seven gods, all born from the titans themselves to destroy, maim, and burn this earth to the ground. Only when we came of age, we decided we would rather rule it than kill it, so we turned and killed our parents, and took it for ourselves, but that was a millennium ago. The rest of my blood spread around the world like ashes, and the last I heard, they had grown weary of the years and bloodshed. The prayers and sacrifices in our name were non-existent. We had been forgotten and they hated that, so we retreated—all seven of us. It’s strange, but I miss them as much as I am able to. We were close in that we understood the immense powers and strain our mere existence cost. The seven gods of myths.

  The god who tamed the waters to do his bidding.

  The wolf who howled the moon down.

  The sun god who lassoed the fire of the sun.

  The nightwalker who tamed the darkness.

  The changeling who tricked the world.

  The warlock who spelled time and space.

  And me.

  The dragon who burned the world and rebuild it in his image.

  Leaning back into the wall, my arms at my sides, I watch the tiny human sleep to pass the time. I observe the even rise and fall of her generous chest and trace her long, silky legs. I even find myself looking at her little painted toes as she curls into herself, her long, sun fire coloured hair wrapping around her body as if to conceal it from me or warm her.

  I hear a hitch in her breathing and look back at her face to see she has turned it this way. Her eyes are scrunched together and her face is paling in terror. I can taste it from here, her bone-deep fear and pain. She whimpers, the noise rubbing against my dragon and making him roar inside my body, fighting to get out, fighting to get to her. I grunt as he claws up my insides, hurting me in the process, but I am used to the pain of him trying to free himself.

  Getting to my knees, I crouch and watch her as she cries out again, her nails cutting into her arm as she starts to struggle, swatting at invisible hands. Growling, I tug on my chains, dragging them across the floor. I stop when I can’t tug the chains anymore, wanting to rip those bastards limb from limb for hurting this soft woman. With a growl, I concentrate on her again to see her mouth open in terror as she pants.

  “It is a dream, little one,” I bite out.

  She stops at my voice, her chest rising and falling rapidly, and the scent of blood hits me. She has hurt herself.

  “Stop,” I order, and she finally quits thrashing.

  “Come here, little one,” I demand, my voice a growl from me fighting my dragon, but she doesn’t seem to care.

  Half asleep, she crawls over to me. I expected her to stop when she reached me, but without warning she climbs into my lap and curls up against my chest, pressing her face into the crook of my neck, and whimpering as her nails dig into my skin. I had always been a massive man, partly due to my dragon, and I am the biggest of all my blood. The human looks like a child curled up into my body. I find myself wrapping my arms around her softly, cringing as I try to be careful. There is too much strength in my body and I could easily crush her.

  She digs her nails in deeper, like a kitten’s claws into my chest, and I find myself staring down at her. Reaching up, I brush away her hair as softly as I can. She curls into my hand and I cup her face, taking up the whole side of it, but she doesn’t seem to care. She will probably regret this when she wakes up in my arms, but that won’t stop me from making the most of it, even my dragon has settled with her in my arms. He is content to let me embrace her, watching her through my eyes.

  Shifting her higher, I hold her in my arms as I walk back to my corner and shuffle down the wall, with my legs stretched before me as I settle her back into my lap. She wiggles in my lap, trying to get comfy, and I have to hold in a groan as she rubs her ass across my already hard cock. Blowing out a breath, I close my eyes, trying to stop myself from touching her more than I need to, but each soft brush of her breath on my collarbone, every stroke of her fingers across my pecs, and each wiggle against my aching cock, has me breathing heavier. My hands flex on my legs, cutting into the tattered material as I fight the need to stroke her soft skin, to see if she would make those quiet little noises if I touched her.

  I wonder if she tastes as good as she smells, and I ache to find out if her musk would get stronger if I buried my fingers and tongue in her soft little pussy. It’s the worst torture, her wrapped around me as the time passes slowly. She snores softly at one point and I slant my eyes open, watching her. I can’t help but do it.

  I want her.

  I want this human.

  But I can’t.

  It’s safer for us all if she gets out of here now, before I swallow her whole and make her nothing but mine. Before I mark her body with my teeth and cock until she craves me, wants me, needs only me.

  Dabria

  I’m warm, like really warm. Like when you are sitting next to an open fire type of warm. Sweat drips down my back as I try to pull away, but something hard keeps me pressed to the heat. Grumbling, I struggle and try to get free, but when the heat moves, I freeze, cracking open my eyes to see skin, lots and lots of skin. Rolling my eyes upwards, I meet the black gaze of the chained creature, and everything comes flying back.

  “I’m in your lap,” I point out stupidly.

  He leans back against the wall, his arms wrapped around me and jostling me with his movement, while gently stroking my thigh. Something hard is pressed against my ass and it takes a minute for me to realise that hard length, like a fucking steel pipe, is his cock. Holy shit. My pussy pulses as heat shoots through me—desire. Fuck, I thought they had broken me of that.

  “You were crying out in your sleep. Don’t fear, you crawled your way into my lap, I didn’t force you,” he offers, closing his eyes, and I notice how tired he looks. Did he not sleep at all? Looking down, I realise I’m sprawled across him like he’s my personal teddy bear, except he is all hard muscle. I suck in breath, noticing he smells like fire, like when you’ve had a bonfire. It’s delicious and my mouth fills with saliva, my eyes trawling along his skin before I come back to myself.

  “Sorry.” I wiggle, trying to break free and he growls, clamping me, so I still.

  “Don’t fucking do that unless you want me to come all over your ass,” he warns, and my eyes fly wide open and meet his.

  “You have been wiggling that fucking ass back and forth all night, and I’m about ready to throw you down and fuck you senseless, so unless you want that, I suggest you stop fucking moving,” he orders.

  Brain malfunction.

  His dirty words nearly have me panting and I’m embarrassingly wet, but I remember my dignity and slowly climb from his lap. He grabs my hips and helps, before letting go as soon as I’m standing. I shuffle away, leaning back on the opposite wall and sit there, not like there is much else to do. It’s silent, deadly silent, and I find myself looking around the cell we’re in. Whatever drugs they gave me must have still been in effect yesterday, because I feel so much more awake today. I notice the steel door with what looks like charred marks on the inside. There is a hole
in the ground in the corner near the door, and hooks in the wall where the chain is fastened. Apart from that, it’s empty all except for him.

  “Dabria, my name is Dabria, what’s yours?” I find myself asking to fill the silence. Every time I look at him, I see his eyes locked on me with unnerving intensity. I keep remembering waking up wrapped in his arms and how right it felt, how good it felt with his cock pressed against my ass. My eyes drop to his lap without meaning to, wondering if he is as big as he seemed.

  “Mishal,” he grunts, drawing my eyes back up his magnificent body to his face.

  His eyes are still dark and hunger has contorted his face, and I know he caught me staring. Heat fills my cheeks, but it does nothing to dampen my curiosity or stop the wetness between my thighs as I imagine all that power aimed at me. He raises his head, sniffing the air again, and his eyes seem to sharpen and lock on me. I squirm, looking away.

  “I can taste your need, little one.” He grins.

  Well, fuck.

  “Yeah, well, I could feel yours,” I shoot back, refusing to blush and cower like a virgin.

  He throws his head back and laughs, the sound like thunder cutting through the room. I can’t help but stare. He’s fucking beautiful when he laughs. His face and eyes shine with mirth, and his whole body shakes before it tapers off into chuckles and he looks back at me with a considering stare. “It has been over a thousand years since I last laughed, what have you done to me, little one?” he questions, more to himself.

  “Thousand years?” I choke, looking at him.

  His face wipes clean of all expression. “I am older than you can imagine,” he replies.

  “Shit.” I rub my head. “I didn’t even know anything other than humans existed until…until there.” My voice is tight with tension. I have seen some amazing things in my life, things that people would call miracles and I always wondered if there was more out there, but to be faced with the hard truth now…either that or he’s just mad. But that doesn’t explain the strength, the black eyes, or the need for chains, and it doesn’t explain how I killed those men.