Madeleine Abducted (16 page)

Although
Xander
suspected where this request was going, he
couldn’t help but focus on another oddity in Aaron’s question. “
Maddy
?” Turning
to face Aaron, his humor was evident by the curl to his lip. “Since when do you
call her ‘
Maddy
’?”

Straightening
his spine, Aaron crossed his arms over his large chest and arched his brow in
response. “Cricket?”

The
two men stood staring at each other before bursting out in coordinated
laughter. Gaining control of
himself
,
Xander
answered, “What? I thought it would be fitting
considering the little creatures rub their legs together to make music.”

Stunned
momentarily silent, another short burst of laughter broke free of Aaron’s
mouth. “First off, I believe it’s their wings that they rub together … ”
Xander
shrugged at Aaron’s correction. “ …
and
second, I need you to find out if they took her
instrument. If it’s somewhere on the property I want you to retrieve it, bring
it back to my quarters and give it to me.”

Nodding,
Xander
knew better than to ask questions. “It’ll be
done. Just let me get dressed.”

Aaron
slapped
Xander
on the back before turning to head
back into the corridor. By the time Aaron reentered his room, he could hear
Xander
enter the hallway, walking in the direction of the
living room. Satisfied that his orders would be carried out, he returned to his
bed, lay down beside Madeleine, falling asleep quickly, anticipating what was
to come.

Sunlight,
garish and proud, spun its slender tendrils into the room from behind the dark
curtains.
Maddy's
body was cramped, still languid
from the deep sleep from which she'd awoken. She laid still, her eyes peaking
open to discover a new morning. Like sparks, flutters of dust traveled through
the intrusive light, flashing suddenly as they came in contact with the light,
but disappearing so fast, it was almost as if the light had swallowed them
whole.

Her
eyes, adjusting from slumber, looked out across the room, panic slowly setting
in from the unfamiliarity of the surroundings. Attempting to move,
Maddy
remembered the evening before … Aaron coming back
covered in blood, being told to go into Aaron's room, the way Aaron had tended
to her injuries before forcing drugs down her throat. Finding the ability to
turn on her back, she became distinctly aware of someone lying to her left on
the bed. Lifting her arms still weighted by the effects of the pills she'd been
given,
Maddy
rubbed at her eyes, brought the room
more clearly into focus before turning her head to find Aaron sleeping soundly
beside her.

The
pure black of his hair was tumbled haphazardly across his face, his lips
slightly parted, he appeared childlike, innocent and vulnerable even though
Maddy
was learning he was anything BUT those things. The
skin of his cheeks was rough with the shadow of stubble, his eyes flickering
underneath the lids as if he was still dreaming.

Attempting
several times without success,
Maddy
eventually found
the strength to push
herself
into a seated position on
the soft mattress of the bed. The comforter, fashioned from silk and the same
color black as Aaron's hair, slid to her waist; pooled like liquid as dark as
the deepest parts of the sea.

Slowly,
she looked around the expanse of the room, seeing for the first time small
details previously hidden by the shadow of night. These walls, much like the
rest of the house were tinted a deep red, broken by tapestries and paintings
held in gilded frames. Small statues and busts of historical figures she did
not recognize were placed on bookshelves lining a wall near the door to the
adjacent bathroom. Scanning left,
Maddy
saw a sleek
stereo system, silver with multi-colored lights blinking back and forth along
the front of the device. Next to the stereo were CD cases stacked in various
heights, the top of one laid open, the silvered disc absent from its case.

Curious
as to the music preferred by the man lying beside her,
Maddy
wiggled her toes and bent her legs to force blood back through her appendages
before attempting to stand to further explore the room. Traveling slowly across
the barely lit space,
Maddy
kept looking back at the
sleeping man, every small sound causing her to jump for fear he'd awakened to
find her moving about the room. Creeping past the windows, light flashed across
the pale skin of her legs, beams of warmth and illumination brushing against her
as she moved.

Finally
reaching the stereo,
Maddy
slid her hand against the
sleek metallic surface as she passed it to look at the stacks of CDs placed to
its side. Her hand shook as she reached out to close the lid of the open case,
her breath catching when she realized it was a recording of her music. Tears
welling in her eyes, she looked at the picture of the cello that adorned the
front, her fingers softly touching the image in disbelief. Her eyes flashed to
the stereo, her curiosity heightened as to whether her music would burst forth
if she pressed the small play button flashing blue on the front of the machine.

Her
finger hovered over the button, her bottom lip pulled tight between her teeth. Nervously,
she glanced at Aaron, noticed he hadn’t moved from the position he was in when
she woke. She knew the sound could wake him, but the desire to hear the deep
baritone melody, the harmony of the violin and piano, was too much for her to
resist. Quickly she pressed the flashing blue button, and almost dropped to her
knees when the sound she missed finally played throughout the room.

Starting
slowly, the song wove itself around her senses, emotion evoked through sound,
the feeling of the vibration of the string, a phantom memory on the tips of her
fingers. A deep melody reverberated through her core, the tempo increasing,
drawing her out of darkness but still leaving her enveloped in a feeling of
sorrow and loss. The music was beauty that could not be seen, a palpable caress
that was not produced by the hand of another person … and it was lost to her,
stripped away and tossed aside so easily when she’d been captured.

Maddy
closed her eyes, listened to the sweet sounds as they wrapped
themselves around her, seeped into her skin, her bones … her heart. Her mind
drifted back to days spent with her uncle as a child, their laughter as she
attempted to handle an instrument that was almost as big as her. It had been
just the two of them for so many years; but then, unexpectedly, he’d caught a
simple cold that eventually turned to pneumonia, taking his life and leaving
her alone. Faithfully, she continued to practice each day as he’d always
insisted. Having no one else, those practice sessions turned from two hours to
three, and from three to four; on and on until, eventually,
Maddy
hardly did anything else.

The
song ended sweetly as moisture grew cold on her cheeks from where the tears had
traveled. Slowly, she peeked open her eyes and found herself staring into green
depths so filled with rage she jumped back in alarm. With Aaron so close and
towering above her, she could feel the fury rolling off him in waves of heat
and negative energy.

“What
do you think you are doing, Mouse? Did you have my permission to get out of
bed, to touch anything in this room?” His words were spoken in such a
controlled manner, the sharp edge to them slicing through her resolve, making
her cower down in fear of his rage. He stalked towards her, slowly circling
while keeping his eyes trained on the person he could so easily break.

 
“Answer me, Mouse. I don’t have the
patience for your disobedience.” The pupils of his eyes swirled with black the
color of onyx, the green surrounding it made even brighter in contrast with the
red from his anger.

“I
… I was curious.” Holding the CD case up so that he could see it, she asked,
“Is this why? Is this why I was taken?” She’d barely finished speaking before
she was airborne, thrown back toward the bed, landing too close to the
headboard, her skull collided with the wood. Pain shot through her head and
neck like white-hot lightning, her eyes clenched closed as her mouth released a
frightened cry. Reaching back to rub her hand along the sore spot on her head,
her wrist was suddenly locked within Aaron’s grip, her other wrist caught
quickly before both were brought above her head and pinned to the headboard.

“Look
at me, slave.” The depth to his voice, the ferocity of his tone, it was
seduction veined through terror, the continued beauty of the music in the
background adding insult to the viciousness of his actions. Her chest heaved as
she cried out, his grip on her arms bruising the skin pressed into the delicate
bones. Her eyes opened, the tears obscuring the man above her, as if looking at
him through water drowning her in misery. Splashing down her cheeks, the tears
fell, allowing her to focus on eyes the color of leaves turning up toward the
sun, hidden forests touched by bits of light. Her lips parted, forcing the salt
of her tears to seep into her mouth, bathe her in the taste of her own her
pain, tinged with desire. Staring into the depths of a soul tortured by demons
and decay, she gasped when his lips, soft as satin took hers, his tongue
invading her mouth, filling her with the flavor of passion and pain, heat and cruelty.
But hers was not a body taken easily, the sharp and metallic bite of iron mixed
with the salt of her tears when her teeth broke the skin of his tongue, drawing
blood.

Aaron
pulled back, a wild gleam to his eye. “So you like to bite, do you? That’s the
second time you’ve broken my skin.” Leaning down, he rested his forehead
against hers, his labored breath rolling down her skin. His voice, razors
wrapped in fur, “What have I told you about pain?”

Her
body shivered at his question, her mind and body warring, the desire for his
touch mixed with the absolute terror he was inflicting upon her. The heat and
moisture produced between her thighs embarrassed her, sickened her knowing she
should fight harder against him instead of enjoying the feeling of his weight
pressed down upon her body. Her heart raced in her chest and was suddenly
pained when he released her arms to push
himself
up
from the bed. “Stay.” A command and warning in one solitary word.

Aaron
moved quickly into his closet, emerging with a long strip of chocolate brown
cloth, a silk scarf worn by men of esteem, of wealth. His strides were powerful
and long as he approached the bed.
Maddy
huddled into
herself
, frightened and excited, confused at the
conflicting emotions tearing through her body. Crawling back onto the bed, he
was a predator stalking his prey, a nightmare overtaking her mind. His
movements were hurried as he bound one wrist and then another with the scarf
he’d just retrieved.
Maddy
flinched back, tried to
keep him from binding her, but losing quickly as he wrapped the scarf around
the posts of the headboard, wrenching it so tight, her arms protested the
position they were forced to take. Once she was bound, his hands slid down her
body, gripping and pinching in the soft areas they reached. With each flinch of
her body, each small cry that escaped her lips still swollen from his kiss, he
smiled brighter, looking every bit the savage captor overpowering his conquest.
Reaching her ankles, he stripped of her pants. She thought she glimpsed his
movements turn more cautious as he used a sheet to wrap the skin of her ankles
that had been broken from chains; but it was gone as fast as it’d appeared when
her legs were forced apart. Now bound and spread before him,
Maddy’s
chest heaved in and out, her breath, short pants,
as she was made helpless to a man who confused and terrified her.

His
fingertips dug into her skin as they traveled up her body. She was overcome
with shock, yet immersed in seduction. Not knowing what he would do, but
recognizing his earlier promise of pain, her eyes widened, a fine sheen of
sweat across her skin. His lips, stained red from the blood she’d drawn, were
held slightly apart. Every muscle on his
chest,
shoulders and back tensed and defined, his control slipping from his grip. A
beast disturbed, something dark was emerging from Aaron and he had her
completely exposed to him, locked down and at his mercy alone. As his face
reached hers, he pressed his hips down into the apex of her thighs; only the
silk of his pants between them, he let her feel the entire length of him, the
hot and hard truth to his masculinity, the reaction her bite had caused.

The
warmth of his mouth pressed to her ear, he growled, “I promised you pain for
pain, Madeleine, and it only makes my cock harder when you fight back. Keep
writhing beneath me, it’ll only help me along as I fuck your body and as I fuck
your mind.” Her shirt lifted at the sides as his hands pushed forcefully up
along her torso, his thumbs brushing the peaks of her breasts as he pulled the
front of her shirt up over her head, effectively locking her head in a position
facing down the length of her body. “Now you’ll watch me as I deliver that pain
back to its source.”

His
lips came down on hers, the spice and musk of his scent completely overtaking
her as she was frozen in place, pulling against bindings that were tight, yet
sinfully soft on her skin. His tongue invaded her mouth, stole her breath from
her lungs just before he pulled back suddenly, lightly nipping at her lip while
pulling away. Moist heat, and tantalizing suction as his mouth traveled along
her throat until finding the peak of her breast and sucking it so far in that
the taut skin became nothing but pain and debauched pleasure combined. His
tongue skillfully worked at the pebbled nipple, every once in a while breaking
so that his teeth could graze and bite the sensitive skin. Electric shocks
traveled from her breast, down along some unknown circuit connected directly to
her core. Her hips bucked in anticipation while her mind became blank, the
panic too much for her to process. When his hand gripped the weight of her
other breast a cry escaped her lips from the strength of his grip. She closed
her eyes, but opened them again, not able to look away from the wickedly erotic
assault on her body.

Stopping
suddenly, his eyes briefly met hers before Aaron moved lower on her body. The
stubble on his chin scraped against her stomach, until, finally, the burning
heat of his mouth covered her core, his tongue snaking out quickly to tease the
swollen flesh. She was forced to watch as he kissed her in an area so intimate,
her cheeks reddened from embarrassment and shame. Her breasts swelled
impossibly full, the feeling so foreign and so satisfying, she felt her body as
it reacted to his touch, readied itself for his invasion.

A
cord winding it’s way up, pulling tight, the feeling reminiscent of a rubber
band ready to snap. Just as he drove her to a point where all she could hear was
the hum of her blood rushing through her veins, he stopped, turning suddenly
and biting down on the soft flesh at the insides of her thigh. A louder cry
broke from her mouth, but all she could do was watch with wide eyes, the heavy
scent of sex and lust suddenly filling the air from her body’s reaction. Not
giving her a chance to recover, he took her back into his mouth, swirled the
tip of his tongue over her swollen nub, winding her up again and pushing her
back dangerously close to the edge. Pleasure so intense, it was painful to
endure, he would bring her to an almost release only to drop her back down with
small bits of pain that served to excite her body even more; every nerve ending
alive, each touch a direct contributor to her frenzied state. Placing his mouth
on her one more time, he dipped his tongue between the swollen skin, breaching
the entrance to her just slightly, but taking her rapidly back to the peak of
an explosion. One more touch, it would have taken one more touch to push her
over the edge into ecstasy, but instead, Aaron suddenly pulled away, her juices
glistening over his stubbly face.