Release In The Dark (DARK erotic romance series) (13 page)

Owen's teeth graze my ear, and
his lips are trailing up to my cheekbone when he freezes suddenly.
Swiping at my tear with a fingertip, he spits, “Is this for
him? Are you crying for him? Is this tear...for him?”

I swallow a sob, and turn away.

Owen licks the moisture from his
finger, and his eyelids flutter shut. “Your tears...are mine.
Your body is mine. You are mine, Zoey. Say it.”

I bite my lip, and push my back
harder against the wall.

“
Say it!” Owen
roars, slamming his fist into the wall beside my face. “Say
it, or he dies!”

“
Y-you're lying,” I
stammer, hoping against hope. “You don't have him.”

Owen pushes himself away from
me, his face contorting. In disgust, or pain, or shame?

Raising his arm, he pushes his
sleeve back and jabs at his watch. The screen flickers to life.
“Show me the prisoner in cell one,” he orders, staring
straight into my eyes.

“
Yes, Commander Vesparr,”
a voice answers through the crackling static.

Owen flicks his eyes down and
the corners of his lips turn up mirthlessly. “Come,” he
tells me. “You wanted to know where Jaxon Ryleth is? I'll
show you.”

He extends his arm to let me
peer into the screen of his watch. Unable to breathe, I stare at the
screen, my heart clenching painfully in my chest. My hands flies to
my mouth. “No!”

Owen clicks off abruptly and the
screen snaps to black. I grip his wrist, staring at the blank
screen, willing the image to return. I saw Jaxon! I saw him,
shackled to the wall, stripped to the waist, bleeding from countless
wounds, his face bruised and his brown hair matted with dried blood.
“No, no, no...please...”

Owen jerks his arm out of my
grasp, his face twisting into an ugly smile. “You saw him.
And that is the last you will see of him.”

I shake my head, furiously
blinking back tears. “Let him go.”

We stand facing each other, our
breathing harsh and ragged. His fingers are curling into fists at
his side, as his icy green eyes bore into mine.

Very slowly, I close my eyes and
raise my hand to the black stud in my left earlobe and press hard.
This is it. This will be the one message that I record and send.

“
Where is Jaxon Ryleth?”
I ask in a clear, unwavering voice, hoping that this short recorded
conversation will be clear and informative enough for the resistance.
“Tell me, and I will go with you. I'll be...yours.”

Owen's throat moves, but he
doesn't say a word. Instead, he keeps staring at me, as if waiting
for me to retract my statement.

“
Tell me, Owen. I...I
will go with you.”

His eyes blaze as he answers,
“Jaxon Ryleth is being held in the Palace—in the dungeon,
awaiting execution.”

My lips tremble, but I force
myself to ask, “When? When will Jaxon be...be...”

“
Soon.”

“
Let him go,” I say
in a ragged whisper. “Please. Let him go. And take me.”

A muscle works in his jaw but he
makes no movement. I will have to convince him to take me then. My
hands grip the end of my tank top and push it up my breasts.
Blinking away tears, I push my shorts down my hips and stare up at
Owen. “Take me,” I whisper.

As I start to part my thighs,
Owen grabs me suddenly, his fingers digging deep into my waist,
squeezing me until I can't breathe.

My breasts are bared to him, my
nipples stabbing into his uniform, but he doesn't touch them even
though his eyes are burning with lust.

“
I will take you, Zoey,”
he grates into my ear. “But not here. Here is where whores
are fucked and fucked over. Like that dead girl.”

He yanks my shorts up and drags
my tank top down to cover my breasts. “We are done here, and
you are coming with me. I will find the other girl guilty, the one
in the room with you. And the case will be closed.”

“
No! No, you...you can't!
Kylee is innocent! She didn't do it! I did! I killed the bastard!
Me! Not Kylee. I am the murderer. I am telling the truth, Owen.
Take me away. Not Kylee, not...Kylee,” I implore.

His eyes widen a fraction. He
takes a step towards me and holds my chin with his thumb and
forefinger. A hint of a smile curves his lips.

“
Zoey, you are confessing
to a crime punishable by death,” he says in my ear. “As
the investigating Commander, I have the right to detain you—at
my pleasure.”

He runs his rough hands up and
down my body possessively. Pushing away from me suddenly, he marches
to the door and slides it wide open. “Get the Warden. Tell
her that I am removing this girl from the Red Lantern. She is a
person of interest in this case.”

“
Yes, sir!” The
soldier salutes and footsteps fade down the corridor.

In a few moments, the Warden is
standing in Room Number Five, signing over control of me to Commander
Owen Vesparr. She merely glances at me before exiting the room.

Owen moves to stand between me
and two soldiers who are supposed to escort me out of the Red
Lantern. “I'll take her myself,” he snaps.

His rough calloused fingers
close around my elbow in a crushing grip, and he pulls me close to
his side. I walk out of the room with him like a zombie, keeping
pace with his furious, long-legged strides.

The rest of the girls are
nowhere to be seen. The Warden is the only one who follows us to the
foyer, and gives Owen a curt salute before he bundles me out of the
Red Lantern.

As Owen pulls me out of the
arched entrance of the Red Lantern and through the tall, iron wrought
gates, I twist round to see the Warden watching us from the steps.
She meets my eyes only for an instant before turning away and
disappearing behind the broad pillars.

“
She's with me,”
Owen barks at his soldiers and steers me towards his motorcraft. The
soldiers all mount their own motorcrafts and rev their engines,
waiting for Owen's command.

“
Go ahead of me. Return
to camp and join your unit for training.”

“
Yes, sir!”

The soldiers' motorcrafts lift
off and I see them dip down from the edge of the cliff before veering
sharply away towards the setting sun. I get on the motorcraft behind
Owen and grip the sides of my seat, but he reaches back and takes my
hands. Wrapping my arms around his waist, he turns his head to the
side and says, “Hold me tight.” I obey, and he gives a
curt nod without meeting my eyes. He turns back to face forward, his
shoulders tensed. He is gripping the handlebars so hard that his
knuckles gleam bone white.

I glance back at the Red Lantern
one last time.

I have sent my one message to
the resistance, recording my conversation with Owen. Hopefully they
will be able to get to Jaxon in time and get him out of the Palace.

The engine roars and my head
whips back as Owen guns down the cliff.

I close my eyes against the
wind, wondering what would happen if I unlace my fingers and just let
go. Will I plunge headlong through the air to have my skull
shattered on the rocks below? Or will Owen dive down after me and
snatch me from the welcoming embrace of death? But if I try to
escape him through death, he will no doubt take his revenge on Jaxon.

I cannot die. Not yet. Until I
know that Jaxon is safe, I cannot end my life.

Will the resistance rescue him
in time? How much longer will he be tortured? Will he be tortured
to death before the resistance can break him out? Will I see him
again?

I open my eyes and stare into
the glaring sunset.

I know that the resistance will
mount a rescue mission for Jaxon. He is a rebel leader, an
ex-Commander. He is an important, integral part of their movement.

I don't think they will do the
same for me. Too much risk, too little reward.

I know that many resistance
fighters have sacrificed for the greater cause.

Jaxon is the greater cause here.

And I will have to be
sacrificed.

“
Where are you taking me?”
I ask Owen, shouting to be heard over the engine and the wind.

“
To my camp. We'll be
landing soon.”

I glance over my shoulder to see
the sun sink below the horizon. I continue staring skyward as Owen
starts to bring his motorcraft down. I can hear boots and male
voices, and smell food cooking as we descend into the camp.

We dismount and Owen hands the
motorcraft over to a young soldier. The soldier gapes at me, but
quickly lowers his eyes when Owen scowls at him.

With his nails digging into my
arm, Owen leads me to his tent, the largest one in the camp.
Soldiers snap to attention as we pass, and Owen growls out a command
to his captain that he is not to be disturbed tonight.

“
Anyone who enters my tent
will be shot.”

The captain, a stocky young man
rounds his eyes and mouth but manages to recover quickly enough.
“Yes, sir.”

Still keeping his hand on me,
Owen ducks into his tent and shoves me towards his bed. The huge,
high mattress is disheveled, strewn with crumpled blankets and his
uniforms. He turns and zips up the flap of his tent with one swift
movement.

Pivoting to face me, he begins
to unbutton his shirt with one hand. I stumble away from the bed,
but in two strides, he is upon me. Forcefully, he throws me onto the
bed, and shrugs the shirt off his shoulders. He climbs onto the bed
after me and pushes his messy uniforms out of the way. Scrabbling to
the far corner, I shake my head wildly as he looms over me.

He points at me. “Strip.”

His eyes harden, as he unbuckles
his belt.

I remove my tank top and shorts
and lie down. I don't have a choice. I did tell Owen that I would
be his if he told me where Jaxon was.

I close my eyes for a hundred
painful heartbeats. When I open my eyes again, Owen has removed his
boots and stripped himself. He is as huge as I remembered, as brutal
and scarred.

Owen's eyes glint at he glares
down my body savagely. Unable to wait any longer, he lunges forward
and pins my arms over my head.

I let out a strangled sob. I
know that no one will hear my pleas, my cries. Even if the soldiers
outside hear my screams, they will not be stirred to come to my aid.

Breathing hard, Owen begins to
lower his body to mine. Forcing my legs apart with his, he pushes
his erect cock into my folds. My head thrashes from side to side as
I try to fight him, my arms straining against his.

He laughs harshly, angrily.

“
You're still not
submitting to me? Does he have to die before you will give yourself
to me, Zoey? I will kill him, right now! Do you need to see him
die, Zoey? I will do it. I. Will. Kill. Him.”

I freeze, all the fight draining
from me at his threat. My entire body goes limp against his, and my
body deflates slowly as all the air leaves my lungs. Every heartbeat
is now a terrible, throbbing ache against my chest.

Owen lifts his hands from my
arms, but I remain where I am. I don't move, I don't struggle, I
don't feel. He cups my face with one hand and forces me to look at
him.

“
I want you to look at me
when I penetrate you. I want you to know, to feel, to remember who
is inside you. If you even think of him while I am fucking you, I
will kill him, immediately. All it takes is an order.” He
taps the watch on his wrist.

I don't even blink.

Owen's breathing becomes heavier
as he puts his hands under my knees and spreads my legs wide for him.
When he sees the faded scar on the inside of my thigh, he smiles
crookedly. “Here is where I bit you,” he muses, running
his fingers reverently across the jagged mark. “I marked you
that night. I knew that one day, you'd be mine.”

I blink away the memory of that
night in the Empress's chambers. Owen had forced his erection by
using my body, pushing my legs apart while I was hanging by my wrists
and using his lips and tongue mercilessly on me. He had to get
himself hard to satisfy the Empress and he used me, and marked me. I
want to forget that night, forget it forever. But it seems Owen will
never forget it.

His nails dig into my flesh as
he lifts my legs and push them back against my chest. His mouth
presses against my pussy, and he begins to suck and lick hungrily,
making loud slobbering, slurping noises. “Mmm, you taste...so
good, so fucking good, Zoey,” he murmurs, lapping greedily
between my thighs. “I'm going to eat you up, eat you all up.”

He pierces me with his stiffened
tongue, and I see him shudder in pleasure. Licking and laving me
with increasing frenzy, his eyes suddenly fly open, and he blinks at
me, his eyes crazed and unseeing. With an animal roar, he rears up
and presses the tip of his large cock at my slit.

I begin to shake uncontrollably
as I try to squirm away. No, no, this cannot be happening. He won't
do it. He can't. He won't.