Pavel was too confident.
Zane was positive there was something else he was missing here.
It was too risky.
Carefully, he sprinted around the splattering water, picking a direction at random a second time. The opening straight ahead led to what appeared to be another bedroom, though there was nothing more than a broken bedframe in there now.
He turned and tried again, not wanting to be in any sort of place that could give Pavel ideas. The hand job had beenhumiliating enough, but getting off with the man’s hand around his throat?
He itched for his knife but told himself to focus. It wasn’t like that was the first time someone had humiliated him sexually. On the contrary. Both Lyra and Kazimir got off on that sort of thing, and more frequently than not, Zane ended up being the butt of the joke. He’d complained a few times and they’d eased off, but still.
The next hallway led him to a massive room. Bookshelves lined the walls, and stacks took up space within. Many had toppled over, creating a domino effect with the others around them. Some had survived and remained upright, but the tomes were falling apart and moldy. Some were sealed onto their shelf by vines climbing down from one of the gaps in the ceiling.
Zane entered the room, avoiding the holes where rain poured down, toeing at a book or two on the ground out of curiosity. He couldn’t read any of the titles, the gold foiling faded and cracked on all of them. Would a place like this contain any medical findings?
He wandered around, momentarily caught up in it all, the mold, mildew, and sound of the rain enough to block out the most important thing in the room until it was too late.
In the way back, tucked into the right corner, there was a fireplace.
And it was lit.
His hackles rose and he stiffened, sensing the danger a moment before his stalker made himself known.
“I’m so glad you came here of your own accord, Doctor.” Pavel stepped from between two of the stacks, his hands tucked into the front pockets of the lab coat he was still wearing.
The coat he’d worn specifically to help sell that it was Zane who’d killed Samuel in the video.
When he stepped from the shadows, that look was back, wild and excited, making the air crackle almost as much as the logs popping in the fireplace did. He was wet, like he’d gotten caught in the downpour somehow, his clothes sticking to him tightly enough that when Zane’s eyes dropped down the length of him, almost everything was on display.
Zane swallowed the lump in his throat and retreated, matching his steps with Pavel’s as the man stalked forward, moving to block the path he’d taken to enter.
Why did he want him by the fire?
“You look frightened,” Pavel whispered, voice dropping cajolingly. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“You’re trying to convince me you don’t like it,” Zane noted, “but you’re the one lying now.”
He grinned, lips stretching until he was baring teeth. “You really are such a fast learner. We’re going to have so much fun together.”
“Pass.”
“That isn’t an option.”
“Make it one.” Zane forced himself to come to a stop. “You’re in charge here, right? So make it one. Find someone else to play with. I’m not interested.”
“So I’ll make you interested,” he shrugged like it was already a done deal. “I’ll have you preening for me, desperate for my attention.” One of his hands gripped himself through his pants. “My cock. Don’t act like you haven’t felt neglected lately, Doctor. You’ve gone too long without a proper bedpartner—No, correction. You’ve never truly experienced one before. I’ll remedy that for you. I’ll teach you everything you’ve been missing by wasting your time on all the people who weren’t me. You’ve been frustrated. Blocked up. Distracted without a cock to ride to help clear your head. Once your anger fades, you’ll realize tonight was all for you. You’ll thank me.”
“I won’t.”
“And beg me to do it again.” Pavel started forward, ignoring the warning sound emitted from the back of Zane’s throat. Actually, it seemed like he didn’t even hear it, his gaze becoming cloudy as he spoke, as though he was imagining all of the things he was saying. “Beg me to hunt you down and put my hand around your pretty neck. Beg me to take it further. Breed you.”
Zane’s mouth dropped open, heart thumping in his chest, the sound of rushing blood momentarily causing a static in his ears. Certainly he’d just misheard…
“Should I do that, gorgeous?” the flip between nicknames came easily, the corner of Pavel’s mouth tipping up. “Should I make you my bitch and breed your tight hole?”
He grimaced.
“What?” Pavel laughed at him, the sound tinged with cruelty. “Being humiliated does it for you, but calling you a bitch is taking things too far?”
