With Gray’s requirements satisfied, I turn back to Eli. “Continue.”
“Thanks,” he shoots back dryly. “As I was saying, we are gathered here today to see our brother Axel Thorne wed in holy matrimony to Melanie…” Pausing, he frowns and then heaves an exasperated sigh. “Axel, do you take Melanie to be your wife and your Little girl, to have and to hold, to cherish and to punish? Do you promise to protect her against any threat to her health, safety, or overall wellbeing? Do you promise to be the Daddy she needs, providing for all her needs, physically, mentally, and emotionally, as long as you both shall live?”
Blinking back sudden tears, I smile down at my Little girl. “I do.”
“Very well. Since the bride’s mouth is otherwise occupied, I’ll skip ahead to asking if there is anyone here who objects to this union. Speak now or forever hold your peace.”
We all ignore Melanie’s indignant squeaks as she tries to speak around her pacifier. When none of my siblings object, Eli grins and slams his Bible shut. “Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now claim your bride.”
All around us, a cheer goes up, followed by the sound of wooden spoons banging against metal pots.
“Chivaree!” Colt cries, holding a pot over his head as my other siblings follow suit. Everyone but Ford, who still looks uncertain about this whole thing, forms a circle around us as I pick my Little girl up and carry her to the “altar” which is really just an old sideboard table Gray fell in love with and painstakingly restored.
Staring down into Melanie’s round, terrified eyes, my heart trips in my chest. So sweet. So beautiful.
And allmine.
CHAPTER 10
MELANIE
Oh god, oh god, oh god. I can’t believe this is happening. Can’t believe I’m actuallymarriedto this brute of a man.
There’s no way that ceremony was legally binding. I didn’t even say “I do” and there was no paperwork, nothing the government would recognize.
But clearly Axel and his entire family consider us married, which feels… important in a way I can’t quite define. And I’ve been raised to believe that saying those vows under the eye of Godmeanssomething, so even though I didn’t actually say them, I still feel the weight of them sitting in my chest as my new husband hauls me close to him, his dark eyes burning with need.
And it’s then, staring up into Axel’s ravenous eyes, that Eli’s final words really register.
You may now claim your bride.
Not kiss. Claim.
Oh god.
The thought of his thick cock pushing inside me, splitting me open has my heart pounding even faster than it already was. I thought I was going to die when I let Lyle take my virginity andhe wasn’t half as large as Axel. How much worse is it going to hurt now?
Maybe it won’t hurt at all. Maybe it just hurt that first time because it wasthefirst time. That’s what I’ve heard from some of the girls at church, the ones who sneak around with boys on Saturday nights and then show up for services on Sunday looking all pressed and clean like the virgins they pretend to be.
“Chivaree!”
The loud cry, along with the sudden jarring sound of clanging metal has me jerking in Axel’s hold. What the fuck is going on?
Apparently oblivious to cacophony around us, Axel sweeps me off my feet—literally—and carries me past Eli to a long buffet-style table, the top made of gleaming natural wood while the cabinets and sides are all painted a deep teal. Laying me atop the smooth wood with a gentleness that seems counterintuitive to everything I’ve experienced at his hands so far, he smiles down at me.
“So perfect,” he murmurs, running a finger along the side of my damp cheek. “And all mine.”
My pussy apparently hasnotgotten the memo that we aren’t into this, because the traitorous bitch clenches at his words as if anticipating being ripped wide open. In one last desperate appeal to whatever humanity he may have left in him, I let every bit of terror I’m feeling show in my eyes.
But it does nothing to sway my husband, who only runs his fingertip down to my nipple. My hands are still clasped around the hairbrush he used to punish me earlier and they’ve come to rest between my breasts as if in prayer. And I’m hit with the thought that I must look exactly how I felt earlier—a sacrifice laid out on the altar of their depravity, waiting to be consumed and defiled by this wicked god who calls himself my Daddy.
The whole time, the noise around us never quiets. If anything, the cheering and clanging only grows louder as Axeltakes my nipple between his fingers, giving the tender bud a hard squeeze that has me arching up, a pained cry ripping from my throat as agony lances through my breast.
“Shh, little one. Daddy will kiss it and make it all better.”
Lowering his head, he does exactly that, taking my throbbing nipple between his lips to soothe the ache. And again my body betrays me, confusing this pain with pleasure as my clit pulses in time with my racing heart.
As he eases the pain in one nipple, his fingers find my other, clamping down again with another jolt of pain that leaves me panting and writhing atop my makeshift altar. My mind is scrambled with this confusing mixture of pleasure and agony, struggling to make sense of my own reactions as he works his way down my body.
