“Do you need help?” he asks me, cupping my cheek, more blood spilling.
The faster I get on with this, the faster we will be finished. So, I shake my head and force my tired and worn limbs to move. I do my best to block out the pain when I slowly roll over onto my back, just as whipped as theirs. Their blood is warm, and it coats my open wounds, and I try not to imagine what it means. Not just on a sanitary level but on a soul level.
There is something dark about this place. Something hellish. And part of me wonders if there is some deeper energy, a demonic force that will bleed into my veins as our blood mixes.
It’s ridiculous. I already have my demons.
But for whatever reason, chalk it up to my insanity, I like theirs more.
Once I lay my head back in the blood, spread-eagled for them, Raphael nods. I suck in a deep breath as he dips his fingers into the blood. The moment his red-coated fingers creep toward my face, I swallow a steel knot in my throat before taking the deepest breath and softly closing my eyes.
I go through the sensory motions Jude took me through, marveling at how much they help.
Raphael’s fingers are tender as he wipes the blood along my eyelids. Because eyes are the windows to the soul. I open them after a couple seconds, finding him still hovering over me.
The others gather round me, coming closer. My breath hitches as Rory leers down at me with the same blood-coated fingers. Except, he smears his thumb along each side of my mouth in an upward curve.
“Smile for me, Firecracker,” he taunts, then taps my lips.
“Sure,” I say, spreading my lips into a feral grin. “Would you like me to show my teeth? You know, the teeth that bit off your ear?”
He hardens his jaw, his fingers twitching with the need to touch his ruined ear. My consolation is that it must hurt like hell. Just like my ass.
“She’s never gonna let you live that down,” Seth says with a laugh.
“Shut up,” growls Rory.
One by one, the others finish their marks. Jude touches his bloodied fingers to my brow in a soft, fleeting mark. Vincent places his mark at the nape of my neck, hiding it beneath myhair. And Seth? He presses his full, bloody palm along my chest, right above my beating heart.
“Vincent,” Raphael directs him. “Beneath her.”
My eyes go wide as I register what Level 3 means. I swear I must have run out of tears, but more come. My eyes sting from the salt, and I know they are puffy and bloodshot. I take deep, slow breaths, letting my chest fill with air while Vincent lifts me, getting underneath me. I can feel his hardness, how he pours lube all over it.
“Seth, take her sex.”
I wince at the term, but it’s nowhere near the pain and pressure when Vincent works himself into my ass, sliding in slow and deep, so I feel every inch. Seth hovers over me, all his muscles hemming me in, his body overshadowing me while he positions himself at my opening.
“We’ll go slow. We’ll go gently, Briella Darling.”
I glare daggers at him. “Should I swoon now or wait until I finish vomiting? God!” I shoot my head back when Vincent is lodged inside me. My hair, slick with blood, slaps his shoulder. He doesn’t care about the splatters of blood.
“Fuck, she’s pulsing all around me—so goddamn tight even after Rory’s beast stretching her,” exclaims Vincent, thrusting slowly in and out. He groans deeply, overlapping my moan. Despite the pain, the pressure is growing inside me, and I feel myself clenching. Thanks to whatever numbing lube they rubbed in me, I know the pain is an echo of what it could be.
Heat and sweat spread all over my face until I’m burning between them. The brutal intensity of Raphael’s gaze bears down on me. My heart rate goes wild.
I find my hands straying, fingertips brushing along Seth’s abs, carved by rugged, wilderness work. I memorize the blue fire of his eyes, warm and melting as he takes me.
“Your pussy is gripping me like a glove, Briella Darling. Goddess, you feel so good.”
A whimper leaves without my permission. What he called me…is that what they want from me? For me?
“I feel your cock, Vincent. You feel mine?” Seth smirks.
“Shut the hell up and fuck her,” growls Vincent, and I feel that growl resonating through my back.
They pound me slowly, deeply, and I feel the hot pleasure rising. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Rory’s monster dick swinging like a rod as his hands flex, fingers twitching with his eagerness. But I can’t survive his cock in my ass again.
When Seth grips my chin and kisses me, it distracts me. God, all these men know how to fuck, how to kiss. He licks all over the inside of my mouth with long, curling strokes of his tongue against mine.
