Maybe it was something I could use. Maybe… As I try to look away, Alexander grabbed and wrenched my jaw between his fingers, forcing me to lift my head until I could look into his eyes. I was terrified of his expression, the cold look that indicated no sign of humanity, only the bloodlust I’d heard all about during brief but toxic conversations with Garrison.
Now I understood what he’d been talking about, his desperate plea for me to keep my distance. I hadn’t comprehended the actuality of what I could be facing until this very moment.
He was the devil, and Brogan and Daniel were his disciples. It didn’t matter what else they’d done in their lives or if they’d tried to wrench themselves free from Alexander’s domain. No one was free from him once he set his sights on that person.
Especially me.
He lowered his head, the ice in his veins drifting into his intoxicatingly gorgeous eyes. I pressed my hand against him, shaking my head.
“You seduced two of us, hungering for the third. You longed to strip all three of us away from our power, absorbing enough to perform your act of revenge. I don’t believe that’s what you wanted. I saw the hunger in your eyes, a desire that burned so deep within you the light was shining bright the momentI walked into my special private room at the club. I’m certain Brogan felt the same.”
I watched as he lifted his eyes toward the brawny man. I couldn’t help myself, turning my head until I was able to witness Brogan’s response.
His was indicated by his heavy breathing and the dark sweep of energy surrounding him. The man could feast on me for days, just like he’d wanted to do in Vegas.
Just like I’d craved him doing.
Then a grim scowl shuttered his features and he looked away, but there was no mistaking the thick bulge between his legs. When I turned my head the other way, the sight of Daniel was even more disturbing. He was stoic, staring at both of us with contempt in his eyes. For a few precious seconds, he allowed me to catch a glimpse of his thoughts. Only part of them had to do with the same angry, building desire the others felt. He was also furious with Alexander for touching me.
But there was no mistaking the man’s intense hunger.
Alexander rolled the tips of his fingers over my shoulder, trickling them down my back. “So you see, our perfect Black Dahlia, we’re all aware of your unbridled needs, which seem just as sadistic as the ones we crave.”
“You will never own me,” I whispered, knowing that nothing I said would ever matter. He’d been the one to make the decision to bring me here. He’d determined the course of my fate.
Now all three would take me, staking their claim.
“We already do. We’re just getting started taking what we want, our little caged bird. I suggest you get prepared because it’s going to be a long, glorious night.”
If he was trying to scare me, he wasn’t succeeding this time. I could see behind his façade, the armor he’d worn since that first day I’d seen him cracking slightly.
While everything deep inside of me pulsed, the crackle of electricity shooting between us an immoveable object, I gave him an imploring glare of my own, repeating my words. “That will never happen.”
His laugh sent shudders down my spine.
While I’d wanted nothing more than to avenge Garrison’s death, I couldn’t follow through with my plan any longer. Something was broken inside of me, and I was returning to the happy-go-lucky girl who’d pretended the four musketeers were my action heroes, capable of righting all the wrongs in the world. I wanted nothing more than to hate him, to loathe all of them, but at that moment, I felt sorry for them.
They’d been locked in a world of their own making, but it was just as much a prison as the one they’d placed me in. Behind the merciless glimmer in his eyes was an emotion I didn’t expect to see ever.
Guilt.
CHAPTER 10
“Unrequited love does not die; it’s only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded.”
—Elle Newmark
Cassie
Unrequited love. I wanted to scream after thinking about the two words, but the saying that continued to repeat in my mind was very true. Maybe I’d been in love with all three of them since the very first time I’d laid eyes on them. They’d been larger than life even then, driven by fury and their passion for life. They’d thought they held the world in the palm of their hands, able to mold every nuance in whatever way they’d wanted. I’d been in awe not only by their beautiful villainous attitudes, all three holding a dangerous persona wrapped around them like a beacon of honor, but also by their determination that Garrison remain a part of their pact.
There hadn’t been many days since that fateful day I hadn’t thought about them.
I brushed my fingers across my lips, as if my actions would help me memorize their savage kisses.
Brutal.
All three men were brutal by nature, true savages, or so I’d told myself dozens of times. But as Alexander cupped my face, brushing four of his fingers across my skin, I was once again pulled into the same torrent of heartache and longing I’d felt the moment I’d been forced to sit across from him at a table. His aroma was strong, laced with a heavy dose of testosterone, the look on his face nothing short of a primal beast.
