Hades doesn’t give me a chance to recover. He lands another strike and another, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that he’s striping my ass with perfect precision, marking me as his as effectively as if he’s tattooing his name there. I try to be silent, try to hold out, but I’ve never been able to before. Tonight isn’t enough to magically change that. A whimper slips past my lips as he hits the curve where my ass meets my thighs. Hades doesn’t stop, doesn’t relent, doesn’t do anything but strike me again.
As the next strike lands, I begin to beg.
Chapter Eleven
Hercules
I don’t know what’s happening to me. I watch Hades beat Meg with a long, thin cane, leaving a stripe of red welts down her pale ass and down her thighs, and part of me wants to rush in there and rip him away from her. The other, more confusing part of me, imagines what she’s feeling, and I crave it with a strength that leaves me breathless.
The other woman, Aurora, moves from the chair to sit next to me on the floor. She gives a happy sigh. “I love to watch them.”
Them.
This isn’t something Hades is doing to Meg. No, this is an intricate dance they’re doing together. Meg’s broken her composure, and she shakes and writhes, and Hades never lets up, never hesitates, never strikes anywhere but exactly where he intends. He shifts, and I see the look of utter concentration on his face that has my cock hardening to painful levels. He is entirely focused on Meg, and it’s so hot, I can barely stand it.
He finishes halfway down her calves and then drops the cane and runs his hands roughly over her newly welted skin. Her whimper turns into a throaty moan that makes my gut clench, but I can’t tell the source. Concern or desire. Some combination of both, maybe.
Up until this point, I’ve lived my life with very clear lines. Right and wrong. Yes and no. What I like and what I don’t. I feel like the moment I met Meg propelled me into this world of gray where there are no boundaries aside from a safe word, where everything can be negotiated and things that should be terrifying are actually sexy as hell. I don’t know myself in this world. I don’t have a clear path. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.
Hades uncuffs Meg and keeps her steady as he guides her to turn around. I expect him to do what Meg did, to bring her back to the couch, maybe cuddle her a little bit, offer some kind of aftercare. He doesn’t. He cuffs her wrists back to the cross, pressing her hard enough that she lets loose another of those desperate moans. Tear tracks mark her face and her entire body is flushed and shaking. She looks like she’s been through a war, but there’s something in those blue eyes that stills me. A peace I’ve never seen on her face before.
Hades wipes her tears away with his thumbs and kisses her softly. When he lifts his head, he doesn’t look away from her. “Come here, little Hercules.”
It takes a long moment for it to penetrate that he’s talking to me, and another long moment to climb to my feet and walk to him. I can’t hide my giant cockstand, and considering Hades jerked me off not too long ago, I don’t bother to try. He motions me forward with an imperial gesture, still not looking to ensure I obey. Why would he need to, though? I’ve already promised him obedience. In this moment, it feels like I’ve promised him a whole lot more.
He catches my wrist and pulls me the last foot forward. This close, I can see that Meg’s nipples are hard points and that the flush in her skin isn’t solely from pain. Hades shoves my hand between her thighs and presses two of my fingers deep inside her. “Jesus,” I breathe. She’s so fucking wet. She clamps around my fingers, and I can’t help pumping a little.
“You have a choice, little Hercules.”
I can’t drag my gaze from Meg—her face, her body, her pussy wetting my fingers. “What choice?”
“You can continue to observe.” His pause holds legions. “Or you can join.”
If I’m smart, I’ll retreat to the couch. These two are masters who have already proven that they won’t hesitate to manipulate me to further whatever their endgame is. I’m in over my head, and there isn’t a life raft in sight. I find myself nodding. “I’ll join.”
“Perfect.” He strokes a possessive hand down my spine, stopping at the top of my shorts. “On your knees.”
I have to stop finger-fucking Meg to obey, and she makes a little keening sound that punches me right in the chest. I want more than anything in that moment to give her the orgasm she’s obviously aching for. I take a step forward, but Hades catches my shoulder. “Ah-ah. Obedience is the first rule.” He moves to stand at my back, pressing his entire body against me. The feeling of him clothed while I’m standing naked makes every muscle clench. His voice in my ear only heightens the feverish desire in my blood. “On your knees.”
I slowly sink to my knees between them, Hades’s hand still clasped hard on my shoulder. I lick my lips and fight the impulse to lean in and lick her.
“Remind me of your safe word.” His thumb brushes my neck, a touch I’m half sure I’ve imagined.
“Olympus,” I breathe.
“Don’t move.” He gives my shoulder one last squeeze and then his heat at my back is gone.
I obey. I can’t help but do exactly what he says. Some awareness has filtered back into Meg’s gaze, and she watches me with the kind of anticipation that makes me have to fight not to close the distance between us. Hades doesn’t make me wait long. He reappears next to us with a flogger in his hand. “This is where we start you, little Hercules.” He flicks it against my chest. It stings a little bit, but I’m not sure I’d call it actual pain. Whatever Hades sees in my face satisfies him, because he moves to stand behind me again, though this time he doesn’t touch me.
His next command lashes me with more force that the flogger did. “Make her come.” I open my mouth to ask Meg what she wants, but Hades anticipates me. “Now, Hercules. You both belong to me, and me alone. My Meg deserves a reward, and I’ve decided that your tongue will do nicely. Do try not to come in your pants.”
Anger rises, and I welcome it. Just a game. This is all just a game to both of them. I move to Meg and wedge my hands under her thighs, lifting and spreading her. She’s helpless like this, in a way she wasn’t the last time we were together. It feels like we’re on equal footing for the first time since I met her.
On our knees before Hades.
I lean down and drag my tongue over her. Meg gasps, and I can’t tell if it’s the feeling of my mouth or the pain of her ass pressed against the cross. I start to back up, but freeze when pain sparks along my shoulders. I already know what happened. Hades struck me with the flogger. A reminder to obey, maybe. Or maybe he just wants to beat me the way he beat Meg. The thought sends sparks down my spine. I want it. I don’t give a fuck if I shouldn’t, I want it. I hold Meg’s gaze as I begin fucking her with my tongue the way I was commanded. An instrument of Hades’s will. With every thrust, he whips me, driving me higher, sinking into the pleasure of her taste even as pain melts into a hot, dark blanket at my back.
Meg moves as much as she’s able, rolling her hips to grind against my mouth, her blue eyes glazed with something more profound than pleasure. Something deeper. Her breath comes in gasping inhales that I begin to match without having any intention of it. It’s like Hades and Meg strip down some instrumental human part of me, leaving only beast.