Twilight's Possession - Burning Hunger Part 6

She sniffled and rubbed away a fat teardrop hanging on the tip of her nose on the bed. "You know exactly what I'm feeling. Why are you pus.h.i.+ng me for an answer?"

"Because I think you need to hear the answer."

That made no sense. "If I answer will you let me loose?"

"Perhaps."

Awkward, heavy silence hung in the air between them. Her heartbeat slammed in her ears, easing the silence but not the tension. For some reason, she didn't want to answer him. Maybe he'd use her fears against her somehow. Who knew? But the need to escape the awful, unrelenting panic cras.h.i.+ng through her body overruled her fear of the unknown. "I'm scared."

"Scared? Why? Have I done anything to hurt you?"

"No."

"You could breathe, right?"

"Y-Yes."

"Then what are you scared of?"

"I don't know. It's hard to explain."

The mattress sank a bit as he sat beside her. He rested one of his hands on her back. It was warm, and the touch was undemanding. Rea.s.suring. "I'd like to know."

"What do you care? Why do you and your pal need to play games with me? What do you expect to gain from this? Do you think I'm easy? That I want this?"

He shook his head. "You're not getting any answers from me until you answer my question first."

She bit back a scream of frustration. She hated head games! She hated people dissecting her thoughts and feelings. They were hers. Private. Off limits. Even sometimes to her stupid shrink. But this guy wasn't going to let her get away with sidestepping his questions. That was clear. Her stomach convulsed again and she swallowed the steak and potatoes she'd eaten earlier for the second time.

Oh G.o.d, she just needed to be let loose! To be able to move around freely.

"I'm just scared. That's all."

"That's not good enough."

Frustrated and in the iron grip of nauseating panic, she screamed, "Why the f.u.c.k not? This isn't funny. It isn't a game. You're f.u.c.king with my head, and d.a.m.n it, I don't like it!"

"Why not?" he asked in a tone so smooth and calm, she'd swear they were chitchatting about the weather.

His calmness acted like gasoline on a bonfire. She could see herself going berserk but she couldn't stop it. She was at her limit. Only one thing mattered-freedom. She yanked at the bindings, kicked, thrashed. Tears ran unchecked from her eyes.

To h.e.l.l with trying to guess what this f.u.c.ker was up to.

To h.e.l.l with trying to talk him into letting her go.

To h.e.l.l with everything but escape.

Her wrists hurt like h.e.l.l. The bindings bit into her skin and ground into her bones but she didn't stop trying to break loose.

"I need out."

"Why?"

"f.u.c.k you!"

He sandwiched her face between his hands and drilled her with his gaze. "I'm not hurting you. Do you hear me? I'm not going to hurt you."

"But I can't move. I can't want...you have control. Just like Steve, you're going to think..." She couldn't breathe. It was like an invisible elephant was sitting on her back, pressing her into the mattress. She gulped frantically at the thin air.

"Yes, I do have control, but that's not a bad thing."

"It's always a bad thing. I can't deal with it." A sob burst from her throat. "I didn't ask for this."

"Yet you crave a lover who will take control."

"No, I don't. You're wrong. Bondage games aren't for people like me."

He sighed heavily, stood and walked to the foot of the bed. "You would be happier if you could learn to deal with these issues." He released one ankle and she nearly wept in grat.i.tude. When he unfastened the second restraint and went around to the head of the bed to free her wrists, her heartbeat slowed.

As soon as he had the second wrist was loose, she curled her body into a tight ball, wrapped her arms around her legs and clenched her chattering teeth.

"Brea." He stood beside the bed, looking confused. "I thought...I sensed you needed..."

"I needed you to let me loose. That's all. And I made that perfectly clear. So don't talk about what you thought I needed."

Chapter Five.

"What happened?" Marek stormed into the room, dragging a gust of crisp, fresh air with him. His mouth pulled into a taut line, and his eyebrows drawn together, he rushed to the bed. "What's wrong?" His gaze hopped back and forth between Dayne and Brea, who was still struggling to get a grip on herself and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who'd caused her to lose it in the first place.

"She's a little shaken," Dayne offered the lame explanation.

"A little?"

"He tied me up," she added, in a teeth-chattering, wavering, watery voice.

"I'm sorry. I had no idea she'd react this way. I thought..." His voice low, Dayne let the rest of his words trail off.

No way was she going to let him get off with some lame excuse and a mumbled apology. "He sat there while I was freaking out and refused to let me loose. f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

Marek sent Dayne some death daggers with his eyes. He sat beside her on the bed, pulled the blanket up around her still-shaking form. "I'm very sorry about this."

"Yeah, so let me go home," she demanded. "This has gone on long enough."

"I can't."

"Why the f.u.c.k not? You have each other. What the h.e.l.l do you need me for? I don't understand what's happening to me. You practically raped me..."

"Rape? I didn't rape you."

"Yeah, yeah. I asked for it. Don't remind me. I don't care what you say, I'm not to blame. I'm not thinking straight. And this a.s.shole scared the s.h.i.+t out of me by tying me up and somehow messing with my mind. I can't take any m-m-m-m-more." She started bawling again, which only p.i.s.sed her off more.

"But we do need you." He pulled her against him, wrapping strong arms around her body and enveloping her in his scent and strength. "More than you know."

She was too worn out to fight her way out of his hug. She closed her eyes and relaxed into his embrace, letting his warmth, the slow, steady sound of his breathing and heartbeat slowly soothe her. After an eon, maybe two, the sobs stopped. The river of tears stopped. And she settled into a weird sort of peace, like the quiet after a wicked summer storm.

"It's more than needing you," Dayne said, dragging a chair across the room. He positioned it directly in front of her and sat. "We aren't just after cheap thrills. Or a lost statue. Or a piece of a.s.s. We want to get closer to you. Know you. Understand you. Help you. There's something holding you back. I can sense it. And that was why-"

"Why you what?" she spat. "You guys kidnapped me for some reason I have yet to understand. And now you want to understand me? Help me? Like a friend? Please. I'm not that stupid. Or gullible. You tied me up like one of those chicks on the 'net. I'm not like them."

"Do you hear what you're saying? Women who like to be tied up aren't 'chicks'. They're women who know what they want, what they need. And they've accepted themselves." Dayne captured her face between his flattened hands and stared into her eyes. "I want to help you. Can't you sense the truth? Don't you feel it, the connection between us? I realize it's hard to believe but I genuinely care about you."

That was just it. She did sense a connection between them. Which made this whole thing that much more confusing. She pulled on his fingers, easing his hands from her face. "I...I...don't like that stuff."

"Dayne's telling the truth. We both care about you. And there's nothing we won't do to make things right between us." Marek used an index finger under her chin to force her to meet his gaze. "What happened between you and Dayne?"

"I didn't hurt her."

"I was scared, that's all."

"Of what?" Marek prodded. He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. Such a gentle, sweet gesture.

Of myself?

"You feel it too, don't you, Marek? She craves a little excitement and danger in the bedroom, a dominant lover who'll test her boundaries."

"Yeah. I do." Marek nodded. "What were you scared of, Brea?"

"Sense how? You two talk like you can read my mind or something." Her eyes still burning and nose still sniffly, she sat, conflicted over the compulsion to keep her secrets to herself and the urge to finally deal with the fallout from that night with her former best friend, the confusion, guilt and frustration that had basically left s.e.x as little more than an empty physical exercise. But why did it have to be these guys? What kind of future could she expect to have with a couple of guys who kidnapped women to supposedly make friends? "You don't know me."

"Maybe we're pus.h.i.+ng too hard, too fast?" Dayne asked.

Marek looked askance. "Brea?"

"Yeah, like he said, it's happening too fast. That's all. Especially the bondage stuff." That was partially true. True enough. "And the head games."

"We'll slow down then." Dayne cradled one of her hands in his. "I'm sorry, Brea. I swear I'll do anything to make things right between us."

Strange, but a part of her believed him.

"Feel better now?" Marek asked as he ran a hand down her back in slow, repet.i.tive strokes.

"A little."

"Good. Because I need to ask you for something else."

Her shoulders tensed. "Ask me what?"

"Have you had any luck solving the first clue?" Marek asked, trying hard not to let on both how much he hoped to hear good news and how urgently he hungered for a taste of the delightful spitfire of a woman sitting before him. Pounding heat pulsed through his body, sent to all parts by the heart she had kick-started. His c.o.c.k, however, got the bulk of it.

Narrowing her eyes, she spat, "You want to talk about that? Now?"

"Well..."

"That worthless bit of nonsense you left for me?"

Not the answer he had been hoping for. "I take that as a 'no'?" He'd hoped to leave the second clue for later, to buy him another taste of the sweet blood coursing through her veins, but with his brother's illness progressing so quickly, could he afford to wait? Could he afford to think about his needs? Or even hers? "I have another clue."

She leaned closer, her position making the blanket gape. He had a clear view of the tempting swell of two firm b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Two perfect, pink-tipped, firm b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Fork it over, pal. That first one wasn't even close to helpful." As if to add to his already monumental agony, she thrust those b.r.e.a.s.t.s forward, an unintentional invitation, no doubt.

Rendered dumbstruck, he handed her the sc.r.a.p of paper and waited, his breath caught in his throat. Between the worry about his brother and the unwelcome heat of the hunger, he felt like he might literally implode.

She read the clue then planted her hands on her delightfully curvy hips and glowered. "What kind of game are you playing?"

"It's no game," he said to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He tried to lift his gaze but darn it all, what guy in the grips of the hunger could resist staring at those?

Still completely unaware of how much skin was showing, she s.h.i.+fted, making the cover slide even farther down. Oh the agony.

She waved her arms in the air. "If you're serious, and not trying to mess with me, why dole out little bits of worthless information? What are you hoping to gain from all this?"

A whole lot! "Then you don't know what either clue means?"

"No. How could I?" She dropped her gaze to the paper, still in her fist and read, "It's critical to walk in the Secrets?" She shook it in front of his face. "How can you walk in secrets? It makes no sense. Where'd you get this? From a fortune cookie?"

She was so charming when she was frustrated. "Not exactly."

Shaking her head, she dropped the paper on the bed. "It's meaningless, just like the first one."

"But it's all I have. Whoever sent them must expect me to solve them...or find someone who can solve them for me."

"Or maybe not?" she asked, her expression softening a little. "Maybe they don't want me to figure them out at all?"

"Then why bother giving them to me in the first place?" he asked. Perhaps someone was feeding his brother these clues to keep him from locating the Triad.

Was he being sent on a wild-goose chase? Or maybe just being distracted. He hadn't thought of either of those possibilities until now. It was entirely possible.

Yet the optimist in him refused to believe it.

"Who's giving you the clues?" She scowled. "I'm getting the vibe you're after the Triad for yourself. Do you want it for something?"