He stiffened. His pulse beat hard in the silence.
“Scars are tattoos with darker histories,” she said quietly, tracing the uneven skin to the edge of his lips. “I wonder what this one would say if it could speak.”
He waited for her to ask. Waited for more, but it never came. Sighing, she lifted her hand from his face and set it back on his shoulder, then her fingers gently brushed his back again in a languid, sensual way that made the hairs on his skin stand at attention and another shiver ripple down his spine.
“Your constant defiance frustrates Zagreus,” she said. “He senses you’re growing stronger. He’s going to double his efforts soon.”
Frustrating the shit-for-brains Zagreus was the only pleasure Nick got anymore. He scoffed. “I think he already doubled his efforts yesterday.”
Her hands skimmed across his shoulders, and gods, that felt good, like she was tickling his skin. He fought from closing his eyes and relaxing into the wicked sensations running up and down his spine.
“Yesterday was only a sampling of what he has planned for you. The females he’s trapped here are Maenad nymphs, trained by the god Dionysus. They thrive on sexual energy. He will use them on you again and again until you can’t take it anymore.”
So the nymphs weren’t willing participants either, just as Nick had guessed. They were prisoners too, being forced to do something they probably didn’t want to do but couldn’t stop once they got going.
Like Cynna?
Her touch made his mind skip to what she was doing now. And that made him think of what he’d endured.
Death by sex. Though Nick liked sex as much as the next guy and had plenty of his own dark desires—most centering around Cynna these days—the thought of being tortured like that, by those females, turned his stomach.
Her hands slid under his arms and around his ribs until they rested against his chest. Then she moved closer, her heat seeping into his back, her succulent breasts pressing against his spine, her lean hips cradling his ass. And feeling her so close shut down his brain function, brought his full attention to where she touched him, pushed aside every other thought. His pulse picked up speed, and heat shot from beneath her hands, to his belly and straight into his groin, making him even thicker and harder.
“He wants you to break,” she whispered close to his ear. The fingers of her right hand slid lower until they grazed his nipple. His cock jumped, and his stomach caved in as electricity arced from the spot and ricocheted into his balls. “He’s waiting for you to break so he can have what’s inside you.”
Her fingers rolled his nipple into a stiff peak, and Nick bit his lip and fought from groaning at the erotic thrill. He knew Zagreus was waiting for him to somehow give in so he could harness the powers Krónos had hidden in him for safekeeping, but Nick didn’t know how Zagreus planned to do that, or what it would entail.
He opened his mouth to ask, but Cynna trailed her other hand to his opposite nipple, twisting and pinching in the same way, distracting him from his question. Pain mixed with pleasure to send a burst of carnal desire all through his body. Instinctively, he rocked his hips forward, wanting resistance there, wanting her touch lower.
Her breath caught. It was so subtle he almost didn’t hear it. But it was enough to keep him from giving in. From letting go the way his body wanted.
She scraped her nails across his nipple, sending sparks of pleasure-pain across his skin, and he bit his lip. Against his ear, her warm breath radiated, causing more tiny tremors to ripple through his limbs. “You can’t let that happen. No matter what he wants, don’t give it to him.”
Give in…don’t give in… She was sending mixed messages, telling him one thing one day and another the next. He tried to make sense of what she was doing but couldn’t because the haze of arousal was clouding everything, especially his ability to think.
She’s fucking with your head. Zagreus sent her. Don’t fall for her games. Stay in control.
He ground his teeth against her wicked fingers continuing to tease and torment his oversensitized nipples. Worked like hell not to lose himself in what she was doing to his body. “When you were here with the nymphs, you told me I couldn’t hold out. That it was only a matter of time. Why the change of heart?”
“I told you what he wanted you to hear. He was watching.”
And Zagreus wasn’t watching now? Nick wasn’t sure he believed that. The fucker always seemed to know what was happening in his lair.
“Why are you telling me all this?”