Cage

Like a wolf that’s sniffed its prey, my nostrils flare with excitement at the sight of the open door. Finally, after all this time, she’s mine.

I rush to the door like a rabid animal, wanting to claim her this very instant.

I can’t wait any longer. I want her so badly; I feel like I’m about to explode with need, so I storm through the door, ready to take her.

I kick the door to my cage closed and march toward hers. I ignore everything else in the room and focus solely on getting to her. I peer around the corner through the opening. There she is.

My woman.

My Ella.

I rush to her, not giving a shit that Syrena is yelling at me, asking what’s going on. I want her. No, I need her.

I want to bury myself deep inside her and hear her moans as I fill her with my seed. I want to feel her skin on top of mine; I want to lick her crevice and taste her sweetness on my tongue. I want it all.

But when I approach her, she cowers in a corner, diving away when I get close.

Her eyes are filled with fear as I stare at her for a moment, her body shivering.

But there’s no need to be scared. I’ll take more than good care of her.

I’ll give her every lick she’ll need, every kiss she asks for. I’ll protect her from anything and anyone. Because she’s mine now …

My woman.

My Ella.

I reach for her and grasp her arm. She resists, jerking free, so I take her other arm. Again, she pulls back and gives me this look as if she doesn’t want me to touch her. But that’s not true. I saw her looking. I saw those hungry eyes. I saw her practically begging for my cock when she licked her lips at the sight of it.

Just as her eyes slide down my body this very instant, taking in every inch of my length. She gulps, visibly impressed. A smirk spreads on my lips.

I know she likes what she sees.

She can’t deny her own body’s desires.

So I put my hands on her tiny waist, lift her up from the floor, and throw her over my shoulder.

Then I turn around and march right back into the room I came from, kicking the door to her cage shut.

With her fists, she pounds on my back.

Feisty. I like that.

It makes it much more interesting when she’s just as eager as I am. I’ll make sure she’s opened up to me before our time is over.

I put her down on the bed, and she immediately tries to crawl away. Towering over her, I grasp her ankles and flip her over. That blue dress looks pretty on her … but it’s in the way. So I lean over her and push it up with my hand until it’s right above her waist. I can see she’s struggling, her fingers desperately clinging to the fabric as if she’s afraid of what’s about to happen.

But the look in her eyes … it’s different from anything I’ve ever seen before. Like she doesn’t know what’s about to happen. Like it’s never happened to her before.

Could she be …?

I smile at the thought.

My seed will be the first to lay claim to her womb.

As I hover over her, she places her hands on my chest and face, pushing me away. I grasp them and pin them above her head. My face is so close to hers now … I can smell her delicious scent. With my eyes closed, I take a whiff, and they almost roll to the back of my head. That’s how good it smells.

But when I open my eyes again, hers are red, and water fills them again. With my thumb, I brush away the single drop rolling down her cheek. Then I tuck her beautiful white hair behind her ears, and I lean in to press a kiss to her lips.

It’s agonizingly slow for me, but I know I need to be gentle with her.

For all these years, her body went untouched, and it doesn’t know how to respond to a man like me. Doesn’t know how to yield.

But I’ll show her. With my body, I’ll teach her how to submit.

As I kiss her, she bites my lip, and the bitter, metallic taste of blood enters my mouth. I’m used to it, so I shrug it off and continue. I like a woman with a bit of fight in her.

I press another kiss to her chin and one on her neck, before returning to her mouth.

My kisses are soft but overpowering. My hands are still on her wrists, but I can tell she’s resisting less and less. And after a while, I release her from my grip.

My shaft bursts with arousal as I feel her heated body beneath mine. With every kiss, I crave her more and more to the point I can barely take it anymore.

So I rise and allow her to look at my ample length before grabbing her waist again and flipping her over. I pull her up on her knees, ready to mate.

But she sinks down on the bed and holds out her hand right in front of me. The look in her eyes is serious.

“STOP!”

That sound … it came from her mouth.

I can’t believe it.

She actually spoke.

* * *

Ella

Scream. It was the only thing I could do, the only thing I could think of. And then suddenly it happened.

My voice returned.

I breathe in and out through my mouth, my body shaking from the shock. I can’t believe I almost allowed that to happen.

He leans up away from me for a second, equally surprised by the sound that came from my mouth. I immediately take the opportunity and pull my legs out from underneath him and scramble off the bed, crawling away.

Clutching my dress close to my body, I huddle into a corner. I can’t believe what just happened. The door opened and in came Cage to sweep me off my feet and carry me into this room. This … sex room.

Because that is what it is.

A room with just a closet, a water faucet, and a bed.

Its sole purpose is to connect the glass prisons.

It should’ve dawned on me that this was the reason for the room in between. Why Graham kept me instead of trying to sell me. Why I’m here in the first place.

It’s for him.

Cage.

I’m his prize for winning the fight.

How could anyone offer up a human being as a prize? And why would Cage accept? It’s as if he doesn’t even know any better. I can tell by the way he looks at me as he sits on the bed naked with a full-blown hard-on that he doesn’t have a single clue what’s going on.

I want to rage so badly, but the sounds have disappeared from my throat again. I still can’t believe I actually made a noise around him. It only happened with my parents because I knew them. I trusted them.

But this? This is completely different.

I don’t know Cage.

Yet … I could speak.

I shudder. It couldn’t possibly be because I trusted him. No. Absolutely not.

But then why do I feel this sorrow when I look at him? As if I should feel bad? The worried look on his face doesn’t make it any better either.

I’m not the one who did this.

“Ella?”

The way he speaks my name—in such a guttural tone—brings goose bumps to my skin. It sounds so innocent as if he’s sad and wants to make things right. Even though he’s the one who … who …

I don’t want to feel the way I did when he touched me. I don’t want to have these goose bumps whenever I hear him talk. I don’t want this heat that rushes through my body after he kissed me. I don’t want any of it because it’s wrong.

It’s so damn wrong.

Yet when he looks at me like that—with those hungry yet thoughtful eyes, licking his lips like he’s contemplating what to do next—it makes me weak.

I can’t be weak. Not in here.

Suddenly, he gets up from the bed, and his erection becomes huge in my eyes. Or maybe it was always like that, but I’ve only now gotten the time to actually look at it. And holy shit, I can’t believe that thing was about to go into me.

I swallow away the lump in my throat.

I admit I have seen a man before, on several occasions, but it was mostly on the internet. I know how it works. But this is different. I’ve never actually been with a man in that way.

All I ever did was make out with boys when I was younger, but I never allowed any of them to get close to me. Never. I couldn’t take it. Not with my baggage. Not without a voice to speak up when things went awry.

I wasn’t ready for them, so I didn’t go all the way.

But now … I have no choice. No voice. Nothing.

Nothing to keep him from taking me.

Because that’s what Graham wants. I am Cage’s prize, and now he gets to have me.

But what I don’t understand is why Cage doesn’t see anything wrong with this? Why would he not see I’m more than just that? Why would he let Graham do this to someone? And why would he participate?

But as Cage stands there, gawking at me with these lustful but confused eyes, I conclude he honestly doesn’t know either.

When he takes a step toward me, I panic and reach for the door, but it’s locked. So I cower against the wood, hoping he won’t drag me back to the bed again.

Except he stops in his tracks the moment he sees me flee like a hunted animal. His brows furrow and confusion replaces the gentle look on his face. He goes down on his knees and sits there in the middle of the room right in front of me, just staring at me.

Waiting for me to … come to him?

Why would I do that?

He holds out his hands as if he wants to make up.

Why do I get the feeling he thinks this is normal?

I don’t come near. I just glare at his hands, hoping he isn’t going to use them to grab me once again. I always told myself that when and if I ever gave myself to a boy, it’d be on my terms. When I’m ready.

But him … I’m not ready for him.

Holy shit.

He’s like a super human. A beast amongst men.

How could anyone ever be ready for him?

That’s what scared me the most. That this man would want me to the point of actually claiming me. And that he’d be this pumped up, this excited about it. It’s that look I’ve seen in his eyes ever since I came here. That gaze of pure need … as if he’s been thinking about this one moment forever. And now that he finally could, he went for it like an animal in heat. And I’m the meek lamb thrown into the lion’s cage.

I suck in a breath as I come to this realization.

But then why do I get the feeling he’s not only a caged animal? Because that look of despair I see in his eyes now is not the look of a hungry beast. It’s that of a sympathetic human being. Someone who cares.

He slides closer, still completely naked. It’s like he’s not even aware of the fact that his dick is still huge and hard, and I can’t stop focusing on it because it makes my jaw drop. Or maybe he doesn’t care at all.

But why doesn’t he care? It makes no sense at all. It’s as if he doesn’t even know the rules of our world …

Still, he doesn’t grasp me, so I guess he finally understood what I was doing. But I can tell from the way he bites his lips and keeps his hands locked firmly on his muscular upper legs that he’s struggling with it too. As if he wants me so badly he finds it impossible to resist the urge. Yet he is …

His hand reaches for me, and I flinch because I’m still scared.

He immediately retracts it.

Lowering his head, he gazes down at the soft carpet underneath him before standing up and turning around. In amazement, I watch him stroll to the closet and take out a shirt and pants from it.

I hear a clicking noise.

Cage walks towards his door. He pushes the door handle, which actually moves, and he goes back into his cell, leaving me alone in this room, completely shaken and mesmerized by what just happened.

He did something I never expected for someone so addicted to the smell of a woman, to the need to fuck.

He let me be.