I walked around Alec’s assigned room, crunching on an apple he had given me for breakfast. A shower and a fresh shirt of Alec’s that hung to my mid-thigh, and I almost felt human again. Almost.

“All right, take off your clothes and come here.” Alec didn’t sound mean or even like he was giving a strict order, but he did sound firm.

“What? Why?”

“I can’t lead you outside and not make it look like I am treating you how we are to treat all the women before the ritual. Master/slave remember? I can’t make the men think I’m going easy on you, or it will give up our cover.”

That made sense to me, so I walked over to him, removing his shirt from my body as I did so. I stood before him and waited—for what, I wasn’t sure.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled me onto his lap. “Lie back over my lap.” He helped position my body so I lay on my back, draped over his lap, face up. The position was awkward, embarrassing, and caused me to feel extremely vulnerable. He rested his hand on my belly and looked into my eyes. “Those men out there are going to look at your pussy. Gawk at it, is more like it. They will expect to see it inflamed and raw from a night and full day’s worth of fucking. I need to give it that appearance.”

My eyes widened, and my stomach did a flip. “How?”

“By spanking your pussy lips.” He said it so matter-of-factly that I almost giggled.

“Spank my pussy?” I squeaked. The idea both terrified me as well as sent a delightful little shiver from my head to my toes. Not a part of my body was hidden from Alec’s view, and I truly was at his mercy—and… I liked it.

He answered my question by lifting up his palm and smacking it down onto my pussy. I flinched and cried out, but didn’t try to get off his lap or stop him. He did it again, and again.

“Oh, Jesus,” I gasped.

The feeling of the sting and slight bite knocked the breath right out of me. As much as I knew I should fight him, demand for him to stop, even scream for mercy, I couldn’t. God help me, I wanted more… harder… pain. I wanted the pain. No… I craved it. I hungered for it. I all but begged for it.

He used his fingertips to spank all around my pussy lips, the heat of his touch setting me ablaze. Who was this man? He was so much more than the Uncle Alec I had once looked up to and seen as an adult when I was simply a child. Why did he have the power over me that I would never have considered giving to any man before?

Alec paused with the pussy spanking and stared into my eyes. “Are you all right?” What an odd question to ask as he intentionally punished my most intimate flesh.

“I’m burning alive. You’re catching me aflame like a witch at the post.”

Heaven, Hell… both. Alec gave me both.

“A little bit longer,” was his reply as he continued to pepper my cunt. “You’re getting nice and pink and swollen.”

And wet, I knew I was getting wet. I could feel the slick fluid and could even hear the wetness make contact with Alec’s hand with every spank. There was no way to hide my desire.

Just when I couldn’t take another touch without demanding that he do more than just spank me, Alec stopped. He flipped me over onto my stomach and began spanking me on my rear again. Although this time, it felt different than before. It actually felt… good. I couldn’t resist bucking my hips to meet each swat of his hand. I wanted to be spanked. I wanted to feel the heat, the connection, the throb to match the deep pulsating in my pussy.

Was this submission? Was this what it was like to submit to a man? His dominance—my surrender. If this was what dominance and submission was all about, then hell fucking yes. Sign me up.

“I need to leave some marks on you,” he said as he spanked harder than all the previous times combined. “The others need to see that I have taken you in hand.” He continued to spank with a furious tempo.

I cried out in pain, but didn’t plead for him to stop. The idea of being marked by his touch sizzled my core just as much as his discipline did to my body. I wanted the label, I wanted the bruise, I wanted to be claimed as Alec’s, and for all to see that he had made me his. I wouldn’t have to fight anymore, or worry that if I didn’t struggle, death would be waiting for me. No, I could just be Alec’s. Alec’s to protect, and Alec’s to get Papa and me out of this mess one way or the other.

“Cry louder,” he commanded. “Let them hear it outside. Louder!”

It wasn’t hard for me to follow his order since I had no more control. My body was his completely, my soul completely dominated by the man. I cried, I howled from the top of my lungs, and I released every dark, fearful, and hateful feeling from my body. I released all that was wrong in the world, and wrong with this place in my cries. I cried for the other sex slaves. I cried for what could be the ultimate fate of my father. Over and over, Alec punished, and over and over, I cried.

I was lost. Lost in the sea of pain. So lost that it took me several minutes to realize that Alec had stopped the spanking and had gathered me securely into his arms. He held me close and rocked me back and forth, kissing my cheek, my forehead, even kissing the tip of my nose. He rubbed my back and pressed me so close to his body, I could have almost melted into his embrace.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I had to do that, Makayla. So sorry,” he said between kisses.

Alec held me like that until all the sobs had stopped, and until my tears disappeared completely. I looked up at him and could see pain wash over his features. He was a good man who was clearly fighting internal demons. I saw it all so clearly now. I could truly see this man. Alec was trying to be my hero. A hero in disguise.

I slowly moved my lips to his. I allowed my heart, my desire, and my hunger for my hero to win the battle. I kissed him.

Alec froze for a brief moment, but then allowed the kiss to break his defense as well. His tongue brushed up softly to mine, testing the connection tentatively. This was not a kiss of pure passion. There was no hunger or wild fervor like at the lake house. No, this was a kiss of caution. A kiss of seeing if the result would be a burn or stab. This was a kiss of two people unsure of what was to come. Alec’s hands reached behind my head and pulled me in closer. So close that the kiss grew in intensity. This kiss was all we had at that moment. It was all that we had to hold us together. A kiss which held up the walls that were threatening to collapse in on us both. It gave us both strength. Power.

Alec pulled away and studied me for several moments before whispering, “We should stay focused on what’s going to happen soon.”

“I don’t care.”

“I…”

“If I have to look like I’ve been fucked hard all day, I might as well get the benefit of it.” These were not words spoken by a sane or rational woman, that much I knew. But I had stepped into a world of madness, and for right now, I wanted to play my part.

Alec ran his fingers through my hair. “This is going to be hard enough.” He took a deep breath. “You have no idea how hard this is going to be. I need your head in the game. I need my head in the game.”

“I know. But I don’t care. Give me this time. Fuck me, Alec. Not make love like before. Fuck me so hard.”

I gave up all control. It was my body speaking. My lust, my need for something other than the awful hate outside the doors of the room. For right now, for this very second, I wanted nothing more than Alec. Not the darkness waiting.

Darkness would look at me. Darkness would pull me in, strangle me, choke me until I could breathe nothing in but the evil, murky taste of black. Black tastes so bitter. So fucking bitter, but right now I could have sweet.

In a whirl of passionate haze, Alec tossed me onto the bed and effortlessly removed his clothing, joining me in nothing but skin on skin. The weight of his body on mine acted like a blanket of comfort.

“Makayla,” he whispered as he kissed me softly on my neck. “I should stop. We are in hell and—”

“No, please don’t. Don’t stop.” I reached around, grabbed both sides of his ass, and pulled him into me. His cock rested at the entrance of my pussy, and with one thrust of my hips, I buried him inside.

We both moaned as our bodies united, remaining motionless for a moment to just take in the sensation of becoming one. This wasn’t the fucking that happened yesterday. This wasn’t him taking for the benefit of others watching. This was more. This was two broken people finding a way back to the light.

And like two soldiers marching off to war, we began our cadence. In and out, push and pull, we fucked. Not an honorary uncle torn, nor a scared little girl in search of her papa, instead we were a man and a woman clinging to some form of pleasure before we had to go outside and face what we both dreaded. But for right now, for this very second, we had each other and carnal passion.

Arching my back, I thrust my hips hard so he had to drive in even deeper. My inner walls spasmed and electricity jolted through me. I was about to come, and I was about to come fucking hard. Alec sensed my impending ecstasy and increased the tempo and force, demanding that I reach completion with every motion of his body.

Reaching down with one hand, he pressed his finger onto my clit and began moving it in small circles. “Yes, that’s it, baby. Come for me. Come,” he coaxed.

His deep voice issuing an order was all it took. Lights flashed behind my eyelids, and I screamed out his name as my body rocked beneath his. My cries of passion must have been all it took to snap his control, because he followed my mewls with a growl of satisfaction as he filled me with his seed.

Breathing deep, and feeling more satisfied than I could ever remember, I whispered, “That was… that was—”

“Yes, it was,” Alec interrupted between his own deep breaths. He brought his mouth to mine and kissed me deep, claiming my mouth as he had just claimed my sex. “You may not be mine when this mess is all over. But for right now, you are, and after we step back into reality… it’s going to be really hard letting you go.”

God, what was wrong with me? There was a part of me that actually hated the thought of entering reality again. It would mean leaving Alec. What in the hell was wrong with me? I must be losing my mind. I was going insane. Everything was so God damn dark. Everything was hate.

“Everything is so wrong. And yet, everything is so right.”

He remained silent, but nodded his understanding as he peppered my face with the most tender of kisses.

I began crying, insanity had broken through my moment of sexual bliss. “Two people who are hollow. Fucking for the sake of being fucked. Fucking for survival. We must survive the right now, but we must also survive the darkness of what’s to come.”

“We’ll get through this,” he whispered between kisses. “I promise you, we will.”

“Help me survive. Please. Help my father. That’s all I ask.”

“We will get out of this alive, and we’ll heal. I’ll be there to help you heal. I promise. But for right now, we focus on getting out of here alive.”

All the chaos and angst going on in my brain was being countered by Alec’s light touches, soothing words and gentle kisses. Somehow, he made me feel safe. Not only in the immediate now, but safe to feel the way I did. I knew I wasn’t a foolish woman. I had made some pretty stupid decisions in my life as of late, but I considered myself a strong person with a decent amount of pride—even though I had managed to get myself kidnapped by a secret society with the idea that I could actually swoop in and rescue my father like what would happen in some action movie. Regardless, I knew that my feelings for Alec were genuine. My body and my responses to his touch were unlike any I had ever experienced before.

“Do we really have to go out there?” I asked, dreading seeing all the men. Dreaded being completely naked and vulnerable. The staring eyes were going to be the worst part.

Alec sighed. “Soon. For now, let’s just close our eyes and rest a little.” He rolled to my side and cradled me into his arms. “Let’s just enjoy this moment for a little bit longer.”