Once It Gets Dark Ch. 06

With one smooth movement, he let go of me, ripped a strip off a blanket, pulled me into a sitting position, and tightly bound my arms together behind my back. He was so fast that it was done before I could react. In my current state, I didn't really mind anyway. All I cared about was that his arms were encircling me and that I was pressed against his chest with my face against the crook of his neck. I inhaled his scent and cursed my t-shirt, which kept me from having more direct skin contact with him. I knew he wanted to humiliate me, force me to yearn for him right after I had attempted to kill him. Showing me my place and taking away my free will. I knew it would be impossible to fight it, and right now I almost didn't care anymore.

I moved my knees so I could straddle him; the naked skin on the inside of my thigh brushed against the strong muscles of his, and like cold water on a burn, I felt instant relief at the touch. But to my dismay, instead of pulling me on top of him, he stood up. I followed him clumsily, unable to break contact. The dull ache his venom had caused in my core was slowly turning into real pain.

"What are you doing?" I hissed at him.

He only smirked, grabbed my bound wrists, and shoved me through the dim light of the tent. I really could see much more clearly now. I pushed my back against his chest, not to fight but to feel him.

After a few steps, he turned me around so that I was facing him and, moving with the routine fluency of somebody who knows what he is doing, fastened my bonds around one of the pillars in the middle of the tent. The wood dug between my shoulder blades, but I was too entranced by his arms around me and his chest against mine to pay attention to what was happening. I pulled my naked leg up his thigh, desperate for him to enter me, to take me hard, to make the aching stop. But he was having none of it.

The full, terrible effect of the venom hit me the moment he stepped away, breaking skin contact. I inhaled sharply; my body was screaming for him to come back, and I twisted against my bindings, trying to get free, groaning in frustration. Why couldn't he just fuck me already and make it stop?

But he just left me hanging, tied to the post. He took his neatly folded uniform and got dressed. My groans grew louder. Did he want me to beg for my degradation? I would. I would do anything just to have him on top of me.

The need for him was slowly getting unbearable; it felt like millions of tiny needles stinging my skin. When he stepped in front of me again, my heart jumped with hope. He laid his palm softly on my cheek, and I instantly melted against his touch. The agony diminished.

"How does it feel, my toy, to have my essence run through your body? Do you still wish to purge the Earth of my existence?" His voice was low and seductive while he caressed my lips with his thumb.

I opened my mouth for him, and he pushed his finger inside. I was beyond caring about the humiliation and sucked on it, desperate to have him in me.

"You would do anything I want now, am I right, my sweet?" he purred.

"Please," I whimpered against his fingers.

He breathed in shakily, but then he blinked, shook his head, and stepped away from me.

"As delightful as you are, little human, I have work to do. So keep your noises down." His voice had shifted, and his tone was brisk now.

"No," I wined pathetically when the burning returned at once as soon as he removed his hand.

The General paid me no heed. He went over to a wooden chest and retrieved some rolled-up papers. He spread them out on the table and started studying them, seemingly unimpressed by my suffering. His strong back was turned to me, and the wish to dig my fingers into it while I pulled him on top of me was unbearable.

"Please, please, please," I begged again.

I had let go of all pretense of preserving my dignity and was prepared to debase myself completely. He ignored me and kept going through the papers while I sobbed and pulled against the restraints with all my strength.

After what felt like an eternity, he bunched the papers together, rolled them up, and put them in his pocket.

"I told you to keep the noise down, Anna," he said without looking over to me.

"You're such a fucking asshole, General Tsul!" I sobbed at him.

His back stiffened as he heard how I had addressed him, and he turned toward me. His face darkened. He took his scimitar, sheathed it on his belt, and was in front of me in three powerful steps. I should have been scared, but I longed so intensely for his touch that instead of cowering, I pulled against my bindings, trying to get closer to him. He looked so good in his armor that desperate tears rolled down my cheeks at the agony of not being able to run my hands over his body. I yanked on my restraints again, not caring that I was ripping my skin.

He looked down into my eyes and said with controlled calm, "The sun has already sunk, and I have things to attend to, human. Make yourself comfortable, and try not to think too much about me while I am gone."

"No! Please!" I pleaded, in complete shock. I thought he had just wanted to humiliate me, but now I realized the real extent of his punishment. Was he going to leave me until the venom was out of my system? How long would that be? Would I even survive? It didn't feel like it at the moment.

His hand twitched as if he wanted to touch me, but then he swallowed and took another step away. He almost seemed unaffected, but the solid blackness of his eyes betrayed him. I knew that he must smell the wetness between my legs, and I hoped that it drove him almost as wild as I was and that he would come back, but he turned around to the exit.

"Fuck you!" I sobbed and sank down the pillar.

He hesitated for one second before the entrance fell closed behind him.

The agony I felt when he left was unbearable. I pulled on my bindings, trying to rip the fabric, but to no avail. I was not able to move the pillar either; it seemed to be anchored deep inside the earth. My mind conjured up images of the General's hands caressing me, pushing between my labia, preparing me for penetration. I cried in frustration and tried to loosen the knots around my wrists, but it was clear that I was not the first prisoner the General had tied up.

I wept and rubbed my thighs together, trying to get some friction while I was chafing my wrists raw with the bonds. My efforts did nothing to abate the need, and I struggled not to think about how good the General's thick, long cock would feel--how it would make all of my suffering go away as it filled me. My wetness was soaking the ground beneath me, and I screamed in pain and frustration.

I was twisting against the bonds, not able to control my movements anymore, and after a while, I was getting thirsty and dizzy from exhaustion. The air in the tent was hot and sticky, and my whole body was covered in sweat.

The burning on my skin had gotten so bad that it felt like it was raw, my mind was getting fuzzy, and my vision started to blur. I could not form one coherent thought that didn't involve the General fucking me.

I didn't know how long I was drifting in this state of semi-consciousness--were it minutes or hours? But as the door opened, I thought I was hallucinating.

When the General stepped into the tent, it must have been saturated with the scent of my arousal, because he took one breath and his eyes turned from gold to solid black within a second. His gaze locked on me, and he cursed. I didn't even have time to blink, and he was already crouching at my side, muttering something in Veril in my ear while untying the cloth from the pillar. I pushed against him, trying to have as much of my body touch him as possible, and this time he did not pull away. I sobbed in relief as the pain was instantly dampened by his touch.

His voice was hoarse, and his Veril accent was a lot stronger than usual.

"Soon," he breathed in my ear while lifting me up by my bound wrists and dragging my weak body to the bed so fast that I would have fallen down if he had not held me.

He dropped me on the furs, undid his pants, and was on top of me before I could even catch my breath. He did not bother with undressing any further, and I was extremely grateful for it. I did not know if I could wait any longer. I was more than ready for him. My body needed him to fill me, to take me, to make me submit to him. Without hesitation, he spread my thighs apart roughly and pushed all of himself inside of me in one stroke so hard that it knocked the air out of my lungs.

"Ugh," I gasped as he filled me completely.

This was what my body had been craving so desperately, and it was the sweetest relief, like water after days in the desert. I did not even register the pain of him stretching me sore or how uncomfortable I was lying on my bound arms.

Every time he pushed himself completely inside me, the ache his venom had caused in my core turned into the greatest pleasure, but every time he pulled out, the need returned even stronger.

"Please. Please. Kuchun," I breathed in rhythm with his thrusts.

He responded with a sentence spoken completely in Veril, and I realized that he was almost as out of it as I was. Knowing that he had lost his self-control and was pure instinct now made my desire soar even higher, and I melted away under his strength and power, his sweat mixing with mine, rubbing his scent into my skin, claiming me, making me his.

I pushed myself against him and crossed my legs behind his back, pulling him into me as hard as I could. I yearned to dig my fingers into him, to make him crush me with his body. I wanted to feel his strength against me. I cried in frustration at my bound wrists.

"Untie my fucking hands!" I grunted, half expecting a snide retort, but he just reached under my back and ripped the damned fabric in two as he pushed himself completely into me. I screamed too desperately in my need to pay attention to this display of raw masculine strength.

I dug my hands hard into his short black hair and pulled him down to me. His lips crushed mine, our teeth clashing as we kissed in complete abandon. I bit down on his lip, tasting his blood on my tongue, and he groaned in pleasure, increasing his brutal rhythm even more, grinding himself so deeply into me that it felt like he was entering my womb. I was meeting his hard thrusts in a desperate attempt to feel more of him. He had been rough before, but never like this, giving me his full, uncontrolled desire and force, just like I needed it. I wanted all of him. I loved the pain of his bruising pushes between my thighs, his teeth as he devoured my mouth.

"More," I grunted.

"Oh, I will give you more," he snarled between his teeth and rammed himself into me just as his sting pierced my flesh.

"Ch'ish," he hissed, and filled me with his seed the same time as he pumped his venom into my bloodstream.

The orgasm, caused by the effect of his sting, hit me so hard that I saw stars for a moment. I held onto him with all my strength and sank my teeth into the exposed skin where his shoulder met his neck, trying to defer the intensity. For a moment, we remained intertwined this way, locked together by his stinger and our shared orgasm. When my muscles relaxed, he rolled off me.

We both lay stunned for a moment, breathing hard.

The room had turned dark again, and I only saw his expression because he was leaning over me, studying my face and body. "Did I injure you?"

His question was not baseless. He had been rough--too rough, maybe, with his Veril strength against my human body?

I sat up, glad that I was able to move my arms and legs. No injuries, but I was surely going to be severely bruised the next day--or rather, next night, as I would have to adapt to the Veril's nocturnal rhythm now--and my wrists and knees, already marked from his hands, were now also chafed from being bound. Nothing severe, but I was definitely not fine either.

I felt hot anger rising up in my stomach. Maybe he should have thought about it a little bit earlier if he was so worried about my well-being. The nerve he had to ask me if I was hurt after all the ways in which he had tortured me.

"You are by far the biggest asshole that I ever had the misfortune to meet, Shenik Tsul," I seethed, glaring at him.

"I take it that this means you are well enough," he retorted, his voice dangerously low. "I am going to let your tone pass this time, Anna, but I advise you not to forget who you are speaking to."

He got up from the bed, and I heard the rustling as he arranged his uniform. Moonlight illuminated his impressive figure as he pulled away the fabric that had been covering the opening in the middle of the tent's ceiling.

"I have work to do. And, just in case this was not clear, my sweet, there are guards stationed all around this tent, and they have the order to watch you. You are to stay in here until you are told otherwise. I cannot believe I actually have to say this, but after your pathetic attempt against my life, I think it is necessary: you will not be able to run from me in the middle of my own army. So do not try. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Shenik Tsul, I understand," I replied, glaring at him. "But if I'm really guarded so well, why do you even bother telling me? Are your soldiers not that trustworthy after all?" I stood up, flinching at the soreness of my body and his seed dripping down my thighs.

He was in front of me in one powerful step, grabbed my chin in his hands, and snarled, "I trust my soldiers with my life. But that does not mean that I wish for their smell to be all over my woman just because she did not understand her own limitations and needed to be restrained."

A shiver ran down my spine at his words, and to my disgust, I realized that a part of me liked his possessiveness; had always liked it.

"I'm not your woman," I responded, trying to put as much venom as I could into my words.

He chuckled as he got very close. "Then why are you half naked in my tent, with my child inside of you and my scent all over your skin?"

I swallowed, wanting to give a smart retort, but his words had made my insides melt.

"Tell me," he purred against my mouth as his lips, still bruised from my bite, brushed against mine.

I jerked my head back, afraid of his venom.

He scowled at me, "Do not be dramatic, human. I was only kissing you."

It sounded almost sweet, and I felt a slight flutter like butterflies in my stomach. I put my arms around his broad shoulders.

"Don't poison me again," I warned him.

"Do not try to kill me again," he answered, a smile playing around the corners of his mouth.

I burst into laughter. All the tension and suffering were momentarily forgotten--had he always been funny, or was I just going insane?

He looked down at me, smiling fully, his eyes sparkling as he beheld me.

"Ch'ish mishtz'in, you are beautiful when you laugh." And with that, he kissed me, and it was soft and tender and made my knees weak. I held on to him, running my hands through his hair, clinging closer to his strong body, and allowed myself to pretend I was safe in his arms.

"I have to go," he said, shutting his eyes for a moment after he broke our embrace. He composed himself and adjusted his armor as he lifted the fabric covering the exit of the tent.

"My men will bring you food and drink while I am away. Later, I will collect you to meet the Counselor."

He opened his mouth as if to say something more, but then he merely turned around, and the opening closed behind him, leaving me stunned in the darkness.