Taken for the Hunt: A Dark Romantic Suspense Read online

  Her shirt rips as she falls, the fabric catching on the bark, and I see an angry red stripe appear on her stomach, but that’s not what I focused on.

  “Please, no! Marco!” She screams, just like I knew that she would. She bucks against me, throwing herself to the ground in a bid to be able to crawl away from me. The loud thunk of her body hitting the ground makes me smile.

  “Please, no, Marco,” I mock, jeering as I wrap my arms around her. She struggles but she’s not strong enough to break free from my grasp.

  I always catch my prey.

  Grabbing her hips, I flip her over then kneel on her, one knee on her hips to hold her down, my hand on her sternum so she can’t continue to buck under me. Her eyes grow wide as I push down harder and harder.

  I don’t want to crack her bones. I just want her to know that I can. I brought Natalia here and I can do anything I want to to her.

  Fucking her yesterday was a mistake. It was a moment of weakness and I have to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again. If it does…I suck in a breath and shake my head.

  “Please, Marco! I know that this isn’t you! You’re too kind to do this! Too nice! Don’t be like this!”

  I growl, grabbing the tear in her shirt and yanking it so that it rips. The sound is loud in the quiet of the trees and she gasps, trying to hold her shirt together. “You don’t know me,” I tell her, sucking in a breath at the sight of her gorgeous body.

  Blood oozes gently from her wound, but that’s not the only thing I’m staring at. I just can’t get over how perfect she is. I want everything that she has to give me, but it’s that kind of thinking that’s going to get me in a fuckload of trouble.

  “Marco,” she pants, no longer pleading. “Marco, be kind.”

  “I’m not kind,” I remind her, grabbing her neck and squeezing it as I lean down closer to her. Her lips are parted and I can feel her breath on my face, I’m so close to her. “I’m never kind.”

  “You could be.” Her voice is breathy because of how tight I’m holding her neck, but I don’t make any movement to loosen my grip. I like knowing that I have her under control. It sends a thrill through me to know that she can talk all she wants but that doesn’t mean that she’s going to get out of this.

  For a moment, it’s like the two of us are stuck in time. She’s stopped squirming and has her eyes wide open and is staring at me.

  The way she’s looking at me. The way her voice changed from terrified to panting. The realization that Natalia wants this hits me hard and I almost can’t believe it.

  It’s too good to be true.

  “What will you do if I pull down your pants, eat you out, make you come on my face?” I ask her, letting go of her throat.

  Something flashes in her eyes and I’m pretty sure that it’s not fear. “What choice do I have?”

  “You have a choice,” I lie. She doesn’t, but there’s no harm in her thinking that she does. “What would you do?”

  “You won’t.” The words are out of her mouth before she can stop them. I see the look of surprise on her face when she realizes what she just said, but she can’t take it back.

  “Why don’t we let your cunt decide for us?” I ask her, adjusting my weight so that I can grab her jeans and pull them down. She shifts under me like she’s thinking about making a run for it, but she doesn’t move.

  She’s too afraid to move.

  Except for the fact that she bucks her hips up at me when I slide my finger along her underwear, down her thigh, and then slip it between her lips. She’s soaking, and I slip my finger into her for just a moment, enjoying how warm and wet she is before I pull my finger back.

  “Just like I thought,” I tell her. “You want this, don’t you, Natalia? Your body is a traitor, letting me know exactly what you want from me and there’s not a fucking thing that you can do to convince me otherwise.”

  “Please,” she whispers, and when she doesn’t finish the statement, I lick my finger, closing my eyes as I taste her.

  “Fucking delicious,” I tell her, looking at her again. I knew from the moment I saw you that you would take fucking amazing, just like you feel.”

  “Marco,” she says, drawing out my name, but I don’t give her any chance to say anything else.

  I grab her thighs, pulling them to me so that she slides across the sand, her cunt up to my face. This close to her I can smell her, the scent heady and strong and I tugged her underwear to the side, sucking in a breath at the sight of her perfect pink lips, all glistening and wet.

  My cock hardens immediately at the sight, but I don’t want to take her like that right now. I want to taste her, feel her grind against my face as I lick and suck her. I want Natalia to scream my name and right now I don’t give a fuck who hears her.

  She reaches down, obviously afraid to say anything to me, but grabs my hair, forking her fingers through it and holding me tight before guiding me slowly to her pussy.

  I take my time, pulling back enough to yank her underwear down, then slipping my finger along her slit as she moans a little, the sound escaping her parted lips.

  My mouth waters to be on her. I want to feel her, taste her, own her. I know what the end will be with Natalia, but I push that from my mind right now as I think about what it will be like to have her to myself again.

  “Tell me what you want,” I whisper, my lips inches from her cunt. She doesn’t respond right away and I turn my head, lightly nipping her inner thighs. Her legs immediately close and I have to press them open again. “Don’t hide your gorgeous cunt from me, Natalia. Tell me what you want.”

  “I want…” Her voice trails off. “I want you to make me come.”

  The last word is almost whispered like she’s ashamed of her desires, but I’m not. Right now she has me all to herself and I’m going to do anything and everything I can to make her feel good.

  That’s my girl, I think then push the thought from my head as I bend, slowly licking my tongue up along her slit. She’s so soft, open for me like a flower, her cunt hot and dripping wet.

  I reach her nub with the tip of my tongue and slowly circle it, sucking hard on it to make her back arch. It does and she lets out a moan, shoving my head farther into her so that I have to lick her more.

  That’s fine with me. Carefully I let go of one her thighs and slip my fingers into her cunt. Her muscles are tight, already her entire body is preparing for the orgasm to come, and she mews as I crook them and stroke along her inner wall.

  “Louder, Natalia,” I command, puling back a little to look at her. Her cheeks are flushed and she has the remains of her shirt clutched in one hand. The other is thrown out from her body, her fist repeatedly grabbing sand and then letting it flow through her fingers.

  “Don’t stop,” she moans, her voice a little louder.

  I grin, bending down to lick her again and am rewarded with more moans. They get louder as I thumb her clit, rolling it under some pressure to help build the tsunami of pleasure threatening to break free in her.

  Her whole body is taut, waiting for the release that I’ve promised her, but I don’t want to give it to her yet. I fall down on her, sucking her lips, slipping my tongue into her cunt, then licking up and around her clit.

  “Marco!” She cries, suddenly bucking up to my face. It’s like I hit a magic button and she can’t seem to stop the sounds coming from her mouth. She’d been so quiet before that I’d almost been worried, but now she’s moaning, rocking her hips up to me, grinding herself against my face.

  I let her use me, licking and sucking at her as I can, then slip my fingers back into her, making her scream.

  It’s what I wanted to hear from her and lets me know that it’s time to let her come. Without pulling back, I suck her clit, flicking it with my tongue as fast as I can as she rocks under me. The muscles in her cunt tighten around my fingers, sucking at them as she starts to crest the wave of pleasure.

  “Don’t stop! Holy fuck, don’t stop!” She cries, buc
king hard into my face.

  She’s thrusting and bucking, her ass leaving the sand each time as she slams into my face, and I use my free hand to grab her hip and pin her back to the sand to force her to ride out her orgasm. Natalia fights me, thrashing under my grasp, then finally peaks and shatters, falling to pieces under my mouth.

  I feel her juice flow from her and I suck it, swirling my tongue around her hot little pussy until her body stops jerking. She lays still and I finally let her up, pulling my fingers from her and licking them off as I look down at her.

  Her hair has come loose from her ponytail and spreads around her head in a dark halo. Even though her lips are parted slightly, I can still hear her panting. I have to resist the urge to strip off my pants and fuck her brains out, but that’s not what I need to do.

  I wanted to taste her, and I did.

  Now I just don’t know what the fuck to do with her.

  Chapter 21

  Natalia

  Something’s wrong.

  I can feel it even though nobody has said anything. There’s a different energy around the building, like everyone’s preparing for something huge but nobody will talk about what it is. It makes me nervous, like I don’t know a big secret that I should, and I make up my mind to talk to Owen about it at the end of our training session.

  He’s putting up the free weights from our workout and even though I’m absolutely exhausted, I walk up to him to help. The weights clink loudly as we put them back on the rack, each one seemingly heavier than the last.

  All I know is that I’m thrilled tomorrow is Saturday so I get the day off training. I have a yoga session in the morning and a massage in the afternoon, and I’m fucking thrilled.

  “So.” I say, then pause when Owen looks at me. “Do you know what’s going on around here? Why is everyone acting so weird?”

  He looks at me warily like he’s not quite sure what he should say to me. Before I came to the island I might have left well enough alone, but I can tell that something’s going on. I haven’t seen Marco since he took me back out to the island and I ran from him in the woods, but even so, I know that something’s up.

  And I need to know what it is.

  Fear that it might be my time to be hunted shoots through me when I see the dark look on Owen’s face. He exhales hard, like what he’s about to tell me isn’t pleasant and I feel my knees go weak.

  “No,” I say, reaching out for the wall to steady myself. “No, Owen, I’m not ready. I’m not fast enough, strong enough.” Tears spring to my eyes as I think about how easily Marco took me down in the woods. It’s ridiculous for me to even hope that I’d be able to stand up to him in the middle of the night.

  I wouldn’t know where he was coming from. I wouldn’t be able to see him running for me. My heart starts to beat harder than it did when we were working out and the edges of my vision start to go fuzzy.

  Owen must realize what I’m thinking as I start to spiral, because he reaches out and grabs my arm, steadying me. “It’s not you, Natalia, okay? I’m sorry. It’s not your night.”

  He sounds a little panicked, like he’s trying his best to make sure that I believe him and I nod, even though the movement of my head makes me feel sick.

  “Not me,” I parrot back to him. “Not my night.”

  “Right.” He nods, then guides me over to a bench to sit. It’s the same place that I’ve been sitting for almost an hour working on my arms but the cushion feels comfortable and I relax onto it gratefully. “There’s a hunt tonight, Natalia, but not you, not yet. Marco told me that he didn’t think you were anywhere near ready.”

  His nerves show in how tight he holds his face and I want to comfort him but I don’t know how to.

  “He doesn’t think I’m ready?” I ask. I’m well aware that I sound like a broken record but I can’t seem to come up with anything else to say. It’s just easier to repeat what Owen is telling me than to try to come up with my own thoughts right now.

  “Right. You will have a hunt, you know,” he says gently, reaching out to rest his hand on my shoulder, “but not yet. Not tonight.”

  I look up at him about to say something but before I can make my tongue work, the door swings open and Marco walks in. His gaze falls on the two of us immediately and I see it darken when he notices that Owen is touching me.

  My trainer jumps back from me like I’ve burned his hand. “Marco,” he says, glancing down at his feet in deference.

  Marco ignores him and walks over to me, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me to my feet. I gasp as he takes hold of the same place that Owen just touched. Where Owen was gentle, Marco is not, and it’s easy to tell just how pissed off he is.

  “Come with me,” he says, pulling me after him.

  I turn to say something to Owen, but he is still staring at his feet, obviously not wanting to make eye contact with either of us.

  “What are you doing?” I ask him, jerking my arm from his grasp as soon as the two of us are in the hall. “You can’t just walk in on my training session and pull me out like that.”

  He spins around, the movement making me take a step back. My back is literally against the wall and Marco closes the gap between us, pinning me in place not only with his eyes, but also with his hips.

  “I can’t walk in on your training session?” He asks, his voice low and full of danger. “I can do whatever the fuck I want, Natalia. Care to tell me what the fuck was going on with you and Owen in there?”

  I’m angry. The emotion rages through me. Even though I’m still afraid of Marco and what he can do to me, I don’t want to let on that he terrifies me. Tilting my head up, I stick my chin out a little. “He was telling me that tonight isn’t my night to die, Marco, which is just fucking thrilling if you think about it.”

  Marco growls, the sound making my skin goosebump. “That doesn’t explain why he was touching you.”

  “Touching me? You mean touching my arm right after he told me that someone else was going to get murdered tonight? Oh, for fuck’s sake, Marco, you want to kill me, you don’t own me. Grow the fuck up.”

  “I do own you.” He slams his hand down next to my head, hitting the wall so hard that I flinch and jump a bit at the sound. “I own you, I fuck you, I’m the one who decides your fate, Natalia, and you would do well to remember that.”

  “Yeah? Kinda like you told Owen that I need more training? That I’m not ready? What is it, Marco, you just like keeping me around to fuck when you want? You know that I have an expiration date, so just fucking do it!”

  His face is inches from mine and I can feel the heat coming off of him. I may have pushed him too hard but it’s too late to take it all back now.

  It’s not that I want to die right now, or ever, for that matter. It’s just that knowing that you have an expiration date and someone else gets to decide when that is fucking sucks. I have no control over when I live and die, and the person who gets to make that decision is a fucking psycho.

  Marco opens his mouth to answer, but before he can, the door at the end of the hall opens up. I turn to see one of the men that Marco was with when he took me. I don’t know his name, but I can see how his eyes narrow as he looks at the two of us in the hall.

  Marco slowly drops his arm from next to me and I almost feel triumphant that he’s letting me go, but I have a feeling I shouldn’t rejoice yet.

  It’s like we just got caught doing something we really weren’t supposed to.

  I know that I’m going to die, but I don’t know what’s going to happen to Marco if the other guys find out that we’ve been fucking. As the man walks down the hall, striding confidently like he has something he can’t wait to tell us, I feel nervous.

  What the fuck is he going to do?

  Chapter 22

  Marco

  The look on Nathan’s face tells me everything that I need to know.

  He knows that I’ve been fucking Natalia. I can see it in his eyes, the way he looks between the two of us. Fuck, I can tell
it in the way he grins a little, his eyebrow cocking up some at the look of panic on her face.

  Natalia can tell too, even though she doesn’t know Nathan like I do. It’s not hard to tell that he knows something’s up. He strolls towards us, stopping short right by Natalia, his eyes slipping up and down her body.

  I have to take a deep breath. Remind myself that Nathan is my best friend. Even though I love the idea of knocking him out for looking at her like that, doing that will only cause more problems than it will solve.

  “What’s going on here?” He finally asks, staring straight at Natalia.

  She’s not looking at him. I can tell that she’s terrified and she has her eyes fixed on a place on the wall just above my head. Her pulse is visible in her throat, a tiny beating there that I want to calm but I know that I can’t do anything to touch her or help her out right now.

  “I was talking to my rabbit about her behavior,” I tell Nathan. When I call her my rabbit, she swallows hard obviously struggling as she remembers the power play between us.

  She has no power. That’s the play.

  “That true, little rabbit?” Nathan asks her, shifting his weight so that he’s standing in between the two of us. When she doesn’t respond right away he reaches out and brushes some of her hair back from her cheek. She’s sweaty and it’s sticky but he doesn’t seem to care.

  He licks his fingers, obviously tasting her sweat. “You didn’t answer me, rabbit. Was your hunter talking to you about your behavior or was something else going on here that you think I should know about?”

  I’m willing her to answer him. Natalia may think that I’m a terrible person coming up with the idea for the island, but she hasn’t met Nathan. She doesn’t understand what he’s willing to do to people to get what he wants. If he thinks that she’s lying to him or holding something back…

  My heart squeezes as I think about what he will do to her. He’ll crush her, destroy her. He’ll bring her to her knees here in the hall, his hands on her neck, but he won’t stop squeezing.