I nipped at her jaw again, dragging my tongue along the nick from my knife so I could taste the tang of her blood, and felt the scratches she'd left on my throat burn in response.
She turned her head toward mine to break the contact. "I don't want this," she said in a fragile voice.
But my vita was not weak. She was strong. She was passionate. She did want this. She wanted me. And she needed to remember that.
Something dark and acrid coated my tongue as another ugly thought forced its way through the chaos in my mind. Was she remembering my brother's hands on her? Was there more that had happened between them while she was there? Things she wasn't telling me? Had he carved out a piece of her to keep when he'd scarred her beautiful flesh? Something primitive and animalistic rumbled deep in my chest and rose to the back of my throat.
What he'd done to her made my stomach heave. And yet she'd showed no fear when I pulled my own knife on her. Twice now I'd drawn blood, and she'd barely flinched.
Had she encouraged him to do this to her? Did it get her off? Had she enjoyed sucking his cock? He hadn't raped her, she'd said. Was that her way of telling me he hadn't needed to?
As these thoughts and more tripped over themselves in my head, everything went red. The small part of me that remained sane knew I was reaching, that these things made no sense. But the other part of me, that primeval part of myself, was louder by far. So loud I wanted to scream with the need to mark Veda as my own as Mario had done.
Dragging her over to the chair she'd just vacated, I sat down, shoving her to her knees in front of me. My cock was already swollen to bursting, aching with the need to come down her throat. To coat her inside and out as mine. "Stay right where you fucking are," I ordered as I undid my pants.
She watched me with wide eyes, but did as I said. When my cock sprang free, so hard the head was thick and purple, her lips parted on a gasp, even as she looked away.
Leaning forward, I grabbed her by the hair she'd piled on top of her head, only vaguely noticing it was still damp from her shower. "Put me in your mouth."
"No." Her jaw was clenched tight.
Pulling her face closer, I rubbed the tip of my cock against her lips, coating them with the drops of come that were already leaking from the tip. "Suck me, Veda." I knew I was acting like a monster. No better than my goddamned brother. But I needed this. I needed her to show me, even if she wouldn't admit it out loud, that it was me she craved.
She pressed her lips together.
Furious that she wouldn't accept me, I grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it up and off, tossing it on my desk. The bra she wore was plain and pink. Innocent. It made me pause, but only for a second. I shoved the straps down over her shoulders and arms until the cups folded down and exposed her perfect breasts. She said nothing, didn't fight me or try to get up. She just kneeled there with a mulish expression on her face that only infuriated me more.
The "M" on her chest was still swollen and discolored, with a thin red line down the middle and shiny from the Vaseline I'd applied. My own chest burned as I stared at it, the roar in my ears so loud I could only feel my own pounding heart. Taking my cock in my hand, I ran my palm up and down its length. Then again. A moan escaped me the third time, and I picked up the pace, squeezing my sex in an almost painful grip. I realized Veda was watching me, her lips parted and her breath coming in pants. Yet she held perfectly still, her shoulders tense.
I fell back in the chair as my balls tightened, my eyes on her mouth and tits and my hips lifting with each stroke of my hand. The pressure began at the base of my spine, and I levered my body up to grab her by the hair again. I held her still as my cock pulsed in my hand, my orgasm hitting so fast and hard I yelled out with the intensity of it.
I coated that fucking letter on her chest with my come until it was dripping from her breasts. And when there wasn't a drop left in me, I released my sex and rubbed it into her raw skin, marking her as mine. And only mine.
But it wasn't enough. Wasn't nearly enough. I yanked on her hair until her chin came up and took her lips with mine, forcing her to accept me. When she finally…finally!…opened to me on a moan, I felt my sex begin to harden again. But I pulled my mouth away and rested my forehead against hers. "You make me fucking crazy, amore."
She said nothing at all. Didn't move. Didn't try to look at me. And now that I could see something other than the red haze of my anger and jealousy, that bothered me more than her rejection.
I closed my eyes and cursed softly. "I'm sorry," I told her. Taking her face between my palms, I met her eyes. "I'm sorry," I repeated.
"No," she finally said. "You're not. So do me the decency of not lying to me about it."
She was right. I wasn't fucking sorry. Not at all. I fixed her bra straps and handed her her shirt, a surge of satisfaction rushing through me to see my come drying on her mutilated skin.
As soon as she was decent, I pulled her up into my lap and wrapped my arms around her. I sighed, my anger diminished for the moment. "You can't leave me, Veda. I won't allow it."
If she heard the raw need in my voice, she didn't react to it.
She cleared her throat. "Are you happy now?" she asked me. "Does… does…humiliating me like this make you feel more like a man? Do you feel better now that you practically pissed all over me like a dog?"
I pulled back and stared down into her gray eyes, wet with tears she wouldn't shed. She was right. What I'd done to her just now wasn't something I'd do to one of my lowest whores. But goddammit. This woman was mine. MINE! And no, I didn't feel the least bit guilty for proving that to her. "Yes, I do," I told her.
My honesty took her by surprise, and she stiffened in my arms as she stared at me. She jerked her eyes away and changed the subject. "I'd like to continue the self-defense stuff with Enzo."
A gruff laugh escaped. "So you can take me down and escape?"
"Yes." There wasn't an ounce of humor in her voice.
I studied her. She was perfectly serious. "If you want to learn how to beat me in a fight, then you'll train with me." I trusted Enzo with my life, and Veda's, but there was no fucking way anyone else was laying a hand on her from now on except for me.
"I'd rather train with Enzo."
"No."
She weighed my response and decided not to fight me. At least not now. "I'd like to get the rest of my stuff from my apartment. If they haven't evicted me yet and thrown it all away."
"You haven't been evicted. Tristan found out where you lived the day we found out who you really were and I've been paying your rent."
Her head snapped around to look at me, her expression shocked. "You have?"
"Of course." I didn't know why that came as such a surprise. The monthly amount was minuscule, and I barely noticed it coming out of my account.
"Thank you," she told me.
Her gratitude was genuine, and it made me uncomfortable after what I'd just done. "It's nothing. I'll send a couple of my men to collect your things."
"I want to go myself."
"No." My answer was swift and final.
I felt her stiffen just before she jumped out of my lap and swung around to face me. "You can't just keep me locked away like a bird in a cage!"
"I can. And I will."
The tears that had threatened finally overflowed to run down her cheeks. If she noticed them, she didn't show it. Her hands fisted at her sides. "Luca. You can't."
I sat up in my chair, my elbows on the arms, and pressed the tips of my fingers together. Tilting my head to the side in a silent question, I waited for her to realize I would do whatever the fuck I wanted, especially in my own home. And what I wanted was for her to stay here, with me, where no one else would ever touch her again.
She took a breath and regrouped. "Luca, please. I've been locked up in your house for weeks."
I raised one eyebrow.
"Look," she said, her voice carefully level. "I know you have good intentions, and I'm not completely stupid. If you say I'd be in danger on my own, then I believe you. I mean, it makes sense. But…" She looked around as if she'd find the words she was trying to say on the floor, or perhaps the walls. "Luca," she finally said, her eyes pleading with me to see her side of it. "What kind of life will that be for me? My entire life will pass me by with me locked up here until what? Until you tire of me and don't give a shit anymore? Until you die? Then what'll happen to me?"
The way I felt right now, with my body already hardening for her again, I didn't see myself ever tiring of her. Dying, on the other hand…there wasn't any avoiding that. "I'll make arrangements to make sure you're taken care of."
"So I'm just supposed to wander around this house like a ghost? Luca…I'd go insane."
I stared up at her as she stood there, arms akimbo and pleading gray eyes luminous with her tears. If I had my choice, I would lock her away in my bedroom and never let her step foot outside of it. Not even to the balcony to get some sun. But I had to admit to myself that perhaps she was right. It wouldn't be healthy for her. And maybe we could find some sort of middle ground. "Let me think about it."
She looked like she wanted to say more, but in the end, she just nodded. "Okay. Thanks."
I gave her a nod and stood. "I'll get with my men about going to get your things. What we can't find room for here, we can put in storage until you decide what you want to do with it."
"Okay," she said softly. "That would be great."
"Don't look at me like that," I told her quietly. Then I kissed her hard and sent her off, her bare feet silent on the hard floors.
Reaching across my desk, I picked up my cell and called Lisa, who answered on the first ring.
"Yes, sir? Did you need something?'
"Would you please keep an eye on Veda? And call me immediately if she tries to leave the house."
"Of course. And Kevin is about to head out to pick up the things he needs to increase your security system."
"Excellent. Thank you, Lisa."
"Let me know if you need anything else, Mr. Morelli."
"I will." Ending the call, I texted Enzo. We had a lot to do to before my meeting with my father tomorrow.