The Sect (18 page)

Noah released Jayme immediately. Sighing, he ran his hand up and over his hair before he turned to approach me. “If I may, allow her a chance to pray for her sins and seek atonement. I think…she’d be open to showing you how obedient she can be at this point.”

Reven rounded my body, staring at Noah without anger or notions of reprimanding him. He glanced at the men standing on either side of me and gave them a nod. They untied me and removed the dinner napkin from my mouth. Noah walked toward me, his erection still fully intact and glistening. He stared at me, saying so many things without uttering a word.
 

I understood every word, and for some reason, it made it easy to fall to my knees. I opened my mouth, letting the head of his cock disappear between my lips. The tartness of her taste should’ve repelled me, but his taste was so much stronger. I sucked him down, taking his entire shaft in my mouth until the swollen head tickled the back of my throat.
 

“Fuck, princess,” he cursed quietly in surprise, his hand got lost in the back of my head as he fought to brace himself. I looked at him, shocked to see his reaction to me. His eyes were half closed, and his bottom lip disappeared between his teeth. He lifted his shirt, clutching it tightly to his sternum and revealed a small glimpse of his nicely defined abs.
 

 
He gazed down at me, grimacing as though he was fighting against letting go. The more I sucked and slurped, the tighter his fist balled, and the more he sank his teeth into his lip. “Touch your pussy, Keaton,” he whispered so low I could barely hear. I slipped my hands underneath my dress, doing what I fought hard against many times in the shower. With my fingers between my slick lips, I began to manipulate my clit wildly.

His hand clasped the back of my head firmer. Groaning, his hips began to strain against me. He cursed my name and the moment thick, bitter liquid touched my throat, my body responded. My fingers became slicked with my climax. The electricity pooling through my body made me moan with his hardness in my mouth.

He withdrew from me, keeping a firm grip on my hair. He took a moment to catch his breath and close his eyes before he regarded me again. “Open your mouth.”

I did, showing him that I swallowed every bit of him.

“Good, princess.” He fought with a smirk, pleasure and peace staking claim on his expression. “State loud enough for him to hear: Thank you for absolving me of my sins. I’ll vow to do better in your name.”

I blinked, unsure.

“Do it, Keaton,” he hissed, keeping up his quiet volume. “For one fucking time, obey.”

I quickly said the words, shouting them loud enough for Reven to hear. Pleased, Noah stepped back, tucking his erection back in his pants.

I saw Reven staring at me, his eyes darting between Noah and me. “I’d thought you lost your touch and could’ve considered her your first failure. However, she hasn’t yet learned that I am the most important person in the room. Her obedience should’ve been mine to claim first.”

“Still,” Noah began with a shrug of indifference, “what she did should release her from the usual repercussions, shouldn’t it? The rules apply to everyone but you, correct?”

Reven glanced at the daunting men. “Was that a purposeful mistake? You’re immune to The Doctrine.”

“But not the rules,” Noah gave Reven a shit-eating grin.
 

From the way the henchmen stood around, ogling me and trying not to touch the bulge in their pants, I knew why Noah had done what he did.

He saved me.

 
“She’s been pardoned from the full extent of my wrath,” Reven said slowly, his face contorted in displeasure. “But she will need to be punished in the usual way.” Reven’s attention shot to me. “Noah’s actions have saved you from my men. I would’ve handed you to them to punish, tear apart, and taint your soul. You would’ve been rendered useless when they were done with you. Useless individuals who reside inside my home are usually discarded.” Approaching me, his strong hand around my neck, he lifted me, ensuring the ground was quickly swept from underneath my feet. My back was slammed into the wall. The choking hold Reven had around my neck made me panic and fight for breath. Reven’s eyes were cold and empty with something beyond fury. I looked into his eyes, frightened that he would kill me in that very spot. I raised my arms in defense.
 

His grip strengthened. “You are never to touch me unless I allow it. Put your hands down, Keaton.”

The circulation of my blood began to cease, my body began to burn with tiny pinpricks. I struggled for air—struggled for life. The energy to fight was siphoned from me.

“Fight me,” Reven chided me. “Disobey me. It doesn’t matter; you won’t win this fight. You never will. When the time comes, I’ll decide who gets to fuck you first, but rest assured it will happen. Until you learn how to behave, you will remain in isolation. Your actions with Noah have guaranteed that isolation will be had in your room and not the deprivation space in the basement. Grasp this concept quickly; my wrath is unending. Show me that you are a woman worthy of becoming a herald of Rebirth.”
 

He removed his hand from my throat, allowing me to breathe again. I gasped as I sucked in a large amount of air, nearly choking on it. My throat was sore and pained. My recovery was short lived. Reven’s hand tangled in my hair, throwing me across the table. I hit the table with a thud, tumbling to the ground. I looked up in confusion, catching a glimpse of Reven taunting Noah with his contemptuous smile. “I’m usually a man of my word. However, I take issue with a man I trust having personal feelings for a woman who belongs to me. He needs to be reminded that everything belongs to me.” Reven looked at the two men. “Use her as you please, give us a show, but leave her alive.”

With huge grins, the two men strolled over to me. I rolled over, trying to find a way to escape, but two men standing in wait grabbed my limbs pinning me in place.

“Shut her up,” one growled over my screams.

Before the napkin was stuffed in my mouth, I blurted out information I held sacred. Information I didn’t want to release because I was fearful of what it might’ve meant for me. “Please! Don’t. I’m a virgin!”

The room froze.
 

“Not only are you an ungrateful bitch,” spat the man above me, “but you’re a liar, too. Gag this bitch.”

The taps of Reven’s shoes neared. Not a word was said, but whatever was done made the men release me and step away. Reven towered over me, studying my face for a few counted moments. He grabbed me by the crown of my hair and abruptly stuck two fingers inside me and pushed all the way up to the end of my canal.

I screamed, struggling against the restraining grip of the two men holding me down.
 

He withdrew his fingers, shaking his head. Confusion flooded his face for the briefest moment. “The Madonna,” he muttered before regarding his two henchman. “Take her back to her room. Have her wait for me while Noah and I have a very private discussion.”

T
HE
ENTIRE
night, I experienced a fitful sleep. I flicked on the light and stared at the crystal chandelier that hung in the middle of the bedroom, to the gold wall valances, to the heavy velvet curtains, and textured dark red wallpaper on the accent wall.
 

Minutes were hours, or maybe hours were minutes. My limbs shook with anticipation. My mind went wild with the possible outcomes of my confession. The possibilities were unending and forced unfettered sobs to expel from deep inside my chest.

The air in the dim room began to thin when the door opened. Noah appeared, his clothing changed from what he’d worn earlier. A light mist was over his skin and his hair was damp. His fresh scent wafted in the air, indicating he’d just freshly showered. He stood in the doorframe, dressed in a black dress shirt with the top button undone and a pair of slacks. His eyes held me pensively as he thumbed his chin. “Your punishment begins now. Follow me.” He turned, disappearing down the hall.

It made no sense to follow him while knowing what he was going to do to me. My deference was provoked by the way he’d promised to punish me. It made me think my worst fear might not actually come to fruition.

I followed him downstairs and down the hall of the first floor that led to the basement. After descending the stairs, we made our way toward the room that opened me up and bruised me all at once. He stopped abruptly, his back broadening. Spinning quickly, he grabbed my shoulders and shoved me into the deprivation room, closing the door.

In the pitch-black darkness, I tried to find my way around, but stumbled and slipped back against the soft walls.
 

“Explain,” he pressed without anger or perceptible interest.

The fearful trembles of my body increased. “Explain…what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Keaton. Explain to me how you can be a virgin when you’ve been fucked before?” His voice intoned and the taps of his shoes echoed, indicating he was pacing the room. I hadn’t the slightest idea how he could see. I couldn’t decipher my hand in front of my face no matter how much I wanted to.

“It’s complicated.”

“Make it uncomplicated,” he snapped.

“I don’t…know where to start.”

“The beginning would be a good place.”

“It wasn’t exactly a lie. Or maybe it was and I just don’t want to count it. My first time—I was…I was forcibly sodomized.” I bit my lip, holding back the tears. “It was the only time I’d ever had sex, so I guess to make it easier, I negated it.”

He audibly sighed, his pacing back and forth slowed. The sounds of the heels of his shoes fell silent.
 

“Are you going to tell Reven?”

Silence cut thickly as I waited for his answer. With every passing second, my gut sank lower than I thought possible. Things rustled quietly, too quietly for me to figure out what was happening. “I understand why you’d think that. More than I can ever tell you why. Reven never looked at your file—at least not all of it. He only knows what I’ve told him and I know—or thought I knew everything. I…will never tell him that you were raped. I’m going to lie for you, and I’m going to make sure it’s definitely a lie tonight.”

I clutched my pounding chest, searching aimlessly for him in the darkness.
It was my worst fear.
“W—what?”

The flicker of light and the switching sound of the lighter called my attention. I tried to focus, and couldn’t. The light remained constant as I realized he’d lit a candle in the corner of the black room. He stood on the other side completely naked. His shoulders were well-muscled and broad. His chest muscles were perfectly shaped. His six-pack abs formed an angled waist that led to a prominent groin muscle. He was hairless, save for the tuft of very dark trimmed pubic hair surrounding a nearly hard and almost intimidating cock. Everything about his body looked as though it was sculpted by a skilled hand. Some of the old scars on his back seeped through to the other side. It didn’t matter. The man was undeniably beautiful.

I crossed my arms across my chest, feeling just as naked as he. Embarrassed to admit, it was the first time I’d seen a man completely naked in person. He looked just as good, if not better, than the men I saw half-dressed in ads selling sex disguised as products. The scars pulled at an empathetic side of me. “What if I don’t want this?” I asked in a whisper quiet.

With his chin tilted to his chest, he called my bluff with a mocking smile. “It’s either me or Reven, princess. And you don’t want—what you’d consider as your first time—to be with him.”

My lip quivered as I gaped at him in shock. “Why would I want it to be with you?”

“As I’ve said, there is very little I don’t know about you, Keaton. And what I don’t know, I only have to touch your body to find out the truth.” He paced toward me, pressing his body against mine. The ripples and skips in his very nice form were easily felt through the thin material of my dress. He slipped his hands down to my hips, lifting my dress and pulling it over my head without resistance. His hands palmed the wall behind me as he leaned forward.
 

My head tilted forward as I hoped to meet his lips with mine. In the middle of obtaining my goal, he withdrew. My hand moved up to touch him and he shoved it back down.
 

“No matter what he says,” he rasped, “you are a gift. Your body is a gift only I will unwrap, because only I know how to do it. We will stay in this room until you realize that.”