Wicked Ugly Bad (A Kinda Fairytale) (17 page)

Her
whole body shook with warm, wet convulsions, her mind going blank with
pleasure.  Scarlett processed golden eyes watching her, drinking in her ecstasy
as she climaxed.  His hungry, triumphant expression just pushed her higher.  It
felt better than anything she’d ever felt.  She cried out, glorying in it,
riding his palm all the way through the aftershocks.  After a timeless moment,
she slumped against him, replete and struggling to breathe.

“Beautiful.” 
He murmured into her ear, cuddling her closer.

Letty
blinked back a sudden rush of tears.  No one had ever called her beautiful.  As
reality returned, she began to feel confused and unsure.  What had just
happened?  She’d never done anything like that before.  It was wrong.

Except,
maybe she really
was
going crazy, because this man just feel… right.

“They
were totally justified in locking you up.”  She tilted her head to look at him. 
“You really are dangerous.”

“Never
to you.”  His thumb came up to brush against the bruise the blond wolf had left
on her cheek and his face grew serious.  “I’m sorry, Letty.  I never expected a
wolf to hit a woman.”

“It
wasn’t your fault.”  Scarlett glanced away, off-balance by how gentle he was
with her.

Why
was it so easy to be with a man who’d annoyed her every day she’d known him? 
Marrok hadn’t even had to try hard to talk her into it.  She’d been eager and
willing and she’d wanted him.  She
still
wanted him.  What was wrong
with her?  They’d just been talking about Charming.  Now, Marrok probably
thought she was like all the skanky women who hit on him because he was so
attractive.

She
shouldn’t be doing this.

Scarlett
cleared her throat and moved away from him, straightening her clothes.  “So, are
you ready to explain your plan for getting us out of this cell?”  She asked,
not meeting his eyes.

Marrok
sighed and reluctantly released her.  “Back to business?”

She
gave a jerky nod.

“You
think it’ll be that easy?”

“
Yes.
” 
It had to be.  This couldn’t happen.  Not this way.  Whatever was going on she
could control it.

“Alright.”
 Marrok sounded amused.  “Well, my plan is simple.”  He arched a brow.  “I’m
going to seduce you.”

Drusilla had
a lot to say in our private session today.  As usual, none of it made any
sense.

Psychiatric
case notes of Dr. Ramona Fae

The
dwarf guard opened the cell door and stood silhouetted on the threshold. 
“Which one of you says you wanna see Dr. White?”

“That
would be me.”  Marrok stood up and dusted his hands together.  “Is she ready to
meet with me?”

“Yep.”

“Excellent. 
I think she’ll be pleased with the progress of my mission.”  He looked over at
Letty who was standing against the opposite side of the cell.  “So long, Red. 
It was fun.”

It
was hard to know if her look of extreme aggravation was part of the act or
genuine.

Scarlett
was busily panicking over their PG-rated tryst, no doubt trying to figure out
where she’d gone wrong in her Good little life that she’d landed in the arms of
a wolf.  The woman had started freaking out seconds after her mouthwatering
orgasm against his hand.

Thank
God he hadn’t gone with his first instinct to take her against the wall or she
probably would’ve fainted.  If he pushed her too fast, Letty might go back to
her plan to break the True Love bond.

And
Marrok had been totally serious earlier.  He’d never,
ever
agree to
that.

He
needed to tread very carefully and coax her into this, because he was more
determined than ever to keep this woman.  Luckily, Scarlett’s own instincts were
working in his favor.  Her body knew she belonged to him.  She responded to his
touch even better than he’d imagined.  Soft and sweet and perfect.  She’d
looked up at him with dazed blue eyes and Marrok had seen exactly how it was
supposed to be.  He just had to convince Letty to see it, too.

…And
escape from the insane asylum.

His
plan on that front was fairly straightforward.  Dr. White was expecting him to
seduce Scarlett and bring her information about the glass slipper.  So why not
send word that he’d been successful?  It was a guaranteed door opener.  Snow
White was eager for any scrap of information, no matter what the hour.

Although,
the doctor had no clue how hard it was to seduce Scarlett or she’d know it was
a trap.  Marrok had never worked harder in his life…  Or been so sexually
frustrated.

“What
time is it?”  Scarlett asked the dwarf.

He
flashed her a distracted look.  “Eleven forty.”

Marrok
saw Scarlett stifle a wince.  Timing had been a problem in a place with no
clocks or windows, so they were cutting it close to the ten to midnight
deadline.

The
dwarf stepped into the room to motion Marrok forward with a “hurry up”
gesture.  “Dr. White isn’t happy to be dragged out of bed at this hour, so this
had better be important, Wolf.”

“Oh,
it is.”  Marrok assured him, sauntering forward.  “I’m going to tell her how
this woman right here is really a unicorn.”

“What?” 
The dwarf’s tone was a mixture of amazement and doubt.  He automatically looked
over at Scarlett, scanning for hooves and a horn.

The
second his attention left Marrok, Marrok moved.  He seized the guy by the front
of his uniform, dragging him forward.  He slapped a palm over the dwarf’s
mouth, so he couldn’t cry out, and slammed the guy’s head into the stone wall. 
The guard’s unconscious body slumped to the floor.  That was simple.  Marrok
dragged him further into the cell, dumping him on the hay mattress.

“You
sure do knock out a lot of people.”  Scarlett observed.

“Only
under your peace-loving orders, Red.”

She
made a face at him.  “Let’s just find the boiler room.”  She hurried over to
peer out into the hall.  At this time of night, the WUB Club worked on a
skeleton crew, so it was empty.  “Alright, this way.”  She started off with a
determined stride.

Marrok
grabbed the guard’s keys and weapons, then followed her.  He locked the cell
door behind them, trapping the guy inside, and jogged a few steps to catch up
with his indomitable True Love.  The girl was always plowing ahead with her new
and interesting ideas.  Marrok was immune to being inspired and even he was
almost inspired.  “Do you know where the boiler room is?”

“Basically.”

“Basically?”

“Well,
I know it’s down here somewhere.”  She looked around the endless rows of doors
and gray stone.  “Maybe we should split up to find it.”

Leave
Letty alone with bastards so rotten they were locked in the basement of a
prison?  Yeah… that wasn’t going to happen.  “No.  We do this together.”

“Are
you worried about me?”  She sounded almost confused by the idea.

“I’m
worried about
me
.  There are scary people down here.”

She
shot him a glare, not believing his careless lie.  “If we don’t cut the backup
power in the next ten minutes, we’ll be stuck here forever.  You get that,
right?”

“You’re
assuming that Avenant and the others can cut the main power on time.” 
Something Marrok was
at all
convinced about.  “And that Benji shows up
with the boat.  And that the rest of this crazy plan actually works.  Chances are
we’re going to be stuck, anyway.”

“I
don’t think so.”  She said with a sad and adorable faith in their fellow
criminals.  “I think that they’ll…”

“Scarlett!” 
Dr. Ramona suddenly shrieked.  “You
bitch!
  I’ll get you for this!”

Letty
and Marrok whirled around and saw Esmeralda’s fake face scowling at them
through the small barred window of a cell door.

“I
know you’re the one who put the group up to this!”  Ramona tried to squeeze her
hand through the bars and grab at Scarlett.  “None of the others have the
brains to pull off something so twisted and cruel.”

“I
think she just insulted me.”  Marrok looked down at Scarlett.  “That doesn’t
that show empathy for my ego-construct.”

“If
it makes you feel any betters, I think you’re capable of unimaginably cruel and
twisted things.”  Letty assured him.

“You’ll
never get away with this!”  Ramona screeched with clichéd mania.  “Whatever you
have planned, it will all be over when I get my real face back.  I’ll tell them
everything
about that infamous ball!”

Scarlett
paled.  “You don’t know…”

Ramona
cut her off.  “Drusilla told me
plent
y in our private sessions.  Things
I doubt you want anyone to find out about that night.  Things I bet you’ve kept
secret from
him
.”  She looked towards Marrok, her eyes wild.  “Did she
tell you about Charming and sex in the garden?”

He
cringed and glanced at Letty.  “Please
don’t
tell me about that.”  It
was the last thing Marrok ever wanted to hear.  Scarlett touching Charming was
the stuff of his nightmares.  Her soft body opening to another man, panting
Charming’s name with those sweet little sounds…

Fuck.

Scarlett’s
jaw firmed as she stepped closer to Ramona’s cell.  “Tell whoever you want.”  She
hissed.  “Everyone will find out soon enough.”  Turning on her heel, Letty
started off again, but Marrok could see she was shaken.

“It’s
all over, Scarlett!”  Ramona gripped the bars of the small window and rattled
the cell door.  “You know it is!  There’s no way you can win!”

“She’s
a terrible doctor.”  Letty muttered, pretending to ignore Ramona’s rant.

Marrok
sighed.  “Baby, whatever happened between you and that asshole, I don’t care.” 
Actually he cared
a lot
, but there was nothing he could do about it. 
Besides, he fully planned to keep her away from Charming for the rest of
forever after, so he could cope as long as he didn’t dwell on the visuals.  And
if that didn’t work, he could always just kill the guy.  Either way, he didn’t
like seeing her upset.  “You don’t have to tell me anything.”

“That’s
a relief, because I don’t plan to.”  She retorted, still out of sorts.  “What
happened at that ball is…”  She stopped short, her eyes falling on a door down
the hall.

The
words “Boiler Room:  Stay Out!!!” were painted on the wooden surface.

“Thank
God.”  Scarlett raced forward.  She tried to open the door, but found it
locked.

“Here.” 
Marrok handed her the guard’s keys and she wrenched open the door.

The
boiler room looked like a boiler room.  There was equipment and pipes and a
stack of brooms, mops and gardening equipment leaning in the corner.

Scarlett
immediately headed for a utility panel on the wall.  “I think that’s it.” 
Thick cables came out of the top of the gray box.  “If we sever the connection
here, the backup system won’t be able to switch on.”  She hesitated.  “Well,
according to my internet search on ‘how to cut power to a building.’”

“Sounds
reliable to me.”  Marrok arched a brow.  “Did it say
how
to sever it?”

“I
was sort of skimming.”  She stepped forward to squint at the switches and
wires.  “Any thoughts?”

“None
that won’t get us fried.”

“Damn
it!  We have to…”

The
lights blinked out.

All
over the WUB Club, the electricity went off.  Machines shut down.  Computers
went dark.  Magic inhibiting anklets stopped working.

Avenant
and the others must have cut the main power supply.

“Oh
no!”  Scarlett stared up at the ceiling.  “They’re early!”

“I
told you they’d fuck it up.”  Given the mental limitations of the rest of the
group, it was pretty much a given.  Marrok hated to agree with Ramona, but the
doctor had a point.  Without Scarlett standing over their shoulders and
directing them, they were like headless geese.

And
not the semi-intelligent golden-egg laying geese.  The regular stupid kind.

“We
have fifteen seconds.”  Scarlett said desperately.  “Otherwise everything will
shut down.  We have to sever the backup system…”  She trailed off with a squeak
as Marrok grabbed an axe from the stack of tools in the corner.  “What are you
doing?  Don’t!  You’re going to be electrocuted!”

“I
know.”  Marrok agreed with an irritated sigh and slammed the blade into the
thick cables protruding from the box.  A shower of sparks flew into the air.

Scarlett
shouted his name in panic and Marrok went flying across the room.

With
the magic inhibiting ankle bracelet disabled, he could shift into his wolf
form.  To Marrok and most of his kind, the wolf was their natural state.  Being
locked away from the other half of himself had been the worst part of the WUB
Club.  It had been months, but changing was so natural to him that he didn’t
even have to think about it.