The Rise (The Kings and Gods #3)

Chapter 8

Lana

I lift my head from my chest and glance around before holding my arm up in front of my face. They stitched it back up after pulling the tracker out. I don’t know how I feel about that. I’m now left at their mercy without anyone knowing where I am.

I hear the door slam, and I jolt a little. When I look up, I see Hunter stalking toward me with a plate in his hand. He opens the cage door and enters, setting it in front of me.

“Eat.”

“No.”

“Then fucking starve!” He roars at me. He’s mad. He has every right to be mad. Hunter turns and walks out of the cage, slamming the door behind him.

“I’m sorry, Hunter.” He stops walking, his head tipping back as if he’s trying to contain his emotions or keep his anger in check. When he finally turns to face me, I can see the hurt and rage in his eyes.

“What did you think would happen, Lana? That they’d come in here, kill us, and save your ass?”

“I don’t know what I thought would happen. I’ve never done this before,” I tell him. He huffs a laugh.

“Never done this before? Or have you done it many times? Have you been sent out to do a little recon and fuck the good guys to get what you want?” I shake my head.

“It’s not like that.” Now, he moves toward the cage, grabbing it in his hands.

“Then tell me what it’s like, Lana. What the fuck are you doing here?” Tears slide down my cheeks now. I shouldn’t tell him this. I shouldn’t tell him anything because Ray is going to kill me if I do, but Hunter? Hunter can save those kids. That’s what they do.

“I was supposed to find out what I could about you guys and report back.”

“How are you to report back?”

“I was supposed to find a way out,” I tell him. He laughs now.

“Find a way out? Look at what I’ve built, Lana! Do you think I’d let you walk out of here?” he screams at the top of his lungs at me.

“I … I didn’t know.”

“So you fucked me. You tried to get into my good graces, thinking I would take pity on you and let you go. Is that it?” I shake my head. Why did I fuck him? Because I wanted to. Because I watched him that day with those kids and it pulled at something deep inside of me. I saw the good in all the bad that he does, even after only a week.

“No. That’s not it,” I deny, my voice shaking now.

“I’ve been fucked over before, Lana. Too many times to count, and I won’t be fucked over again.”

“You cut the tracker out of me!”

“And that means what? That I should let you go?” I shake my head.

“I don’t want you to let me go.”

“What?”

“I don’t want you to let me go!” I say louder this time. He looks confused, and I get it. I can’t go back there. I can’t be a part of what they’re doing. I want to stay here. I want to be here. I want to help, but at what cost to me?

“Then what the fuck do you want, Lana?” He growls at me.

“I want to stay here.” Now he laughs again.

“I’ve had you here a week. A whole fucking week, and you want to stay?” I nod my head. “Why?”

“I don’t want to help them steal children. I don’t want to see their little faces, knowing they’re never going to see their families again. Do you know how badly that hurts?”

“I see it every time we get a group in here. I see the look in their eyes, but I also see the hope. And that’s what we give them, Lana. We give them hope to see their families again. You take it away!”

“No! I’ve never done that! All I did was care for them. I fed them, sat with them, read to them!” Tears keep rolling down my cheeks as Hunter watches me intently. I don’t know what he’s looking for, and I don’t know if he’ll find it in me.

“It’s your family, Lana. Your family is doing this!”

“I know that. Don’t you think I fucking know that? I’ve lived it, Hunter. I’ve lived the fear those children do,” I scream as I climb to my feet and yank my shirt off. I turn my back to him now so he can see all the scars. He can see what they did to me. I don’t turn back when I hear the cage door open. I stay here with my shirt up, baring it all to the world, to him.

Then I feel his fingers run over the scars on my back.

“Who was it?”

“A friend of my father’s.”

“A name, Lana. I want a name.”

“I don’t have a name. I knew him as Master.” Hunter roars behind me, and then I hear the cage shaking. When I lower my shirt and turn to look at him, his fingers are white, gripping the cage.

“I should have told you, but I was scared. They’ve never sent me out to do anything like this. I didn’t know if I could trust you or if you’d kill me.” Hunter slowly lets go of the cage and turns to face me. His hands are in fists at his sides as he stalks slowly toward me. I step back and then back again, seeing the anger in his eyes. When my back hits the wall, there’s nowhere else for me to go. Hunter’s hands come to rest on either side of me, caging me in against the wall. My heart beats faster not knowing what to do. What the hell is happening? There’s no escaping him. There’s nowhere for me to run.

He's breathing heavily as he looks down at me, not saying a word. His chest heaves with every breath he takes.

“You didn’t know if you could trust me?” he asks me. I nod my head. “And do you? Trust me?” I’ve seen him kill. I watched him torture, I watched him care for those kids, I watched him do the best he could for them, and I saw the look in his eyes when they had to go.

“Yes.” He grins, but it’s a dark, scary grin.

“Stupid girl,” he hisses before his lips come down crashing against mine. His hand moves, wrapping around the back of my head, holding me in place as he devours my mouth with his. I’ve kissed men before, but nothing like this. I’ve never felt like this.

He keeps kissing me, pressing my body into the wall. I’m crushed between him and the hard wall, and I can’t seem to care.

Hunter finally pulls away and steps back from me. He looks unsure of what to say, so he says nothing. Hunter turns and walks out of the cage, leaving me inside but not locking the door. I watch him leave the room, knowing he did it on purpose.

I debate going out there, but I don’t know if I should. Maybe he needs time alone. Maybe he needs to think.

And maybe I do, too. No, I don’t. I don’t want to go back there. Ever. So I hold my head high, and I walk out of the cage and out into the main room. Hunter’s there, standing in the middle of the room with his hands on his hips and his head bowed forward.

“On your knees,” he demands without even looking over at me. I think twice about doing it, but then I drop to my knees and wait.

“Crawl to me,” he says without turning around. I swallow hard and crawl across the floor and around in front of him, keeping my head down. Hunter reaches down and raises my head with his fingers like he’s done before. “Never look down. Always up at me.” I nod my head as I watch the anger slowly slip away from him. His rough, calloused fingers slowly stroke my cheek when Hoax walks in. I try to move away from him, but Hunter just grips my chin firmly in his hand, keeping me in place.

Hoax doesn’t say anything; he just walks past us and out the other door. Hunter goes back to stroking my face before roughly shoving his fingers into my mouth. He presses back into my throat until I gag, and he moans.

“Suck them,” he demands, and I seal my lips around them. He pulls them in and out so slowly I feel like I’m going to explode. Heat coils inside me, but Hunter doesn’t stop moving his fingers in and out of my mouth. I moan around them, and he presses them further down my throat again. I gag, and he smiles.

“I want nothing more than to fuck you right now.” He pulls his fingers free and gazes down at me.

“Then do it.”

“No.”

“What do you mean no?” I ask him. He reaches for me once more, stroking my cheek before slapping it. It wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t gentle either. It was just enough to send heat between my thighs, and he knows it. He cocks his head to the side and watches me.

“You should see how fucking horny you look right now. Like you’d do about anything to have my cock in you.”

“I am horny,” I tell him. He nods his head before lowering himself down to his knees in front of me. He grabs my face roughly in his hand, squeezing to the point of pain before he spits on me.

“You came to my house, my home. To a place I treasure more than anything else in the world, and you tried to ruin it, little rebel.”

“I-” he cuts me off by shaking his head.

“No. No excuses. I don’t want to hear anything but begging coming from those pretty little lips,” he says, leaning in and running his tongue through the spit and then dipping it into my mouth. I whimper the heat between my legs too much.

Hunter pulls away and stands, offering me his hand. I slip mine into it, and he helps me stand before leading me across the room.

“Put your back to the wall,” he tells me. I do as I’m told, pressing my back against the wall. I watch him as he unhooks something, and then chains are sliding down the wall next to my head. I start to move, but he shakes his head.

Hunter comes closer, reaching for the hem of my shirt and pulling it off. I have no bra on right now, and he knows it. He tosses the shirt to the side and then moves to my pants next. Once he has me completely naked, he hooks my wrists to the chains above my head and then secures my ankles as well.

I watch Hunter walk over to the table and grab some things before coming back toward me. I don’t know what they are and I don’t ask.

When he brings the item into view, my eyes widen.

“What is that?”

“You know what it is.” He says, bringing the larger end to his mouth. I watch him suck the end until it’s dripping with his spit, and then he kneels between my legs and inserts it inside me. I pull at the chains I’m attached to, but it does no good.

“What are you doing with that?” I ask him when he finally stands in front of me.

“I’m going to make you beg, little rebel.” I watch him pick up the other things he brought over here, and I suck in a breath when I see what it is. Two small little clamps. I shake my head.

“You can’t use those.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve never done that before. I don’t know what they do.” Hunter leans down and sucks my nipple into his mouth until it peaks, and then he pops it free, attaching one of the clamps. Then he moves to the other side, doing the same. Next, he attaches a small chain that runs from each of the clamps down the vibrator inside me.

“Why is it attached?” I ask as he steps back and takes me in. When he seems satisfied, he walks to the table and grabs a small controller before stepping back in front of me. He presses the button once, and there’s a light buzz between my legs, but it also causes tension on the nipple clamps.

“You get it now?” he asks. I nod my head, unsure what to say, so I say nothing.