Mad, Bad & Dangerous

“Again,” she said, and her voice came out breathier than she’d anticipated.

He gripped the chain again, his eyes never leaving hers, and she grabbed his wrist and pulled. Again her body quaked against his.

“Again,” he murmured, even huskier than before, and she shifted a little more against him, lifting herself up, resting one thigh on his hip-for a better grip, of course.

Her face was a fraction of an inch from his. His breath was hot on her cheek as they tugged sharply on the chain and shuddered against each other. His hot cock slipped between her legs, rubbing against her suddenly slick folds, and she bit her lip, hard.

“Again,” he said in her ear, and they pulled, rubbing against each other. “Again. Again.”

She squirmed against him until she was making no pretense about it. His cock slid between her legs in strong strokes that could never have been accidental and she closed her eyes, the strength in her right arm fading out completely, forgetting all about escape. His hot, hard flesh stroked hers, nearly entering but not quite, and she moved harder against him.

It had been so long. Too long.

The chain around their waists was constricting and it might have even chafed a little but she hardly noticed. Completely senseless with desire, she bucked against this total stranger, unable to touch him with her hands, or be touched, but connected so intimately it made her gasp and shudder.

Their bodies rocked together, thrusting and convulsing, and then suddenly there was an almighty crack and groan and with a jolt, they both fell several inches, to be jerked to a halt so quickly it made her eyes water.

“What the-?”

She peered up into the darkness. “I think we fucked it loose.”

Bael grinned at her, tugging with his left arm. “Oh sweetheart, we haven’t even gotten started with the fuck- Fuck!”

His tugging yanked free whatever had pulled them up short, and then there was nothing holding them-and they plummeted through the air.

Kett had been in caves that were several hundred feet from floor to ceiling. Caves that had lakes at the bottom. Not poncy little streams or puddles, but great big fathoms-deep lakes.

Thankfully, this wasn’t one of them.

They probably fell three or four feet in total. No more than five, for sure, which was just as well. It had only occurred to her in that endless second of weightlessness that she hadn’t considered how far down they’d have to go.

She’d never been very good at forward planning.

The ground was cold stone, uneven but not jagged or gravelly. Not that it made much of a difference to the pain factor of landing. If she survived this she’d be black and blue.

But she’d been black and blue before, and she’d survived it.

She hoped to hell Bael was a survivor too, especially since he’d landed on top of her.

Kett stilled, trying to see if he was breathing. Then she gave up and kicked him. “Get off me, you great lubbock!”

He nuzzled her neck. “But you’re so comfy.”

“And you’re so heavy.” She wiggled her right arm, which protested the movement, and managed to work her wrist out of the now-loose chain binding it to Bael’s. Result. There was a cut on her wrist, enough to bleed but not enough to kill her. A ritual cut, Kett thought with her hindbrain, but the rest of her took little notice.

Swinging her hand down to tug at the chain around their waists was absolute agony since her shoulder didn’t seem to want to move at all, but she managed it, and tugged at the length binding them.

“Lower,” Bael murmured.

“I’m trying to get us untied here,” she said.

“Maybe we can fuck that loose too.”

“I prefer to have a little more freedom in my fucking, thank you,” she said, and he grinned in the darkness and brought his own arm down to help her.

“Shit, that hurts!”

“Yep,” she said. “Least means it’s not dislocated.”

“Bloody feels like it,” he grumbled, but between them they got the chain off, both arms free, and he rolled them over so she was on top of him.

She sat up, his hard belly between her thighs, and he ran his hands over her hips.

“Much better,” he said.

“Told you.” His hand slipped between her legs and she gasped. “Freedom is a good thing.”

What she should have been doing was getting to her feet and finding a way out. There was every possibility he was the bad guy in this situation. But he was fondling her clit with clever, clever fingers, and she didn’t feel terrifically inclined to stop him. It had been quite a while since anybody had their hand between her legs, and it felt damn good.

Bael slipped his other hand behind her back and pulled her down to kiss him. His lips were dry, his jaw rough with stubble, but that didn’t matter. She didn’t reckon her lips were going to be in a perfectly soft, moisturized state either, especially since they never had been before. It didn’t stop Bael from investigating, thoroughly, every corner of her mouth with his hot, quick tongue. His arms around her, he rolled them to their sides, and then she got dizzy from all the kissing-or possibly the blood loss-and fell to her back.

And then she stiffened and leapt to her feet, sending Bael flying.

“Ow?” he said pointedly.

She shoved him out of the way with her foot, lust evaporating. She’d rolled onto something sticky, something crumbling…something warm. Something that wasn’t plain rock.

She hunkered down to look.

“Ugh,” Bael said from behind her.

“I hear you,” she said, peering through the dimness at the charred, blackened thing on the floor. If she used her imagination-and she instantly wished she hadn’t-she suspected it had once been human.

“I think this might have been a person,” she said, breathing hard, trying to keep the meager contents of her stomach in their rightful place. You’ve seen more disgusting things, Kett. Don’t throw up now.

“I think this might too,” Bael said. He moved, and there was a crunching sound. “And, uh, this…”

Kett peered farther into the gloom. More shapes oozed and fluttered, some of them incinerated and some of them still almost recognizable as bits of people.

“They were…” She swallowed down the bile in her throat. “They were burned.”

“They were incinerated.”

“Uh-huh. How…er, how many, do you think?” She shook herself. She’d seen bodies before. She’d even seen burned bodies. There was no need to be so squeamish.

“I couldn’t begin to imagine.” A warm touch on her elbow made her flinch, but it was just Bael. “You okay?”

“Five by five,” she said, and looked at him. “We need to get out of here.”

He nodded and took her arm, and they picked their way carefully over the remains to the light source at one end of the cave. It turned out to be the night sky, stars and moon shining high up. There was a small clearing outside the cave, and a path leading downward. The rest was trees, sloping away into darkness. A mountain. Impossible to tell how big.

By the scant light, Kett could see symbols scorched into the walls of the cave. They didn’t resemble any language she knew, but they made her shudder nonetheless.

They stood for a second, breathing in the clean air.

And then there was a sound from behind them, inside the cave, a shuffling sort of sound, which was probably made by a small animal or a stray munta but which to her ears was certainly one of their captors, not quite incinerated and definitely coming after them.

Kett shared a split-second glance with Bael, and then they were running, straight into the trees, leaping over logs and ducking under branches, hauling each other upright when they tripped, whipped and scratched by the trees