Merciless Prince: A Dark Mafia Romance (Brutal Reign Book 1)

My traitorous pussy begs for him. And my mind isn’t far behind.

Two nights have passed since I last saw my brutal captor. Tonight is verging on the third, and Aiden Kilpatrick still hasn’t had the common decency to grace me with his presence.

The bastard.

This is the man I’m supposed to marry? One who takes what he wants from me and then disappears for days on end? One who teases me with promises of such horrifying pleasures and then leaves me cold and alone for three nights running?

Neither Meave or Tara will tell me where he is or when he’ll return. The torture of not knowing is almost as bad as the torture of being locked up in this bedroom for days on end.

Not even the fresh air drifting in through the top quarter of my window is any consolation. It just makes me crazier.

I can’t stop thinking about him. About those stormy emerald eyes. About that sculpted body covered in inky black tattoos. About that enormous hardness that rages beneath his pants. About his tongue. About his fingers.

My pussy clenches with wetness. I stuff a pillow between my thighs to try and squeeze out the warmth pooling in my core, but it only makes me even more restless.

Where the hell is he?

The simple answer is that he’s still out looking for Father. But if Father is still missing, then why isn’t Aiden here to ‘guard’ me, to make sure nothing happens to his newly purchased ‘possession’?

Surely, he must be thinking that my father has vanished in an attempt to try and get me back. Right?

Maybe. Maybe not. From what Aiden has to say about my father, I shouldn’t hold out hope.

But I can’t help it. What else do I have to lean on other than hope? I definitely don’t have Aiden around here to lean on. He doesn’t seem all so keen on ‘protecting’ me from the man he claims is the real monster.

He must really believe that I’m under no threat, that no one is coming for me.

Or else he must really have me fooled.

I saw the possessive jealousy in his eyes when I foolishly mentioned Felix the other night. He punished me for thinking about another man while we were in bed together. The emotion I dragged from him was intoxicating. The cold, calculating beast broke, and just because I spoke another man’s name.

For a split-second, he made me believe that I was more than just a possession. I was an obsession. Something to rage for.

If there is any chance that another man might be coming for me, he would be here to stop him. He would never let me leave his sight.

But he’s not here. So, no one must be coming.

Or, he only cares about me as a toy. Something that other men under his pay role can watch.

I’ve seen the uptick in guards. When Meave and Tara bring me food, three men come to my door now, where only one did before. Something is happening, and I’m going insane trying to figure it all out from the unmoving confines of my gilded cage. But most of all, I’m going insane trying to figure out Aiden Kilpatrick.

The bastard is too beautiful to be so cruel. That hair is too wild for someone who wears such finely tailored suits. His inky tattoos are dark and foreboding, but when he explores my body, he seems to want to make me shake with pleasure.

He’s a monster in a movie star’s body. A dangerous contradiction that’s going to get me killed.

He could really be out doing anything right now. Killing. Socializing. Fucking.

Fucking.

An unwanted pang of jealousy erupts behind my chest at the thought. Aiden must not have any trouble getting women. Maybe a virgin princess is fun for him to play with when he has the time. But what about when he’s busy? I don’t know how to please a man. When he punished me, Aiden got hard. So fucking hard. But he made himself hard. I was just… there. Flesh to spank. Breasts to bite. Pussy to impale. Throat to squeeze.

And just like that, I’m wet again. Fuck.

Between my naked thighs, the pillow stains with my juices. I rip it away and throw it across the room, filled with self-loathing. I hate how I’m not strong enough to resist him. I hate how the memories of how he’s used me makes me hot and not cold.

The pillow slides across the floor. When it hits the wall, a loud rattling comes from the door. I bolt upright, covering myself with the sheets.

In walks Aiden himself.

Shirtless. Wet. Wild.

Suddenly, I’m not so hot anymore. A cold shiver of fear washes over my pebbled skin. In person, he’s just too dominating not to be afraid of. It hardly matters that his perfect body practically shimmers in the slice of moonlight as he walks through it. The second he’s engulfed by the darkness again, so am I.

He approaches and I can smell cinnamon on him. His hair is damp. Did he just shower? Does a dog like him use body wash? What scent is he trying to hide from me?

Other than a pair of briefs and a small towel draped over his broad shoulders, his finely sculpted body is completely exposed. He throws the towel to the ground when he reaches the bed. My eyes follow it down, drinking in his long athletic legs. Tattoos curl around his powerful thighs, reaching just above the knee. You wouldn’t know it by looking at him in a suit, but this cruel prince is far from civilized.

“Princess,” he nods. I don’t dare look him in the eyes.

But then the little pang of jealousy that has been swirling behind my chest erupts into a fireball at the sight of Aiden’s chest. When he’s close enough, I can see red scratch marks cutting through his dark tattoos.

The scratch marks I left on his cheek are gone. He’s replaced them with those of someone else.

“Where have you been?” I hiss.

“Working.” A mischievous smirk accompanies that deep voice of his. “And I was expecting a nicer welcome home than that.”

“You get the greeting you deserve,” I spit. “And this is no home. It’s a cage.”

Inside of me, arousal battles shame and jealousy. Sure, Aiden’s been out working. Out working other women. Women who, unlike me, actually know how to please a man. Why not? I’m sure it takes little to no effort for someone as gorgeous as him to get his dick wet. He’s soulless enough to crush whatever heart dares fall to his feet without worrying about the consequences. There are no consequences for a man like Aiden Kilpatrick, because there’s no conscience behind those striking green eyes, nothing to keep him from hurting those he captivates.

Self-pity and anger and shame whirl around behind my own beating chest as Aiden silently places a knee on the mattress. The whole bed seems to sink under his weight.

“This is your home now,” he teases. “And come to think of it, you deserve a different greeting too.” His greedy eyes pierce through my covers. “Always naked…”

I pull the sheets up even higher, all the way under my chin. “I’m only naked because you ripped up my nightgown!”

“You have a closet full of clothes, princess.” Aiden accentuates that last word, implying that I’m acting spoiled.

“It’s all tight dresses and gaudy gala gowns,” I hiss. “They’re uncomfortable.”

“I understand. You’re more comfortable naked.”

I have to turn away to hide the frustration flushing into my cheeks. What kind of idiot am I? To have considered even for a second that a man like this would be anything but a monster.

He’s forcing me to marry him. He’s locked me up in this cage and thrown away the key. When I speak of Felix, the man who protected me from harm for practically my entire life, Aiden punishes me and makes me think only of him instead.

I’m not allowed anything. I’m not given anybody. But Aiden gets everything. Anyone. Probably always has. Probably always will. When he bought me, his father was in the room. Apparently, the Kilpatrick men age gracefully. I wonder what he’ll do with me if I don’t?

The thought of such a bleak future threatens to crush my fire.

He’ll be fucking his whores until he’s grey, and I’ll still be here, wasting away. Dreamless. Hopeless. Damned.

Aiden tugs at the covers, my last line of defence.

“What are you doing?” I rasp.

“Going to bed.”

My gaze is fixed on the scratch marks on his chest. They inspire equal parts fear and hate in me.

“This isn’t your bed,” I say.

Aiden stops in his tracks. From on his knees, he looms over me, covering my tiny body in his enormous dark red shadow.

“Of course it is. This is my bed. My room. My mansion.” He stalks closer to me. “My woman.”

“How many times have you fed that bullshit line to other women over the past two days?” I accuse. There’s no time to be shocked by my boldness, Aiden twirls his fingers around the sheets I hold up to cover my naked body and tugs again. A predator playing with his prey. It takes all of my strength to resist the pull.

“Where do you think I’ve been, little flower?” Aiden asks.

“Out being evil. Probably killing. Raping. Plundering.”

“Quite the imagination you have,” he smirks, noticing where my gaze has fallen. “Give me your hand,” he says.

“No.”

“Princess. Give me your hand.” Aiden reaches out to me and I suddenly desperately want to feel his hot touch again. Before he dragged me here, I went my entire life without being touched like he touched me on my first night here. Now, all that time before feels like it went by in the blink of an eye compared to the eternity of my past two touchless nights.

Still, I hesitate. Men like him take a mile when you give them an inch. I don’t know if I’m ready for any more than he’s already given me. “Why?”

“I want to show you what I’ve done for you.”

Curiosity gets the better of me. Keeping my free hand tight around my covers, I reluctantly reach out to meet his hand.

“Good girl,” he says, bringing my fingers up to the wounds on his chest. He brushes them against the red claw marks. They’re still hot. Burning hot.

“Who is she?” I hear myself ask.

Aiden laughs. “Silly princess. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous.”

He’s right, but that doesn’t make it any less embarrassing. I try to rip my hand back, but Aiden is too strong. He keeps my fingers pressed against the heat of his chest.

“I’m not jealous,” I lie. “You can be with whoever you want. The only reason I’m here is because you’ve forced me to be. If you’d let me, I’d walk right out of that door and leave you forever.”

“I bet you wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

Aiden shakes his head. “You don’t want to go. Not yet. You want to see where this goes. You want to see how I feel. Don’t you?”

His giant grip tightens around my palm and arousal builds in my core.

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me, princess.”

I try to tug away again, but my spirit has been captured.

“I’m not lying,” I respond, my voice shaky and unconvincing. “But even if I was, who cares? You lie to me. I lie to you. That seems to be the extent of our relationship.”

“I’ve never lied to you.”

“Bullshit.”

“Tell me the lie.”

I try to think, but I can’t. Through his chest, I can feel Aiden’s heartbeat. His pulse is rapidly building. So is mine. “I… I don’t know.”

“I don’t lie, little flower. If you ask me a question, I will tell you the truth. And if I don’t want to tell you the truth, then I simply won’t answer. Go ahead, try me.”

“Where have you been?” I blurt out, immediately regretting my choice. There are a thousand more pertinent questions I crave answers to, but right now, jealousy is clouding my judgement.

“Out protecting you.”

My heart kicks. “See. Lies.”

“Not a lie, princess. That’s the truth. Someone out there is threatening my empire. You’re part of my empire now. I was fighting for this. For you.”

“And the scratches?”

“Battle wounds. Different than the ones you gave me the other night. I was disappointed that yours faded. They reminded me of you. I had to come back for more.”

I cackle. “You want me to slap you again?”

Aiden drops my hand. As it falls, my fingers brush against the bulge in his briefs. A warm tingle of pleasure works its way over my skin.

“I think we’ve each had enough punishment,” he smirks. “How about some pleasure?”

Under my covers, my nipples are as hard as they’ve ever been. But that doesn’t keep the fear completely at bay. Aiden wants me. He wants to complete his corruption of my soul. I don’t know if I’m ready for that. Not yet. He hasn’t even kissed me. No one has.

“Is that why you’ve finally come back? To rape me?”

Over the blanket, Aiden finds my thigh. His big strong hand wraps around my leg until I shiver with desire. “I will only give you what you want, princess. But that’s not why I came here tonight. I came here tonight for what I want.”

I gulp. “What do you want?”

“To spend some time with my darling wife.” Those pearl white canines of his flash out from under his perfect lips. His wild dimple appears. His hand moves up my thigh. I try to fight back the sigh that desperately wants to escape my lips.

“I’m not your wife yet.”

“Bride-to-be. Fiancée. Call it what you want. In a few weeks, we’ll be married. Might as well start preparing. There is no escape, princess.”

He’s right. Even with my father’s escape, I can’t see a route out of here. I’m trapped. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Even if part of me seems to secretly want to.

“I’m not ready,” I whisper.

“For what? Marriage? Sex? Me?”

“Everything. All of this. My life has changed so suddenly, and you’ve just left me to process it all on my own. It’s overwhelming. I can’t take anymore.”

Aiden releases my thigh and his fingers start to tip toe up the sheet covering my breasts.

“Let me help you settle down.”

My cheeks burn. A swell of desire threatens to burst inside of me. “You just want to see me naked again. Humiliate me.”

Aiden cups my jaw. It takes all of my strength not to collapse into his hand. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, princess. It’s okay to want me.” With his other hand, Aiden takes control of my wrist. One tug and I’ll lose control of my covers and my senses. “What do you want, little flower?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“I can tell you what I want.”

“What?”

“You.”

His hot breath washes into my ear and I finally let that sigh escape my lips. His words untie the knots in my belly. And something else happens too. Something entirely unexpected.

I believe him.

“Why?” I ask. But really, I’m asking so much more.

“Because you’re perfect.”

My resistance fades. My grip loosens around my covers and they fall to my waist, exposing the swells of my breasts and the arousal painted on them.

But Aiden is the type of man who takes a mile when you give him an inch. With his free hand, he pulls my covers all the way back, until my toes wriggle free under his mighty body.

My urge to resist fades. The heat of his desire is all that covers me now.

“Let go,” Aiden whispers. I fall onto my back. He cages me between his muscular arms. “Now, open your legs for me.”

I do as he says.

With great care, he descends. The wet heat of his lips come so close to mine I can practically taste him, but he doesn’t give me my first kiss. Instead, he falls onto my cheek. One kiss there, then another a little lower. One for the jaw and one for each side of my throat. When his lips nip at my clavicle, I grab at the sheets. The pressure is too great.

“What are you going to do to me?” I ask, as his tongue paints a trail down to the huge swells of my breasts.

“Whatever you want.”

“… I don’t know what I want.”

“Let me show you.”

My heart is ready to burst. My chest is on fire. Aiden latches onto my breasts and I squirm as his teeth graze against my tender nipple. “Be gentle,” I plead.

“That’s not what you want.” When he palms my other breast, rubbing my nipple between his fingers, I know it’s the truth. He knows my body better than I do. The pleasure that ricochets from his work on my tits has me arching my back so sharply I feel like I’m about to snap in two.

But Aiden doesn’t let up. After switching to my other nipple, he lets his tongue loose around my belly button. His kisses spot my body like hot drops of rain as he smothers me in his desire. His strong hands hold my wailing body in place. Conflict rages through my soul. Everything feels amazing. A second later, it all becomes too much. I’m lashed by a vicious orgasm. It takes me over the edge. I fall and fall and fall…

Until Aiden catches me.

With his chin rested just below my belly button, he looks up at me with those devilish eyes. My pussy clenches, wet with desire. My heart pounds behind my aching chest. I’m scared. I’m scared about how much I like this. I’m scared about how much I like him. I’m scared that I won’t be able to take this much longer.

“Am I the first to kiss you like this, little flower?” Aiden asks.

“Yes.”

“Am I the first to make you squirm like this?”

“Yes.”

“Do you like it?”

When I hesitate to answer, he grabs me around the thighs and squeezes. The pressure grows. I feel like I could drown in this swirling pool of pleasure. I’m weak. I want more. I need more. And he knows it. “Don’t be afraid, princess. Tell me your secrets. Do you like it when I kiss you? Do you like it when I make you squirm? Do you want me to continue?”

“… Yes.”

My legs are already open for him, and Aiden takes full advantage. He starts lapping up my juices like he’s parched for me. The desire in each lash of his tongue sends me reeling. I grab onto his wild hair for support as I lose control of my body.

He sucks on my swollen clit and I spasm, only held in place by his strong hands, which work their way up to my breasts, pinching my nipples between his strong fingers.

It’s all becoming too much, but when I pull on Aiden’s hair and, for a split-second, he stops licking, my first reaction isn’t to take a deep breath and enjoy the relief. No. It’s to shove him back down between my legs.

He starts up again, but not before giving me that devilish look. That smirk says it all. He’s won. I’ve lost. My defences have melted away under his hot breath. He knows how badly I want him. But there’s no cruelty in his victory. He doesn’t stop to tease me about my defeat. He just continues to make me come.

I groan with gratitude, hips shaking and belly undulating like crazy as Aiden brings me to the edge again. I don’t spend long admiring the view. With a flick of his tongue and a pinch of his fingers, he pushes me off the edge and into the raw ecstasy of sexual oblivion.

I burst for him and he happily drinks my juices up as I gush onto his face. I’ve gone limp even before he’s finished licking up the last traces of my pleasure, but when there’s nothing left to drink, he finally rises from between my legs.

“That’s what I can do for you, Princess,” he smiles, his lips glistening with my arousal. “And this is what you do for me.” Leaning forward, Aiden grabs my limp wrist and guides my hand to his briefs. The outline of his hard cock bulges through the material like a beast begging to be unleashed. When my fingers hit the throbbing warmth, a new wave of arousal scatters up from my fingertips.

“See? I want you just as badly as you want me,” Aiden says, a smile sparkling across his lips. “I’ve wanted you since the second I saw your perfect image. I’ve wondered what you would feel like, just like you wonder what I would feel like. We’ll find out together, princess. I promise.”

I drink in his smooth baritone, but something he says piques my curiosity more than anything else. “How long have you wanted me for?” I ask. Aiden has obviously known about me for much longer than I’ve known about him. The first time I ever heard the name Aiden Kilpatrick was in my father’s office when he was forcing me to sign my life away to him. It was the first time I ever saw him too. It had to be. I would have remembered meeting a man as handsome as him.

Aiden gently rubs the back of my palm. “It’s been a year. A long year. But now you’re mine. And I’m not letting you go, princess. Not ever.”

“What if my father comes for me?”

“Then I’ll kill him.”

My racing heart slowly putters into a whimper. The conflict in my soul that was covered by the pressure of my arousal returns.

What do I want? It’s becoming less clear by the second.

“And what if someone else comes for me?” I ask, fearing for Felix. If he isn’t already dead, I’m sure he’s more than ready to risk his life to come rescue me. But I don’t want him to die. Not for me.

“Let me make this clear, princess. You are mine. Mine to play with. Mine to marry. Mine to keep. Whoever comes looking for you will only find death. And if you want any happiness at all, you should accept that.”

An uncontrollable sigh escapes my lips. Aiden watches me with intense interest before dropping my hand and rolling down next to me on the messy bed. The gravity of his weight pulls me closer to his steaming body.

“I’m sleeping here tonight,” Aiden mumbles, turning his back to me.

“Why?”

“Because I want to. This will be our life in a month, after we’re married. Better get used to it now.”

The heavy reality of my situation is quick to settle back over me in the silence that follows.

I’m being forced to marry my father’s enemy. A merciless prince who would sooner kill all those I’ve ever known than ever let me go.

How can someone who makes me feel so good want to do something so bad?

Aiden’s breaths deepen beside me, but I don’t look over at him. My gaze is fixed on the ceiling. A war is being fought behind my heart. Right now, it hurts too much to move.

What the hell is happening to me?

Maybe it’s because no one’s ever touched me the way he has. Or maybe I just really am going insane. But for the first time since I was dragged here, my hope of being rescued is muddied by a different hope.

A hope that maybe there is light at the end of this dark tunnel of captivity. Hope not that I’ll escape, but hope that maybe I won’t need to.

Aiden wants to sleep next to me. Does that mean he wants a real relationship someday, or is this just a cruel game he’s playing to make it easier to break me?

How much easier could he make it? It’s already been five whole days since my life was turned upside down. Nights I’ve spent naked under these sheets. Days I’ve spent wrapped up in these covers.

All Aiden’s really given me is a brand-new gilded cage, fitted with a gilded closet, and room for countless headaches. Gala gowns and shimmering dresses. Like I’m his doll. Trapped behind golden bars by a monster with movie-star good looks. Teased. Tortured. Ravished. It’s all a contradiction. An inner battle that threatens to tear me apart.

I’m lost.

What do you want, little flower?

Some comfortable clothes…

And maybe you.

Dread fills my chest at that thought and I want to shake it out of my head. It’s lunacy. But it’s also stuck. And the longer I lay next to the hulking gravity of my handsome captor, the further I slip towards him.