She screamed, but he hadn’t removed her gag. Still, she was loud and angry, and I couldn’t wait for my turn.
Cate yanked at her restraints and turned her head to pierce me with a searing glare.
“I thought you wanted to have some fun tonight.” I unbuttoned my shirt. “This is just part of it. Happy birthday, Cate.”
She tried to bite down on the black ball gag, but her teeth slipped right off.
“You’re going to have to stow those teeth, sweetheart.” I unbuttoned my pants and shucked them and my shorts to the floor. “I have something for you to suck on a little later. But if you bite me—” I slapped her ass hard, the resounding sting in my hand getting my blood pumping. “There’ll be consequences. Ugly ones.”
She shook her cuffs again, but had zero chance of freeing herself. I’d forgotten how much I loved the power, the sheer domination of this place. Here, I was a fucking god, and Cate was nothing more than a plaything. More than domination, this was the complete overthrow of her will, replacing it with my own. Not some silly BDSM game where she had a safe word and a way out, this was real. I held her life in my hand, and I intended to squeeze every drop out of her before I was done.
I gripped my cock, stroking myself slowly as I bent over to slide my tongue up her hot cunt. She jolted, but couldn’t escape me.
Marie walked in, her dark-haired servants flanking her, and took her position at the head of the room. I gave Cate, her body now shaking, one more lick before walking around to stand beside her.
Leaning down, I whispered in her ear. “I hope you’re ready.”
The best part? I knew she wasn’t.
Chapter Five
Cate
“Welcome.” The woman at the front of the room raised both her hands, her black robe draping around her. “This year’s ceremony is a bit more intimate than those that have come before.” Her low voice was almost hypnotic, but her eyes burned a trail around the room.
She paused for only a moment as she looked at me, then moved along to another helpless victim. “This ceremony is far more special than the others. Great power lies in all of you, and to make the most of it, we needed to bring only the strongest.”
I glanced at Ted. He smirked slightly, her words caressing his ego. Dark ink spread along his chest. I’d never seen him stripped like this, his muscled body inked with a thick, dark cross from his chest to his navel. Green snakes curled around the emblem, their red eyes seeming to focus on me.
The woman gestured to the men at her side. They walked to the back of the room and returned with a large black goblet, sized for a giant, and placed it on the floor in front of her.
“Communion, my friends. It is the one sacrament that binds us all, that draws us here, that combines the power of the group into a potent wine.” She pulled a silver dagger from her sleeve and pierced her wrist, then held it over the goblet. Blood dribbled into it, and a faint green light emanated from the center of the black cup.
Goosebumps broke out all along my skin as I watched her sway, her dark hair luminous and her eyes flashing bright green.”
“This is the beginning of the blood rite. Do what you must to satisfy the needs of your flesh. Once that is finished, you will give your sacrifices to God, Lucifer, and all the gods in-between.” She stowed the knife and pulled her wrist back to her side. “What you do here tonight is between you and the gods, all of them. Satisfy yourselves, return to your basest needs, for you were formed in their image, and every action you take tonight brings more glory to them.”
The candles in the room burned higher, like torches, then settled down again as the woman retreated into the shadowy rear of the room.
“That’s my cue.” Ted ran a hand through my hair.
A cry ripped through the room.
I turned my head as far to the right as I could.
A nude woman was strapped to a black X a few yards away, her hands bound, her light brown body shaking as a man used a flogger on her. She wasn’t gagged, her full-throated screams echoing around the room as the man swung hard, leaving red welts along her ass and back.
“Aren’t you glad that’s not you?” Ted whispered in my ear.
I yanked on my restraints again, but the black leather didn’t even hint at giving way.
“Don’t be like that.” He trailed a hand down my back as he walked behind me. “This doesn’t have to be unenjoyable for you.”
A woman’s breathy moan careened around me. I tried to crane my head to the left and find where the sound came from. All I could make out was a large man pumping his hips into a bound woman, her ass in the air, her face hidden.