“Ted, please.”
I shushed her and leaned down to run my teeth along her throat. Her sweat was sweet on my tongue as I slid in and out of her.
She shivered, goosebumps rising along her skin as I finally let go, fucking her just the way I wanted.
“Ted,” she gasped as I bit her throat—not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough for her to feel my claim on her.
“I’m going to coat your pussy with me, sweet Cate.” I hammered deeper, taking every bit of her.
Her tits slid against my chest as I rode her, and Morgan moaned low in her throat as Caleb slapped her tits.
Just the sounds had my balls demanding release. The drumming sounds grew louder. It was time. I thrust hard into her. She arched and gripped the headboard. My load spilled inside her, each spurt pulling a rough grunt from me as I sealed this part of the ritual, claiming her body and soul as my own. I ground into her a few more times, getting every last drop of my come inside her, then pulled out and sat back, my chest heaving.
Chapter Seven
Cate
Ted sat between my knees, his breath coming in hard bursts. Caleb did the same, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. The matching cross and snakes on his chest seemed to move along with him, the snakes twining with each inhale.
Masculine grunts and groans sounded all around us—the men finishing in each of their victims.
“Are you going to let me go now?” My chin wavered.
Ted smiled. “Didn’t I please you?”
“Y-yes.” I nodded. “But I figured since you, you know, since you—”
“Came deep inside you that I’m done with you?”
“Yes.”
“No, Cate.” He shook his head. “There’s more.”
“More?” I shook my head. “I can’t take anymore.”
“Sure you can.” He stood and began unshackling me.
“Please, Ted. Please. I’ll never say a word.”
“I know you won’t.”
His words sent a chill through me.
“How can you be so cruel?” I yelped as he freed my hands and yanked me from the bed.
“It’s just survival.”
“Survival?” I fought as he dragged me back to the leather horse. “What about this is surviving?”
“You’ll see.”
“See what?” I reared back and swung at him, but he caught my hand before I could slap him.
“Power comes with a price.” He shrugged and fastened my hands to the leather horse, but left me standing. “And I’m always willing to pay.”
“What does that even mean?”
He pulled on a black robe. “It means that what you think of as cruel is just me doing what I need to do to keep my life on track. If I want to remain CEO, to keep shooting up the Forbes rankings, and to eventually settle down with a family that understands the sort of man I am, then this is what needs to be done.”
“You’re insane.” I cringed away from him as he stroked my hair.
“Like I said, you’ll see.”
The woman in black strode up to the front of the crowd again, her eyes surveying everyone. “The ritual of flesh is complete. Now, we move on to the ritual of blood.” She motioned to the dark area of the room behind her.
My knees went weak. “Blood?”
Ted patted my shoulder. “I didn’t want to give away the plot too soon, but—” He sighed. “You aren’t leaving here alive.”
My eyes widened and I stared at him. “Ted, please—”
“There’s no going back.” He had the nerve to give me a small smile. “This was done from the minute you walked into my office for that interview. A girl with no close family or friends? A girl who no one will miss? A girl who hasn’t told anyone she’s been flirting with the boss? Come on, Cate, you may as well have had a sign blinking over your head that said ‘sacrifice me to your pagan gods.’” He laughed low in his throat. “Okay, maybe that last part was a bit over the top, but you see what I mean here. You’re perfect. You’re going to disappear tonight, and sure, maybe the cops will eventually come looking, but I’ll say you left work early and said you were going to meet someone for a date. No one will be able to link you to me or this place. I haven’t told a soul about you.”
My head spun. “The waiter at the restau—”
“The servers there see me with a different girl every other night.” His eyebrows lowered apologetically. “None of them will remember a thing about you.”
The men around us began leading the women toward the back of the room, the dark area where the woman in black had disappeared moments before.
Ted adjusted his robe and tied it, then unbound me and took a smaller red robe and wrapped it around me.
“Here we go.” He tied it at my waist.
I eyed the edges of the room, looking at the exits. Young men with dark hair guarded each door and fanned out along the walls.