Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 817(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 817(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
“No.” Madwulf freed a dagger and proceeded to clean his nails with it. “The commodore is mine. I’ve been dreaming about his tears since the day he captured me.”
“No one touches him!” Horrified, I threw myself forward, jerking against the restraints. “If any of you so much as—”
Warm fingers curled around my mouth and shoved the neckerchief between my lips.
I glared up at Priest, and he glared back, wordlessly warning me he would do more than gag me if I had another outburst.
“You can have Edric’s daughter,” Madwulf said. “After the fellows and I take our turns with her. She was a real bitch when we met, and as it happens, we like them mouthy and kicking. Isn’t that right, lads?”
Whistles, stomping boots, and boisterous shouting erupted around the room.
Ice crystallized in my chest.
Priest clicked his tongue. “I’m not sticking my cock anywhere your diseased, unwashed pissers have been.”
Silence descended, constricting with unease. That was the thing about disease. When it attacked, it was one against all, and very few escaped. No one joked about it. No one uttered the word disease.
Except Priest.
“Pox on the lot of you. Her cunt is mine.” He strolled through the room, scratching his whiskered jaw. “You like a little fight in your women? Some fearful, virginal resistance? You’ll find that with any number of the daughters on this island.”
Oh, Jesus, Priest. Please, stop.
“I claimed the right to break this one when she killed my father.” He flung a scowl in my direction. “She’s my prize. And her lover, too. It’s a fair trade, Madwulf. If not for me, you would still be locked up on HMS Blitz.”
“If nae for my attack on HMS Ludwig,” Madwulf said, “she would still be in the admiral’s custody. The lads and I will be taking our turns with her. Then you can haul her anywhere you want on horseback. The commodore stays with us.”
Fear, cold and sharp, penetrated my gut and chilled me to the bone. I expected to see something similar materialize in Priest’s expression, but he remained calm. Confident.
He had a plan.
Some of the tension loosened in my shoulders.
“No.” He stalked across the room and lifted an object from a small table. “There’s only one way to settle this.”
“I’m listening.” Madwulf cocked his head.
“A game of chance.” He turned, holding an hourglass in his hand. “If I make her come on my finger before the sand runs out, I will fuck her first. If not…” He shrugged. “We’ll go with your terms.”
I will fuck her first.
A shiver of dread dragged down my spine.
Why had Priest phrased his conditions that way?
Fuck her first? That implied Madwulf and his mates would go next. Priest wouldn’t want that. He would cut off his own arms before he let that happen.
Given the banter of lewd comments and vulgar smiles around me, the pirates had interpreted Priest’s offer the same way I had. Worse, he hadn’t stipulated Ashley’s fate in his conditions.
My stomach dropped, and my breathing careened out of control. Amid my unfurling panic, Ashley’s hand strained in the restraints behind us until three of his fingers captured mine.
I squeezed back, hanging on. He was lending me his strength, letting me know he was here. It helped me to focus past the fear.
Whatever Priest was planning, it wouldn’t end with me being passed around to these scoundrels. I trusted that. I depended on his unwavering, overbearing possessiveness.
Madwulf rose from the chair and strolled toward Priest. “That hourglass measures ten minutes?”
Priest nodded, handing it to him.
“I dinna care how skillful you are with the lasses, libertine.” Madwulf cast a thoughtful look at the sand in the glass. “Ten minutes isn’t enough time to bring a woman to the acme of excitement.”
Priest could do it in two minutes. Under different circumstances.
He said nothing, waiting.
“She’ll fight you to the death before she surrenders.” The uncertainty in Madwulf’s eyes belied his smooth smile. “But it’ll be fun watching you try. If you fail, we go first. If you succeed, you fuck her in this room while we watch. Then we all get a piece.”
A muscle flexed in Priest’s jaw, and he gave a stiff nod.
Vicious chills attacked my circulation as excitement charged the air. A rippling current of hunger swept through the gathered men, intensifying with the tempo of their breaths.
“Lads?” Madwulf looked around. “Do we accept this proposal?”
A chorus of Aye’s rang out.
“She doesn’t leave the cottage until we’re all finished.” Madwulf lowered onto the chair closest to me and stretched out his legs. “Go on, then. Finger the cunt.”
My insides jumped as Priest approached. He wasn’t the only one who had to perform. Whether I faked this or truly surrendered, I would have to make a good show of it.
From Madwulf’s perspective, I didn’t have a stake in this wager. No matter who won, my outcome would be the same—rape, torture, death. If I looked like I was trying to help Priest win, the ruse would be over.