King of the Cage: A Dark Irish Mafia Romance (Devil’s Own)
King of the Cage: Chapter 17

I was directed to a study, a small room with a massive fireplace at the end. I didn’t want to leave Giada alone any longer, but there was no choice. If we were playing along with this charade, we had to follow the rules.

There were two other people in the study. Potentially other acolytes. They stared angrily at me as I entered. I gave them a short salute and sat in a chair by the fire.

“What happens now?” someone whispered behind me.

“I don’t know. That was the Hunt, and you had to find an Offering… I think there’s one more part, involving the girl.”

“Doing what to her? I feel like shit. I need a shower and an oxy to take the edge off this whole thing. She clocked me fucking hard, and I just got LASIK, it can’t be good for my eyes.”

“Tell me about it. Maybe we’ll get to go soon. I can’t believe my dad did this when he was my age. He’s so boring now.”

“Yeah. They could have warned us, though, right?”

“Yeah, not that it matters. We didn’t find an Offering, so I guess we’ve failed? My granddad is going to be pissed.”

I felt their dark stares directed at the back of my head and held up a middle finger in their general direction.

A door banged at the end of the room, and all heads swiveled in that direction.

A man walked in, flanked by four security guards on each side. The Sentinel. The door closed behind them, and they stood in front of us and raised a hand for silence.

“Welcome, acolytes, to the next stage. The Offering. Make the Offering you hunted, claim her, and progress further into becoming a member of The Enclave.”

“Claim her? I don’t fuck for show,” I said quietly.

The tension grew.

The plague doctor mask swiveled toward me. “Tonight, you will, or you will fail and become another peasant on the street.”

My hand curled into a fist, my shoulder smarting. Focus. You can fuck them up later. Have patience.

We filed out of the room and walked through the lower floor of the hotel. People in black cloaks and masks drifted after us. They took us to an atrium, where chairs circled a raised dais in the middle of the room, and a stone table sat in the center of it. It resembled an altar.

Giada stood at the edge of the thick stone slab with a rigid back, her head up, her eyes like fire, staring down any man who dared to look at her.

I met her burning black eyes, and something in me relaxed.

“Who here has an Offering to make this eve?”

Members were filing in and taking seats. Anxiety brewed in the pit of my gut. Something fucked up was about to happen here, and I had no idea how to stop it.

“I do.” My voice sounded unyielding and grim. Resigned to this fate.

The Sentinel nodded. “Brandon O’Connor, you are the only acolyte to bring an Offering from the Hunt. Proceed.”

I stepped forward as everyone else took their seats. “What the fuck do you want us to do? Perform while you all beat off?”

The Sentinel ignored my glib remark and nodded toward the table.

“Claim her.”

For fuck’s sake. I strode down the aisle between the seats and climbed to the dais, Giada hovering on the other side. I could tell by her expression that she was committed to this course of action. She wanted to see it through, which meant we had to take part in this little ritual for these sick fuckers to watch.

But that didn’t mean we had to do it their way.

I crooked my finger toward Giada. “Come here, wee one.”

She climbed the stairs slowly. She was rumpled, and that awful cloak hid her body from me. Her temple was crusted with dark-brown blood, and her lip was split, and yet…

She owned the room.

By the time she reached me, everything else had faded. She sucked every morsel of my attention to her. I reached out and ran my fingers along her jaw.

“Fancy seeing you here, selkie,” I murmured quietly.

Her mouth ticked upward for a second. I sank my hand into the hair behind her ear and cupped her head, bending it back so her lips parted. With my other hand, I yanked the band from my hair and let it fall around my shoulders.

“Tonight, you look at me, and only me. We’re the only people here. It’s just us, in this whole room.” I leaned forward and ran my mouth along her high cheekbone, and bit gently at her ear. “In this whole world.”

Her hands rested lightly on my chest, tracing over my collarbones, her touch burning my skin. I rested my forehead against hers. With our faces so close, my long hair falling like a curtain around us, no one could see or hear us.

“Do you trust me, wee one?”

Giada’s dark eyes stared into mine. My heart sank. Why had I asked that? Of course she didn’t.

“Yes. I trust you. Do what you have to,” she finally murmured, surprising me.

I swallowed down the thick knot of emotion lodged in my throat. Another woman who trusted me, like Quinn did. I wouldn’t let her down. I’d die first.

I leaned in and kissed her gently, stroking my tongue against hers until she relaxed a little, her body loosening enough for me to slip my hands around her hips and lift her onto the table.

She tensed again when I stepped between her legs, pushing them apart.

“It’s okay, wee one. No one is going to see anything… I won’t allow it.” I pressed my hips against hers.

Under the cloak, she had on a short skirt. It was cinched up around her thighs, and I got a glimpse of black lace. Fuck. Despite the circumstances, getting hard was no problem. Every single thing about this woman did it for me.

I reached for my belt and slid it open. Giada reclined, propping herself up on her elbows. I freed myself from my pants and pulled my cock out. I didn’t give a shit if our audience saw me. Giada’s privacy was the only thing that mattered.

“Don’t be intimidated,” I tossed over my shoulder. “Some of us are just God’s favorites.”

That cocky line tugged another half-grin from Giada.

I stroked my cock and leaned over her. My hair fell around our faces once more, hiding us from sight. My cloak did its part, concealing the fact that I hadn’t actually removed her panties. I lowered my weight to her, letting my hard-on press firmly on her panty-clad cunt, right where it belonged.

I moved my hips around, pretending to sink inside her. “This is all they get, wee one. Nothing more. We’ll be on our way in no time.”

“You’re not going to…”

I thrust on her, my bare cock sliding up the front of her panties.

“They don’t get to see anything real,” I muttered thickly. “The first time we fuck, you’re not going to be thinking about anyone but me.”

I made long, languid thrusts, simulating fucking. I couldn’t lie, it felt fucking amazing to drag my cock over her cunt.

Her fingers dug into my shoulders, and her face flushed.

“They can’t see you, Giada. They can’t see a thing. Just look at me and know… I’ve got you,” I muttered.

She nodded and bit her lip. My cock ached at the sight of her small white teeth sinking into her plump, berry-colored mouth. Fucking hell, it had been a long few days without her; my hand had been no substitute for the real thing. I could come in my pants like a schoolboy.

“Just a bit more and they’ll be satisfied,” I decided.

Giada nodded. Her cheeks had turned pink, and she gyrated into me. She wriggled hard against my cock. Every time the ridge of my crown caught her clit, she gasped.

“You’re not going to come like this, are you?” My cock throbbed at the thought. “We’re only putting on a show, remember?”

She nodded, her pupils blown and her eyes hazy. “I’m not, I’m fine.”

I raised an eyebrow and ground harder, and she gasped so loud I clamped a hand over her mouth.

“No one gets to hear your pleasure but me. Don’t you dare come right now, in front of all these motherfuckers.”

I increased my pace, heading for the end of our performance.

Giada bucked into me, her mouth moving against my hand, still sealing her cries inside.

“Don’t you dare,” I murmured again.

She froze, her body shaking.

She’d come. She’d really fucking come. Her cheeks were bright red now, flushed and beautiful. Her eyes were dark and sparkling, somehow at the same time. She clung on to me like she never wanted to let go.

I was fine with that. Really fucking fine with it. I couldn’t stop myself. Just being pressed to her twitching pussy was doing it for me. Her heat came through her panties. My balls drew up, and I came.

I fucking came.

Jet after jet of cum left me, hitting Giada’s panties and painting up her lower belly. Her breath hitched, and her fingers gripped me even harder. I rocked over her for a moment, locked in that intimacy with her, forgetting where we were, when… forgetting everything but her.

My cock was still pulsing when I stopped moving and reached between us, stuffing my cock back into my pants. I glanced down, and the sight of my cum glistening on Giada’s tanned skin seared itself into my brain.

Careful to conceal our little act that had turned a tad too real, I pulled Giada’s cloak shut and covered her from head to toe before I straightened up. Taking her hand, I helped her up from the table.

“Congratulations, Brandon O’Connor. You have claimed. Now, you offer.”

The Sentinel stood and gestured the other members forward. There were more fuckers in the black cloaks than had been around before. They approached.

“What do you mean, ‘you offer?’” I asked, trying to force rational thought into my head when all my blood was still diverted to my cock.

“You make your offering to others.” The man lifted his hand around and gestured to the men gathered.

Offer Giada to the other men?

Fuck.

I might die fighting our way out of here, after all.

Giada’s hand tightened in mine. She was scared, and I couldn’t have that. I sorted through the endless bullshit the guy I’d killed in Maine had told me about this society. The rules about women, and membership, the intricate, archaic traditions that they adhered to as if they were real laws. The solution came to me suddenly in a blinding flash.

Yes. Of course. It was so fucking obvious. Fate stepping in, once again.

“Actually, I think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding,” I stated.

The Sentinel waited for me to go on.

“I’m not sure how she got mixed up in this Hunt bullshit, but this woman isn’t some rando off the street.”

I stared down at Giada, the woman who had appeared in my life like a hurricane and blown everything I thought I’d known to pieces.

“I won’t share her…” I started, my chest feeling oddly full. It was certainty. There was no conflict or indecision. It was done. It looked like I was going to make Da happy after all. You couldn’t fight fate; it was a futile endeavor, and we had been marked for each other from first glance.

“Because?” The Sentinel prompted.

“She’s my fiancée.”