Page 39 of Orion: Galaxy Huntress

Chapter 17

Orion

I kept the vampire talking,waiting for the right moment to strike. Chipped away at his remorse, melted more of that frozen heart with guilt. Bastard deserved it for betraying me for his freedom. Starlight pulsed in my veins thicker than ever. I fashioned my dagger behind my back. My fingers itched to drive it through his heart. Kill him for kidnapping me and sentencing me to death. Then finish off the rest of the filthy monsters in this mansion for threatening my life.

“Were you human before you became a star?” Reznor stared out the cell window, face drawn, disturbed, the ice in his heart crashing into the water, echoing in my heart. “Or became human when you fell?”

No, Orion. This is not the time to pity him.

Distract him. Bide my time. Wait for my strength to fully return.

“I lived as a mortal in ancient Greece. Artemis gave me a custom bow and introduced me to hunting monsters,” I said, remembering meeting the goddess in the prairie, overlooking the horde of centaurs. “I was stealthy, efficient, the best, and Zeus employed me to protect him and slay monsters sent by other gods to kill him. He rewarded me with a position in the heavens.”

“Do you miss being a star?” He slid a speculative look my way.

Enough of the questions. I needed to get close enough to stake the vampire. “Are you going to stay and guard me all night? Because I can take care of myself.”

Reznor’s haunting, beautiful face hardened into something frightening and deadly, tightening my grip on my dagger. “You’re not safe down here.”

“You’re sacrificing me to your leader.” I folded myself off the bed, inching closer, within striking range. “I’m dead anyway.”

The opportune moment arose, and I took it. Arm raised, I nailed my weapon down at his chest. He surprised me, flashing faster than I could, seizing my wrist. Firm pressure applied to my arm, squeezing until he hurt me. Bruised me. Made it clear I was his captive.

“Let me go, fiend.” I wrestled to get my wrist free.

He snatched the dagger from my grasp as easily as a mother would confiscate a toy from a child, leaving me helpless and at his mercy. In danger of him hurting me, I instantly fashioned another blade from starlight.

He plucked it from my hand, tossing it at the wall, the clanging sound striking every nerve and making me slam my eyes shut. I yelped with surprise as he lifted me and threw me to the bed, pinning my hands above my head.

“Naughty little stars get punished for trying to kill me.” Heat flashed in his eyes. Not the wanting to kill me kind, the wanting to ravish me kind. It reciprocated in my body with a flush at my core.

Hades, why did the idea of him hurting me excite me? I should be horrified. Enraged. Kicking his damn balls. Instead, I wanted to stroke them, cup them encourage him to harden in my grasp.

Something seriously went wrong in my fall from the heavens. I had to have hit my head on an asteroid on the way down. Knocked common sense from me and left it in space. Because these were the thoughts of a lust-mad woman not a wizened, skilled hunter who tracked her prey, watched her step, shot from afar and didn’t jump in the path of a stampeding beast.

Reznor spun me onto my stomach, peppering my backside with a flurry of spanks. The first few were hard enough to steal my breath, sting my skin and arch my back. Pain transformed into a strange and unfamiliar pleasure, and I moaned. Damn well moaned.

“Do you know what I do to naughty starlights that provoke me?” Reznor demonstrated with another hard slap that made me groan with delight.

Eager to be treated to his hand again, I produced a sharp arrow and rolled out of his grasp, trying to strike him again. He captured me, laying me over his lap, and I found myself liking the vulnerability of the position. Repeated thumps pounded my bottom, making my back curl and strain, and I bit my lip, almost producing blood.

Reznor leaned down to breathe in my ear. “Had enough punishment, Little Star?” The heat of his breath pulsed from my neck to my toes. I wriggled on his lap, generating yet another arrow, this time succeeding in stabbing his leg. “Fuucckk!”

He could have easily have glamored me into submission, stripped me of my power, yet he didn’t. This was a game to him too. Hunter and prey. Punisher and victim. This time he wasn’t gentle. Blows rained down on my bottom and the back of my legs. Spank after spank. Harder. Faster. I delighted in having my body completely controlled by him. In giving myself up to him. And he didn’t stop until he left me throbbing, red, and raw.

“I need to taste you, Little Star,” he breathed, icy against my throat. “You have transgressed. Pushed me too far. Tempted me, and I can no longer resist.”

I didn’t know if he told me of his plans or if he asked for permission. Either way, the stubborn part of me still resisted, fighting him. The eager part made my nipples stiff peaks aching to be sucked. My lips pouted, desperate to claim his, warm up that cold skin, find out what made him so cruel and distant. What made him so enthusiastic about hurting me and willing to sacrifice me.

Hades, what was wrong with me? Reznor deserved to die for what he’d done to me, but all I could think of was letting him punish me, letting him spank the rebellion out of me, and that need sharpened like the tip of my blade.

“You’re a predator,” I whispered back, frightened, but also aroused. “Take what you want without asking.”

By the gods!I’d just taunted him. Encouraged him. Provoked the beast to charge. Hades, after he bit me the first time, I’d ridden a wave of blissful pleasure like my drink had been laced with herbs. I wanted to soar on that cloud again.

“Inviting, addicting,” he murmured, raising gooseflesh across my skin, setting off tingles in my ear. He stroked the flesh along the column of my neck. “You want to be punished, don’t you?”

He was one to talk. His bite had me craving more. Fangs slid into me, and I whimpered, the pain gone as quickly as it had come, replaced with a euphoric feeling. Floating. Swirling. Winking lights. Back in space? Home, where I belonged?

---