Stronger as One (#1, Completed)

52. Marionette🌶️🌶️

******⚠️Trigger warning: The first half of this chapter contains parts that could be triggers related to consent and control⚠️******

RILEY

Having no any damn say in what was going on, my body acted like it had a mind of its own. I wet my lips and tilted my head to expose my neck to the cambion, inviting him to trace it with kisses while he made both of us look straight at Aiden and Rafe. Their eyes were full of anger, worry and, most of all, pain. Not physical pain- Markolf did not want to hurt them, not this time at least. Yet, he wanted them to see the power he had over them and over me, and how none of us could do anything about it. He was a madman who enjoyed the suffering of others and tonight he was getting another hit of his favourite drug- that intoxicating concoction of power and control.

Like a marionette, I turned to look at the cambion and I genuinely admired how handsome he was. He could easily pass for a model with his slender features and strong face without anyone suspecting the ugly evil side of him that he hid beneath the surface. Knowing what he had done and what he wanted to do made me want to wretch in revulsion at the seeming intimacy between us, but instead, I found my gaze drifting between his eyes and his lips. My fingers trailed along his collar before I grabbed it and pulled him in for a kiss.

God, I wanted him. Wait, what am I saying? This is wrong. It feels wrong. It was not his kisses that I longed for, not his touch that I craved.

Markolf gave me a sly leer as his hands slid beneath the ruffles of my dress, tracing the contours of my body below the fabric. A small moan left my lips, which lingered by his ear. I was burning with desire by now, pulling at his clothing to touch his skin.

I need to stop- I don't want this. This is not me. My mind was desperately trying to reason with me before I did something that I was going to regret.

My body was refusing to listen, as the lust was clouding my rational thinking.

I felt the cold wall as my back pressed against it when Markolf moved us away from the dancefloor. No one even batted an eyelid that we were making out in the middle of the gala.

"These events have the tendency to get a bit wild after certain times." Tamara's words rang in my head.

"You see, darling, you see how I can make you feel?" Markolf grinned as he kissed the hollow between my neck and my shoulder, eliciting another moan from me.

Satisfied with my response, he grabbed my hand and placed it on his crotch, clearly wanting me to pay attention to his hard-on. "Do you see how you also make me feel, Riley?"

Instinctively, I lightly squeezed his bulge, making him grunt. "Fuck, Riley- we would be unstoppable. The dream team. The outcasts who made the world bow down to them."

This is not real. The way he makes me feel is not real. He is no Rafe. He is no Aiden.

"Don't you want this, Riley?" Markolf continued and I knew he was talking about his vision for us, for the world.

Noooooo, is what I wanted to scream while punching him.

Instead, I heard myself say Yes while I ran my fingers through his hair. I was so far gone in my lust haze that I would have agreed to everything as long as I got my release.

Then I saw them again. Aiden and Rafe stood by the bar, right where I had left them before. They didn't move- just stood there like statues but if their eyes could speak, oh their eyes. The rage that was burning inside them was capable of incinerating the whole room if it was unleashed.

Was it me that this rage is aimed at or the cambion? The question that ran through my mind somewhat sobered me up - enough to allow something other than lust to penetrate my thoughts.