My body tensed. My rocketing heart rate started to beat painfully hard in a steady beat, slowing. My breathing followed. My body was preparing itself. I had found myself in enough situations similar to this that I knew where it was headed.

I tried to retreat into my head as he nuzzled his head into my neck and deeply inhaled, but Zev's past heroics proved the efforts useless once again.

He ruined my escape.

Axel groaned roughly into my neck before dragging his tongue up it. "You smell of Ezra," his voice was strained. "I can smell the both of you. Taste the both of you."

He bit into my skin. I flinched from the force used and, for a moment, wondered if he broke skin before remembering that, that, was the least of my worries at the moment.

"Why the fuck do you taste so good?" He growled out rhetorically. "I've never- I can't-" he snarled in frustration. Taking another deep inhale, he pulled back and looked at me. "Nea," he said. His voice was strained and seemed pained. His eyes dug into mine, the severity they conveyed scared me. "Please, I need your help," he pleaded.

I swallowed. I had to stay calm. Maybe I could convince him to let me go. If not that, then I could try to talk him down from what his swirling eyes made me fear he wanted.

I licked my dry lips. "Help with what?" I asked in a quiet voice.

I had a feeling I knew. It was always the same with men.

"Men have needs."

He dropped his forehead to mine. "I need to feed."

My shoulders slightly raised to cover my neck instinctively. I wanted to be a smart ass and reply that he should eat, but I had a feeling it wasn't the normal kind of feeding. After seeing Zev with blood dripping down his chin and his chest, Axel having had his head near one of the juiciest of my veins had me jumping to conclusions. If only they were right.

"How?" I asked.

Over the course of the time I had been here, I had come to learn more species than I could imagine existed aside from humans. Honesty, I wasn't sure if there even was another human in this world. Those who appeared to look like one typically proved me wrong with small displays of magic. Those who didn't... well, the small horns hidden in their hair or odd features and colours were indicators enough. I hadn't noticed them when I had first arrived here, but the amount of...different looking people I saw had increased as time went on.

He didn't answer verbally. Pinned against the wall by his body, he took my hand and made me grab his hardened cock over his pants while his other hand grabbed me around the back of my neck. His lips crashed down onto mine violently as his hand made mine squeeze him.

My body froze, painfully tense.

Well, at least he told the truth. Everything he said last night was complete shit. Not that I was fooled to begin with.

He pulled back just enough to separate our lips. They lightly brushed against mine as his warm, spiced breath spread over them. His hand forced me to grope the hardened bulge.

"Like this," he sighed lightly.

"T-this?" I questioned, eyes widening.

He opened his closed eyes and looked at me with his swirling ones. The silver was more prominent now, but the madness with which it danced with the grey had slowed.

"How else did you think you'd feed your incubus, mouse?"

The blood in my veins turned to ice.

Incubus.

If it meant the same thing as it did back home... I had to tread very carefully. The complete control he could take over me and the confusion his casual touches in the hallway caused all made sense now.

"I tried to through your dreams since you didn't seem ready to give in yet, but that plan was thwarted when I hit that strange barrier you have around your mind," he said, his eyes narrowing. "We'll get to that when I'm not so close to attacking the next person that walks across my path. I'm starving, little mouse, and the only one who can feed me is you."

I swallowed hard as I pushed my head as far back as I could from him. "Why? Can't you find someone else?"

With his appearance, that wouldn't be an issue.

He shook his head. The slight tick in his jaw made it known that although he didn't appear as crazed as he had when he dragged me away, he was struggling to control himself. "Did you suffer memory loss when you decided to jump out of the car head first, mouse? We had a whole discussion about this in your presence."

I felt ire at the condescending tone he used.

I thought back to that day. Although Axel's eyes dominated my thoughts of it, I could recall the mention of him not being able to feed from anyone but his wife. Something about people being able to tell- to smell it. If they did, he would get... punished.

My fear flared higher at the thought of punishment. I bet his wouldn't be like the kind Ezra had dealt out to me.

An unwanted hint of sympathy and understanding started worming its way into my chest. I knew what it was like to do something out of fear of punishment. I knew what Axel was going through far more than he knew or ever would know.

I clenched my teeth.

This world was one where only the strong and resilient survived.

Axel was one of the strong. He was the reason others had to survive through resilience. So, why was it that, I, one of the resilient ones who had to survive against him was entertaining even the hint of the idea of helping him?

Maybe I was a masochist.

Cross that.

I was a masochist. I had to become one to survive, but that didn't mean I would share the pity I reserved for those like me with someone like him.

I survived because I was resilient, and resilience would get me through this.

I glanced down when his hand that still held me against him started to shake again. He tightened his hold in an attempt to hide it. It didn't hide that his eyes were starting to swirl wildly once more.

My heart stuttered as I realized my window of opportunity was closing. If I didn't want things to go as badly as my mind was making me picture it would, I had to keep him in control. Time was running out.

A ball of dread weighted down my stomach as I realized I'd have to sacrifice to survive. It was clear from the way he brought me here and the way I was pinned and forced to hold him that he was going to feed off me regardless of my wishes. The question now lied in what exactly he needed to feed. Did he need to orgasm to feed? Did I need to orgasm to feed him? Was it the act itself, or the stimulation?

"What would I..."

"Now, little mouse, don't play stupid. You know what an incubus needs."

Sex.

He emphasized his words by squeezing my hand, making the hardness beneath it known once more. Not that it had been forgotten.

I could feel my hand shake under his firm grip. It tried to pull away, but he wouldn't budge. "Can't I just... get you off?" I asked.

I didn't want to, but it was better than the thought of his hands on my body. I didn't want to feel how wrong it would feel, especially not after Ezra's heated touch felt so right.

My heart stalled.

Ezra.

What would he think if he saw me now?

He looked between my eyes in contemplation. Suddenly, he pulled me towards him by the back of the neck. He once again buried his face into my neck and inhaled deeply with a satisfied sigh at the end.

"Ezra must have taken care of you real good if you're still giving off this much essence after the act," he mumbled to himself under his breath. "It's enough that I won't have to fuck you."

There was a silence filled with an unspoken yet at the end of that sentence. I could see it in the flash that crossed his eyes.

"But," he continued, pulling back to look at me. "I need your hand. Your lingering essence is enough to keep me from attacking you-"

I glanced down at my hand held under his.

Further.

It kept him from attacking me further.

"-but that's in this moment. Once it's gone, my inner beast will return more driven than before. He has now tasted bliss like never before in a measly sip. He hungers for more," his eyes burrowed into mine. "I hunger for more."

The grey was almost entirely overtaken by molten silver. The liquid metal churned violently. The more I looked the more I could feel a faint static tingle at the back of my mind build. Realizing what it meant, I quickly looked away as fear wound its way around my heart. I wasn't going to let him take control of me like that again if I could help it.

"O-okay!" I blurted out. I needed this to end. I wanted to get back to Ezra and go eat lunch together and pretend this never happened. "I'll do it." It was nothing compared to what I've been forced to do.

It was fine.

It was nothing.

I was fine.

I was nothing.

His eyes flared before he released my hand to let me do what I need to be allowed out the door my back was against.

Wanting to get it over with as fast as I could, I unbuttoned his pants and pulled the zipper down. The sound echoed in the room. Before I could dwell on the disgust mixed with fear and hatred that was building in my stomach, I reached my trembling hand into his pants and wrapped my fingers around his thick length, not bothering to pull it out. It was so thick I couldn't wrap them around it fully. Dragging my hand up his length, his width became the lesser of my fears as his haunting and unspoken 'yet' echoed in my head. Using my thumb, I spread the precum around to lubricate before starting to pump his cock in my fist.

He braced his hands on the door behind me on either side of my head and threw his head back with a moan at the first pump of my hand between us. At the second he dropped his head onto my shoulder, biting at the skin.

As he moaned in bliss, I tried to stop myself from shaking.

Just moments ago I wanted to do this willingly with a man. Now here I was. Being used.

Ezra probably wouldn't want me if he knew how dirty I was. He was too clean, too perfect for something like me. Maybe this was the universe's way of telling me.

But I guess it wanted to reinforce its message.

"Fuck!" Axel growled into my shoulder.

One moment I was standing against the wall, the next I found myself suffering whiplash from being thrown onto a bed. I didn't even have a moment to reorient my spinning vision before I felt the weight of his body over mine.

Terror and panic hit me like a train.

I looked up and my eyes locked with his.

Big mistake.

The grey in his eyes was gone. They were now two pools of molten silver. Two pools that I found myself drowning in.

Time seemed to slow as everything started to fade until all I could see was the swirling silver. So pretty. So cold.

He wrapped a hand around the base of my neck. "You smell too good," he said, his voice sounding guttural. "I can't help it. The more I taste, the more I want."

He forced his knee between my legs so he could separate them and place himself between them. It didn't take him much effort. I didn't resist. In fact, I spread my legs to help. I wanted to make him happy.

I felt a cool breeze against my bare pussy, but the sensation was quickly overtaken by the heat of Axel's hand as he cupped my mound, shoving two fingers in without delay.

"No panties?" His rough voice somehow purred. His lips curled into a smirk. No sign of the man from last night who claimed not to be like this was anywhere to be seen. "Someone's a naughty little mouse." He pulled his fingers out then pushed them back in. "A naughty little mouse who's wet for me." He leaned closer to my face as my lips parted on a moan as he continued to pump his fingers. "I knew you were just playing hard to get."

I couldn't focus on the specific words he was saying, not when his eyes were so pretty and his voice sounded ethereal, but I could tell he was pleased. That all I wanted. All I needed.

He moved his hand from my neck and grabbed my breast over my dress. He squeezed it firmly before finding my nipple through the fabric and playing with it, rolling it with his thumb. After a moment he stopped and his hand disappeared.

A feeling of devastation hit me in the chest. I wanted him to touch me, needed him to.

"Shhh, relax, little mouse, I'll take care of you," he reassured. "Give you what you want."

His hand returned to the base of my neck as his fingers left my pussy.

I wined in desperation at the loss, but eagerly spread my legs further when I felt the thick tip of his cock slide up through my folds.

The beautiful molten silver disappeared when his soft lips crashed over mine.

Along with the silver, the haze that had taken over my mind lifted. It wasn't as slow and murky of a process like previously. Only a few seconds were spent in a confused haze before I had a sharp, sudden, return to reality.

I slammed my eyes shut so he couldn't trap them again. He didn't seem to notice his mistake yet as he continued to drag the head of his cock up and down through my wetness- wetness that was still present from Ezra's touch and was made worse by Axel's control.

My mind raced and my heart pounded. I didn't want this.

I never want it.

The same anger I felt at breakfast with Jaxon sparked under the layers of fear weighing me down.

It was an anger that I could thank Ezra for giving me the courage to reignite with his soft reprimands at my passive behaviour.

When Axel started to push in, I jerked my hips away. There was enough room between us for me to dislodge him successfully. The action surprised him. He lifted his lips from mine, his whole body raising slightly.

It was what I was hoping for.

Making sure to not meet his eyes, I crack mine open to lock onto my target. Finding it, I drew my knee in and slammed it into his exposed balls.

He shouted before grunting in pain. His body crushed me under his weight as he crumbled on top of me. He gave me an opportunity to scramble away when he curled over to the side while cupping his injured jewels.

I didn't hesitate before rolling off the bed and running for the door. I didn't stop when it rebounded off the wall from the force with which I opened it. I didn't look back before bolting down the hall towards the stairs.

There were guests in the manor. Axel couldn't do anything to me in their presence. They had an act to put on.

Although I took comfort in the fact I was safe for now, my mind was already running through possible ways they would retaliate once the party was over and everyone left.

I wished at that moment that I could expose the sham that they had going on, but was it worth risking Cassius exposing my damning secret?

Was it worth losing Ezra?

No.

So I ran.

I almost made it but failed to notice the figure approaching from the other direction in my desperate panic.

"Lady Riar?"

I jumped at the voice, almost tripping over my feet, and glanced away from the head of the stairs and looked towards the hallway that disappeared off into the opposite direction that Axel had pulled me in.

There stood Lady June. Her face showed the concern that could be heard in her voice.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Crying?

I reached a hand up to my cheek. My fingers came away wet. They reflected the dull light of the cloudy and gloomy day that could be seen out the windows.

I flinched slightly at the sound of pounding footsteps that sounded behind me. I could feel the vibrations in my feet through the floor.

"Lady Riar, is everything fine?"