Taken: Original Sin Book 1 Read online

  A moment later, I spotted Mason with a group of men on the edge of the room. My nipples immediately tightened beneath my dress as arousal flooded my body. No matter what he did to me tonight, it wouldn’t be easy to pretend I was in terrible pain. Not when he always made everything feel so good.

  When he spotted me, he strode over to me, a dark look on his face. “On your knees,” he growled.

  I did as he said. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a few of the Elders watching us with interest. If Mason was even remotely kind to me, they would report this back to my father, and he might be forced to leave New Eden for not conforming to our ways. That meant he needed to be tough. Dominant. Lay claim to me so roughly that no one dared question his presence in my life.

  He unzipped his pants and brought out his cock. It was already thick and hard with need, and I felt myself growing even wetter between the legs at the sight of it. I feigned an expression of abject fear, still painfully aware of the Elders’ eyes on us.

  Mason slapped my cheeks with his cock, and I let out a moan.

  “Open your mouth,” he ordered.

  I did as he said, and before I could even prepare myself, he shoved his way in, stuffing his length right to the back of my throat. My eyes began to water as I tried my best to open my throat and let him thrust deeper, and his fingers curled in my hair, holding my head so I couldn’t move.

  “You’re going to get my cock nice and wet,” he growled down at me. “Good girl. Just like that.”

  He kept rocking his hips back and forth, pounding into my mouth, driving his cock deeper and deeper until I was almost gagging, long ropes of saliva coating every inch of him. I hated doing this with the other men, but with Mason, I actually enjoyed it. I loved the way he took control of me and used my mouth for his pleasure. I knew he was also helping me. Once I’d done this for long enough, his cock would be well-lubricated, and it wouldn’t hurt as much when he thrust inside other parts of me.

  “That’s enough,” he muttered a moment later, pulling out of my mouth with a wet popping sound. “Lift your dress and turn over.”

  I did as he said. He moved behind me, eliciting a gasp from my mouth as one hand came down on my buttocks in a hard slap. “Gonna fuck your ass now,” he murmured, spreading my cheeks wide and exposing every intimate part of me.

  “Yes, Mason,” I murmured.

  “You need to do something for me. Reach under the front of that dress and touch your clit when I start. Don’t make it obvious. No one can know you’re doing it.”

  “Yes, Mason,” I repeated. It was hard for me to stay in place; I was trembling so much with nerves and anticipation. He held me down, fingertips roughly digging into me.

  One hand moved to the only hole he hadn’t had yet, circling around the puckered entrance. I let out a moan when his finger tried to slide inside and immediately met resistance. “Don’t worry, baby girl,” he muttered so that only I could hear. “I told you, this is gonna be good for you. Just relax your ass. Open up for me.”

  I tried my hardest to relax all my muscles as his finger slid up and down my crack again. Then I felt his cock there, dripping strings of saliva on me. He rubbed it up and down before pressing it right against my hole, slowly forcing the tip in.

  I cried out, my eyes squeezing shut as spikes of pain slammed through my system. I didn’t have to fake it like I thought I would. This hurt more than anything.

  “Touch yourself,” Mason grunted. “Now.”

  I reached beneath my skirt and did as he said, finding the throbbing bud between my legs and rubbing it in frantic circles. Mason rewarded me with a hard pinch on my ass cheeks, something I usually liked, but I barely registered it as he forced his cock deeper inside. It hurt. It hurt so badly.

  I bit the inside of my mouth so hard I drew blood, and I let out a whimper of real fear as Mason thrust deeper still. What if he liked this too much? What if he decided he liked putting me in terrible pain like all the other men here?

  What if he turned into one of them?

  “Come on, baby girl,” he muttered, assuaging my fears. “Keep going.”

  One hand moved to my throat. He pretended to choke me for the benefit of our malevolent observers, but his touch was gentle, his soft fingertips a welcome distraction from the painful violation of his cock pushing into me. I relaxed, letting him caress me, and finally my body opened up to him.

  “Oh…” I closed my eyes and let out a moan as an exhilarating buzz stirred deep in my belly. It still hurt, but it felt good too. Just like in the Penance Room, when Mason spanked me and twisted my nipples. A perfect synthesis of pleasure and pain.

  I let him fuck me slowly, his cock slipping into my tight puckered hole until I let out another broken moan of bliss. He brought his hand down on my behind in another slap, and my eyes flew open as I gasped.

  “Careful,” he growled, pounding into me deeper.

  I noticed a man near us, his thick brows furrowed with suspicion as he watched us. My moans of pleasure must have drawn his attention.

  I scrunched my face up in faux agony and let out another whimper. The man looked satisfied and returned to his own business. He was doing the same thing to his wife that Mason was doing to me. I’d noticed a lot of the men here preferred to do that even after they were married.

  Mason told me the other day that it was about asserting power and dominance. He said anal sex between two consenting people like us could be wonderful, but the men here enjoyed it for other reasons. They liked how it hurt and demeaned their wives, seeing as they weren’t careful enough to do it properly, knowing the women had to submit to the pain anyway. He said they thought this made them more powerful, but in reality, there was nothing powerful about needlessly hurting a woman while knowing how much smaller and weaker she was.

  I liked the way he viewed the world so much more than anything I’d ever been shown or taught at New Eden. I just wished there was a safe place out there for us to escape to. A place without all these authoritarian rules, where we could be together without the chilling fear that stalked us every day, threatening to catch up.

  If only such a place existed…

  Mason began to move faster behind me, his strokes harsher and more demanding. I kept surreptitiously rubbing between my legs with the hand hidden in my skirt, the other bracing my body on the floor. Mason groaned, his fingers tangling in my hair again as he fucked me harder and harder, making me cry out. I needed more from him. So much more. Needed it like water, like air, like the blood pumping through my veins.

  My orgasm was building fast now. If I wasn’t careful, the floor would be covered with wetness soon. Then everyone would know my dark secret. They would know I loved everything Mason did to me. Even this.

  The fear of everyone finding out wasn’t enough to stop the looming pleasure. My heart began to race, my breath hitching in my throat, and my lower lip trembled from the impending climax. Pleasure was rippling through me like lightning, and my vision was dotted with stars.

  It felt so wrong.

  So perverted.

  So heart-stoppingly perfect.

  “That’s it, baby girl,” Mason grunted from behind me. “Come for me. Scream for me.”

  That was all it took. Then I was finally coming, screaming, exploding. White-hot waves of pure pleasure crashed over me again and again, stealing all control from me. Moan after moan escaped my lips, and my face was so contorted with ecstasy that everyone around us had to think I was in dreadful agony.

  Mason found his own pleasure, hands digging roughly into my sides as he let out a guttural groan and slammed into me, painting my insides with his hot release. If any other man did that inside me, especially in such a deeply private place, I would’ve felt disgusted, but instead I smiled, hiding the expression from the others in the room with one shaky hand.

  I wanted more from him.

  My lover.

  My future husband.

  The one bright light in the dark, dark depths of this nigh
tmarish place.

  15

  Mason

  “Not long now, Buddy. Your owner is almost ready.”

  I sprinkled some fish food into the little aquarium and glanced at the clock on my wall. It was a little before two in the morning.

  I hadn’t slept since five a.m. yesterday, but I wasn’t even remotely tired. A voice in my head kept me awake, telling me Jolie was close to accepting the truth about the world. She just needed one last little push. And I needed her. Needed to see her beautiful face. Needed to hear her sweet voice. One last time before she learned the whole truth, because for all I knew, she would hate me after it was finally out there.

  I took a few little things from the bathroom and then slipped out of my suite. New Eden was still and quiet, save for a few faint chuckles and tinkling sounds coming from the dining room. It seemed like a few of the guys were still awake, drinking and shooting the shit.

  I couldn’t avoid going past the dining room on my way out, so I’d have to confront them head-on. If I tried to sneak past without being seen, they’d realize something was up.

  When I arrived at the double doors leading into the room, I quickly appraised the situation. Three men were sitting at a corner table with a bottle of whiskey. Danny Miller, Tom Anderson, and Dale Sardelic. They were obviously drunk.

  This should be easy.

  “Hey, guys,” I said, strolling toward them. “Late night?”

  Danny picked up the whiskey bottle, nearly tipping its contents onto the table as he wobbled. “Yeah. Tom brought this back from the ‘Wastelands’ today, also known as the liquor store in Amiens.” He laughed uproariously, and the other men joined in.

  I faked a laugh too.

  “Join us?” Danny asked, trying and failing to focus his bleary eyes on me.

  “Oh, man, I wish I could,” I replied. “But I have to head up to my room in the mansion for a while. There’s no Wi-Fi signal down here, and I totally forgot I had to send some emails today. Some shit about investor portfolios back in the city.”

  All three of the men glazed over the second I mentioned ‘investor portfolios’. They couldn’t care less. Tom waved his hand. “Yeah, okay, bud,” he slurred. “Hey, if you get a chance, try and bring us back one of the bottles Jacob keeps in his private stash in the study. That’s the good stuff.”

  “Will do.”

  I turned and strode out of the dining room. Instead of heading to the shelter exit, I made a sharp right and slowed my pace as the hall darkened to pitch black. All of the candles in the women’s section were blown out after ten-thirty to discourage any of them from staying up late or wandering around at night. As a result, I had to rely on my senses and the occasional flash from my cell phone to navigate my way through the narrow halls.

  When I reached the right room, I eased the door open as quietly as possible before shutting it behind me. I crept over to the bed, slipped a hand over Jolie’s mouth, and shook her left arm.

  She awoke immediately, eyes wide, chest rising and falling in heavy, frantic breaths.

  “Sorry, it’s just me,” I muttered, slowly removing my hand. “Didn’t want you to scream.”

  During the last couple of weeks, that had almost happened a few times. As a result, I’d developed the habit of waking her with my hand covering her mouth. She usually didn’t mind, but tonight her eyes were wild with fear as if she were afraid that I was the Devil himself.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered, letting me hoist her up to a seated position. “I was just having a terrible nightmare.”

  I sat next to her and rubbed her back. “What was it about?”

  She rubbed her eyes and yawned. “I’m not sure. I forgot most of it the second you woke me.” She shook her head slowly. “Something about darkness and fire, I think. And serpents.”

  “I’m here now, don’t worry.” I pulled her close, wrapping her in a tight hug. I leaned down to inhale the lily scent of her hair, closing my eyes as I breathed her in. Fuck, she was so perfect.

  One hand snaked over my right leg, heading for my crotch. I drew back and shook my head. “Not tonight, baby girl. I have a surprise for you.”

  “Another surprise? It’s only been a few days since you brought Buddy to me,” she said with a smile. “What have I done to be so lucky?”

  “This one’s a bit different from a pet,” I muttered. I stood and extended a hand. “Come on.”

  “Where are we going?” she asked, a tinge of anxiety in her voice. “What if someone sees us?”

  “No one will. I already checked. Everyone’s asleep aside from a few guys in the dining room, and they won’t see us.”

  Jolie nervously bit at her bottom lip. “Are you sure? What if they do?”

  I touched my hands to both sides of her face, tilting it upward. “I’m never gonna let anything happen to you. Anyone tries to touch you, I’ll kill them.”

  Her eyes widened. “Really?”

  “Yes.” I meant it. If anyone ever fucking tried to hurt Jolie, I’d hurt them right back, twenty times worse. Every last one of them. No regrets.

  A small smile curved her pretty plump lips. “Okay.”

  I led her down the maze of halls and turned into the wide stairwell which led up to the above ground church. Jolie squeezed my hand tightly as I helped her up the steps. “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “There’s supposed to be a meteor shower just after two. It happens every year on this date,” I said. “I wanted to show you.”

  “Oh. That sounds nice,” she replied. “But I can’t stay above ground for very long.”

  “I know.”

  I took her out of the church and walked her over to a large moonlit patch of grass and flowers. In the distance, the huge white mansion stood sentinel, wings sprouting everywhere like ghostly tree branches.

  “It should start any minute now,” I said, glancing at my watch. It was almost 2:15.

  Jolie tilted her face toward the night sky, eyes wide with anticipation. “I haven’t seen anything like this since I was a child,” she said. “Even then, all I ever really saw was the occasional shooting star.”

  “This’ll be a whole lot more exciting, trust me.”

  Around three minutes later, Jolie turned her head slightly to the left and pointed. “Is that it?” she asked breathlessly, her gaze following the flashing red and yellow lights. “Is that the first one?”

  I didn’t respond. There was no meteor shower tonight. She’d realize that any second now.

  I watched her expression change from excitement to confusion. “Wait… that’s not a meteor.” She turned to me. “Mason, what is that thing?”

  “That’s American Airlines Flight 872, crossing over on its way from Miami to Houston,” I said calmly.

  She shook her head. “What do you mean? American Airlines?”

  “It’s a plane, Jolie. That particular flight crosses right over this part of Louisiana at 2:20 every morning.”

  “But…” She hesitated and looked back toward the flashing light in the sky. I could see the pure shock in her gaze as her mind finally connected the dots, grasping and erasing years of lies. Before her very eyes, the world she knew was vanishing.

  She didn’t speak for five whole minutes. Then she looked back at me. “There was no Great Reckoning, was there?” she asked in a flat tone.

  “No.”

  She took in a deep, juddering breath. “The world is the same now as it was back in 1999, isn’t it?”

  “There’s a few differences, but for the most part, yes. It’s the same.”

  “Everything that’s happened… everything that we’ve done…” She trailed off, and I took her hand.

  “They weren’t sins. At least not according to me.”

  She pulled away and keeled over like she’d taken a punch to the gut. With one violent contraction, the congealed contents of her stomach emerged in the moonlight, barely digested since dinner.

  A second later, Jolie groaned and pitched forward again. I mo
ved closer and rubbed her back. “It’s okay, baby. Let it out.”

  Short, rasping breaths were the next sign of her shock. It sounded like the air was barely going in, as if her lungs had been clipped together by huge bands. Then came the rising panic that made her fall all the way to her knees, clutching at long grass as she gasped.

  “It’s okay, Jolie,” I murmured, crouching beside her. “Take as long as you need.”

  She finally glanced over at me, face white and brows drawn expectantly, as if she were silently begging for me to tell her it was all a dream. All a sick joke.

  But I couldn’t. All I could do was support her.

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out the little travel-sized mouthwash bottle I stashed in there before I left my suite. “Have a few mouthfuls of this,” I said. “It’ll get rid of the bad taste.”

  She did as I said. After spitting it on the ground a moment later, she glanced up at the sky again. “Eleven years,” she whispered. “I’ve been living underground for that long.”

  “Yes.”

  “And no one knows about us?”

  “A few people have suspected over the years that something weird is happening out here, but no one ever knew anything for sure. Your dad keeps almost everyone out. Plus I’m pretty sure he has some sort of connections with the local police to make sure no one ever sniffs around.”

  “But it just… it doesn’t make sense,” she said, voice quavering. “I know the attack which came before the Great Reckoning really happened. I was there. I saw my mom get shot in front of me. I saw all the blood and the…” She stopped abruptly as tears welled in her eyes, melancholy choking her throat.

  “I know that happened, but I think your father and his cronies made it happen. They must’ve hired a professional hit squad to get rid of anyone old enough to speak out against their plan for New Eden once it went into effect.”

  “And we just blindly believed that the rest really happened when they told us.”

  “You were kids. You didn’t know they were lying. You were all traumatized, too. Your mothers and older siblings were shot in front of you.”