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“She’s mine,” I proclaimed.
The members of the order cheered at my victory and my blooding. They were also no doubt celebrating that they could now partake in that bourbon and blow job they’d been fantasizing about since the evening’s festivities began.
The fox hunt was finally over.
And the prey was definitely mine.
11
Sully
A part of me wanted to go to the Billiards room with the rest of the Order for the bourbon and blowjob they were all going to partake in as was tradition after a fox hunt, but I also didn’t feel that was fair to Portia. The poor girl had been through Hell, and I really didn’t want to leave her alone after all of that. I also had an odd and primal need to protect her.
I didn’t want her out of my sight again.
Not while we were still at the Oleander.
And no man, not even for a game, would hunt and terrify this woman again.
I would not ever let her feel the way she had as long as I could help it.
I would protect her.
The stakes were higher now. We were one step closer to the end, and the reality was sinking in. There was no way we would make it until the final day unless we acted as one.
“I’m going to run you a bath,” I said as we entered our room. She wasn’t as dirty as when I first found her since she had rinsed off in the cave, but her body shook from the cold, and she needed warmth all the way to her bones. Her blood was all over her face, from my own doing, and it was at the very least my job to remove it.
She nodded as she wrapped her arms around her nude body. I was getting used to seeing her naked, but I hated seeing her vulnerable.
Naked was sexy as hell, but vulnerable pulled at my heart and made me want to make it right. I couldn’t fix everything, but I could at least make her warm.
After checking a dozen times if the water was the perfect temperature, I added a couple capfuls of bubble bath to try to end her night in a little less horrific way. I then went to the sink and washed her blood off my face, trying to not focus on the macabre elements of the situation.
“I’ve never wanted a bath so much in my life as I do now,” Portia said behind me as she entered the bathroom.
“You may want to test the water,” I said, standing up. “I’ve never run a bath for anyone before.”
“I’m sure it’s perfect. Thank you,” she said as she walked over and put one foot into the tub slowly.
I walked over to the edge of the tub and held her arm to help steady her as she got in. I wasn’t sure exactly why I was helping her into the bath as she was more than capable of doing it herself, but again… something about the fox hunt had changed me. I wanted to treat this girl like a fine piece of china.
As she lowered herself all the way into the water, the bubbles covering her nudity, I said, “I’ll leave you alone.”
“Wait,” she called out. When I turned around to face her, she added, “Do you mind staying in here and talking to me? I don’t really want to be left alone with my thoughts.”
I leaned against the counter and nodded. “I can understand that. If your thoughts are anything like mine, then they’re pretty haunting.”
She ran the bubbles up and down her arm, not looking at me. “They are. Everything changed when I got here. I thought I could do this. I always considered myself a strong person, and there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do when I set my mind to it. But tonight really made me question that.”
“Which is the intent of the Order,” I said. “They want to break the belles. This is all a sick game to them.”
I grabbed a washcloth from under the sink, walked over to the tub, dipped it into the bubbling water and began washing the blood from her face. I didn’t want to overstep, so I handed her the rag so she could continue the job herself, but I found it odd that I didn’t want to stop.
“You continually speak as if you aren’t part of it. As if you aren’t wanting to be them. I just find that hard to believe.”
“I’ve never wanted to be them since I was old enough to see how fucked up they were. Never.” I repositioned my weight from one leg to the other as I leaned against the counter again. “I know you think I’m just some entitled rich kid, and this is my dream to be part of the all-powerful Order of the Silver Ghost. But you couldn’t be more wrong.” I walked over to the edge of the tub with a cup I grabbed from the sink. “Let me wash your hair.”
