Savage Dom: A Dark Romance: Savage Island Book One Read online

  Oops.

  “Is that how we’re going to play this, princess?” he says.

  I clear my throat. “I’m not playing!” But I am, and I shouldn’t be. I should mean what I say. I don’t know what’s come over me.

  Still holding me to his chest, he falls to the ground of the cave and kneels on one knee. I cringe when he yanks the snake and tosses it behind him.

  Gah.

  I start to second guess my choices here.

  “Okay, so maybe you should just let me go—ahh!”

  I squeal when he flips me over and places me over his bent knee. My hands flail, my legs scissor, but he holds me in place with one arm. My heart races because I’ve never been spanked, and I’m not so sure why I’m doing this.

  “Put me down!” I scream, because I feel like I should protest, that I shouldn’t just lie over his knee and let him discipline me.

  Without a word, he whacks his palm on my ass. It hurts a lot more than I expect, and my breath leaves me in one fell swoop. I’m gasping for air when he spanks me again, his huge palm as heavy as a paddle. I must’ve been crazy to want to see what this was like.

  “Okay!” I protest. “Okay, alright!”

  But he’s unaffected by my words.

  “This what you need, Harper?” he asks. He lands another slap, then another, building a fire on my ass unlike anything I’ve ever felt. I throw a futile hand back to try to stop him, but he effortlessly cuffs my wrist and pins it to my lower back, adjusts me over his knee, and continues the relentless assault on my ass like he’s been waiting for this moment.

  “You wanted to see I meant what I said, didn’t you?” he asks with another smack.

  I don’t respond, because he’s right.

  “Has this cleared things up for you?”

  “Hmmph!”

  My dignity might be bruised, but my body vibrates with pleasure. It confuses me.

  “Put me down.”

  He gives me another good spank.

  “That demand is what got you here in the first place.”

  Oh, right. Dammit.

  “Cy!” My belly hurts pressed up against his knee, and my cheeks flame. “I’m not a child!”

  “Didn’t say you were,” he says before he gives me another hard smack that goes straight to my core. My pulse races and it hurts. It really, truly hurts, though every stroke of his palm makes me want more. There’s something beyond this pain, though I don’t know what that might be.

  “You’ll do what I say, Harper. You’ll eat what I give you. You’ll keep yourself safe while under my watch, or your ass will pay the price.”

  “Okay, alright, yes,” I tell him. “Please?”

  He gives me one more smack before lifting me off his knee. Spinning me around, he cradles me in the crook of his arm. His eyes are narrowed, his brows furrowed as he looks searchingly at me, as if trying to determine if I’ve learned my lesson. A delicious shiver runs through me.

  “Much better,” he rumbles approvingly, which makes me suddenly want to hide. I’m too raw, too exposed, and so fucking turned on. I can’t bring myself to look at him, so I bury my face on his chest. The little dark, curly hair on his bare chest tickles my nose. I place my hand palm down on him as if to steady myself. I don’t know what I want right now, but it isn’t this. I don’t want to cuddle. I’m sort of angry and wildly turned on and confused as fuck.

  He holds me there tentatively at first, then squeezes me to him and kisses my forehead. The rough feel of his whiskers and gentle touch of his lips evoke unexpected emotion. I swallow hard, not knowing why I’m so raw and vulnerable right now.

  Gently placing me on the ground of the cave, he leaves me rubbing my sore ass, gets to his feet, then walks toward the fire.

  “It’s gone,” he says grimly.

  “What is?”

  “The rest of the meat I cooked. Gone.” He turns to look at me with his hands clenched into fists, white-knuckled and betraying the fury he barely holds at bay. “It might feel like we’re alone here, but we’re not.” I pity that lone man that crosses him now. I saw how he lopped off the head of the snake. I saw him end the life of the man who tried to rape me. Whether it’s time spent on this island or something more, Cy is wild and untamed, and I don’t know what he’s capable of.

  When he stalks to the foot of the cave, the setting sun illuminates the muscles in his body, taut and glistening with a fine sheen of perspiration. He throws his head back and howls into the night.

  “Where are you? Come at me, motherfucker! You’re not getting us. You’re not getting her.”

  I stop breathing and blink in surprise. I practically expect him to pound his chest.

  He continues to lament and howl, but I don’t hear much beyond what he just said.

  You’re not getting her.

  I own you.

  Should I be afraid of his unabashed proclamation of ownership?

  He waits, panting from the exertion of screaming to the other man who inhabits this island, before walking back to me.

  “The ship might come back,” I remind him stubbornly. If it does, I’m leaving. I have to. I have a job and a brother and would prefer the simplicity of a predictable meal in my belly, thank you. I clear my throat. I try another approach though. “If it does, come with me.”

  He holds my gaze for a minute before shaking his head and looking away. Finally, he sighs. “No one’s coming, Harper. They brought you here for a reason.”

  Who?

  I shake my head. I don’t believe it. “You’re lying.”

  His jaw firms. “I don’t lie. Let’s cook that snake.”

  “Cy, you can’t just change the subject.”

  Walking toward the snake, he doesn’t meet my eyes. When he speaks, his tone is mild but resigned. “You don’t have to believe me,” he says, his tone gentler at first than I’ve ever heard from him. Then his tone hardens. “But there’s no ship coming, Harper.”

  Nine

  Cy

  After I tell her we’re stranded here, she pulls into herself a little. She grows quiet and introspective. I don’t really blame her. Today has been intense.

  I honestly feel bad for the girl—woman. Whatever. I feel bad for her, because she’s been through so much in such a short time.

  I build a fire in silence, and we eat the snake. I’m honestly kinda proud of her. She makes a face but doesn’t protest this time, taking the roasted meat from me without a word of complaint. When we finish the snake, we eat another coconut for dessert, polish off the coconut water, then walk silently down to fetch water to drink. When we come back up to the cave, the sun’s already set, and the night’s grown cooler. She shivers. Without a word, I drape my arm around her shoulders and pull her closer to me. She doesn’t protest.

  We sit by the fire in silence, and it feels almost nice, the crackle of the flames and her soft breathing beside me. Without the trappings of polite society, it feels as if there’s no need to keep up conversation. We sit in silence for a while until her head begins to droop.

  “Harper.” She jerks her head up and blinks at me, her auburn hair hanging about her in messy but adorable waves. We stayed mostly out of the sun today, but she still has a light pink tinge on her cheeks. The flickering fire lights her green eyes so they look like little bits of glimmering jade. My chest swells with pride, and I want to gather her up to me and hold her.

  I’m not used to this urge I have, to protect her, to keep her safely by my side. It’s foreign to me but feels right.

  I saved her life today. I fucked her. I spanked her ass.

  Like I said. It’s been an intense day. But it’s left me with the need to cherish this woman, though I hardly even know who she is.

  I need to get this sleepy girl to bed. “Let’s get some rest, baby.”

  She looks from me to the fire, then back to me again.

  Baby.

  Why did I say that? I don’t regret it, though.

  She yawns, like a sleepy little kitten,
then gets to her feet. I take her hand, but before we go to the cave, I look beyond us to see if there’s any indication at all that Will’s out there. It was one thing when I was a loner on this island. Now that I have a woman to care for, it’s altogether different. But I see nothing at all, though the pitch blackness doesn’t help matters.

  “Wait.” She freezes at the foot of the cave, turns to me, and frowns. “Um. Where do you sleep?”

  Isn’t it obvious? I point to the cave. “In there.” Did she not realize that?

  “Um…” she worries her lip. “Are there bats?”

  I nod. “Yes.”

  She shakes her head. “Oh God oh God oh God.” It sounds like she’s about to cry. “I can’t sleep in there!”

  “Course you can,” I say, taking her by the hand and giving her a little tug. “The bats won’t bother you, and it’s safer in here than outdoors. Outside the cave you’re susceptible to much more.” Snakes. Rodents. Spiders.

  The other man on this island.

  Christ.

  “How will I sleep with bats in that cave?” she asks in a high-pitched, terrified voice. She begins to whimper. “Cy, oh God, seriously there has to be another option.”

  I work my jaw before I reply. “There was, back when the men on this island were friendly. But it’s too dark now to go to the shore.” We had a few makeshift shelters we built, all six of us. One much sturdier than the rest. Back when we weren’t enemies.

  Frowning, she looks out to the darkness beyond the cave and yawns widely.

  “Harper, you can do this,” I tell her. “I promise.”

  Now that the fire is almost dying down, it’s pitch black, the sliver of a moon offering little light. She shivers.

  “Harper,” I repeat. I take her hand and give her a tug, pulling her close. I run my fingers through her hair and bring my mouth to her ear. “You don’t have to be afraid. I’ll keep you safe.”

  “I’ll keep you safe, too,” she says. I grin. Christ, she’s cute.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re laughing at me. You don’t think I can keep you safe? I keep my brother safe. I’m his guardian. I not as helpless a female as you think.” I want to know about her brother, and how she keeps him safe. I want to know what matters to her.

  “Never said you were a helpless female.”

  “You’ll see,” she says, ducking her head. “There will come a time when I need to keep you safe.”

  It’s then that I realize she’s really just stalling. She doesn’t want to go into the cave.

  “I believe you,” I say, though I’m not so sure she’s convinced. Hell, I’m not. “But now we need to get some sleep.”

  She takes a tentative step toward the cave. “What if the bats burrow in my hair?” Her voice is little and high-pitched. The poor thing is terrified.

  “I will rip them out of your hair and kill them with my bare hands.”

  “Oh, ew, that sounds brutal.”

  I shrug. “Sometimes brutal works.”

  I tug her hand again and she takes another small step. “Is it cold in there?”

  “Not that cold. Cooler than it was earlier but bearable.”

  “Do you have a blanket?” she asks.

  I have a tiny scrap of a thing I fashioned out of a few t-shirts, but it’s not much of a blanket.

  “Sort of.”

  “I have some clothes in my bag we can—oh.” She looks around her. “Um, Cy? Have you seen my backpack?”

  Motherfucker.

  We walk into the cave and look to where we left it earlier. It’s dark, our only light the moon and the fading flicker of fire, so it’s hard to see, but she left it at the foot of the cave. It’s gone. I should’ve thought of that, dammit.

  “Son of a bitch,” I curse. Had to have been Will.

  “I need that,” she says. “There’s… things in it I need. Like bad.”

  “Like medicine?”

  “Yeah. Like medicine.”

  Christ.

  “We’ll track him down tomorrow,” I tell her. “Promise.”

  I lay down on the floor of the cave, the softest part covered in moss, and pat the ground beside me. I can hardly see her in the darkness, this far away from the fire.

  “That looks terribly uncomfortable,” she says, but then she looks to the back of the cave and falls to her knees. “Oh, God, I think I saw one.”

  She definitely did, but it’s night, so they won’t be sleeping in here. “Since they’re nocturnal, they’ll be flying outside hunting dinner.”

  She cringes.

  Now that she’s beside me, I pull her onto my chest, away from the mouth of the cave. “You’ll be fine,” I assure her. “You likely did see one, but they won’t hurt you.” I swallow hard before I make a promise. “Nothing will hurt you.”

  I can hardly see her, but I can hear her yawn. “Oh, God, I’m tired.”

  I nod, and take the threadbare, makeshift blanket and pull it up over her.

  “You need it, too,” she says.

  “It isn’t big enough for both of us, and I run hot at night anyway.”

  “You run hot any time of day,” she says coyly, then she’s giggling to herself. “Sorry. I’m exhausted and getting a little giddy.”

  “Don’t apologize.” I’m grinning, though she can’t see it. It’s the most entertained I’ve been since I landed here.

  I hold her on my chest and quietly run my fingers through her hair, until her breathing slows and I’m sure she’s asleep. My cock stirs beneath her belly, and I want to bury myself in her. I close my eyes and grit my teeth. Here we go again.

  I hate that I have no control over this, that every time we’re in close proximity I want to fuck her senseless. I’ve been here longer than she has. I know things she doesn’t yet, and one thing is for absolute certain: our being on this island is no accident.

  In the distance I hear the howling of what sounds like a wolf. She stirs and murmurs so softly I’m not sure she’s awake.

  “There are no wolves in the Cayman Islands.” And then she’s lightly snoring again.

  What the hell is she talking about?

  Does she think she’s in the Cayman Islands? I have no idea where we are, but those are inhabited. Tourist locations. Not the middle of fucking nowhere.

  When the howling dies down and there’s no sound but the soft rustling of trees outside, I close my eyes and finally fall into a deep sleep.

  For the first time since I got here, my dreams are salacious and lewd, every one of them involving Harper. On her knees, sucking me off while I choke her, tied to one of the trees while I whip her perfect ass, spread face down on the beach while I take her from behind.

  I wake up with a raging hard-on and groan. Was I that sex-deprived that having a pretty woman this close to me affects me this deeply? I try not to fidget because I don’t want to wake her.

  “Can’t sleep?” she whispers. It’s still the middle of the night. Her voice is soft and raspy in the quiet coolness of the cave.

  “I’m fine,” I lie. “Go back to sleep.”

  “Can’t sleep either. You must’ve done something to my psyche or something, because I’m having one sex dream after another.”

  I can’t help but smile.

  “Is that right?”

  Her hand travels down the length of my chest to my cock. I groan when she rubs me straight through my jeans.

  “Fuck,” I growl, reaching for her breasts and cupping them in my hands. “Stop that.”

  “Don’t have to get up for work tomorrow,” she murmurs. “Might as well—”

  But I stay her wrist with one hand and smack her ass with the other. I’m not fucking around with her doing what I tell her.

  “Get some sleep.”

  She rubs her ass and rolls, snuggling back up against my chest.

  “If you say so.”

  “I say so.”

  Soon, she’s gently snoring again, and I can’t seem to get comfortable, not with this beauti
ful woman pressed up to my crotch. After a long time, I finally fall into a fitful sleep. When I wake with a start hours later, the pink rays of dawn filter through the entrance to the cave.

  Harper is still on me, but her leg is hitched up on mine, her arm strewn possessively around my chest. Well hello, Sleeping Beauty.

  Fuck, she’s gorgeous. Her dress has risen up, revealing her perfect, shapely legs, and the very edge of the pretty pink panties she’s still wearing. Her feet are bare, her useless sandals long forgotten. I stare at every inch of her, from her full breasts pulled up to my chest to her bright red toenails.

  Fuck her.

  The impulse is so insistent and powerful, I feel momentarily out of control. I blink in surprise. This is really fucking weird.

  I swallow and gently shift so that I can stretch, but when I do, Harper wakes.

  She blinks, looks around the cave, then sighs and buries her head on my chest again.

  “Oh, this isn’t awkward at all,” she says.

  “What?” I ask, running my hand down the back of her head, untangling the mass of waves. I continue until I reach her ass and give one of her cheeks a little squeeze.

  “Morning breath. Waking up with your hard-on pressed up to me. Lying on the chest of a man I hardly know, in a cave in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Could be worse,” I muse.

  “Yeah?”

  Fuck her.

  The insistent voice in my head speaks again, and before I know what I’m doing, I’m rolling until I’ve got her pinned beneath me on the cave floor. My growls echo in the cave, but I can’t seem to stop myself. I have to have her, and now. Her eyes are round and wide with fear. I’m the hunter, and she knows she can’t get away. I can feel her racing pulse with her wrists in my grip, hear her ragged breath, and smell the provocative scent of her arousal. My need to fuck her trumps all else.

  I transfer her wrists to one hand while I rake her dress up with the other. When she tilts her head back, and I get a view of the delicate skin at her neck, I lean down and sink my teeth into her. She’s sweet and salty and it makes her squirm deliciously beneath me. I rock my hips against her sweet body while I suckle the abused flesh between my lips.

  I’m vividly aware of how fragile she is. How easily I could hurt her. I frame her body beneath mine as I lick and bite my way down to her belly.