Their Wife

Thirty-Five

"You know, it's rude to refuse to eat what your master offers, slave."

I shivered at the brash tone of Jaxon's voice by my ear. His warm lips brushed against my cheek as he spoke the words. The feather-light brush burned against the cold, clammy quality my skin had taken from the shock of emotions I had just gone through. If his presence alone wasn't enough, his voice definitely was to send chills of fear crawling down my spine.

Jerking my head once more, he pulled me up to my knees as he moved away. I reached up and grabbed his hand where he gripped my hair. Tugging and pulling, I tried to unravel his fingers to release his hold and put a desperate end to the painful pull that made water pool at the corners of my eyes. 

He sharply tugged my head back once more, drawing a yelp from my lips.

It was funny how things worked out in life. I had just been looking at a picture I was going to give to the man gripping my hair in hopes to prevent instances like this from occurring, but here I was, in his painful hold as my intended peace offering lay faced down on the ground in front of us.

My neck ached from the sharp pull that angled my face up into his. "But that's alright, I forgive you. I brought you some sweets instead."

The smile he gave me sent chills creeping down my spine. I had a feeling I wasn't forgiven.

Reaching into the pocket of his jeans, he pulled out his hand to reveal a few small red marbles in the center of his palm. I had an idea since the moment he had mentioned giving me sweets of where this was going. I wouldn't be enjoying these so-called sweets he had for me if my predictions were correct. And I had a feeling I was correct, after all, there was no place for a break in my life. 

He smiled down at me. It seemed strange, but that could have been because he seemed to be trying to appear sincere. 

He failed.

"Open," he ordered with a flash of excitement in his eyes. 

I didn't listen, but that didn't matter. It seemed he expected my disobedience since he didn't hesitate long enough to even give me a chance to listen before acting.

Holding the small, red marbles cupped in the lower part of his hand, he used his thumb and index finger to pinch my cheeks, forcing my mouth open. Everything had happened so fast from the moment he had tripped me that it didn't take him much effort. Once my mouth was open enough, he didn't pause before tipped the small marbles into it. When they were all in my mouth, he forced it shut by cupping my jaw in his hand and snapping it shut. A few of the red marbles got caught between my teeth from the action. They cracked open. Using his holds on my hair and jaw, he manually forced me to chew.

The small, red marbles had soft insides that were covered in a red, hard, candy shell that cracked like glass when bitten into it. I couldn't help but swallow some of it as he forcibly controlled my movements.

It didn't immediately register. No. It crept up on me. First, I got a hint of sweetness off the hard candy shell that surrounded the softer insides of the treat, and all I felt was a slight warmth on my tongue. The soft warmth turned into a tingle. The tingle grew warmer until it became hot, unbearable. It burned. It hurt.

Jaxon let go of my hair once he had accomplished what he had wanted to and stepped back while laughing. 

Without his hand holding me up, I dropped onto my hands panting as the burning in my mouth crested to levels that seemed unimaginable. I wasn't even able to squeak out a cry of pain as tears freely streamed from my face.

Jaxon's amusement echoing off the walls. 

I panted for air that seemed to get more difficult to breathe with each passing second. My mouth was open, a pathetic attempt to cool the burn that consumed me from the inside out. 

It felt like I had been punched in the face.

No.

Being punched wouldn't have hurt this much.

A steady, uncontrollable stream of drool dripped from my lips into a puddle beneath me. I could no longer breathe past the burn in my throat.

Balancing on a single trembling arm, I clawed at my throat as my body started heaving in an attempt to expel the horrid pearls. I couldn't feel it past the numbing pain that was spreading throughout my chest and further through my body, but I could see the contents of my stomach spewed out on the floor in front of me, covering the small puddle of drool that had been forming.

I was so overwhelmed by the painful sensation that I didn't register the hands pulling me away from the puddle of vomit by the shoulders. I only started noticing that someone was trying to help me when I felt those very hands push me down onto my back. The hands firmly flattened my shoulders against the cold marble. It felt like a blessing as the coolness seeped through the fabric of my clothing.

My ringing ears couldn't register what his moving lips were saying, but I could recognize Ezra's green eyes through my tear blurred vision. I never knew how happy I would be that my wish from earlier hadn't come true.

Ezra's face was strained when he shouted something in Jaxon's direction when he tried to step closer. Whatever it was he said, I was glad for it because it made him take a step back instead of closer like he was trying.

Ezra pushed away my desperate hands that were searching for a solution to not only the burning caused by the small, red marbles Jaxon had fed me, but also a solution to the added burn that was a result of suffocating. He replaced my hands with his own, wrapping them around my neck like he was preparing to strangle me. But he didn't. Instead, his lips faintly moved as his hands grew cool, a soothing sensation against the burn. In seconds, the burn started to dissipate, faded to one that would expect after consuming too hot of a meal.

My chest rapidly rose and fell as I tried to replace the missing oxygen from my body. Each breath burned, but it was nothing I could complain about after knowing how much worse it could be.

As my body recovered and the shaking of my limbs decreased, the sounds of an argument began to register in my ears.

"You almost fucking killed her!" Ezra's shouted words sounded off the walls, echoing in the silence that followed.

I looked over to find him standing over Jaxon, his shoulders squared and hands fisted. He had saved me more times than I ever thought anyone would in a single day. Jaxon who was sprawled out on the floor on his side with a visible mark on his cheek, on the other hand, was paying him no mind. His attention was focused on something else.

His eyes were locked onto the picture that lay on the ground in front of him, now face up.

His golden eyes rose, meeting with mine. 

They darkened to near black.

Their Wife Book's 1 and 2 are complete and avaliable on Patreon! Their Wife Book 3 is currently being updated on Patreon and Their Thief is available!

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