Arran’s Obsession (Body Count, #1)

My breathing came in quick pants, my hand crammed to my mouth so I didn’t scream out and give myself away. For twenty minutes, I’d hidden high above the warehouse floor, making it to the gantry then scrambling up a frame to lie flat on the roof of the captain’s office the American woman had told me about.

I’d been seconds ahead of the men. So many of them, each in a skeleton mask and bare-chested. Some with black warpaint daubed on their flesh and across their eyes. All with hard muscles and savage yells when the siren indicated their release from pens either side of the open space. They’d fought each other even before they’d located any of the women.

The first girl had been caught right below my hiding place.

A redhead with pale skin and freckles on her shoulders. She’d screamed out a mix of fear and lust, her dress ripped from her and her limbs held down by two different men, then three. Another pitched into the fight and instantly reigned dominant. Huge, with dark skin and rippling muscles, he’d clashed with her attackers, blood flying from hits and two contestants knocked unconscious so their bodies landed prone next to hers.

At the far end of the space, another woman had made a break for it, and some of the pack had taken off in furious pursuit. The ones left around the redhead weren’t ready to give up.

They brawled for her, but the huge man stood over her body, keeping them at bay and dealing out lethal hits. Black tattoos down his arms moved with his swings. He’d bared his teeth in clear warning. Finally, he’d caused enough damage to the others that it gave him the space he needed to open his jeans.

He’d freed his dick and knelt, tearing away the last of her clothing to expose her naked form. Then, so strangely, he’d ducked to make eye contact and laid a tender kiss on her lips. The woman sobbed and threw her arms around him as if the act of hurting the other men around her had been a gift.

He whispered something then fucked straight into her where she lay, his dick penetrating her until their bodies were flush together. Both breathed hard. Blood decorated her skin, red specks alongside her freckles. Then the two of them writhed in it, their desperation-edged moans adding to the yells of the sport others were having elsewhere.

Only at their moment of sexual connection had the losers left them alone.

At that whole scene, I’d been able to peek.

I didn’t dare now.

Metal creaked. A footstep?

My very soul cringed in on me. The past few days had been filled with shitty situations. A threat of homelessness, the hit by a car, Cherry’s murder. Now I was moments away from a pack savaging me.

There wasn’t a single thing I could do to stop them. It was more than apparent that none would listen to me even if I begged. From what the American had said and the redhead’s reaction, the women were willing prey. They wanted this.

I absolutely did not, but my body was betraying me. My skin so sensitive and my flesh dying to be touched. I was excited, thrilled in a way I hadn’t been ever. Not that I desired being hurt, but the animalistic sex had done the unthinkable and turned me on. I didn’t want it in the same way the other women did with their eyes shining bright, but I did want something.

My imagination had made it Arran. His gorgeous face behind a skeleton mask. Him bruising and breaking bones then forcing me down and fucking me in front of the other contestants.

Claiming me. Obsessing over me.

I could cry for how messed up that idea was, but keeping him in my head was helping me get through the terror.

Another crack of the metal gantry below. Someone was nearby. Above me, a red light blinked on a camera. I shot my gaze to it, unable to move for fear of being seen but focusing on the glass like the watchers would help.

Then I clocked the reflection.

I could see him. The approaching male. Not Arran as my errant heart hoped, but still familiar. One of his gang members, I was almost certain. I’d leaned across the desk and got a good look at the three of them, focusing on the other identifying details since their faces were hidden. The one to his right had had a snake tattooed around his arm, and he held his head at an angle, as if finding everything funny. Just like the approaching man did now, though warpaint had been daubed over his tattoos.

“It’s no good,” the incomer called out. “We’re everywhere. You can’t escape us. Run, little rabbit. I want to fucking bring you down.”

From further away, someone jeered.

I shuddered. There had been yells from his fellow contestants but nothing of this taunting. The other men were far gone on bloodlust.

A scream tore through the air to my left, furious shouts following.

The man nearer me gave a dark laugh. “Girl three has been found and is about to get fucked by her owner. You want that, too. Isn’t that why you’re here? Come out, come out.”

The very last thing I wanted was to be found. In my heart, I knew that desire was futile. One of them would get me if it wasn’t this one. It could be better to submit and just let him take me. Bring it to an end.

I wished I could go down fighting. Hurt him like he would hurt me. But I was scared in a way I’d never been afraid in my life. It felt like everything was falling apart again, like it had when Mum died, but I wasn’t fifteen now. I was grown and I’d brought this on myself.

Tap, tap, tap.

More footsteps, closer still.

A wave of terror built inside me.

Abruptly, a howl of triumph came from closer by.

“Got you,” a man yelled, his accent thick where the others were a mix of nationalities.

The fourth woman had been caught. She mumbled something that let me pick up her accent—it was the American who’d given me my hiding place. Who’d helped me survive this long.

She moaned and choked out a protest, or perhaps encouragement, a struggle playing out that I could only imagine. Her high ponytail being used to control her. Her tight dress ripped and shredded, no concern in her attacker of the pain it might cause her.

Another man howled like a damn dog, the smack of flesh a fight. Something wet splatted. Blood.

Then the unmistakable punch and grunt of sex.

I brought to mind her face and twisted it from distress to rapture. She’d signed up for this. As terrifying as it was for me, I couldn’t get over the fact that she and the other three women welcomed the savage attack.

The sound of her having sex with her winner grew louder, her moans and his pleasure echoing in the space. Slaps of skin hitting. Muttered encouragement from whoever was watching but no longer touching. It built into a crescendo, their orgasms loud and giving me a burst of unwanted need so strong my breathing stuttered and my core clenched.

“Four taken now,” my tormentor called. “Sixteen men left with one objective.”

The gantry creaked.

“Number five, where the fuck are you?” he shouted abruptly.

Another voice answered, the American woman, breathless in her aid. “Try the roof of that hut. I want this over so we can leave.”

Oh God, no.

In the reflection, the man closest to me lurched, scrambling for the same route up I’d taken. I yelped in terror, rolling up to scurry to the edge. I stared down. Below me, two couples were having sex on the floor, nothing hidden from the group of men around them.

But they all saw me.

“There!” one yelled.

My breath caught. Behind me, at the other side of the roof, the snake-tattooed man appeared. His eyes sparkled his victory. His route the only one up.

Unless I jumped.

Panicked, I peered down again. From here, it was a drop to the metal walkway, but others were already running to reach it. I had no hope. Still, I couldn’t stay.

Flipping my legs over, I lowered myself to my fingertips then let go, my knees catching on the stubbled exterior of the captain’s hut before I landed hard on the metal walkway. The pain barely registered. Had to move.

I took off down and away, a thud behind me telling me the man was close behind. Ahead, two approached from the other end of the suspended floor, both huge, one so bear-like I felt like I was in a twisted fairy tale. Between us, another set of steps descended. I made a break for it, descending with a squeak of fear right as one made a grab for me.

There were too many of them. This was too much. My heart couldn’t take it.

I hit the concrete floor of the warehouse and sprinted.

Five metres, ten.

A body slammed into mine. I fell hard, the man landing over me with a grunt of victory.

The arm with the snake tattoo braced me, the man’s body pressing mine down to the rough surface. His cock pushed against my ass.

Down here, the smell of sweat and sex dominated. The floor was cold in the hot night. He was going to take me right here, just like the others were having sex not twenty feet away, still joined.

“No, don’t, please,” I gritted out.

“Fucking hell, baby. I love the way you beg,” Snake-Tattoo answered, his mouth above my ear.

I shuddered in revulsion and bucked him. It did nothing, the control he had over me complete. His hand twisted into the straps of my dress then ripped, tearing the material at the seams.

“Why bother with the underwear?” he grunted.

“I’m not supposed to be—” I started.

At the same moment, my attacker surged, swiping a fist at another man whose naked, hairy feet came into view. I jolted with their fight, a puppet on a string, then the man lifted from me to defend his prize just like the first guy had done. Seizing the opportunity, I scuttled back, my dress falling away as scraps.

In only my underwear, I shot my gaze to Snake-Tattoo brawling with two men. Down the warehouse, the pack reformed. They’d seen us. Regrouped. Started our way.

My heart sank, all hope evaporating. I was going to be torn in two.

“No!” a furious shout came.

I spun around on my knees, the rough concrete cutting into my skin.

A man with dark-blond hair burst from the corridor I’d used. The one with the exit that was supposedly locked until this was all over. He put his head down and drove his limbs hard, every muscle taut, fury in his eyes and his skeleton mask doing nothing to hide pure anger.

The fight at my back paused.

The bigger of the men swore. “What the hell?”

He groaned as Snake-Tattoo threw another fist at his ugly face, and I readied to run. But that tattooed arm was around my throat and I was hauled up, my back to his bare chest.

With a wrench, my bra was ripped down me and torn away so my breasts were exposed. The bear man shot out a punch, and Snake-Guy stumbled, but he didn’t lose his grip on me.

Instead, he grappled with his jeans, opening them, his knuckles grazing the small of my back. His dick prodded me. A fast wrench shredded my underwear.

“No,” I screamed.

Another body slammed into his, taking us both out. I dropped to my hands and knees, naked, and agog at the fighter carving through the mob, the blond man who’d appeared from nowhere. He smacked a punch into the bear’s gut, doubling him over, then wheeled around, a wild man defending me. An animal but cold and exacting.

Snake-Guy stumbled and backed away. I expected him to square up, but he went still, his muscle tension dropping. As if fear had claimed him, as if facing off with a bigger predator than he could handle.

Abruptly, he turned and ran.

The peace didn’t last. Another man rushed in with a scream of fury but couldn’t dodge a stunning series of hits. He dropped with a low groan and didn’t get up. A third went down the same way.

Around me, bodies slumped.

Then he was in front of me, that blond hair in his eyes and blood smeared and spattered on his skin, over the bruise at his shoulder. His fervent gaze took me in, and my recognition was complete.

Arran. Here. The lying gang leader saving me against the odds.

I breathed for what felt like the first time in an hour.

The respite couldn’t last. The rest of the contestants fast approached, their shouts and footfalls blending back into my consciousness.

Arran noticed, too.

Without pause, he grabbed me by the waist. Manhandled me onto my back once again. He forced his body between my thighs, spreading my legs wide around him.

His gaze returned to mine. Held it. He got himself into position and wrestled his jeans, then for some unknown reason, paused to tug down his mask so I could see his treacherous mouth.

What the⁠—?

One thrust of his hips, and he fucked straight into me.

His dick speared my flesh, my body doing the unthinkable, so wet and ready to accept his that an uncontrolled moan slipped from my lips.

I pulsed around his thick intrusion.

Like that, the game was up.