The Beast's Possession

**Aife

pov**

I was on my hands and knees when he stood from his seat and walked around the desk. My eyes followed him as he stepped in front of it, leaned against it and crossed his arms in front of his chest. His facial expression was difficult to read - something between disgust and amusement, but not quite there yet. The only thing I was sure about was that he took great pleasure in watching my misery. The reasons why he was doing this didn't matter anymore, I just wanted to get out of his personal space as soon as possible.

"You were supposed to arrive ten minutes ago," he grumbled and glanced at the watch around his wrist. "What do you have to say for yourself?" He added as his eyes focused on me.

I had plenty of things to say. Oh, so many things, but I couldn't risk uttering even one - all of the words that ran through my mind were surely to land me straight back into the cells. Or, worse than that, in the hands of his starving animals. "I see," he chuckled and pushed himself off the table.

My eyes widened as he stepped closer and bent in his knees in front of me. Even in this position, compared to him, I felt as tiny as a bug.

As if his presence alone wasn't terrifying enough, he had to smirk. "I like you. The best spirit to break is a strong spirit," he chuckled as he reached his hand behind my head and grabbed a fistful of my hair.

Just like his guards, he seemed to enjoy hurting the women they kidnapped.

Tears stung my eyes, but I kept quiet even when he straightened his posture and pulled on my hair until I stood straight in front of him. My instincts screamed to grab his hand, to claw at it, but my pride kept me from doing so. Just a moment ago, he gloated about his love of breaking spirits, and here I was, giving him exactly what he wanted.

The longer I kept quiet, the more he seemed to enjoy it. As if he craved silent resistance.

He brought his face dangerously close to mine, just a brief movement and his lips would brush mine.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Deep down, I knew he wanted to see that spark, that fire of defiance in my eyes, but he wouldn't get it.

When his hold on my hair tightened and he pulled on it so hard, it felt like he was pulling it out of my scalp, I bit my bottom lip to keep silent. The only issue was that I did it so hard, it started bleeding.

A low groan left him. I hated how pleased he sounded. I hated it, I hated him with passion.

His free hand grabbed my hip and as he pulled my body flush against his. My eyes flew wide open, just in time with him, leaning in and capturing my lips with his.

I tried to move my face away, but he released my hair and grabbed the back of my head instead to hold me in place. He sucked on my lips and tried to thrust his tongue inside my mouth. His lips on mine felt so disgusting, so invasive, I gave into the instincts and bit his lip - hard.

A hiss of pain left him as he released me. The corner of my lip twitched as I tried to suppress a smile, but the feeling of victory faded when I heard his laughter echo against the walls.

"I fucking love it," he barked out in excitement.

While the monstrous man was enjoying his moment, I tried to back away. Maybe if he was too busy with his stupid happiness, he wouldn't notice me slip out of the office, and if I was truly lucky - I could find a place to hide. But of course, luck wasn't on my side. Not in this place.

"Don't bother, sweetheart, the door is locked. The only way you can leave this office is if I allow you to leave and I am nowhere near done with enjoying your company."

My heart nearly stopped. It wasn't as much because of his words, more the tone he used when he spoke - so calm and collected, like I was right where he wanted me to be. All this... Everything - it was a trap and I fell right into it.

"Now, let's get to why you're really here," he chuckled as his eyes zeroed in on me.

My breath hitched as my gaze met his. The insane need to defy him was long lost and forgotten, replaced by fear I hadn't known until I saw the look in his eyes.

I gulped and froze. The monster leaned against his desk again. A satisfied look appeared on his face as he licked his lips and spoke, "undress."

One of my eyebrows flew so high up, it had to disappear in my hairline. He couldn't be serious with that nonsense all over again, right?

"Don't make me repeat myself. Or should I invite the guards inside and play out our previous experience? I don't mind helping, as you already know."

His voice was too calm. It worried me how level-headed he appeared while he spat demands at me.

Once again, I felt the tears well in my eyes, but this time, I refused to have more witnesses to my misery, so although my hands shook, I started undressing.

As soon as I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it on the floor, he growled a low, "slowly. Make me enjoy the show."

He couldn't possibly understand how much he was humiliating me. Although everything he did was on purpose, I was sure he couldn't grasp at how much this stupid thing hurt me.

And yet, I did as I was told. Slowly, I took off everything I was wearing, piece by piece, until all of my clothes were piled up on the office floor.

The monster groaned, once again, sounding too pleased with the situation, pushed himself off the desk and walked towards me.

I was a moment away from dropping to my knees and begging him not to do it, but he beat me to it by simply grabbing my clothing and turning his back on me. I seriously thought he would... I wouldn't put it past him, but for now, I was happy he didn't go that far.

My eyes followed him as he tossed my clothes in the trash bin and set it in the middle of the office. Then, he reached for a cigar and looked at it as he muttered, "I'm still not fully convinced that you deserve new clothes. Given how ungrateful you've been for the hospitality we have shown you."

It took everything within me not to scream at him. Where was the hospitality he mentioned? I didn't see any. All he had done was kidnapped me, humiliated me over and over again, let his men beat me and made me his servant. That was as far from being a good host as I could imagine.

And worst of all, the moment he looked away from the cigar, his eyes focused on me. He didn't say a word, just watched. I couldn't explain why, but standing naked in front of him alone felt ten times worse than being watched by all those men in that dining room.

His eyes followed every shape of my body, as if he was drinking me in, etching the image in his memory to ensure he would never forget this moment.

I held my breath as he pulled a lighter out of the pocket of his slacks and trapped the cigar between his lips. Slowly, without pulling his gaze away from me, he lit the cigar and grinned. Then, he tossed the lighter in the trash bin and set my clothes on fire.

A loud gasp left me, I instantly tried to rush to the bin, hoping I could save at least one piece, but he barked at me to freeze, and unfortunately, I did.

"I'm bored, you can leave," he suddenly waved me off.

I still stood frozen, my eyes nearly popping out of the sockets. He couldn't be serious. He didn't mean it. No, he definitely wasn't sending me away completely naked, knowing I was supposed to spend a good chunk of the day in this building. "Until you fix that attitude and learn how to live without the things you didn't earn, nothing will change. Clothing sounds like a good start for the lesson. Now, leave and get to work before I change my mind about letting you go."