The Ritual: A Dark College Romance

“DO YOU HEAR that?” Phil asks me, holding up his hand to listen.

It’s faint, but I hear it. “BLAKELY!”

“It’s Matt,” I confirm what we already expected.

“Yeah.” And he sounds pissed. “Let’s keep moving.”

We tracked her to a place around Niagara, on the lake of Ontario. It’s about four hours away by car. Phil’s private jet got here in one. We have no clue as to why he picked this place, but my guess is that he plans on relocating her to Canada at some point.

Thanks to another Lord, we were able to get a hold of the prints and saw tunnels that ran underneath the structure. Thankfully, we were able to enter from the outside. The plans didn’t show the buildout complete.

I hold the gun in my right hand down by my thigh as we come up to a right turn. Pressing my back into the wall, I lift my finger to signal him to be quiet. Right before I go to look around the corner, he grabs my arm and whispers, “Someone’s coming.”

I pause and listen, and sure enough, I hear footsteps. And … are they humming? The sound grows louder, the steps closer. Sounds like high heels. Looking over at my father-in-law, he shrugs. Who the fuck would be here with them? Especially a woman?

They get closer and closer. I close my left eye, lifting the gun. I’m not going to shoot whoever it is, but I want them to think I am.

I hear the last step before I see the person step into view. “I will blow your head …”

The person spins around, and my arms immediately drop to my side, lowering the gun. Wide green eyes meet mine. “Valerie,” Phil whispers, looking at his wife in complete shock.

Fuck!

She takes a step back, and he steps forward. I watch her open her mouth to scream, just as he reaches out and yanks her to him, spinning her around so her back is to his front.

“Get the syringe,” he orders, turning her to face me.

I dig into the bag and pull out the drugs, removing the cover of the needle with my teeth. Mr. Anderson moves her neck to the side with his hand on her face while she screams into it. I stab her neck and administer the drugs. Her body instantly drops in his arms, and he lets her fall to the floor.

“Fuck!” he hisses, running his hands through his hair. “MOTHERFUCKER!”

“Keep it down!” I hiss. “If we can hear Matt, then he can hear us.”

He paces, his hands gripping his hair.

“We need to keep moving,” I growl. “Not like we have a lot of time. Take her back—”

“No,” he interrupts me, his eyes snapping up to mine.

“Take her back to the car,” I demand, not in the mood to fight with my father-in-law, but I will if need be. “I’ll go get Matt.”

“I need …”

A shrill scream cuts off whatever he was about to say, and I fist my hands. “We’re wasting fucking time,” I snap at him. “Take the bitch to the goddamn car and wait for us.” With that, I give him my back not even bothering to see if he complies.

BLAKELY

MATT’S GOT HIS hand fisted in my hair while he drags me up the stairs back into the main part of the house. Once he gets me through the door, he shoves me forward, and I sprawl out on the floor.

“Fuck! I never knew you could be this much fun, Blakely.” He laughs from behind me.

I get up on my hands and knees and start to crawl away, but he grabs my ankle, yanking me back. I sob, my hands gripping at anything but get nothing while my body slides against the cold tile.

We finally come to a stop, and he grips my hair again, yanking me to my feet, and leads me into the living room. I catch sight of something sitting in the high-back chair, but my hair covers most of my face, restricting my vision.

I’m shoved over the back of the couch, and he yanks my hands behind my back before cuffing them, and every little bit of hope I thought I had is gone.

I sob, and he yanks me to stand, his hand coming up around my neck from behind. “Shh, Blakely. It’s okay. It’s just a cock. You’ve taken one before.”

Closing my eyes, I bite my inner cheek to keep from giving him any satisfaction of crying.

He leans over and whispers in my ear, “I’ve watched Ryat fuck you, baby. He wasn’t gentle by any means.”

“That’s what she prefers!”

I look up to now see a familiar face sitting in the chair, and I almost cry in joy. “Tyson—”

Matt cuts off my words, slapping his hand over my mouth from behind.

“You should have seen what he did to her in the basement at Blackout.” His eyes drop to my legs.

My chest tightens. Ryat let him watch us. He promised me …

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Matt snaps at Tyson.

He holds out his hands to show they’re free of weapons before crossing his arms over his chest. “Just came to collect Blakely.”

Matt yanks me back from the couch. “How did you …?” He snorts. “He fucking put a tracker in her.”

My eyes widen.

“No, I did.” Tyson gives a cruel smile, making his handsome face look evil.

Matt snorts. “Why the fuck would you track Ryat’s wife?”

“Because she’s a gift.”

I shake my head, not believing that one bit. Ryat would never …

“A gift? You expect me to believe that Ryat would hand her over to you?”

“Oh, God. No.” he throws his head back, laughing. “She’s a gift from the Lords.”

Matt stiffens against me, and I try to calm my breathing so I can hear over the blood rushing in my ears.

“You know …” He looks around the room. “Since they owe me a wife and all.” He shrugs, his eyes looking me up and down while he pulls his lips back. “She’s not my first choice but …” Tyson shrugs carelessly. “You know how it works. Once a Lady is a widow, they re-gift her to another Lord.”

This can’t be true. I refuse to believe it.

Matt lets out a curse under his breath, and fresh tears sting my eyes.

“I knew you’d take care of Ryat eventually. I just had to sit back and wait. You know I’m a patient man.” He reaches up and runs a hand down over his unshaven face. “Plus, you owe me.” Tyson glares at Matt, rising to his feet. “For that stunt you pulled outside of Blackout.”

Matt chuckles. “I knew you’d like that.”

Wait? Tyson has been on it the whole time?

“Once again, I knew you’d show up that night.” Tyson goes on. “Ryat was too blinded by Blakely to think clearly. You weren’t going to allow her to go through initiation to become a Lady. No man likes a woman having more power than him.”

Matt laughs that off but doesn’t deny it.

“Why didn’t you take her, though? That was the only flaw in your plan. You had a perfect opportunity and passed on it.” Tyson tilts his head to the side.

“I wanted him to know that I was right there in front of him the whole fucking time. And if I wanted to, I could have her.” He answers.

“Well, he’s dead now. So, you have nothing else to prove. Not to him anyway. Hand her over!” Tyson orders, stepping closer to us.

“This could be fun.” Matt’s words seal my fate and it’s like a fist to my chest knocking the air out of me. “The two of us and her.”

I try to free my head from Matt’s hand, but he just tightens his grip. “Tell him, Blakely,” he urges. “Tell him about your fantasy of being raped.”

I sob at his words, embarrassed and terrified.

“It’ll be even better with two of us.” He goes on while Tyson just stares at me. “Oh, and she loves breath play.” He pinches my nose, taking away my air. “We can choke her out.”

I blink, causing fresh tears to run down my cheeks, and I see Tyson roll his eyes. “Fucking an unconscious chick isn’t any fun. But I don’t expect you to understand that. You always have been lazy.”

Matt just laughs off the insult. “This will be fun. I’ll take her cunt. And you, well—you’ve always been a sucker for a mouth.”

Tyson leans over and reaches into a bag that I hadn’t seen until now and pulls out a roll of duct tape. I whimper, my knees buckling, but Matt keeps me held in place while dots start to cloud my vision, my chest burning trying to get a breath into my lungs.

“I guess I have some time.” Tyson nods.

I can’t fight one of them, let alone two of them.

“I like to play with my toys,” Tyson announces, ripping a piece of duct tape free off the roll with his teeth. “What about you, Matt?” He places the tip of that piece on his arm, then rips off another. Then another. Until he’s got four pieces total.

I start thrashing in his hands, my scream muffled, and I can feel how hard Matt is. They’re going to kill me, but not before they rape me.

“That’s the best part,” Matt agrees. “What do you have in mind?” Matt shoves me forward, and I manage to get a quick scream out before I hit Tyson, and his hand wraps around my throat, cutting off my air.

His once pretty blue eyes are burning into mine. His hand squeezes my neck painfully so that he picks me up off my feet and throws me down onto the large coffee table, pinning my arms under me once again.

I kick and wiggle, but as usual, it does no good. Tyson holds out his right arm with the four pieces of tape on it. “Shut her up!” he orders Matt.

He rips off the tape and places them over my mouth, each one like a punch to my gut. Knowing I won’t be able to get it off. When the last one is on, Tyson lets go of my neck, and I suck in a deep breath through my runny nose.

Tyson steps back, and I roll over onto my side, my body convulsing on the coffee table before I hit the floor.

“Fuck, I’m glad you could join us.” Matt chuckles and slaps him on the back.

Tyson ignores him and wraps a hand in my hair, yanking me to my feet. “You’ve got five minutes.” Then he shoves me away from them.

Matt’s laughter grows, and I know I’ve lost. It’s over. My worst nightmare just doubled. Tyson was playing Ryat all along. Just another lie. Another part I never saw coming.

I turn, my hair whipping me in my tear-streaked face, and I run out of the living room, knowing I have nowhere to go but have to try.

I’m running down a hallway when I feel a hand grab the back of my shirt and pull me into a blacked-out room.

I scream into the tape when my back is shoved into a wall, a hard body pressing into mine.

“Shh, Blake. It’s me.”