Broken: A New Adult Paranormal Bully Romance (Hellfire Academy Book 2) Read online

  BROKEN

  Hellfire Academy Book Two

  Alice Wilde

  E-book Edition | Broken by Alice Wilde

  ©2019 Alice Wilde

  All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means –electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise— without prior written permission from the publisher, except in case of including brief passages for use in a review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For permissions contact:

  [email protected]

  Ebook ASIN: B07VRW611L

  Also By Alice Wilde

  Hellfire Academy

  Fallen

  Broken

  Coming Soon

  ???

  The Royal Shifters

  Her Betrothal

  Her Highlander

  Her Viking

  Her Warrior

  Coming Soon

  The Shifters of Africa

  The Lioness of Egypt

  The Pride of Egypt

  The Queen of Egypt

  Shorts (60 pages or less)

  My Cup of Tea

  Contents

  Prologue

  1. Eden

  2. Eden

  3. Eden

  4. Eden

  5. Eden

  6. Thorne

  7. Eden

  8. Rhys

  9. Eden

  10. Eden

  11. Rhys

  12. Eden

  13. Fenn

  14. Eden

  15. Thorne

  16. Eden

  17. Eden

  18. Thorne

  19. Fenn

  20. Eden

  A Note From The Author

  Thank You

  About the Author

  For the broken but undefeated.

  Prologue

  “How the devil did this happen?”

  Mastema slams his fist down on the fireplace mantle, a chunk of the red brick breaking off and crumbling to the floor, and Gaia flinches from her place among the shadows.

  “I don’t know,” Gaia says softly.

  “Of course, you don’t know,” Mastema growls, sweeping away from the fireplace and walking over to an ornate armchair nearby and sinking down onto it. “As if you’ve ever known anything that you weren’t told directly to your face.”

  An uncomfortable silence ensues and then Gaia steps hesitantly out of the shadows toward him.

  “Then what do you think it means?” She says in her most soothing voice, moving to drape her arms over Mastema’s broad shoulders from behind and running her soft lips lightly over the skin of his neck.

  “I don’t know. If I did, we wouldn’t be in this predicament, would we,” Mastema responds dryly.

  “Then is it worth all this worry? I can think of a thing or two that would better occupy our time.”

  “Foolish woman,” Mastema growls, leaning forward in his seat to pull away from Gaia’s embrace. “This new part of the prophecy could change everything. We can’t let ourselves be distracted by the trivialities of life when our very future may hang in the balance.”

  “I wouldn’t call what we have a triviality,” Gaia mumbles.

  “Perhaps not,” Mastema says coldly, “but then again, what else do you have to live for in life? I, on the other hand, have a great deal to strive for, and I would have thought you’d understand that by now.”

  “Of course, I do,” Gaia says reaching forward to pull Mastema toward her, his back once again pressing into the chair. “You know I only want to make you happy.”

  “Then stop being so useless! It’s been nearly a year since the last ritual, and the time is closing in on us to try again…and still, we’re no closer to understanding what went wrong last time. I’ve given you more than enough time to find out what’s going on, to figure out what we’re doing wrong, and yet, you still have no answer.”

  “It’s not that simple!”

  “Or perhaps you’re just not as useful as you say,” Mastema scoffs.

  Gaia swallows hard, trying to remain calm and collected in response to Mastema’s accusations. The sting of his words cut deep into her soul. She’d always done everything in her power to please Mastema, even when he pushed her aside in favor of one of his many other lovers. But they were fleeting.

  No, she was the only one who’d stuck by his side since the beginning, no matter what he did or said. Even now, all she felt was disappointment in herself even though his words weren’t true.

  “Please, Mastema—”

  “Don’t call me that,” Mastema growls darkly.

  Gaia bites her lip, almost hard enough to make it bleed.

  “Please…Master,” she continues, “I swear on my life, I will do better. Together we are sure to succeed.”

  “And, pray tell, how do you know that,” Mastema snorts. “Nothing has gone our way since we were so rudely interrupted last year. Our chance of success is growing slimmer with each passing year, and we’re only a few weeks away from our next opportunity.”

  “That may be true,” Gaia says carefully, “but remember what happened last year.”

  “Remind me.”

  “Well, for one, this was the first time an angel has ever interrupted our work. That must mean we’re doing something right…”

  “Ah, yes, your friend Michael.”

  “He’s not my friend,” Gaia snaps. “Michael is merely an acquaintance…and an unfortunate one at that.”

  “Now that I think of it, you never did tell me how you the two of you met.”

  “I didn’t think you’d want to know.”

  “Of course, I want to know,” Mastema says. “As a matter of fact, I’m quite perturbed that you didn’t tell me sooner. So, out with it!”

  “I…It was accidental,” Gaia stammers. “During one of my travels to Egypt several millennia ago.”

  “So, you’ve kept this secret for that long?”

  “I swear on my life it was only out of consideration for you,” Gaia continues nervously. “I knew the very idea of an angel interacting with me would anger you, and I didn’t want to upset the balance that had begun to develop between us. You must remember that was a delicate time in our lives, and the world had just turned to mayhem once again with both Rome and Egypt plunging into their own civil wars.”

  “Ah yes, that was a fascinating age. There were a surprising number of female rulers around at that time, Cleopatra being one of my favorites to check in on,” Mastema muses. “You’d only been alive for about a thousand years at that point, if I recall correctly.”

  “Yes.”

  “What were you doing in Egypt anyway? I thought I’d told you to go to China.”

  “I know, but I’d heard so much about the Egyptian library that I made a little detour first,” Gaia says meekly. “It’s actually lucky I did, too. I was rummaging through the scrolls of Alexandria, and I’d just stumbled upon one that matched the description of one we were looking for when Caesar issued the command to burn the Egyptian ships in the harbor. The sudden chaos outside sent me into a frenzy, and I began grabbing as many of the nearby texts as possible when a scroll fell to the ground and unfurled in front of me. It was a study on supernatural beings, and the knowledge it contained was so utterly dangerous to our existence tha
t in a moment of furious passion—”

  Gaia trails off, lifting one of her hands to her head to massage her temples.

  Mastema begins to chuckle and then laugh heartily. “You’re not trying to tell me that you’re the one who burned down the great Library of Alexandria.”

  “I didn’t mean to!”

  “And how exactly does Michael play into all of this?”

  “As you know, Michael is regarded as the Angel of War, and it just so happened that we were in the same place at the same time. After I set a torch to the scrolls, all I could do was stand and watch on in growing horror at what I’d done. I would have burned down with the library if I hadn’t been literally dragged from the building. It was Michael who saved me,” Gaia finishes, her voice growing soft.

  Mastema stares into the fire for a long minute before clearing his throat. “So, Michael saved your life, but why?”

  “He didn’t know who I was,” Gaia answers. “But there’s something else…”

  “Which is?”

  “I…I swore to repay him one day for saving my life.”

  “You did what,” Mastema roars, leaping to his feet and spinning around to face Gaia.

  “I didn’t know who he was!”

  “You gave an oath to an angel,” Mastema growls, “and you never thought to tell me this before?”

  “I didn’t want to upset you,” Gaia says, her voice trembling.

  “You didn’t want to upset me,” Mastema scoffs. “So, what do you call this?”

  “Please, Master…I swear on my life that if I had known, I wouldn’t have made that oath.”

  “But you did.”

  Gaia looks down at the floor, nervously playing with her fingers. Mastema was the only man who had ever been able to make her feel less than perfect. The harder she tried to please him, the more she seemed to fail him.

  “I—”

  “Shh,” Mastema whispers, slowly walking around the chair that’s separated them up until now.

  A shudder runs through Gaia as she watches his feet pass by out of the corner of her eye. Mastema stops walking, standing directly behind her and leaning down until his face is right next to her own.

  “You’ve been such a naughty, naughty girl,” he says, his lips curling up in a sneer as he says this. He knew just how much Gaia hated it when he called her girl. “I think I’ve been far too generous to you lately; you’re beginning to forget your place in this world.”

  “I never meant to upset you,” Gaia whimpers.

  “Nevertheless, you did,” Mastema growls, his sneer turning into a look of disgust as he nearly spits out the rest of his words. “You’ve failed me, and you continue to fail me by keeping secrets and forming alliances with…angels. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were plotting against me this whole time.”

  “I wasn’t! I’m not!”

  Mastema thrusts his hand into Gaia’s dark hair which she’d wound into a tight bun on top of her head. Gaia winces as he twists his fingers further forcing her head back to look up at him as he towers over her, the pull against her scalp agonizing. She should have known better than to wear her hair up while around him, it was a lesson she thought she’d learned long ago.

  “Stupid, girl,” Mastema growls, his expression twisting into one of dark pleasure as Gaia’s eyes water uncontrollably from the pain. “To think you’d be foolish enough to keep anything from me.”

  “It was a mistake,” Gaia says. “Please, Master, I will never do it again.”

  “No, I don’t think you will,” the man says, his nostrils flaring. “At least, not after today you won’t.”

  “Mastema,” Gaia gasps, forgetting that he’d told her not to use his name and her eyes widening as she looks up into his face in fear.

  Mastema says nothing, instead turning from her without letting go of her hair. Gaia stumbles backwards unable to keep up with him as he does so, but Mastema doesn’t stop to wait for her to regain her footing and simply continues on, dragging Gaia by her hair out of the room as if it is the easiest thing in the world.

  Gaia struggles against his hold as he walks slowly, deliberately through the expansive manor. The other inhabitants of the house slink silently into the shadows, turning away from Gaia’s pleading looks as Mastema treads down the hall toward the back of the building. The drag of her soft skin against the rough carpet burns, and the more she wrestles against her master’s grip, the tighter his grasp on her hair becomes.

  As they reach the end of the corridor, Mastema pauses for a moment. Gaia holds her breath, waiting for him to decide which way he’s taking her. A whimper escapes Gaia’s lips as Mastema continues forward, pulling a key from around his neck and unlocking a large, heavy door.

  Lifting Gaia to her feet by his hold on her hair, Mastema releases her momentarily to grab her by the back of her neck and push her through the open door. Gaia catches herself before she falls down the dark stairway inside. Mastema closes and locks the door behind him, muttering a word under his breath that triggers red candles to flare, dimly lighting the long way down.

  “Please,” Gaia pleads, looking up into his face from her place below him on the stairs.

  “Silence,” Mastema commands, kicking her hard enough to force her down several more steps. “Move.”

  Gaia grits her teeth, and turns her back to him, making her way down into the shadows below before Mastema decides to make things worse for her. Her stomach twists into knots the further she descends into the depths. The last time Gaia visited this part of the house was nearly five centuries ago, and she still hadn’t been able to forget that experience. A cold shudder runs through her.

  At the bottom of the stairs is another door that seems to shine and devour light all at once, black as obsidian. Mastema leans over Gaia and sets his hand in the center of the door which suddenly vanishes at his touch. Placing a guiding hand on Gaia’s waist, Mastema presses her forward and into the room beyond, the mysterious door reappearing behind them as soon as they’ve stepped across the threshold…sealing them inside.

  Glancing around the room, a look of bewilderment crosses Gaia’s face. This isn’t the place she remembered from all those years ago. She looks over her shoulder at Mastema who’s watching her intently.

  “What…”

  Gaia trails off, her question left half spoken hanging in the air as she turns away from him to look back around the space.

  The last time she’d been here, the large cellar beneath the manor had been nothing more than that…a dank, musty dungeon that was hidden away from the rest of the world. A place one could be punished without anyone else knowing you were here or hearing your screams.

  Even now, it still held the same nightmarish memories for her, but it had been renovated into what Gaia could only describe as a sex dungeon.

  The room was lit with the glow of a hundred red candles in standing, gold candelabras. In the center of the room is a large bed space built into the floor, and heavy chains are fastened to the stone floor at various intervals all around it. The rest of the furniture in the room seems to consist of strange tables, chairs and swings. Along one of the walls is a table strewn with ropes, bonds and tools of punishment—some she recognized—that Mastema had only previously used on in her in a way that had left a long-lasting impression on her.

  Gaia takes a wary step into the room. A movement in the corner of her eye makes her look up, and she almost cries out. Her own face is staring back at her from above. It takes her a moment to realize that the entire ceiling has been replaced with a glossy, black stone that reflects the room back down at her, not unlike a mirror.

  “Do you like it?” Mastema asks, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her so his body, and his very noticeable arousal, presses firmly into her back.

  “I thought you were angry with me…I…I thought you were bringing me here to punish me. I don’t understand,” Gaia says quietly, her voice unable to hide her confusion.

  Mastema reaches up and releas
es her now messy bun so that her long, dark hair falls in loose waves down her back. Trailing his fingertips along the side of her neck, Mastema pulls her hair to one side and then presses his lips to her neck. Gaia can’t help the soft gasp of pleasure that escapes her lips as both fear and excitement suddenly course through her.

  “I didn’t want to ruin the surprise,” Mastema says huskily, continuing to caress her neck with growing fervor as his hands slip down over her shoulders. “Besides, aren’t your senses heightened after that bit of foreplay we just had.”

  Gaia swallows hard at this. It was true they’d always leaned toward the rough side of things when it came to intimacy, but she wasn’t sure how she felt about not being warned or at least aware beforehand that was what was going on. Her senses were certainly heightened, but in a way that sent uneasy shivers over her skin and down her spine at his touch, her stomach still in a knot after the manner in which he’d brought her here.

  “So, you’re not planning to punish me then?”

  “Oh no, silly girl. I’m most certainly going to punish you,” Mastema growls, “but I didn’t say there wouldn’t be any pleasure in it. I can’t have my little pet forgetting who her master is, can I?”

  Mastema wraps one of his arms around her waist and lifts her off the ground as if she weighed nothing more than a small cat, carrying her across the room toward one of the strange contraptions she’d noticed earlier. Mastema was far from being a gentle lover, but Gaia had never known him to combine punishment and pleasure…at least not with her.