On it had been a ham sandwich, a small bag of chips and a can of soda. Nothing for Flood, since he was still supposed to be unconscious, so they had to share. It tasted wonderful but was gone too soon. Then she’d washed up for bed as best she could at the basin, using her finger to brush her teeth.
It was about an hour after lights out and her stomach had already started to grumble.
“Having trouble sleeping?” Flood asked, when she shifted to try to find a more comfortable spot, his chest vibrated as he spoke.
“Yes,” she whispered back. They both shared the single mattress, making it cramped. At least it was warm up against his big body. The temperature dropped quite sharply at night. It probably didn’t help that they were under the ground.
She and Flood hadn’t said more than a word here or there during the rest of the day. Flood still slept most of the time anyway but also the men had been in and out of the downstairs area. Paige had listened in on their conversations as much as possible. It sounded like they were busy prepping. The big boss, Alex, was due to arrive later the next day. Right then, all was quiet. There was no doubt in her mind that someone was monitoring the cameras in the hallway though. That they would have some sort of night vision activated. Maybe even motion sensors. Not that breaking through those bars was an option anyway.
“Thank you by the way,” his voice was even deeper when he whispered.
“What for?”
“For trying to stop that male from hurting me.” He paused, she heard him push out a breath through his nose, preparing to say something else.
“It was nothing,” she blurted. “I’m just glad you knew what I was trying to tell you. I didn’t actually think they would buy the whole not breathing by yourself thing. Especially when that asshole started laying into you like that.”
“I’m surprised they bought it too. We got lucky. I don’t want you trying to protect me again though.”
“I wasn’t going to let him just beat the crap out of you.”
Flood snorted. “He was hardly beating the crap out of me.”
“That’s not how it looked from where I was standing. He kicked you repeatedly on your side. He reopened the wound I had to make to insert that drain. You’re recovering from a chest injury that, quite frankly, you should have died from. Or stayed dead from.” She gave an exasperated sigh. “You know what I mean,” she whispered, having to work to keep her voice down.
She felt him shrug. “Trust me, it would take a lot more to hurt me. Don’t ever put yourself between me and a threat again. I can take everything they dish out. You, on the other hand, will break easily.”
“I couldn’t just stand by and watch them hurt you. I couldn’t.” She shook her head. “I would do it again. I would do it for any of the others as well.”
“Then you’re a fool.” He spoke so softly she could barely hear him.
What? “That makes me a good person, not a fool. We need to stand up for one another while we are in this hell-hole. I take it you don’t agree?” What was this guy’s problem?
He pushed out a heavy breath. "I wish it were possible, but it's not." His voice dropped a few octaves. He swallowed thickly. "If it was just me and I had nothing to lose, then yes, I would agree wholeheartedly, but that's not the case."
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“They want information. These males want to know where our lairs are. I would rather die than give up that information. I don’t give two shits about being tortured. I’m sure they’ll try, but…” He let the sentence hang.
“But what?” He wasn’t telling her something. “What? Just tell me.”
“Keep your voice down,” he chided. “They can’t know I’m awake. Not yet. I need time to heal up. It’s taking longer because of the silver…that, and I don’t have the things I need to speed it up.”
“Yep, antibiotics and an IV would be a huge help.”
His whole body shook for a few seconds and he made a strange sound, still being quiet. A laugh. That’s what it had been. “No, none of that is necessary. I’m talking about basics like food, herbs from our healers and—” He stopped what he was saying. “Food would work wonders.”
“Yes, it would.” That wasn’t all though. “What is it that you’re afraid of? What aren’t you telling me.”
“That male was wrong when he said it would take a lot to break me. He was wrong because they can’t break me. They can try but they won’t. What worries me is why he brought the four of you here. I know why he did it. It’s because he plans on using all of you to get to me.”
She started shaking her head. "I don't get it…" A feeling of dread rushed through her when realization hit. "They plan on torturing you and if that doesn't work, they'll threaten to torture us."
“They won’t just threaten. They’ll make me watch in the hopes I give in. I pray I’m wrong.” Flood touched the side of her arm. His touch was soft and the contact ended almost before it began. “I’m sorry, but I can’t tell them anything. I just can’t. It doesn’t matter what they say, or what they do. Hundreds of lives, a whole species for that matter, are at stake. My people…” His voice was thick with emotion. “Don’t try to save me again because when push comes to shove, I can’t save you back. It doesn’t matter how much I’ll want to. Thank you for all you have done but we can’t be friends.”
“I understand,” she whispered, feeling horror at the talk of torture.
“I don’t think you do. Not really. These hunters are evil. Pure evil!”
A shiver caused her to break out in gooseflesh. “I know.” Flood was right. They would have no qualms about hurting women. Killing them all if it came to it. “I’ve looked into their eyes. I’ve seen what they’re capable of. What I don’t understand is why they are doing it. What’s in it for them?”
“They’re hunters, that’s why. They don’t need any real reasons, even though they have plenty.”
“Again, I don’t understand.” There had to be more to this.
"You don't need to understand. In fact, the less you know, the better." His voice was a rough rasp. "They've been quite accommodating up until now but their patience will start to wear thin soon enough. I have heard them talk of a superior who will be here soon. That is not a good sign. I need a little more time to recover. Two or three days if they bring more food."
“Talking about healing.” She licked her lips. “It sounded like you were going to say something else when you were talking about things to help you heal sooner.”
“There is nothing else,” he said too quickly, speaking in a harsh whisper. She didn’t buy it. Flood was a bad liar evidently. There was something else, he just didn’t want to tell her what it was.
“I think there is and you just don’t want to tell me. Look, we might not be friends but we are in this together and we’re going to have to work together if we want to get out of this alive and in one piece.”
“There is something else but you can’t help me.” He said it like maybe she could, only he didn’t want her to. What was wrong with this guy?
“I get why we can’t be friends. Why you would throw us under the bus if it came to it.” She felt him stiffen next to her. Tough luck! The truth hurt. “What I don’t get is why you’re being so hard-assed about this. Why you won’t tell me if there is anything I can possibly do or get that will help us survive this.” She pointed to herself and down the direction of the hall where the others were.
“Sex,” Flood said, too loudly. “Sex, okay?” he said again, softer this time. “So unless you’re willing to give me a blowjob, or better yet, ride my cock, there’s nothing we can do about my weakness issue.”
Her mouth fell open and she made a small squeaking noise.
“That’s what I figured. Now, let’s drop it, shall we?”
Paige frowned. “How can sex make you stronger?” The question just fell from her lips unbidden. What the hell was wrong with her lips?
"No idea." Flood pushed out a breath through his
nose. "Maybe it's the endorphins or the hormones. Who knows exactly why, just that it does. It works. I've experienced it first hand."
“Okay then. Um…” She shook her head. “Nope, hopefully it won’t come to that.” Wait a minute. Was she considering it? No! No way in hell! “Not that I think we should go there, unless it becomes absolutely necessary.” Stop talking!
“As long as they think I’m still unconscious, I think we’re good.”
“Okay fine! Despite everything you’ve just told me, we’re still going to work together to try to escape, right? Just to be clear, I’m talking about the not being friends thing and not the sex thing.” Stop talking!
"Yes," Flood said. "I want you to tell me about every hunter you've seen as well as all of their comings and goings so far." He pushed out a breath. "I'm starting to feel tired, so I might need a break." He cursed softly. "I hate being so weak."
“I’m sure, especially considering how buff you are. I mean, you look like you’re normally quite a strong guy. With all those muscles, that is.” Oops! That sounded a little too much like flirting. She hadn’t meant it like that. Thankfully it was dark so he wouldn’t see her blushing.
"I'm the head warrior of the Water Tribe." It sounded like he shook his head. "And here I am flat on my back. Unable to keep my eyes open for very long."
“Hopefully we’ll get more food soon.”
He made a noise of agreement. “Tell me about our captors.”
She told him about everyone she had seen, including the names she had been given and ones she had overheard. They had been in there for less than two days but she had already seen somewhat of a pattern with the shifts. She told him about what she had noted. After a while, she realized that Flood had fallen asleep. She tried not to think about what lay ahead. About how they planned on using the women against Flood. About how he didn’t intend to ever say anything, regardless of what happened and what was done to them. She swallowed hard. It took forever to finally fall asleep.
Chapter 9
The next day…
The female took a bite of her sandwich and moaned loudly around her food. The sound went, annoyingly, straight to his dick. Whoever had decided that sex would be healing to a dragon, had a terrible sense of humor. He had at least progressed to a point where he could turn onto his one side for short amounts of time and lift himself up into a semi-reclined position. His limbs felt less heavy and the worst of the pain had also mostly subsided. For the most part, he stayed still so as to preserve his strength and because he didn’t want to run the risk of anyone seeing him.
They'd served tasteless oatmeal and a box of juice for breakfast. Paige had given him two-thirds of the bowl of the tasteless goop. They were sharing the sandwich. It was pastrami this time. Although he tried to savor the damned thing, it was gone in just two bites.
Paige still had most of hers. She handed him the potato chips and mouthed. “You eat them.”
Flood shook his head. They had no idea when their next meal was coming. Quite frankly, he was shocked at the decent treatment. It wasn’t going to last. It couldn’t. It was on that thought he heard them approach.
“What?” she mouthed.
He pointedly looked into the hallway and frowned deeply.
Paige nodded once in understanding. Then she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, before finishing off her sandwich in two big bites. Her mouth was overfull, so she covered it with her hand. Again, he admired her strength. Despite being anxious ‒ he could scent the emotion on her ‒ she still did what was needed to survive. Food was item number two on the list, after water, which they had plenty of. So needless to say, getting that sandwich down was important.
She pushed the soda and the bag of chips under the mattress on the far side, next to his head. They locked eyes for a second and Flood nodded once. It was his way of wishing her luck for what was about to come.
Paige moved to the front of the cell, her shoulders back. Resolute and ready. His respect for her grew. Not once had she asked him to change his mind. She hadn’t pushed him for more answers. The female hadn’t even reacted as badly as he thought she would when he had blurted all that about sucking his cock and riding him. He was such an asshole for blurting that the way he had!
He forced himself to shut his eyes, to lie still. Everything in him wanted him to stand. To put himself in front of her. To help her like she had him, but he couldn’t. Wouldn’t! The sad fact was that she was on her own. There was nothing more he could do to help her. There was no faking not breathing. No intervening. No doing anything other than faking being out of it. He had no other choice. It wasn’t how he would normally handle something like this but what could he do?
Nothing.
A word he detested since he was a doer. Since he was someone who always got the job done. Come hell or high water. He got it done, dammit! Right now, he had zero choice in the matter. It didn’t matter how much he wished for it to be different.
There were three of the fuckers. He heard one of them unclip a holster, he drew the gun. There was a click as he disengaged the safety. No mistakes this time.
There was another clicking noise and the sound of a blade being drawn. Perhaps they suspected he wasn’t on death’s door anymore. Had they seen something? Heard them talking? Surely not.
The female swallowed thickly. “No need for the weapons.” She moved back a step. “Where are the others?” Paige asked, sounding nervous. “Where’s John…Mike, where’s he?”
“Those pansies aren’t here right now. Gus here is in charge, aren’t you, Gus?” It was that little cocksucker, Tim, who was speaking. Flood had a bad feeling about this. This male was bad news. The scent of testosterone was sickening.
“I–I don’t know about this, Tim,” Gus stuttered. “I think we should leave her be. The boss will be here in two hours. We were told to wait.”
“We’ll get a bonus when she tells us everything. You will tell us everything, won’t you sweetheart?”
There was a slapping noise. “I’m not your sweetheart,” Paige spoke through clenched teeth. Her voice held venom.
“That’s the last time you hit me, bitch. We clear?”
“I slapped your hand away because I didn’t want you touching me. It can hardly be called a hit. Who’s the pansy now?”
There was a harsh slapping noise and Paige gasped. The fucker had slapped her. Flood’s heartrate kicked up a notch and adrenaline pumped. It was becoming increasingly difficult to stay still. To keep faking it.
“You watch your mouth, little girl. Do everything I say and you’ll come out of this alive,” the prick said. “I’m going to ask you a couple of questions and unlike the others, you had better start talking.”
“I don’t know anything more than they do. You’re delusional if you think I do. You can tie me to a chair and beat me all you want,” her voice was high-pitched, “I don’t know anything more. I just don’t! None of us do.”
“The shifter does!” Gus said. Flood could hear that the male had turned towards where he was lying. Flood willed his lungs to stay rhythmic. Willed his muscles to stay completely relaxed. It wasn’t easy. “We just have to wait until—”
“So do the women,” Tim spat. “I’m telling you, they know more than they’re letting on. I’m going to get it out of her. We all are. We stick to the plan, as discussed.”
“It doesn’t seem—” Gus started.
“We’ll strip her naked and she’ll sing like a bird,” Tim said. Flood could scent arousal. It was coming off of more than one male. “You want to see this bitch naked, don’t you Elliot?”
Fuckers!
“Yeah, I sure do,” the male chuckled, sounding nervous. “I must say though, I prefer the tight-assed younger one.” He groaned. “But I guess she’ll do. She has a decent pair of tits on her.”
“Don’t you dare touch Kelly!” Paige sounded like she was trying to hold it together. “I don’t know anything more. None of us do. I swear to you.”
“Yo
u weren’t even there when we interrogated the other women, so how do you know that?” Tim asked.
“We talked.” She spoke quickly. “I don’t know where the lairs are. I don’t know where,” she hesitated, “the mines are.” She frowned. “I don’t even know what that means or why you want to know.” Her voice shook. “Please don’t do this.”
Tim choked out a laugh. “That’s good news then, boys. Means we get to have us some fun. This sweet thing is going to tell us everything soon enough. I get first crack at her.”
Paige swallowed thickly. The scent of her fear was strong.
“Why do you get to have her first?” Elliot whined, all sign of nerves gone.
“Um…this is rape,” Gus mumbled. “I’m not sure about this.”
Paige whimpered. Fuck! Flood was reading this right. He could scent it! Hadn’t wanted to believe it, and yet, there it was.
“No!” Paige sobbed. She took another step back. “Please, I’m begging you. I don’t know anything more. If I did I would tell you. I swear!”
“You don’t have to fuck her, Gus,” Tim said. “Elliot and I got that part covered.”
“Damn straight!” Elliot chimed in, sounding excited now. “I’d rather have the young one but pussy is pussy, right, Tim?”
“Damn straight,” the prick announced, which made Paige whimper again. The sound so soft it would be barely audible to the human ear. She was still trying to hold it together.
Rage clawed at Flood.
“We’ll fuck the answers out of her. You’ll talk then, won’t you, sweetheart?”
“No!” Paige half-yelled and half-sobbed. “I don’t know anything. Don’t you dare touch me.”
“I mean, I want to,” Gus groaned. “She’s hot but…but…shit!”
“Please don’t do this,” Paige begged some more. Probably speaking to Gus. The male was just as aroused as the others and would most likely be of no help to her. Flood felt his blood boil.
That fucking prick, Tim, slapped her again, harder this time. Hard enough to make her cry out. “Quit your whining. You were going to let one of those animals fuck you. It’s my duty to show you what a real man can do. It’s all of our duty.” His voice turned coaxing.
The Water Dragons Box Set: Books 1 - 4 (Complete) Page 26
