He rubbed his eyes, which were feeling a little moist.
“I’m sorry.” Karey stared down at her hands. “I want my father to love me. But I don’t know if I’ll ever be good enough.”
“Love isn’t something you should have to earn. The Blaze Ops taught me that. They’re my true family.”
Karey shrugged, sniffling. “When I took the trials, I thought if I could just prove myself strong enough, he’d be proud of me. He’d love me. Then I was an Omega, and everything got so much worse. That’s why I took the serum. I want my father to love me. I just want him to love me.”
Adam sat on the edge of the bed. Slowly, hesitantly, he put an arm around her shoulders. Karey leaned against him, burying her face in his shoulder. And Adam felt something inside of him twist. Some sort of anger, maybe a streak of protectiveness.
“You deserve to be loved,” he murmured to her. “You deserve to love yourself. And maybe—"
Suddenly she yanked away from him. Her cheeks tinged pink as she leaned back. “Stop it! You don’t care about me. You’re just playing me, trying to get information. Well, I won’t listen to you! I do deserve to be loved. But you don’t love me. And once I’m back with the Pack, I’ll retake the trials and I’ll gain a higher status; then I will be loved. So don’t try to trick me.”
She turned her back on him. Adam sat there, stunned, for a long moment before he went back to his work. Well… He couldn’t change her mind for her. If that’s the way she wanted to view things, then that was her choice. And she’d have to deal with the consequences.
Chapter Seven
It was only another couple days before Karey felt like she had recovered from her cold. She tried to milk it for a bit longer so that Adam would keep the injections spread out as they were, but he returned to the two-hour schedule as soon as she started sleeping through the night.
She almost wished she hadn’t tried her escape before because now she knew he wasn’t going to let her get her wolf back in any way. Especially not now that he knew she could breathe fire.
If the blockers weren’t locked away in a cupboard with the only key being around Adam’s neck, Karey would have tried to replace the blockers with water, so she could get her wolf back without him knowing. Or even just smash them on the floor and force him to get new ones, giving her the chance to escape. He was too careful for that, though.
“I guess you’ll be locking me in the basement again now?” Karey sighed as she sat on a large log in the woodshed. She was bundled up against the cold, the sky looking ready to throw another blizzard their way.
Adam brought the ax down on the log he was chopping. It split in half easily, one side falling off while the other wiggled and stayed put. Karey had to admit, she liked watching him chop wood. As a dragon, he didn’t need to be significantly bundled up. The sweatshirt he wore was enough, and it stretched tight over his chest and arms, showing off his bounteous muscles.
Karey had never been one to be attracted to someone so muscular, but that was before she’d seen how gentle and kind he was. He hadn’t needed to take care of her like he did when she was sick. It had just been a cold. Yet he gave her his bed, slept on the floor and made her food every day. And he said that she deserved to be loved.
She knew that she couldn’t really trust him, but it was nice to hear anyway.
“Not sure about that,” he said finally, setting the ax aside. He loaded up the Rubbermaid tub with chopped wood and glanced at her. “It’s not getting any warmer down there, even with the door open. We don’t have a fan to push the warm air down, either. I don’t want you getting sick again.”
“Because if I get too sick, you’ll have to take me to a hospital and then I can escape, or my father will get me back?”
Adam frowned at her but shrugged. “That’s part of it, yeah.”
She didn’t want the blossom of warmth that opened up in her chest as she hefted a smaller tub of wood. “You know, if you wanted me to be on your side and cling to you, you probably should lie to me a little more and make yourself out to be less selfish. Unless you think honesty is going to pull me in more than saying what I want to hear.”
Adam carried the larger tub toward the house. “Oh, so you want to hear me say I don’t want you to be sick because I hated seeing you sick before? That I’m trying desperately to keep you healthy because I can’t bear the thought of you so weak and helpless when it’s my fault?”
Heat rushed to Karey’s cheeks, and she didn’t answer. Was that what she wanted to hear? Was his plan to make her like him working? Yes, she had been reliant on him for… well, she wasn’t sure how long. But she liked being taken care of when she was sick. Rather than being called useless. Even when Adam said she was weak when she was sick, it felt different from how her father called her weak. Like it was something that was happening to her, rather than something that she was.
Back in the house, Karey added wood to the fire and rearranged the logs with a poker. Adam set the tub down and filled himself a glass of water. She found herself staring at the tattoo on his neck. A bird of some sort. A magpie?
He caught her looking, and she turned away, flushing.
“I’m surprised you’re letting me use this,” Karey said as she closed the stove door. She brandished the poker in front of herself like a sword. “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll use it to bust your head open?”
“Nope.”
Karey thought about poking him with it just to prove her point but set the poker aside. He was right. As much as she thought she needed to get back to the Pack sooner rather than later, she didn’t want to hurt anybody to do so. Especially not someone who had been so helpful to her already. And, if she was completely honest with herself, she didn’t want to leave.
Being here was the first time in a long time she’d actually felt relaxed. Where she slept soundly. It was wrong, she knew that… but she was less afraid of Adam, the man holding her prisoner here against her will, than she was of her own father.
She just wished she could know if what he was doing was real or if it was all an act.
“We should bring in another couple tubs of wood,” she mumbled, trying to separate herself from these confusing feelings. She couldn’t allow herself to trust him, even if she wanted to. Even though she wanted to believe him when he said she deserved to be loved with no strings attached. “Looks like another blizzard is coming in, and we don’t want to run out.”
Adam glanced at the three full tubs and the half-tub. “I think we’ll be fine. The woodshed is right against the house so it’s not like I’d get lost going for more.”
Karey took off her parka and slung it over the back of a chair. “I guess you’ve got a point. Maybe I just like being outside again. Getting some exercise and movement in.”
She bit her lip, expecting some sort of knowing look or a derisive snort. If she said something like that to her father, he’d give her thick arms and belly a pointed look. If he said anything at all, it’d be that she needed to do more if she expected him to believe that.
Adam didn’t give her any of that, though, only nodded. “Yeah, I get that. It’s a small cabin to be stuck in. Unless you’re just trying to figure out where we are so you can be more successful at your next escape attempt.”
“I’m not—” Karey started but cut herself off. Her cheeks bloomed red, and she bent her head.
She couldn’t say that she wasn’t going to try to escape again, right? Because if she saw the opportunity, she would be honor-bound to try. It wasn’t like she could live here forever with Adam. He’d want to go back to the Academy sooner or later. And once that happened, she was going to go to jail. Unless she got away, in which case she would go back to her father.
Unless… Unless she could find her way through the world by herself.
But that was impossible. She didn’t know enough about what the world was. Besides, she had no money and no way to make money. If she tried to get a job as a nurse, she’d be found out in a heartbeat. Ther
e was no way she could make it out there on her own. She was too weak. Too stupid…
She turned away from the curious look that passed Adam’s face. She didn’t want to tell him what she was feeling. Not when they had already gone over so much before this.
“It’s time for your injection,” Adam said, crossing the room behind her.
“If I promise not to try to escape will you just forget about it? You didn’t stick to the schedule while I was sick, and I didn’t shift. I couldn’t.” Karey sat at the table and rolled up her sleeve all the same, knowing there was no point in trying to resist. “I can’t shift after only four hours. Giving it to me every two hours is unnecessary.”
“I have to give you the injections on the schedule I was given, and I was told every two hours.” Adam drew the blockers into the syringe and returned to Karey.
As was usual now, he wiped her arm with the alcoholic pad, stuck the needle in and injected the plunger. It stung, more from his technique than the actual blockers. Karey breathed through it. She was used to giving herself the injections, and Adam clearly didn’t have a lot of experience handling a needle. He pressed a piece of gauze over the injection site.
“You know, people are going to think I’m a drug user if they see this,” she said, a little bitterly, as she looked at the tracks in her arms. “At least when it’s four hours between injections, I can heal up a little bit.”
“Sorry,” Adam said, and it did sound like he was sorry, “I don’t know enough about this to take it into my own hands. I only spread out the injections while you were sick because I wanted to give you more of a chance to heal. Track marks aren’t life-threatening.”
Karey stifled a giggle. “Oh, so I guess I better get a deadly infection, then?”
Adam’s head jerked up. The tension eased from his shoulders as he saw that she was joking and gave her a tight smile. “Well, that would be one way to get out of Fort Stinky Butt.”
“Stinky Butt?” Karey burst into peals of laughter. It wasn’t long before her sides hurt from laughing so hard. It wasn’t that funny, she knew that, but it was just so unexpected. And then laughing, really laughing, felt so good she didn’t want to stop. When she finally got herself under control, Adam laughing as well with a confused expression on his face, she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Why do you call it Stinky Butt?”
“Long story. Involving a lot of beans that were eaten and a rather immature sense of humor that particular mission.” He put a band-aid over the site where the needle had poked into her. “So. Blizzard is sweeping in hard and I think maybe we ought to turn the generator off a little early today. I have a feeling we might end up being here longer than anticipated. The storms are hitting harder than they have before.”
Karey grimaced. “But without the generator, we don’t have lights. So what are we supposed to do?”
“It was a long day. Don’t see any harm in hitting the hay a little early.”
“I’ve spent the last week in bed, though.” Karey sighed in disappointment. It wasn’t like there was much to do around here, but sleeping did not excite her. Even though she was feeling a little more tired than she ought to be. Her body was still recovering from her cold, it seemed. “So, do I still get the big bed or are we going to fight over it now?”
“That’s my bed. You can sleep on the floor.”
Karey ran and jumped on it. Normally, she would never act like this but with Adam, it was just… easy. She burrowed herself into the blankets, then stuck her tongue out at him. “I got here first. You have to go turn off the generator still.”
“You think so, do you?” Adam growled. A smirk crossed his face, but that was all he said.
He disappeared into the lean-to and a short while later the hum of the generator cut out. The lights stayed on for a few seconds more before fading away. Moments later, Adam returned. He had a flame in his mouth, lighting the way. Something tingled inside of Karey, something tightening as she took in his huge, muscled form stalking toward the bed.
He threw back the blankets, and Karey let out a short gasp. “What are you—”
In a moment, he’d plucked her out of the bed. Karey let out a shriek, throwing her arms around his neck instinctively. That tightening was back, leaving her breathless. Adam set her down on the mattress from the cot downstairs and jumped into the bed.
“I just washed these blankets,” he said as he pulled them over himself. “I’m sleeping in them.”
Karey thought about climbing back into the bed with him. Thought about turning it into an all-out war. But her face was feeling too warm. Her skin too tingly. So she laid down on the narrow mattress on the floor and tried desperately not to think about what she was feeling and why.
Chapter Eight
Karey moved her mattress back downstairs, stating she was just fine with the cold as long as she had extra blankets. Adam didn’t particularly like her down there, not when he’d been so worried about her while she was sick. However, it made sense that she wanted some privacy. It wasn’t like she got any on the main floor, not when he couldn’t actually leave her alone.
Even though they got one blizzard after another, piling the snow up so high that he had to climb out a window to shovel out the door, he couldn’t risk her running away again. The blizzards also kept him at the cabin. Karey did give him information in their conversations that he thought the team could use, but he couldn’t risk flying out and getting lost in the storm or worse.
Several more weeks passed, and Adam found himself noticing Karey’s figure more and more. Just how deliciously curvy she was. When they watched TV together and she burst out laughing, it was even harder not to catch that smile in his hands and kiss it. She was so very beautiful…
Of course, Adam knew it was the situation, nothing more. It was the fact that they were stuck here together. Stephen had been right—not having any options was making him focus on her in ways that weren’t appropriate. Adam tried to keep his mind off her, tried to stop himself from drifting into fantasies. Sometimes at night when he found himself thinking of her he jumped right out into the snow to shock it out of his system.
As time passed and those thoughts became increasingly more difficult to get rid of, he turned to the stash Stephen hadn’t cleared out. Maybe if he saw other beautiful women, he could just take care of himself and not think about Karey at all.
And so he was in the bedroom, the portable DVD player running a video, stroking himself, when he realized he’d forgotten to lock the basement door after taking Karey her breakfast earlier that day—and he realized that when Karey knocked on the open doorframe and walked in with a grin on her face.
They both froze for a split second; Karey’s gaze focused in on his cock, hard in his hand, then flickered to the screen showing a man and woman making love, then to his eyes. Adam all but threw the DVD player away in his efforts to close it. He yanked a pillow over himself and let out a soundless roar of embarrassment.
Karey spun on her heel and raced away.
Adam shoved himself back into his pants, wincing as he strained against the zipper. He did up the jeans and swung off the bed. His fires were going crazy as he crept to the door and peered out. Karey stood next to the stove, her hands over her mouth. Heat rushed to his cheeks when she let out a peel of stifled laughter.
That didn’t feel good. Not at all.
Grimacing, he stepped out of the bedroom and cleared his throat. “Uh… I… sorry.”
“Sorry,” Karey repeated, then burst into laughter again.
Adam scratched his head, grimacing. “Should I be insulted.”
“No. No. I just... haven’t ever seen one before.” Karey glanced at him and it didn’t miss his notice that her eyes flickered to his crouch. Her cheeks were as red as a tomato as she covered her face again. “Sorry. I know this is immature.”
Adam’s face was flushed hot, too, and he hoped that she thought it was all because of the embarrassment and not because of… what he had been doing. “Uh… I
don’t know what to say.”
Karey peeked through her fingers. “About any of it?”
“Yeah.” Adam shrugged uncomfortably. “Maybe, uh… maybe we won’t have to talk about it?”
“Well…” Karey lowered her hands. She chewed her lip in the way that she always did when she was uncertain. “Uh… well, would it be too embarrassing for you to talk about it?”
Adam’s eyes widened. He didn’t know how to respond to that. “The cameras pick up sound, too.”
Karey looked at the domes in the ceiling. There were no cameras in the bedroom and the ones in the main room didn’t capture what was happening on the bed. Which is why he could have his door open while he… took care of himself. He was still uncomfortably hard in his jeans.
“So, this conversation will be recorded for other people to listen to?” The flush in her cheeks drained. “So now anybody who watches this will know I’m a virgin.”
“How would they—” he cut himself off.
Of course. She had said she hadn’t seen ‘one’ before. She was talking about… The heat in his cheeks increased but so did the pressure in his pants. He’d never had a fetish for virgins. That was gross, in his opinion, and he liked to be with women who knew what they were doing and what they liked. But there was something about the way Karey said it… maybe his brain was just clouded by the lust he was feeling.
“I’m sure that we can have the sound cut out for some of it, if you want,” he said, sidling toward the sink. He washed his hands, trying to think of what to do or say to make this less awkward. “I can’t, of course, because that would get me in some big trouble.”
“Wait, how do the cameras run when you turn off the generator?”
Adam glanced at her, surprised at the question. “They’re on a separate battery. They can last up to a week without new power being introduced and it charges when the generator is turned on. It’s very important to keep them on at all times. For both of our safety.”
Dragon's Prisoner: A Curvy Girl Military Romance (Dragon Blaze Ops Book 4) Page 5
