Captured Dragon (Water Dragons Book 2)

by Charlene Hartnady

  “I’m telling you,” she urged, her voice high-pitched and pleading. “He’s not quite one hundred percent yet, he’s—”

  “Do I get a crack at this one?” It was the young male. The one who tried to shoot him initially. Flood had to purse his lips together to keep himself from snarling. He heard someone swipe their card and the three males entered.

  “Maybe,” one of the other males said. “Keep your weapon trained on that thing,” he added.

  There was a clapping sound when the young male hit his hands together and rubbed. “I can’t wait. She’s going to talk. She’ll tell us everything by the time I’m done with her.” Flood could hear that he was smiling. It turned his stomach when he scented arousal on the male. The thought of hurting Paige turned this sick fuck on. He pursed his lips tighter to hold back a snarl of rage. Then he thought back to what she had been saying earlier, before she was interrupted. She’d alluded to him still having breathing problems, to him not being out of the woods yet. His mind worked.

  “I don’t know anything,” Paige pleaded.

  “We’ll soon find out, won’t we?” the younger male said.

  “Talk to me and I won’t have to hand you over to Tim. You won’t like what he has planned. He’s a young buck after all and not very self-composed,” Mike said.

  Flood had to do something to stop this. He had to do it without exposing himself though.

  She was breathing heavily. “No.” There was pure fear laced in that one word. “I don’t know anything.”

  Flood willed someone to look at him. Anybody! Look dammit! Look!

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” the younger male ‒ Tim The Prick ‒ said.

  “Let go of me!” Paige yelled. “I need to keep an eye on the shifter. I’m telling you he’s still not—”

  Look damn you!

  “It’s not breathing.” Mike sounded incredulous. “That can’t be right.”

  Thank fuck!

  “That’s what I keep trying to tell you assholes!” Paige yelled. “This has happened at least a half a dozen times already.” Clever female! “He stops breathing. I have to help him or he’ll die.” Flood liked this female. He liked her a whole damn lot.

  “Do you need to make another hole in its chest?” Tim asked, sounding skeptical.

  Flood didn’t like the idea of having a knife shoved into his ribcage again, but he’d deal if it came to that.

  “No!” Paige yelled. “Let go of me, you idiot!” He could hear she was fighting, trying to pull free. “I need to provide rescue breathing or he might die, unless, of course, you have a ventilator handy?” Her voice took on a tone of sarcasm.

  “A ventilator?” Tim asked, sounding pissed. “What is this dumb bitch on about?”

  “I need to breathe for him or he’s going to die.” The pleading edge was back in Paige’s voice. “What will your boss say then? What happens when you have to explain why he died, when I could have easily saved him?”

  “I’m not buying it!” the older male said in a gruff voice. Flood heard him approach, could feel his eyes on him. Sizing him up. “The same thing has happened to him twice now. I’m not an idiot. I think this is all an act to get our sympathy. It’s to prevent me from taking you.”

  Fuck! This might not work. He prayed that Paige would stay strong. That she wouldn’t give anything away. The strike came out of nowhere, it landed on his side, near the area where Paige had stuck him with the knife the day before. Flood could give it to him, the male could kick ‒ for a human. The blow wouldn’t leave so much as a bruise though.

  Unfortunately, he was still recovering from a chest injury. From death, dammit, so the kick hurt like a bitch nonetheless. Good thing he’d been around the block a ton of times. He’d experienced pain before, was adept at faking it. This time was no different. Thankfully, he was a Water dragon and able to hold his breath for a very long ass time too. This male could go to town on him for the next ten minutes and his chest wouldn’t so much as move. Nothing would.

  “What the hell are you doing?” the female screamed. He heard tiny fists thudding home. Shit! She was fighting for him. Her back was to him, which meant she had put herself between him and the male. He was going to have to have a serious talk with her. This was not right. Maybe not as clever as he first thought. She was too emotional.

  He heard a thud and the sound of the air leaving her lungs. This is when staying still became really difficult. The male had knocked Paige down. If he touched her again, Flood didn’t think he’d be able to stop himself from intervening. Instead, the older male kicked Flood again, harder this time.

  “You’re going to kill him!” she yelled. He heard her scrambling back up to her feet. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Fine,” the older male conceded, slightly out of breath, it sounded like he spoke through clenched teeth. “The shifter isn’t faking it. He can’t be. Leave her be. We’ll take the other one and come back for this blondie later.”

  “I wanted her,” Tim ‒ the dickhead ‒ whined. Flood wanted to take a chunk out of the male so badly. He itched to do it.

  Then she was at his side, the mattress dipped slightly. She placed a hand under his chin. Even with a throbbing side, he could still marvel at how soft her skin was. At her lovely feminine scent. Her other hand pinched his nose closed while she tilted his face up. For a second he wondered if she planned on trying to suffocate him, which made no sense. Then her mouth closed over his. Her lips covered his. Soft and sweet. He had to stop himself from moaning at the wonderful sensation. He’d never had a female’s lips on him before. Well, not on his mouth at any rate. His cock? Sure, a couple of times but that could hardly be considered a kiss. His mouth on the other hand? Never. He liked it. His lungs expanded as she pushed a breath into them. All too soon, she pulled away. He had to force himself to hold still. Not to pull her back. Soon enough though, her mouth was sliding back over his, all over again, and he was biting back a groan. She did this over and over. He never wanted it to end.

  It was only when one of the human males spoke that he was reminded of why he was pretending in the first place. Of why they were even there. “Is it dead?” the male asked.

  “Nah…these dragons are tough bastards to kill,” Mike replied. “That’s what Alex said at any rate.”

  He counted to ten, enjoying the soft feel of her lips one last time before he sucked in a breath of his own.

  “Oh fuck!” Tim chuckled. He sounded relieved. “He’s okay.”

  “What did I tell you?” Mike said. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “You should let us go. This shifter needs proper medical care,” Paige said. “We don’t know anything more than what we’ve already told you.”

  “You can let us be the judge of that,” Tim said. The door clicked shut.

  Paige stayed kneeling beside him. Her breathing remained fast, as did her heartrate. The cell door opened down the hall and the females started shouting and yelling. He heard Paige suck in a breath when one of the females screamed louder than the rest. The males were taking her for questioning, just like they had said.

  Paige sniffed and when he cracked his eyes open just a smidgen, he could see that she was crying. Her eyes were squeezed shut. If only he wasn’t so fucking weak. Flood reached out and took her hand, squeezing it softly. He hated that it was the only thing he could do to help. The only thing he had to offer. It wasn’t enough, not by a long fucking shot.

  Chapter 8

  Paige could just make out her hand in front of her face. Only just and only if she moved her fingers. It was so quiet that the whole saying about hearing a pin drop would be true right then.

  They’d questioned Sydney for close to four hours. She had also been smacked around but, thankfully, hadn’t been badly hurt. The only highlight of the day was when they had brought food. Finally! More than a full day after they had been taken, a tray had arrived. One for each of them.

  On it had been a ham sandwich, a small bag of chips and a can o
f soda. Nothing for Flood, since he was still supposed to be unconscious, so they’d 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…