by Raven Dark
My spine stiffened under that look. Bare-chested except for a string of fangs that draped from his neck, with a mouth full of yellowed teeth, his eager gaze sent an unpleasant shudder through me. I could smell the sweat and the faint hint of alcohol that wafted off him.
If that man bought me, I’d rather run and face the guards’ anger.
“That’s Talak Barabas of Crite. I hope you end up with him,” the handler whispered when we passed the barbarian. “I’d love to see a perfect little Violet like you get what’s coming to her.”
By the Light, I wished I could have run for the servants’ entrance, but the handler took her time opening the door and walking me inside.
Giving that pervert a good, long eyeful.
Please, anyone but him.
The metal door closed behind us like a cage door slamming shut.
I was hardly aware of the walk toward the holding chamber where I’d wait out the bidding war as I followed the handler in a daze. The whole thing—the auction, the knowledge I was about to be sold off like cattle and then carted away by a master I’d never met—felt so surreal, I kept having to shake myself, to remind myself it wasn’t all some horrible dream. Walking down the halls, shame began to burrow its way into me. Shame that I couldn’t escape, that I’d let Blade and his men bring me here all those years ago. And above all, that I’d trusted Damien and believed he cared about me.
Down the hall, two male voices pulled me out of my reverie. Damien’s voice drifted from his drawing room, his and a second voice I didn’t recognize, both pitched low.
“The bidding process is a necessary formality—” Damien was saying.
“Then you will make it unnecessary, Captain Vale,” the other man snarled. “Name your price.”
We passed the entrance to the room, giving me a few seconds’ glimpse at the man Damien argued with.
“Just because you were here as a VIP, doesn’t mean you have the right to order me around, Talak. Offer the highest bid, and she is yours. That’s the best I can do.”
Talak. Oh, no.
The dark-haired, yellow-toothed barbarian put his face in Damien’s. “I’ll pay double the price if you hand the purple-eyed slave to me now,” Talak said.
“Double the price, you say?” His smile was slow. “Let me see the credits, and you have a deal.”
My heart plummeted. The handler put her face close to mine as she hurried me toward the holding chamber. “Some dreams do come true.”
I closed my eyes. Maker, wake me from this nightmare.
But if I was asleep, I didn’t wake. Instead, I was pushed into the holding chamber, and a guard there shut me in, locking the door before no doubt taking up sentry.
My thoughts raced for a way out of this mess that had somehow become my world. An hour or so after Talak had completed his other purchases, I’d be led to one of the huge, blocky floating carriages driven by warlords from Crite. I’d be locked in the back, and if Talak was true to Critian form, he’d have me bound in chains until we arrived in the far, far northern mountains, where his fortress likely hid.
The thought of what awaited me once I was in his bedchamber sent my stomach tumbling sickeningly. I glanced at the only window in the room. Beautiful thick curtains billowed to either side of the window, at odds with the thick bars in front of the glass. Even if the guards wouldn’t make me regret it, I wouldn’t be getting out of here until Damien sent for me.
Minutes crawled past, and every second my mind buzzed with desperation, but no way out came to me. Hopelessness settled on me, heavy and almost choking until someone finally unlocked the doors to the chamber.
My heart migrated into my throat. The door opened, and I swallowed.
“Time to go.” The guard stepped in and motioned for me to stand. The one who’d let me into the room kept watch behind him.
I let out a quiet sigh. So here it was, the last few moments of my old life speeding by before me. By midnight, I’d be a virtual prisoner to that horrible barbarian lord.
I walked toward the guard.
Over his shoulder, something—a man’s arm—swung out from behind the wall and thumped the guard in the hall on the back of the head so hard he toppled to the floor.
The guard in the room with me spun around, but he didn’t get the chance to react. The huge wall of male behind him grabbed his head and twisted it to the side. There was a horrible crack of bone, and he crumbled. At the same time, the giant’s companion strode into the room in one smooth movement.
Confused, unable to believe I was lucky enough to be rescued, I backed away from him. These two rescuers—if that was what they were—looked like the two strangers I had seen at the auction. The one with blue eyes like like the sky yanked me to him in one movement, and then his hand was over my mouth.
“You’re coming with us, beautiful.”
I instinctively thrashed in his grip, but he handed me to his companion. He bent and started taking the guard’s sword off his back.
“What are you two doing, who are you?”
“We’re your new masters,” he said.
Chapter 2
Crossing the Line
We’re your new masters.
That’s what Blue Eyes had said. The words tumbled through my head, bringing equal parts fear and panic, every bit as intense as what I’d felt when Damien had told me I was being sold.
Before I could even think of what to do next, the mountain of muscle picked me up. Almost in one move, he folded my legs into my chest, his arm around me so that I was bundled against his ribs, my head leaning against his shoulder. Next thing I knew, we were headed down the hall, his free hand over my mouth, his blue-eyed partner in the lead.
While the two men moved through the halls at a half-run, confusion scattered my thoughts, fear a tight fist in my chest. These men were strangers who obviously weren’t there to rescue me, but they were also taking me away from Damien’s people, the only home I’d ever known. The whole situation left me feeling upended and utterly disoriented.
“This way,” Blue Eyes said, heading down a hallway. “We don’t have long before the guards find those two we took out.” He’d slipped the scabbard he’d taken from the guard over his shoulder so that the blade rested against his back.
He hurried down a couple of halls, one of which led straight into…
“Through the living room?” The big one grabbed his arm, still holding me with the other. “We’ll be seen!”
“No, we won’t.” Blue Eyes led us forward. “Most of the guards are busy partying it up on the other side of the house.”
“So, how the hell are we gettin’ outta here, Pretty Boy?” the big one said.
“I thought we’d walk right through the front door.” He flashed a gorgeous smile over his shoulder.
His comrade made an angry noise but followed him. “You’re straight up certifiable, you know that, right?”
Hearing these two, my heart migrated into my throat. There was no way they were going to walk straight through the main part of the house without Damien’s guards pouncing on us. Blue Eyes was right, most of them would be preoccupied with the party and the bidding war, but there would still be a few guards stationed throughout the mansion. If—no, when—we were caught, I’d be in as much trouble as them. I needed to get away from them, and I needed to do it now.
I twisted as best I could in the big one’s grip. His hold didn’t give. Somehow, I managed to bite the inside of his palm. A hiss escaped him, and he took his hand from my mouth.
“Let me go, release me! You have no idea how… Who are you anyway?”
He grabbed my hair at the scalp, yanking so hard it stung. “You’re coming with us. Deal with it.” He followed Blue Eyes down a hall to Damien’s music room.
My eyes watered from pain. These men had no idea what Damien was capable of. As scared as I was of what these men might do to me, I was far more afraid of what Damien would do if he caught us. I tried a different tactic.
“Do y
ou two have any idea how much I’m worth? Even if you get out of here, Damien will never stop looking for me. I’m worth too much.”
Blue Eyes snorted. “We’re the Dark Legion, woman. Damien doesn’t scare us. He’s getting what’s coming to him.”
The Dark Legion.
They couldn’t be. The Dark Legion was one of the most nefarious bands of biker pirates in the western world, but they were supposed to be an urban legend. Reports surfaced every few months of men bearing that name, wearing the infamous reaper skull and crossbones on their cuts, then vanishing as if they were never there. No one knew where or how they lived. They were ghosts.
If these men were the Dark Legion, Maker help me.
I’d been so taken aback at hearing who these men claimed to be, I’d lost track of where we now were; we’d reached the front doors of the mansion. The balmy desert night meant the staff had left the doors standing open, two guards flanking the entrance and watching the large front drive.
Blue Eyes barreled through the doors, his partner rushing me through, his hand clamped over my mouth again. The startled guards spun around just as Blue Eyes drew the sword on his back. He cut one guard down, taking off his head, pivoted smoothly, then cut the other down, slicing him in half, all in a few seconds.
“Sheriff’s going to kill us,” the big one rumbled, racing across a lot full of guests’ transports.
“He’ll get over it. He always does.”
We weaved through the transports, my last chance at escape diminishing with every step. The one carrying me vaulted over one of the carriages, releasing my mouth to do it.
“Listen, you won’t make it far with me. If you release me here, I won’t tell anyone what you’ve done.”
If I was lucky, I could get to Maja and find a way out of here with her. Then we’d both be free.
“Princess, you’re getting on my nerves,” Blue Eyes said, barely sounding out of breath even though he was running. “We’re not giving you up after all this.”
Fear of Damien wouldn’t let me stay silent. “You don’t get it, do you? You won’t come back from this. Damien will have you two gutted in the square just to make an example of you. He’ll—”
The big one slammed his shoulder into a steel gate that led to Damien’s private garage. He kicked down the garage door to the dimly-lit inside lot where my master kept his prized carriages. Silvery Glows mounted in wall-sconces shone with bio-luminescent light. Damien didn’t bother using his expensive solar-power in here unless he was showing off his collection of high-end vehicles.
“He has to catch us first,” Blue Eyes said, moving ahead of his partner into the room. “Just keep that pretty little mouth of yours shut and everything will be fine.”
He paused and glanced around, then shot his partner a glare. “Fuck. This is the wrong garage. Brilliant, Steel, you got us turned around, our bikes are in the other one.”
“Me? I was following you.” The big one—Steel—shifted me to his other arm and clamped his hand over my mouth yet again.
Blue Eyes sighed and slammed the sword into the scabbard on his back. He looked around as if he expected a solution to come out of the walls at him.
“We’ll have to go back this way if we want to get to our bikes.” Steel doubled back toward the door, but Blue Eyes stopped him.
“Wait. Maybe not.” The gorgeous smile that broke over Blue Eyes’ face was full of trouble. He nodded toward one of Damien’s biggest floating carriages. Built with an arrow-dynamic shape meant to capture solar energy no matter where one drove or what position the sun was in, every inch of the carriage was covered in sleek solar panels. Colored to resemble ivory, they glinted like white marble, some providing the look of gold trim. The whole thing stood out among the others like an exceptionally cut jewel.
“Awe, hell no…” Steel started, but Blue Eyes was already running toward the carriage.
“Look at this thing,” he marveled, breaking a window in the back-passenger’s side and unlocking the door. “I’ve always wanted to steal one of these.”
“Go big or go home, huh, Pretty Boy?”
Blue Eyes opened the door with a mock bow and stood aside for us to get in.
Beyond the doors to the garage, one of the guards shouted.
The guards. In moments, Damien, not to mention Talak Barabas, would likely be on us. I tried to kick myself free of Steel’s grip. “You have to let me go! Leave me here and go!”
Steel set me inside the back of the carriage. “In there and shut your hole.”
I tried to go for the door, but he climbed in after me, one hand pinning my chest down while his huge frame blocked the way out. “Why do I listen to you? How do I let you get me into these messes, P.B.?”
“Sit tight.” He just smiled and shut the door, then ran around to the other side of the carriage. He broke the window in the front and then got in.
“This is Damien’s favorite carriage.” The words spilled out of me stupidly, the thought of even being in here making my stomach roil.
“All the better,” Blue Eyes said, and he hit a button on the front console. The solar-powered motor hummed to life. He threw a look over his shoulder at me. “He’s really brain-washed you, hasn’t he, Princess?”
Steel grunted in what sounded like agreement.
Shaking his head, Blue Eyes bent, looking over and under the console. “Where the fuck is the button for the garage? Damn these custom carriages.” He must have found what he was looking for, because there was a low, hydraulic hum before the garage door slid upward in front of us.
“Hurry up, Pretty Boy, they’re on us.”
Pretty Boy. That couldn’t be his name, could it? Names like that were common to road warriors. With his long, gorgeous, white-blond hair and strong features, the name suited him.
“Come on, come on, let’s go,” Steel said, while Pretty Boy fiddled with something on the console.
“Shut up, I’m trying.” He played with one of the controls and the carriage jerked backward. “Shit. Nope.” We went sideways.
“Come on!” Steel again.
“You pirates are dead men walking,” a guard snarled. I twisted in time to see two guards racing across the garage to the carriage, one with a sword, the other with a loaded bow.
“Hurry your ass up, P.B. There’ll be more guards on the way.”
There was an electronic keening sound and the carriage lurched forward. Not enough, though, because when the guard with the bow fired, the arrow shot through the window. Steel managed to jolt back against the seat in time and the arrow thunked into the opposite wall of the carriage.
The guard loaded his weapon again and Steel shoved me flat across the seat, laying himself over me. “Pretty Boy, move it!” he roared.
He lifted up enough to look over his shoulder out the window. Another arrow hit the outside of the carriage door. By the way he flattened himself to me again, it must have just missed going through the window and hitting him in the head. There was another thud just as the carriage jerked and sped out of the garage and into the outside lot.
We headed toward the other end of The Compound, for the Wall, and panic settled in. Steel sat up and pulled me with him.
“Go up,” Steel said. “It’ll be easier to go over the Wall than through the gate.”
“Can’t. We need to conserve power if we’re going to make it to the Grotto without the motor dying on us.”
“Please let me go. You don’t have to do this.”
“Not happening,” Pretty Boy said in a sing-song voice as the carriage accelerated.
“Get used to us, woman, we’re not letting you go,” Steel added.
At least two speeders gave chase; I could hear their motors behind us. “They won’t give up. They’ll keep after you until they have you, and then they’ll take you right back to Damien. And then we’re all dead.” A laugh escaped me, but it sounded a little hysterical.
“Let them try.” Steel hauled me easily into his lap.
; With all that was going on, I could have easily forgotten I was naked. Until he seated my bottom on his lap and wedged his thick, muscled leg between mine. I squirmed, shocked at being in such an intimate position. For two years, I’d been taught everything a woman needed to know to please a man, but I’d never been given any…hands-on experience. I shifted just the right way, and a large bulge in his pants jabbed between my legs. I squirmed harder and the bulge grew.
“Don’t do that if you don’t want me to use your body the way it’s meant to be used.” He swatted my bare thigh hard enough to sting.
My heart pounded. Would he?
Pretty Boy snorted. “He will, you know. Right there in the back seat.”
The words, combined with the way Steel’s hardness pressed into me, made my blood heat in a way that made no sense. Pushing his effect on me aside, I deflated, letting him pin me to his chest with his arm around my shoulders from behind.
“Why don’t you just drop me off somewhere beyond the Wall? I’ll even tell them you went a different way to throw them off.”
Steel shook his head, his cheek against mine. The faint scruff on his jaw line scraped at my cheek, rough and masculine. No J’nai would ever think of letting any hair grow on their faces. To them it would have been uncivilized.
“How are you planning to get through the gate at the Wall? Only the guards in the towers can open it. Wait, how did pirates like you even get into the auction to begin with?”
Steel grunted into my ear. “Damn, woman, you ask a lot of questions for a slave.”
“You seriously think we came in here without a plan for getting out?” Pretty Boy said over his shoulder. He flew the carriage across the hard-baked sand, avoiding the buildings of The Compound.
After a moment, the Wall came into view, visible from this distance, almost eight miles away, only because of its immense ten-story size and the many torches mounted on its sides. Road Dogs on motorbikes and J’nai on speeders rode or flew toward the gate, and while I couldn’t see the guards from this distance, I knew two of them watched from towers erected to either side of the path that led through the gate itself. Both guards would be holding cross-bows, as would a few others that patrolled the road that led out of the gate.
