by Raven Dark
“I’ll take her from here, Hawk. Go get yourself washed off. And grab our real clothes, will ya? I want to burn these fucking cannibal suits.”
I stared at Pretty Boy’s chest to keep from looking at his pants, at the brown, almost mangy fur that caused my stomach to roll. I let out a moan.
“Shit, Princess. Come on, almost there.” Pretty Boy’s voice sounded full of concern. Why was he being so attentive?
He helped me into the big metal tub, making sure I rested comfortably against the side. The contact with the water brought on more chattering teeth, but it felt so good. Barely hot, it eased the soreness of my bottom, my feet and legs. I wanted to lean back but was too afraid it would rub against my wound.
Pretty Boy gathered up my long hair into a knot at the top of my head and started pouring a trickle of water onto my shoulder, avoiding the burned spot on my back.
Hawk brought Pretty Boy a cloth and a bottle of sudsy liquid that gave off a floral scent. Then he set out some of the clothes and towels on the bed.
Kneeling next to the tub, Pretty Boy looked over my nakedness, and his brows shot up. “Who did this to you?” His voice was dark, and his fingers traced the thin, faded red welts left on my breasts, my stomach, my sides. “Did those cannibals do this?”
“Um.” My face flamed, finding Hawk’s burning gaze.
Pretty Boy must have understood the look we exchanged because he relaxed and sho0k his head at Hawk, looking amused. “You’re such a freak.” He lathered a cloth with the soap and slowly rubbed and worked it over every inch of my skin.
“How did you find me, Master?” I asked him.
As he gently washed my arms and neck, they told me about arriving back from their mission, finding out that I was missing. He said they found a clue or two that pointed them to the shipping dock where I was being held.
I heard Hawk leave the room just as Steel returned. Pretty Boy added more fresh water to the bath and washed my face. With the state I was in, I could barely process the change in my masters’ behavior.
“Are you sure they didn’t touch you, Princess?” Pretty Boy asked, holding my chin in his hand. His beautiful eyes were brighter than stars.
“Yes, Master. I’m just tired. I could eat a horse and sleep for a whole month.” I gave him a loopy smile, feeling the shivering begin again.
“Alright, out you come,” he said. “Let’s get you dried off and in the bed.”
Once I was dry, Steel laid me down on my stomach. Tiredness threatened to pull me under until Steel’s fingers gently examined my wound, the sting jolting me.
“Sorry, Petal.”
While Pretty Boy dumped out the water from the tub in another room and cleaned up, I heard Steel whistle while he worked at a table nearby. In a few minutes, a strong medicinal scent filled my nose. I recognized the smell of the trimsom oil I’d asked for.
“I used to use this on my cuts and bruises when I fought in the ring,” Steel said. A cool thick cream touched my back as he covered the burn with the newt powder and poultice. “It stinks, but it works. Is it true that Violets heal faster?”
I mumbled my affirmation. Accelerated healing would mean I’d be fine in hours, as long as the wound was properly treated.
With the wound tended to, both masters sat me propped up on pillows, setting the pillows low enough on my back that they didn’t touch the wound, but helped me stay sitting. They tucked a sheet over me at my waist. I could barely keep my eyes open, watching them work. I would have laughed, seeing this mothering side of them, but I was way too miserable.
“Here, Kitten. You need to eat a little before you go to sleep,” Hawk said. When had he come back?
Seated on the side of the bed, he handed the bowl to Steel who took the spoon and brought it to my lips. Broth filled my parched throat.
“Is she going to be ok?” I didn’t know who Hawk was speaking to.
Steel fed me more of the broth. I had to concentrate to swallow. I couldn’t believe how tired I was.
“Yeah, brother, she’s going to be fine,” Pretty Boy said. “With some sleep, she’ll be ready to go by tomorrow. May need to take a few breaks, though.” He laid his hand on my stomach.
“Open, Petal. You need to eat a bit more,” Steel’s deep voice sliced into my consciousness. I managed a small smile and opened my mouth for him.
Hawk stood from the bed, watching me now, but he looked different. His expression seemed…distant, closed off. Why?
“I’m going to go see to the men, then check on a few things,” he said. “I’ll be back soon.” I heard the door to the room close.
“Check on what? What’s wrong with him now?” Pretty Boy gave Steel a puzzled look.
It was getting harder to keep my eyes open. Something was off, but I didn’t know what.
“Fuck if I know, brother. The sooner we get back to the Grotto, the better.” Steel slipped one more spoonful of broth into my mouth, then pushed away from the bed and set the bowl down on the night table.
“Come on, Petal, let’s get some sleep.” He helped me lay on my side, then dimmed the light to almost nothing.
Luckily, this bed was big enough for all three of us. After they undressed, Steel got in on one side of me, and Pretty Boy slid in on the other. Both naked. I prayed that they wouldn’t expect any kind of intimacy from me. Just the thought of being close with them, of opening up, made my throat constrict. My emotions felt too all over the place.
I still couldn’t believe they had come for me. I had a feeling that their doing so was a story in itself. Would they pull way, putting up a wall again when I got to close, “opening up a vein,” like Pretty Boy had said back at the Grotto? It was me who needed to build a wall against them, but I didn’t have the strength right then. After all that had happened, too big a part of me sought the closeness and comfort only my masters could give.
Pretty Boy’s warm hand continued to make smooth circles on my stomach. Lying with his body against mine, he was careful not to press against the wound on my back. Lying between them felt pleasant, perfect. The room was quiet, dark enough to be restful, light enough to see the important things. I sighed in contentment and slept deeply.
Sometime in the middle of the night, I tossed and turned, agitation pulling at me. Something was wrong, I just knew it. Images flashed through my mind, visions of hands grabbing at me. Dark skies with a hot sun. Furs and swords.
No. No. Masters, you said you’d protect me. I can’t…
“Steel, wake up. She’s burning up again.”
I felt cool hands on me and I tried to pull away from them.
I won’t go…please.
“Shh…Petal, you’re safe. PB and I won’t let anyone take you again.”
Steel. Relief swept through me. No one could get past Steel.
“So thirsty, Master. Why did you leave me?” My voice sounded child-like to my ears. Where was I?
I felt cool water on my tongue and drank deeply. Just the effort alone made me want to fall deeper into sleep. No. I couldn’t stand the thought of those nightmares finding me again. Fear, I’m so tired of fear.
“Damn. I feel like a sack of shit, PB.”
“She won’t get out of our sight again. We almost lost her. Either Hawk wasn’t doing his job, or fucking Sheriff did something stupid. My money’s on Sheriff.”
This conversation made no sense to me, but with my mind floating in a feverish daze, I had no choice but to listen.
“She’s ours. Things are going to have to change, Steel. We’re going to have to tighten the reins on her this time.”
Tighten the reins? I didn’t like the sound of that.
“Petal won’t like it,” Steel said.
“I don’t give a fuck what she likes. She’s not getting taken again, and it’s up to us to make sure she stays safe, however we have to.”
“I know what we can do…maybe I can get one of the men to find her a gapa. I don’t care if Sheriff doesn’t like it.”
Pretty Bo
y’s quiet laughter made me smile. The thought of Steel handing me one of those large hellhounds on a leash was outrageous.
“Don’t know how we’d do it, but she’s to be watched at all times, even when we have to leave the Grotto again.” Pretty Boy went silent, like the two of them were thinking.
“We need to find out who the hell is behind our missing jewel deliveries, too. That shit needs to stop,” Steel growled out.
Their words started to blend together, a nonsensical lullaby for my feverish brain. After a cool cloth had been applied to my head, I drifted off to sleep again.
It wasn’t long until I woke up feeling sweating, thirsty, and needing to relieve my bladder. When I opened my eyes, I realized it was still night time. No lights, no sounds. Pretty Boy was sleeping on his stomach next to me, his arms under a pillow. Within seconds, he opened his eyes.
How did he know I was awake?
“What’s wrong, Princess?” His voice was deep from sleep. It made my toes curl.
“I need to relieve myself, Master,” I whispered, not wanting to wake Steel who slept on the other side of me.
Pretty Boy slowly got up, graceful as a mountain lion, and helped me to my feet. Aside from being thirsty and still a bit weak, my fever was gone. The pain in my back was almost nonexistent.
I used the chamber pot in the room’s small water closet and went to the table where Pretty Boy sat. He poured me a glass of water from a stone pitcher, then patted his lap.
I let him hold me, his naked skin warm against mine. The water was so cool and wonderful, I let out a small sound of appreciation. When I was done, he took the glass from me and adjusted my position so that I ended up straddling him. I placed my hands on his shoulders and looked at him in confusion.
My feelings were much too raw to be this close to him. And somehow, I had a feeling he knew this. Pretty Boy had always been able to pick up on my thoughts so accurately, like he could read them.
With the only sound in the room coming from Steel’s deep, even breathing, the whole moment felt surreal. Pretty Boy’s sky-blue eyes looked like ink in the moonlit room. His face was only inches away from mine, and his strong palms massaged my lower back, turning the muscles to putty under his touch.
I knew something momentous was happening between us, but what?
Pretty Boy’s gaze searched my face, his eyes locking on mine. “Princess,” he whispered. “I was afraid I’d lost you today, twice. I’m sorry that we weren’t there. But we’re here now, and no one’s going to take you from us again. Understand?”
I nodded, licking my suddenly dry lips. He’d apologized. Not for his treatment of me. Not for stealing me and coveting me. Instead, it was for not protecting me. This was such a different side to the blue-eyed dark angel I’d come to know.
“That cannibal leader said you were special. I don’t know what the hell that means, but I agree,” he said, barely loud enough for me to make out.
“You mean Vol Ivek?” I couldn’t help but smile.
“Whatever. The point is…you chose us. And…” he paused, his gaze fixating on my lips before he closed his eyes.
Was he nervous?
“What is it, Master?” I touched his cheek, imploring him to answer me, to let me in, even though a voice in my head told me I shouldn’t care.
“We never asked your name, Princess.”
“What?”
“Your name,” he whispered, his eyes opening again. What I saw there burned.
“My name is Setora, Master.”
“Setora.” He whispered the name like an oath, and the sound of it went right to my soul.
Then Pretty Boy leaned in and took my mouth with his. The kiss was passionate, wet, warm. I moaned softly into his mouth as his tongue mated with mine in a languid dance. My hands went into his hair, his into mine, and we kissed until we both were panting with desire.
“Fuck,” he said, pulling away from me. He lifted me up with his arm around my waist. Between us, he took his cock and stroked the already hard length a few times, and then teased my wet center. We both moaned quietly as he slid deep inside me.
He didn’t move his hips or try to pump into me. Instead, he continued to look into my eyes like I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Then he kissed my neck, sucking the sensitive skin. The sensation caused my body to rock against him until I lost myself to the feel of his length inside me.
Now I knew why I didn’t want to be so close to him. My walls against these men were down, carried away with the turmoil of all that had happened. I prayed that I’d be able to build them up again come tomorrow.
We pleasured each other slowly, taking our time. When I grew too weak, Pretty Boy grabbed my hips and fucked me hard in smooth, controlled thrusts. We both came, Pretty Boy silencing my cries with his mouth on mine.
Sated and spent, I collapsed against his chest. He held my head against his shoulder and rubbed my lower back.
“Things will be different, Princess. We’ll never let you go,” he whispered in my ear.
I fell asleep to the sound of his heart.
In the morning, we ate breakfast, and I drank my tea with iris root. Afterward, we met Hawk and the rest of the men outside the inn. Steel had gone out earlier to purchase a light-weight garment with a hood for me. We weren’t taking any chances with my lavender hair attracting attention in the daylight.
Hawk never did come back to the room the night before. When I asked Steel and Pretty Boy about it, they both just looked at each other and shrugged.
Something was wrong with Hawk, but until I could get him alone, I would have to settle on trusting my masters to know what was best, that everything was as good as it could be.
This time, I rode with Steel, who fussed over me from the moment I woke up until I got on the back of his motorbike. I smiled against his back, reveling in the leather scent of his cut. My masters’ behavior was puzzling but refreshing for a change.
We rode through the city’s outskirts with the morning sun beating on our backs. As we rode, I thought of the time Dolly and I were taken by those road warriors. It seemed like it had happened to another girl, one in a story book, perhaps. I no longer had nightmares about Blade and those men taking me, about Mama, and I was now riding once again on another road warrior’s motorbike, thankful that those memories no longer held me captive.
When we slowed down in the more sparse desert terrain, I looked at my surroundings. Some type of bazaar was being held. Rows of canopied merchant stands lined the side of the road about half a mile deep. Hundreds of people walked around eyeing goods and making deals.
Parking next to a metal shed, Steel and the men turned off their engines and we made our way across the street. I tugged my hood closer to my face, making sure none of my hair had escaped its bindings during the ride here.
Pretty Boy and Steel flanked me while Hawk and his men took up position behind us. When we entered the middle of the bazaar, I found myself trying to look everywhere at once. An array of tiles made of some type of granite lined the ground, forming a large square. There were small tables, waist high, placed every three feet or so, some with circular canopies to bock the sun. Food vendors had set up their tables at the edges of the square. Cinnamon, turmeric, garlic, and rosemary teased my senses with every step I took.
The place buzzed with chatter and movement until it seemed to throb like a living being.
“Petal, we’re getting you some real clothes while we’re here. I’m sick of those damn frocks you wear all the time.”
I looked up into Steel’s face and grinned. The plain white frocks with their short sleeves and off-the-shoulder style, were all that was provided to the women in the Grotto, unless their masters bought them special clothing. I’d never cared for them either, but who knew Steel had a thing for fashion?
“Yes, Master.”
“Damn straight,” Pretty Boy added. “Our Princess needs to start dressing like one.” He leaned over and kissed my covered head.
&nb
sp; “Let’s just make it quick, you two.”
At the note of disapproval in Hawk’s voice, I turned around, trying to see his expression, but before I could, he turned to a table laid out with a variety of knives that sparkled in the sun.
Why was he acting this way? It was like something happened between the time we arrived at the inn last night and when Steel was feeding me soup.
“This way, PB,” Steel interrupted my thoughts, leading us over to one of the venders whose canopy had an array of clothes hanging under it.
“Better not be any frocks there, brother.”
“Nah, we’ll get you one before we go, Pretty Boy. I think you’d look fetching in a little blue number.”
I laughed out loud, and Pretty Boy punched his club brother in the arm.
“Fuck off, asshole. Let’s make our woman look like the princess she is.”
Like men possessed, both of my masters were a whirlwind of instructions, directions, and opinions. It seemed they’d became fashion experts all of a sudden, much to the glee of the vender. Hawk steered clear of the whole thing, only occasionally looking at us with his arms crossed and an indifferent expression.
When we were finished, the shopkeeper packaged our purchases, silks, satins, lace, and muslin wrapped into bundles of parchment and secured with twine.
Then we stopped at a last shop where Pretty Boy and Steel bought me an unusual outfit. All leather and black, it consisted of a skirt that barely covered my backside, a tight-fitting top that stopped above my midriff, and a leather jacket cut halfway down my back. Artful rips slashed the sleeves, front and back of the shirt, as well as the sides of the skirt. Long, knee-high boots completed the getup.
When I walked out from behind the curtain dressed in the new clothes, Pretty Boy and Steel whistled in appreciation.
“You look like the perfect road warrior’s woman,” Pretty Boy said, cupping my face and slamming his mouth down on mine. His palms slid down to my bottom, hands kneading my cheeks and pulling me hard against him. He was like a man possessed, and I still didn’t know what to make of it.
