The pleading woman.
The hooded male.
A fist on his jaw.
And then nothing...
And now? Tobias gasped as the view around him came into focus then gasped again as the complete unfamiliarity of it hit home.
His first thought? That this wasn’t his bedroom.
His second? That it wasn’t a hospital either.
And his third? It wasn’t anywhere he had ever been, or seen, before.
Quickly, Tobias took it all in, his thought processes almost paused as he did so. The walls were gray stone, decorated in various places by lighted wall-sconces. The ceiling was arched with beams of thick, dark wood, a huge, multi-faceted chandelier falling from the centre-point. A huge, equally as dark door was right in front of him and the furniture...heavy pieces were spread about the space. A dark wood dresser, a dark desk with a brown leather chair pushed against it, and something that looked almost like a riding saddle molded across a cabinet at waist height.
Tobias shook his head as he tried to work out not only what that piece of furniture was, but also where he was. It was almost like a castle, or at least what he would imagine the inside of a castle would look like...and he had no idea what the hell that meant!
He made to lift himself up, to jump up, to try to work out what was going on. Only Tobias couldn’t jump up...and that was when the confusion turned to absolute horror, because he looked down, at his left arm first, and then at his right, and that was when he saw them.
Manacles.
He shook his head again, let out a low sound from the back of his throat, sure that he must be dreaming, still asleep in his bed somewhere, or maybe even on the red-carpeted floor of his building. Only everything was now in sharp focus. The adrenaline was already running through his body, making everything brighter and clearer.
He was not asleep.
He was not dreaming.
He was manacled on both wrists.
Heart pumping in his chest, Tobias twisted his body so that he could look behind him. A chain led from each manacle. The chains were made of thick, linked metal, and they led to the wrought iron railing that made up the headboard of the bed.
He tugged on them.
Hard.
They did not give. He twisted some more, trying to get a view of where they met the iron, whether he could un-hook them in some way, and that was when the sound of clinking metal met his ears.
With rising disbelief, combined with the mounting horror, Tobias looked down and saw two more manacles around each ankle. Like the ones around his wrists, they were maybe two inches long, and linked chains led from them to the iron legs at either side of the end of the bed.
Tobias lifted his knees and pulled. The chains did not give.
With something that might have been a panicked moa, he lifted each limb and pulled as hard as he could. The bed did not move, the chains did not even creak, nothing happened!
Fuck.
He thought about trying to twist and turn off the bed, only Tobias understood enough of angles and physics to get that the four chains held him in perfect position. That if he pulled against one, the other would hold tight. There was nowhere he could move. He was well and truly stuck...and someone had made sure of this...
Tobias had to bite down on his lip then, because as well as the adrenaline, and the confusion, and the horror, was something that felt like the most intense panic Tobias had ever experienced.
His thoughts raced like lightning, Tobias summed the situation up in his mind before he could even think to do otherwise. Someone had bought him here, wherever here was, whilst he’d been unconscious. Once they had him here, they had chained him up so that he couldn’t escape. And they were planning to...
To what, his frantic mind asked. What are they planning to do?
He had no answer to that, because Tobias couldn’t quite believe this was happening! He thought about the couple that had been outside his apartment door.
Who were they?
What did they want?
Why had the woman needed help?
Why had the man ensured that Tobias couldn’t give it to her?
The obvious answer was that the man had bought him here, only Tobias couldn’t work out why that would be the case! Surely once he’d been knocked out he was no longer a threat? Why go to all the trouble of arranging this?
Unless…his mind whispered to him now, and Tobias wished to God that he had never become addicted to all the true crime shows… What if it had all been some sort of set-up? What if the man and the woman were some sort of fucked-up crime duo, and they had abducted him in order to…
Tobias let out a shuddery sort of groan and began pulling on the chains again. His reaction was in no way logical. He knew he couldn’t get them undone, knew that no matter how much he pulled and tugged they were not going to simply release him. But the adrenaline was pumping. He was panicking, his belly churning and his heart pounding.
He had to find a way out of these chains.
He had to find a way out of whatever this place was.
He had to get help…
...and then the door opened.
Chapter Three
“You’re awake. I wasn’t sure if you were planning to sleep forever.”
Heart racing, belly churning, Tobias looked up at the male who walked through the now open doorway. He knew immediately that it was not the same man who had assaulted him. How he knew that Tobias wasn’t sure. Maybe because the voice was deeper, the hood absent, or maybe it was just a feeling. Either way, Tobias knew he was dealing with someone else entirely, and that thought made his head spin.
The couple he understood. They had been right there. Possibly waiting for him if his ‘true crime’ theory held any kind of weight. But a third male? Tobias hadn’t even considered that someone else might be involved in what was very clearly his abduction!
What did that mean?
What was happening?
Tobias had to find out, and so he spoke before considering that maybe he shouldn’t. “Where am I?” he demanded. “Who are you? What’s going on here?”
The man smiled, a slow, almost amused smile, and then he reached out to slam the door shut behind him. Tobias couldn’t help but jump slightly, and cursed himself silently the moment he did. He needed to act strong, like he wasn’t someone who could be treated this way. Someone that could be cowed…only…Tobias was, in a nutshell, scared shitless. His gym workouts might have made him look like someone who could take on any guy, but when it came right down to it Tobias was the same man he’d been before all the muscles. He was a softie at heart. He had no experience of anything even close to violence. Had never been punched before. Had never been in a situation even close to this…
“Like a modern day Cinderella,” the man added.
He approached the bed slowly, his arms now crossed, a considering look on his face. He was, Tobias realized, easily as tall as his assailant, though broader across the chest, and heavily muscled along his arms. He was dressed in a pair of faded denims and a tight black tee. His hair was brown, almost tawny. A light dusting of stubble—the same color—highlighting his angular jaw line, and his eyes...Tobias swallowed uneasily. He didn’t think he had ever seen eyes that color before. They were so lightly brown they were almost yellow.
The woman had eyes like that…
He frowned as that thought flashed through his mind. Because now that he thought about it, Tobias realized that they were almost the exact same color, and what were the chances of that? Meeting two people with such an odd shade in such a short space of time?
Contacts, his frantic mind suggested, just contact lenses, because you’ve been kidnapped by a bunch of fucking crazies!
“Who are you?” he demanded again. “What the hell is going on here? Why am I tied up? Who are you people?”
The man tilted his head, his smile spreading, and when he spoke it was as if Tobias hadn’t said a single word. “It wouldn’t be as strange as you t
hink considering the world we live in,” he said. “The world you are now part of.”
“World?” Tobias demanded. “What world?”
“Our world,” the man said. “And I welcome you to it.”
“Welcome me?” Tobias gasped, the disbelief in his voice obvious. “I’m tied to the bed!”
The man nodded. “It was necessary.”
“Necessary?”
“Yes. We could hardly have you wandering about.”
“Wandering where?” Tobias spluttered. “I don’t even know where I am!”
“Exactly.”
The satisfaction in the man’s voice was such that, and surprisingly, because he hadn’t imagined it would, Tobias’ anger sparked, enough that it was even pushing away the horror and the panic.
“You need to let me go,” he demanded. “You can’t do this. You can’t just abduct someone...” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “It’s illegal.”
“Illegal?” the man grinned as if that word amused him. “I make the laws here. I can assure you we’re well within them. And,” he added when Tobias opened his mouth to speak. “Who is to tell me otherwise? No one knows you’re here.”
“No one…” Tobias swallowed unsteadily as those words left his lips. He hadn’t even considered it before now, though of course he should have, but this man was right. Apart from his work colleagues and a few friends, there wasn’t anyone to notice Tobias’ absence straight away. And it was Friday night, which meant the whole weekend would pass by before anyone thought to look for him. Maybe when he didn’t turn up for work on Monday they would wonder. When he didn’t answer any emails or messages they might think to call round, but maybe they wouldn’t do so straight away. They might even leave it until Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday even…by which point…
“You need to let me go,” Tobias said, but the anger that had given him courage just a few moments ago was gone now, and he knew his voice came out sounding weak and panicked.
“I can’t do that,” his abductor said.
“Why not?”
“Why not?” The man tapped a finger against his chin and circled the bed. Tobias couldn’t help but move back slightly, though his movement was curtailed by the chains. As he did so he realized that there was an oddly appealing scent in the room. It hadn’t been there before, he would have picked up on it, but it was present now, and Tobias breathed deeply, trying to work out what it was. A moment later and he realized that it was something like musk, the spiced kind…and it was coming from the man in front of him.
“Would you like me to tell you what is going on?”
It wasn’t a question, but Tobias answered it with a yes anyway, because what else could he do? Tobias had never felt so powerless in his life. He was chained to a bed with absolutely no way to escape. The male in front of him, whether he smelled nice or not, could do whatever he wanted and Tobias had no way to stop him.
Abruptly, a series of images raced through Tobias’ mind. Many of them came from the crime shows he loved to watch, but others came from entirely different material. He clenched his fists, tensed his body, and let out a shaky breath.
The man pulling out a weapon.
The man jumping on top of him intending to use that weapon.
The man stalking across the space between him and the bed…
The man peeling off his clothes.
Was he really at risk of such things happening? Tobias shook his head inwardly, because he had no idea. This situation was something he had never even imagined he would be in. Still he tried, frantically to work through the possibilities.
Would he have been placed in such an opulent room if this man intended to torture and kill him?
Would the man be talking to him like this if he intended to harvest his organs?
Would he not have already undressed him if he intended to rape him?
So frantic were his thoughts, and so panicky was he, that Tobias jumped again as the man spoke.
“You, Tobias Thorn,” he said, “interfered in something that you should not have been interfering in.”
Tobias Thorn… How did they know his name? Had this been a planned abduction? Or had they simply found out afterwards? And yet, interfered, that could only mean one thing…
“Where is she?” Tobias whispered.
“She?”
“You know who I’m talking about.”
The man uncrossed his arms and eyed Tobias through hooded lids. “I do,” he said. “And she is none of your business.”
“If you’ve hurt her.”
“You’ll do what?”
Tobias shook his head even as he felt his heart sink, because what the hell could he say to that? He was in no position to do anything. And yet, he remembered the look of panic in the girl’s eyes. The way she tried to pull away from the male who had clearly abducted them both.
That was the only explanation, Tobias realized. The male who had knocked him out had bought him here, and clearly, the guy in front of him was in charge of…whatever this place was...whatever this group was…
But why bother? That was what Tobias couldn’t understand. Once unconscious he was no threat…
“As it happens,” the man continued. “Leyla is fine. She was...behaving petulantly. It is nearly the full moon, you see, and she has some issues around this time.”
“The full moon?” Tobias said. “Is that a euphemism for time of the month?”
The man smirked. “In a way.”
“The guy who took her...who gave me this...” Tobias moved his head slightly so that his chin, which throbbed slightly, was on view.
“Is her fiancé.”
“Fiancés don’t usually have to drag their fiancées back home with them,” Tobias said. “Not if they’re willing.”
“She’s willing.”
“You know this how?”
The man took a step forward. Tobias moved a little farther back, his chains clinking as he did so.
“This is my world. I rule here.”
And there it was again, that suggestion, no, that declaration, of being in charge. Like the king of the castle, the beast in charge of the keep. The Beast…Tobias swallowed unsteadily. That was exactly what this male looked like he realized. With his corded muscles and his tawny hair, like some sort of fantasy beast made human…
“Here?” Tobias asked, trying and failing to halt his increasingly odd thoughts. “Where is here?”
The Beast tilted his head, as if considering Tobias’ words. For a moment Tobias felt sure that he wasn’t going to be given an answer, and so when he did speak, Tobias found himself almost surprised by the words. “We’re below ground.”
“Underground?”
The Beast looked at the leather chair pulled up next to the desk. With a quick glance in Tobias’ direction he strode across the room, took one arm, and moved it so that it was on the left hand side of Tobias’ bed. Once in place, he lowered himself into it and steepled his fingers together. Tobias couldn’t help but notice that he had very long fingers. That the nails were trim, the skin as tanned as everywhere else on his body…
“You are aware of the geography of the area?” he asked.
Tobias nodded, pulling his wandering thoughts back into place as he did so. “Of course.”
“You understand that the town and the next one over, and the one after that, sit in valleys.”
“Yes.”
The Beast nodded slowly, almost musingly. “I’ve often thought those valleys look almost like they have been molded by giants. You can almost image them scooping out great mounds of earth to create the beauty that we see around us.” He grinned. “It’s a silly thought, but then I’ve always found that the silly thoughts are often the ones that cheer me the most. Who wants to spend every minute of every day thinking seriously?”
His words were so close to the imaginings that Tobias had thought about in the past, that he couldn’t help but give a little gasp. “Then we are still in town?”
“In? We ar
e certainly in town. We’re all around it.” His grin widened, and it did something to his face that made Tobias shudder. In that moment Tobias became aware—almost like a light bulb moment—that this male, whoever he was, was painfully good looking.
It hadn’t occurred to him before now, maybe because of the manacles, the fucked-upness of the situation, and the fact he had been looming over him. But now, with him sat next to him, in an almost non-threatening manner, a smile on his face, Tobias did become aware of it…and he didn’t like that fact.
Stockholm syndrome, his mind hissed. And yet, Tobias didn’t think there had been time for that, they’d been talking for less than a half hour. No, it was simply more likely that his abductor was just very good looking, and what did that mean? Nothing, Tobias told himself, nothing at all!
“You can almost think of us as circling the valley,” the Beast added. “We’re all around it.”
“That makes no sense.”
“No. I suppose it does not.” He paused, his gaze fixed on Tobias. Tobias shifted, suddenly uncomfortable now to be the recipient of that intense yellow gaze. “Maybe if I show you,” he added, “you will understand.”
“Show me?”
He leaned forward in the chair, eyes still locked on Tobias. “Did you imagine I would keep you tied to the bed forever?”
Tobias shrugged, his heart giving an odd little flip. “I have no idea what you plan to do.”
“No one is going to hurt you, Tobias,” he said. “You do realize that, don’t you? You are safe here.”
“Safe…”
“Safe.” He nodded. “You are my guest for want of a better word.”
“Guest?”
Another nod. “And no one mistreats my guests.”
“But…I’m tied up,” Tobias said.
“That was for your own safety. We have no such thing as locked doors here. I didn’t want you to wake up and start wandering.” The Beast paused. “These manacles are not usually used to keep someone captive against their will. This is my private bed chamber you see, and they have other, more, personal uses.”
“I…” Tobias swallowed uncomfortably, because he suspected he knew exactly what the Beast meant by that and it made him shudder inside. And yet, even as he did, it was in that moment, with his arms pulled up tight against his body, his knees drawn high, that Tobias realized that manacles or not, he wasn’t scared of this man. When the shift had occurred, Tobias didn’t know. Perhaps when he spoke of giants, or talked about silly thoughts, or even when he sat in the leather chair, and Tobias couldn’t explain it, didn’t know if he was being sensible, but those yellow eyes... As he looked into them, Tobias knew the man was being honest. He wasn’t going to hurt him. He was safe…at least for the moment...
Bargain With the Beast Page 2
