She looked straight ahead, ignoring him entirely, and folded her arms to hug her knees to her chest.
* * *
Her heart was racing. What was she supposed to do? She should resist, shouldn’t she? He was exactly the target she was trained to destroy, after all. She was a part of an elite group of hunters.
If you were so important, why didn’t they even try to find you?
She wasn’t going to think about that. It was an accident, an oversight; they’d send more people out to find her. A whole search party. They’d found her brother, hadn’t they? Had retrieved his body, at least. Her family was important; her sister had even been chosen as a Contributor, which was one of the greatest honors.
His hands closed around her arms and lifted her like she weighed nothing. When she was fully off the ground, he carried her outside. She kicked and punched, resisting every step of the way, but it didn’t make an ounce of difference as he sat down on a rock.
“I gave you a chance, Olivia. I hope this will teach you to obey the next time I tell you to do something.”
“Let me go!” she said when he pulled her body face down across his lap. She had to put her hands on the ground to keep from falling forward when he strapped one leg over the backs of hers and hugged her waist tight to his chest. “You can’t do this!”
Without a word, he pulled her pants down to her knees and she froze. She stiffened her back and hauled her torso up, squeezing her legs together tight. He couldn’t do this. He wouldn’t.
“Watch me,” he said, his fingers sliding into the waistband of her panties.
“No!” she wriggled and fought, trying to slap his hands away, which was impossible from her awkward position.
He gripped her wrists and held her arms behind her low back. He then pulled her panties down to her knees. She realized when she bent her knees to resist, she’d only be exposing herself further to him and stiffened once again. Nobody had seen that part of her. She’d barely looked herself. She kept her body straight as a board when he rested the flat of one huge hand on her now bare bottom.
“You will do as I say, Olivia,” he chastised. “I’m your new commander; as far as Magnus is concerned, you’re dead. You no longer exist for them and they don’t exist for you. I’ll help you, but you will obey my rules, the rules of the camp.”
“Never!” she cried out. “Let me go! I’m part of an elite group of hunters. I’m a trained soldier. You have no right! Ow!”
The first spank landed across both cheeks at once and she called out with the sharp sting of it. She struggled to free herself, but he held tight, keeping her hands together in one of his while he held her against his belly. He brought his hand down hard, rotating, first her left buttock, then her right. He didn’t let up for what felt like an eternity. The sting grew hotter, more painful as the blows fell. Sharp, loud slaps reverberated off the walls of the deserted ridge, followed by her yelps and screams.
“Stop!” she called out. “It hurts.”
“It’s meant to hurt. To teach,” he replied.
He wasn’t even out of breath even as her own breath came short. Tears fell from her eyes and were swallowed up by the dry earth. She lost track of the count and was almost grateful for when he’d stop to rub her swollen, tender buttocks except that when he’d start again, it hurt worse.
When he began on her thighs, she lost all control of herself. “Please stop. I’ll do what you say. You’re hurting me. I’ll…please.”
“Relax your body. Stop fighting, take your punishment, and it will be over.”
She mewled, trying to soften her muscles, to give him what he wanted. He continued to spank her as she did and she tried hard not to struggle, but when the flat of his hand hit that most tender, most private place between her legs, she gasped and stilled instantly, shame flushing her already hot face a dark shade of pink. She wasn’t sure if it had been an accident. He’d hit her there.
“Good girl. How do you address me, Olivia?” he asked, striking two more times.
Her response came short. “Commander.” Another breath. “Commander, Sir,” she said. She needed to get out of this position; this was too much to process.
“One or the other will do,” he said with a small chuckle. He straightened her up and she immediately reached to rub her bottom.
He shook his head and put her hands at her sides. “You don’t get to rub out the sting,” he said. His glance traveled to the little triangle of neatly trimmed dark hair between her legs. She could do nothing to cover herself as he held her wrists on either side of her. Her body began to shake, small tremors as if she were cold. He looked up at her. “I’d stand you in a corner, but we don’t have time,” he said.
Corner? Shame would devour her if he made her do that.
He pulled her panties and pants up and stood, his body inches from hers. He took her shoulders in his hands and squeezed while looking at her. It wasn’t a painful squeeze, more reassuring if that were possible, and it caused tears to fall from her eyes as the full shock of what she’d just been subjected to settled on her mind. She dropped her gaze to the ground, too embarrassed to look at him. He pulled her to him and rubbed her back.
“Shh,” he said. “It’s going to be ok, Olivia. Punishment is over, shh.”
Was he expecting her to put her arms around him? To allow him to hold her? He was contaminated, a mutant. He was her enemy. And he’d just spanked her bare bottom. Hard! Rebellion bubbled up inside her, pushing her shame aside to make way for anger. His guard was down; he’d thought he’d won. She raised her hands up to his arms, slowly holding at first, but when his hands on her relaxed even more, she gripped his arms and brought her knee up to his crotch as hard as she could like her brother had taught her to if ever a man tried to hurt her.
“Fuck!” he yelled, letting her go to grab his crotch.
She stumbled backward, looking at him. She’d never actually done it before, didn’t realize it would work so well. He was doubled over in pain. Good. He deserved it after what he’d done.
“Fuck you!” she spat, turning around to run. But she stopped short. Run where? The shadows were growing longer, signaling the end of daylight, and an animal howled somewhere in the not too far distance. She glanced back at him to find he was looking back at her, although still crouched over. His eyes told her to run, not to stick around to find out what he’d do to her if he caught her. And so, she ran. She headed back down the hill he’d dragged her up, not sure what she was going to do, where she was going to go or hide. He wasn’t going to stay down forever.
The animal’s howl sounded like it came from closer now and Livvie searched around her. This was useless, stupid even.
“Come back here, Olivia. Don’t make me come after you.”
She looked at the wreckage of her plane, at the nothing that was there. Tears of frustration clouded her vision just as his hand fisted her hair and yanked.
She put her hands back to capture his wrist. “Let me go,” she said more quietly this time. “I…”
He turned her to him, still pulling just hard enough that she had to turn her face up and lean into his hand to alleviate some of the pain.
“That wasn’t a very smart thing to do, Olivia.”
“I don’t want to go to the camp with you,” she said, the sensation in her chest, her belly, new to her. Was this how her body reacted to an enemy attack, to real danger? She’d not felt anything like this during training sessions, even those where actual one-on-one combat was required. “Please let me go.”
“Let you go? Think for a minute. What are your options?” he asked, still holding onto her. “Where will you go if not with me? How will you survive out here?” He was calm, patient even.
She only stared at him, knowing he was right.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you at camp; you’ll have my protection.”
“You’re hurting me now.”
“I can’t help you if you don’t let me.” He released her hair and took her
arm instead. “Are you finished? Ready to go? I’m starving and could use a shower. You too, from the look of you.”
She was hungry, that was true. Besides, maybe she could gain information to lead Magnus One to their camp, destroy the fighters. Be a hero.
“Are you going to punish me again, spank me, for what I did to you?” she asked.
“That will depend on your behavior on our way to camp.”
“Am I your prisoner?”
“I believe you’re as much a victim of Magnus as we are; you just don’t know it yet.”
“So you’re going to brainwash me into thinking it.”
He shook his head. “The brainwashing has already been done. Let’s go.”
Chapter Two
Darkness came fast as they made their way to the Jeep. Unused to such cool temperatures, Livvie wrapped her arms around herself. Her uniform, a button-down navy shirt and matching pants with combat boots, didn’t do much to protect her from the elements. Within the domed cities, the climate was controlled and kept at a constant, comfortable temperature. The countryside was also new.
The air smelled good, clean, different from the air within her city. In fact, although she liked the scent, the freshness of it almost burned her lungs, it was almost too cool. She brought her sleeve to her nose again. The burning was likely the poison. Her body wasn’t used to it like his was. She wondered if she was going to get sick, wondered how long until she began to change, to succumb to the poison. To die. No one had ever returned to the cities after leaving the enclosed safety of Magnus One. They’d all died out here.
“Am I going to die?” she asked with quiet calm.
“What?” he asked, obviously surprised by her question.
“The poison. My body isn’t used to it like yours.”
“There’s no poison, Olivia. Take a deep breath and stop covering your mouth and nose. Look at me, I’ve been inhaling this stuff for the last…for a long time. I’m healthy, I can think for myself, I have emotions, thoughts.”
“I think for myself and have all those things too,” she said.
“M-hm.” They came upon the Jeep. It was an open-top old military vehicle. “Get in,” he said, opening the passenger door. “It will get chillier when we’re driving. I’ll get you a blanket.”
She climbed into the passenger seat and didn’t protest when he handed her a thick fleece blanket, wondering at his kind gesture. He waited until she’d wrapped it around her shoulders before securing the seatbelt over her lap.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You’re welcome.”
He started the car, the headlights the only light on the road as it was a moonless night.
“So what is it they tell you will happen to you if you leave the cities?” he asked.
“Are you making small talk?” she asked.
“No, just curious.”
She looked him square in the face. “You’re the enemy. I’m here with you as a prisoner. I won’t share information with you, no matter what you do to me.”
“Even after you witnessed your own people bombing the wreckage of your ship?”
“They’ll come for me,” she said, looking straight ahead.
“They’ve filled your head with lies. You can’t go back to the city, you can never go back. The very fact that you’re still alive, that you haven’t been killed by the poison they claim is out here would cause people to question the leaders. If they ever do find you, Olivia, they’ll kill you on sight. I know how they work. Their purpose is not to keep you safe and happy. It’s to control you. One way to do that is to terrorize you about what is outside of the ‘protection’ of the cities. Have you given any thought at all to what they’re pumping into the air you’re breathing at Magnus One?”
“It’s clean air, filtered and disinfected to keep us safe.”
“And docile.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just what I say. Look at me. Do I look like a freak to you? Do I look sick, mutated, like some animal?”
“You act like an animal,” she said after a moment. This man was trying to confuse her. Likely this was his plan to brainwash her, make her tell him the secrets she knew about the military at Magnus One. Well, he was going to be disappointed. For one thing, she’d never tell. But for another, her commanders didn’t divulge a whole lot. But she’d always been curious about things. She had her eyes open, saw the codes that were punched into keypads to open locked doors, learned how the entrances and exits worked. Her brother had taught her at an early age to keep that to herself. She hadn’t really understood why he’d said that, but she’d done it. In a way, after he’d died, it had been a tribute to his memory. “My brother was a hero. He hunted people like you,” she said, not really sure why she was telling him. “He kept us safe.”
He was quiet for a moment. “What happened to him?” he asked, looking at her as if he was sorry for her.
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused by his expression.
“You said was.”
She turned away. “He was killed during a mission five years ago. That knife you took was his. I’d like to have it back.”
“You can have it back when I can trust you.”
Then she’d have to steal it back.
“What sort of mission?” he asked.
That area was a little fuzzy. “His missions were top secret,” she said. Before the last few though, Simon had changed a little. He’d been spending more time out of the city, his missions taking longer and longer to complete. She’d worried about him, but he’d always tell her he was fine, that it was important to keep his work a secret to ensure their safety. Livvie was proud of him. Although his death had shocked everyone and the way Magnus had handled his body she couldn’t understand. She’d not even been allowed to see it, to say goodbye. She’d only been fifteen at the time and those days still called forth difficult memories, things she couldn’t deal with or understand even now, five years later.
“Top secret missions?” he probed.
She only nodded.
He made a noise and turned his attention to the road. She hugged her blanket closer to herself and closed her eyes, suddenly sad at the memory of Simon. She wondered if they’d told her sister what had happened to her. If they thought she was dead. If Katie thought she was dead. It would break her heart, Livvie knew it. As twins, she and Katie were close, even though they were as different as could be. Katie was always the more obedient, more cautious of the two and when Simon had died, Livvie had taken the role of protector with her.
A tear slid down her cheek.
* * *
They drove in silence for most of the ride. Hayden imagined it was a lot to take in. He looked over at her sitting quietly beneath the blanket. She was trying to hide her tears. He shook his head; what Magnus did to her was wrong, so wrong, and she had no idea. She was filthy and likely hungry. The chemicals Magnus pumped into the air would start to wear off soon; he wondered how long the process would take for her. The next few days would be the hardest and she’d struggle to come to terms with everything that was happening, with things she’d feel without the poison that was in Magnus One’s oxygen to keep her under control. He wondered how she was going to react at seeing the camp and its inhabitants. She was feeling afraid, he could see that, and also likely very alone.
“How old are you?” he asked.
“Twenty,” she answered without looking at him.
They were teaching them to kill younger and younger. “Family besides your brother?”
“Why do you care?” she snapped.
He counted to ten before speaking. “I understand you’ve been through a lot, but there’s no reason to be rude.”
“You’re responsible for the mess I’m in; I think I’m allowed a little rudeness.”
“Wrong.”
Just then the radio buzzed to life. “Commander?” the voice asked.
“Yes, it’s me. I’m about ten minutes from camp and I’m not alone.�
��
“Glad to hear you’re all right, Sir.”
He could feel her eyes on him as he answered. “Thank you. It was an…” he glanced at her, “interesting afternoon.”
“You said you were not alone, Sir?”
“The pilot of the aircraft survived the crash.”
A longer pause followed. “Sir, should we prepare a cell for your prisoner?”
He glanced at her as she raised her eyebrows at the question.
“That won’t be necessary. She’ll stay in my quarters. Have food prepared for two, something warm. And some clothes, about Jenna’s size, or her size seven months ago.” Jenna was his best friend’s wife and seven months pregnant. He wondered for a moment what Olivia’s reaction would be to Jenna. Magnus didn’t allow natural childbirth. They chose egg and sperm based on genetic testing and extracted what they needed, discarding the rest. He knew people only went along with it because they didn’t know any differently, but he wondered how much the loss of such a simple yet profoundly important thing as family, as children, would affect them if and when the resistance fighters’ plans came to fruition. He shook his head again. At least they kept siblings together, even bred twins to study. He imagined Magnus would have found people would be easier to manage if there was some form of biological family, a responsibility beyond the one, the self.
“Roger, Commander.”
The camp was hidden in a valley between two of the Fourteeners in what used to be known as the Colorado Rockies. They’d been here for the last year and Hayden hoped to keep it intact. It was an excellent location, hidden well with enough resources—water and food—for the people to survive. It was a sizeable town and he had made some friends here. They were living what he’d consider a reasonably normal life, given the circumstances. But as long as Magnus existed, they would never be truly free.
He looked over at Olivia who was shivering beneath the blanket. Of course she would be; she wasn’t used to regular, outdoor temperatures and the mountains got cold at night, even in the dead of summer and it wasn’t summer yet.
Captive's Desire Page 2
