by Sophia Lynn
“I'll take her,” Adnan said, his voice begrudging. “If you have brought her all this way, and if you tell me you have better, I will take her. As a gesture of good faith.”
The skinny man frowned at him.
“Neither the Razorback nor I wish to offer a great lord such as yourself anything but the best…”
“It is for me to decide, isn't it?” Adnan said sharply. “Surely you are not telling me what to do?”
“Of course not, my lord,” said the skinny man, but there was still some doubt.
“Of course, I will not be paying your full rate,” Adnan said loftily, and it was this human greed that convinced the skinny man that he was back on solid ground.
“Ah, yes, well, she is still a valuable commodity…”
“Half,” Adnan said, and as he and the man bargained for the life and soul of the girl between them, he thought he had never been quite so disgusted with the world. Roja was right. The sooner they could destroy the Razorback and his operation, the better.
Finally, they agreed on a price, and his bodyguard gave the man the cash. The girl's eyes widened, but he could see a simmering fury there.
Good, he thought. Hate me all you like. Sooner rather than later, we will get you out of this.
After her escape attempt failed, Emily thought that she would be numb for hours, if not days. She had seen other girls punished, but the slave master who had come through the holding area had said that she was to be treated gently if possible.
“Her skin is too perfect to mar…at least, unless she cannot be trained any other way.”
Now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, she had proved herself recalcitrant, and Emily knew that when they came back to the compound, she would be the one tied over the box, the one with her clothes pulled up and her soft flesh whipped…
Then they started bargaining over her as if she were a bolt of fabric or a barrel of honey, and her rage had reached a boiling point.
The man whose room they stood in, the “great lord” who made her captor whinge and coax, was a tall man dressed in clothes worth more than everything she owned. Two enormous bodyguards stood at attention in the background, but at this point, she wasn't sure why he needed them. She had felt the sheer strength of him when she had crashed into him. This was a man who could easily overwhelm most of the people who might defy him, and the thought made her shiver.
Because she couldn't stand to listen to them talk over her head, she let her thoughts turn to wondering who he was, what gave him the idea that he could buy and sell another human being—worse, that he could discuss her worth as if she were some kind of animal.
He was, she was startled to see, exceedingly handsome. He was dark in a way that made her think of a Hollywood movie star, and underneath those fine clothes, she could tell his frame was lean and muscular. His features were perhaps a touch sterner than conventional good looks would allow, but it gave him a sharpened aspect, lending him more authority and dignity. If he weren't bargaining for her like some kind of animal, she would think he was more than handsome.
Not so handsome that he doesn't need to buy women, she thought bitterly, but she was worldly enough to know that that didn't matter. Monsters could be very handsome, and she would survive a little longer if she remembered it.
No, she would have been left entirely cold if there wasn't something oddly familiar about him. Something about his face, the way he stood, the cadence of his voice tried to drag her mind back to a different time, but that was foolishness, wasn't it? There was no way she would have run into a man like this in her life before.
Emily made herself give up the idea that she knew this man; she had more important things to worry about. She needed to work on surviving and then escaping. She told herself that she needed to forget the things that weren't vital to those goals.
When she refocused on the conversation literally over her head, she found that the men were wrapping up their bargain. The skinny man looked elated, the lord looked, as he had for most of the time she had seen him, bored. A part of her was oddly stung by that, but she let it go.
The skinny man turned to her with a cruel look.
“You are going to pay for what you did to me,” he hissed. “And this man does not need to preserve that fine skin of yours at all.”
With nothing more than that, he was gone.. With a gesture, the lord dismissed his men, because it wasn't as if he needed them. She was alone with him.
She tensed, ready to fight and claw, to scream, the moment he touched her. It was in the back of her mind that that was exactly what she was supposed to do, but she pushed it away.
“So,” he said, his voice cool. “Do you think you are really worth all of that?”
The men that she had been with over the last few days had barely spoken to her at all, and when they had, it had been to threaten her. At this point, another threat, no matter how grotesque or terrible, would have simply rolled right off her. A question, however, was another thing, and for a moment, she simply stared at him.
“I'm a human being,” she said, standing and lifting her chin up. “I am beyond price. It is wrong for you to keep me.”
He slouched back on one leg, crossing his arms over his chest. Even in that relaxed pose, and even with her standing up as straight as she could, he towered over her. Emily noted with fury that he wasn't thinking of her as a threat at all.
“You have a very inflated idea of yourself,” he observed, and she could have spat.
“If you think that there is a dollar sign that can be affixed to yourself, no matter how much or how little, you must have a very dim idea of yourself,” she said stonily.
To her fury, it only made the man laugh.
“American?”
“Yes,” she said, the admission surprised out of her.
“It figures. Only an American would speak like that.”
“So glad that amuses you,” she snapped.
“It does. But American or not, you are here, you are bought and paid for. In this world, that makes you mine.”
She ignored the strange small voice that told her that there were worse fates and worse masters. Instead she stared at him as defiantly as she could. She would not bend. She would not break, no matter what happened, and sooner rather than later, she would escape.
“So you say,” Emily said, keeping her voice as level as she could. “And what will you do about that?”
“I am not going to hurt you,” he said, but there was absolutely no apology in his voice. “But I did pay for you, and that means that you are mine to do with as I wish.”
Emily opened her mouth to respond to him, but suddenly, somehow, he had crossed the floor to stand before her. She had known before that he was strong; now she realized that he was fast as well, far faster than she could dream of being.
Emily gasped as she found herself pulled into his arms. He was like a man made of steel, and it would not matter how much she struggled because he was simply far too powerful for her. When she looked up at him in alarm, he used that motion to his advantage. Suddenly, his mouth swooped down on hers, claiming her in a kiss the likes of which she had never known before.
Emily had been kissed before. Of course she had. However, every previous kiss paled in comparison to this one. Men had stolen kisses from her at parties and left her cold. She had kissed her dates and found them insipid. This was entirely different. There was passion in this kiss and an undercurrent of power and darkness that carried her away.
In that moment, she had no choice. All she could do was allow herself to be borne away on the sensation of it and the rush of pleasure it brought her. When he finally pulled his mouth away, she looked up, more dazed by a kiss than she thought possible.
“There,” he said softly. “I have wanted to do that since I laid eyes on you.”
His words left Emily speechless. She had purposefully kept her mind away from what dealing with the faceless man who would presumably buy her would do. Never in all of her life had she ima
gined a kiss that set her nerves dancing, that made her feel as if t a fire lived inside her.
Slowly he kissed her again, and this time she welcomed it. Her body cried out for the sensations that he had given her and reached for more. His mouth explored hers gently, showing her nerves that she didn't even know she had. She could have let him kiss her like that forever. When his tongue ran along her lips, she parted them, and the pleasure of his tongue stroking hers made her feel faint.
After the fear and stress of the past few days, Emily felt herself lifted high by pleasure, pulling away from the situation and what it meant. She felt as if she were floating above her body, but then, when she felt his erection pressed against her stomach, she came crashing down. Suddenly, the reality of what was happening intruded, and that red tide of anger washed over her.
With a growl that seemed to come from deep within her, she snapped her teeth together sharply. He pushed her away with a shout, but not before she could taste blood in her mouth.
“You ungrateful little…”
He pulled back, letting her go and giving her just enough time to sprint into the bedroom behind them. He gave chase, but surprise gave her the edge she needed, even if it was just barely enough.
She made it to the bedroom, turning to slam the door on him a hair before he reached her. Her frantic fingers found the lock and twisted it. The bolt slid into place with a satisfying final click, and she sobbed with relief.
She skittered back from the door, still afraid that he would come right through it. After a moment, she realized that he wasn't pounding on it or kicking it in. In fact, he wasn't even knocking.
“That was unnecessary,” he stated.
“I think it was entirely necessary,” she retorted. “I didn't give you permission to kiss me.”
“I would say that as your owner, permission is the last thing that I require,” he said, “However, I do not think that you know exactly what you are doing.”
“Of course I do,” Emily retorted, but his only response was to laugh.
When she realized he wasn't going to come through the door, she took a deep breath and looked around the room. With a sinking heart, she realized that the windows were barred, either for security's sake or to prevent an escape like the one that she had just tried. She went into the adjoining bathroom and discovered that the window in there was set up the same way.
“Oh god,” she whispered, and in a way that hadn't happened before, the reality of her situation sank in. Without thinking of what she was doing, she went to sit down on the bed.
What was she going to do?
Chapter Five
Adnan could still feel the throb of pain from the girl’s bite. He supposed that he should have been furious, but instead, after all that had been going on, he only wanted to laugh. No matter what had happened to her or what she had gone through, she still had spirit, and the fire in her eyes made him want to claim her for his own.
After ascertaining that she was quiet and at least not doing herself any harm, he picked up his phone.
“Hey, Roja. Things have gone a little strange…”
His friend listened with barely restrained patience, and he could imagine the smaller man shaking his head, smoking cigarette after cigarette as he paced in the safe house.
“Don't trust her,” Roja said finally. “Don't let her out of your sight.”
Adnan frowned. “I had assumed that I would simply calm her down, let her go.”
“And let her get caught again? She is a frightened American girl. She would have no idea how to deal with Mirago. The Razorback’s men—or someone worse—would pick her up again, and then what?”
Swearing softly, Adnan had to admit that his friend was right. There was simply no time to get the girl to safety, not really. They had to maintain the illusion that he was someone who wanted to deal with the Razorback, and that meant that he would not let go of a woman he had paid for.
He ended the call with Roja. He was alone, a beautiful girl who wanted nothing to do with him locked in the bedroom.
He couldn’t explain the kiss. If he were thinking straight, he would have ushered her to the bedroom himself and locked her in. There was no reason to bother with her or to frighten her more, after all, but there was something about her, something he had never encountered before. He felt drawn to her in a way that he couldn’t explain, like the way a compass unerringly pointed out true north.
He knew that he should simply leave her alone. He also knew he wasn’t going to do that. He pulled the key to the bedroom from his pocket, and simply thought for a moment.
***
Emily never thought that she would sleep. At some point, however, she had crawled into the bed, the mattress more enticing than she would have thought possible. In the last few days, she had been lucky to get a pile of blankets on the ground. The bed was amazingly soft and ridiculously large.
She had only intended to lie down for a few minutes, perhaps to collect her thoughts. Instead, the moment her tired head hit the pillow, she fell into a deep sleep.
As Emily slept, she dreamed of a dark place, a maze where it seemed as if monsters were waiting for her around every corner. She could hear them breathing, hear them laughing, hear them talking about what they wanted to do to women like her. When she caught a glimpse of one down a dark alley, she felt strangely heartbroken to realize that he was a human, just like her.
The voices around her grew louder and closer, as if they were gaining on her. Emily broke into a run, crashing through bushes that tore at her clothes and skin. She could feel a deep panic, one that she had not allowed herself to feel for days. It reached up from her stomach through her throat, and for a few horrible moments, she thought that it would strangle her.
Just as she was convinced that the monsters would finally catch her, she ran headlong into the arms of a man in dark clothes. She couldn't see his face, but when he wrapped his arms around her, she nearly cried with relief. He was warm, and he was safe. She knew in that moment that she had never been so safe or so cared for her in her life.
She knew that she had to thank her protector, but instead, all she could do was bury her face in his chest and sob out loud. She felt him go stiff with shock for a moment, but then held her even more tightly, stroking her short blond hair, murmuring sweet words to her in a language she didn't know.
It was all right though; she didn't need to understand them to know what they meant.
You're safe, you're home, you're going to be fine…
She cried until she couldn't cry any more, and then she fell into a deeper slumber, a place where she could actually rest without disturbance.
When Emily woke up, she could see morning light coming through the barred windows. For a groggy moment, she only thought about how pretty it was, and then two things happened. First, she remembered what had happened to her. Her capture and her sale had not been horrible dreams, and she was farther from home than she had ever been.
Second, she became aware that she was not alone in the bed. A warm body pressed against her back, and a heavy arm draped over her waist.
What the hell…?
She must have made some kind of sound or whimper because the arm tightened protectively around her. When she twisted to look her bed mate in the face, he made a grumbling sound and woke up. It was the man who had bought her, and he looked at her with a sleepy approval that was entirely satisfied and entirely male.
“So you are finally awake,” he said, and a part of her was furious to hear him speaking to her as if they were actually lovers, as if they woke up in the same bed every day.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” she asked. “I locked you out…”
“Locks have keys,” he observed. “And I will point out that this is my room, one that I bought and paid for. As pleasant as it is, there is only one bed, and I certainly wasn't going to sleep on the floor.”
He sounded so sensible that she wanted nothing more in that moment than to slap him. With
a growl, she got up from the bed, but somehow in the night the sheet had tangled around her. It stopped her forward momentum abruptly, and she went toppling toward the floor with a shriek.
She would have hit it hard if the man behind her hadn't lunged forward, catching her before she could land.
My god, he's fast, she had time to think, and then he set her on her feet.
She started to thank him automatically, and then she looked down. To her shock, he was completely naked.
“Did…did you sleep with me like that?” she squeaked, and he laughed. If he wasn't laughing at her, she thought, it would be quite a nice laugh.
“I sleep naked every night,” he said with a shrug. “I saw no reason to interrupt my custom last night.”
“But I was in bed with you…” she said, her voice small and shy.
“Even less of a reason to interrupt my custom then,” he said, and there was a kindness to his words under the humor. She flashed back to her dream from the night before, suddenly remembering the warm and safe presence that had protected her. Had it been this man?
“You look a little less inclined to bite this morning,” he observed, and Emily tried to cover up her vulnerability with a shrug.
“It didn't get me anything,” she said, and he nodded.
“That is a very wise decision,” he said. “I am not a dangerous man. Not to you.”
She tilted her head to look at him wryly.
“I might believe that if you covered up…”
With a shrug, he picked up the sheet and draped it low around his hips. Emily was slightly startled to see that the drape of the rich fabric only made him more handsome. Now he looked like a Greek nude come to life, all hard muscle and handsome frame.
“This is your life for the next little while,” he said. “You can fight it and I can keep you locked in the room, or you can simply go along with it. It is your choice.”
She bit her lip, her mind whirling, but he wasn't done.
“However,” he said, his voice growing slightly darker, “I will tell you straightaway that I am far more powerful and far more terrifying than a simple slaver.”
