Maddox slowed his step as he got closer to a small pallet of blankets they’d amassed there. They used it solely for the rewards they’d been given. Each time a reward was taken into a particular cell with a male, the other males grew agitated, so they’d made a communal place to share the rewards.
Maddox lifted his reward off his shoulder and placed her on the blankets on the cement floor.
Nina stood there, cradling her elbow and watching him, fear coursing through her small body.
Maddox snarled softly at her and gestured to the blankets.
Nina jumped at his snarl and immediately dropped to her knees and turned to face away from him, her ass in the air. “Please, please, please, please,” she started whispering to herself.
Maddox knelt behind her, and leaned forward until he was covering her in preparation for taking what he’d earned when he heard her whispering. His brow creased and he leaned closer to hear her words.
“Please, please, please, please, please, please…” she constantly whispered with her eyes squeezed shut.
“Please, what?” Maddox growled, his voice so gravelly from going so long without speaking it was barely intelligible.
Nina’s eyes popped open. She’d never had one of the males speak to her before, they just took what they wanted. Her lips trembled as her fear rode her hard, but he’d asked, so maybe he’d listen to her plea. “I’m not ready. They didn’t give me the shot they always give us to prepare us. Please don’t hurt me.”
Maddox paused for a moment trying to make sense of her words. Then he ran his nose along her back and realized he didn’t scent arousal like he usually did. He scented only fear. He scooted back and gripped her thighs, lifting the lower half of her body into the air. Maddox ran a thumb across the soft skin between her legs and then leaned forward, almost shoving his nose inside her while he inspected the place he most wanted to be buried. She was dry, completely dry. There was no way he was going to fit inside her unless he made her wet first. Without further hesitation, he opened his mouth and completely covered her sex. He serviced her as though he was the reward, licking, tasting, teasing. He used his fingers to push inside being sure to lubricate her as best he could.
Nina was shocked when the big, intimidating male shoved his face between her legs from behind and starting licking her. She was by no means aroused, but at least he was trying to make sure she was wet enough to take him.
Maddox was tired of waiting, trying to prepare this female for his needs had only aroused him further. He set her back on the blankets and leaned over her, using his right hand to line himself up. She was little compared to most of the females they brought to him and his men, so he reached forward and pushed on her shoulders, letting her know he wanted her chest on the floor. It took her a second to accommodate him, but when she finally managed it he nodded to himself. That was what he wanted, her ass higher in the air, easier for him to get to.
He lined himself up and pushed. There was a little resistance, but after only a few seconds, his earlier efforts paid off when he finally slipped inside her. Maddox snarled as he moved up closer to her and held her by the hips to pull her to him as he surged forward, establishing a rhythm that he preferred — hard, fast and deep.
Nina was by no means aroused, but, this male had taken the time to be sure he didn’t hurt her. And that was something. She did her best to move where and how he indicated, but holding herself up on only one arm was hard to do.
Maddox took her over and over again, refusing to stop until he himself was panting. He leaned over her again and pressed his nose against her neck. He closed his eyes inhaling. This female was different. He liked her scent. He ran his nose slowly down her spine and back up again, then without warning, he slipped an arm around her abdomen and flipped her over.
Her breath caught when he flipped her over so suddenly, but as soon as she landed, she became very still, waiting to see what this extremely dangerous male wanted.
Maddox looked down into her face, then allowed his eyes to travel the length of her body and back. He pressed his nose to her chest between her breasts and then licked her there before taking a nipple in his mouth and sucking hard. He examined her body, took in every scar, every mark on her. Some of them at just where her neck and shoulder met, almost as though someone was marking her as theirs. He didn’t like it.
Nina watched as his face went from curious to appreciative, then to a rage.
His hand came up and his fingers rubbed across a bite one of the other males had placed on the top of her breast. His eyes turned black and before she knew it, his head dipped and his long, pointed teeth sank into her flesh.
Nina cried out at first, but then bit her tongue trying to keep from irritating him.
Maddox released the female’s breast and lifted his face away from her body to get a better look at what he’d done. A sinister smile crossed his face, before he looked up at the males still standing around them.
Tex and Conley had gone back to their cells, realizing this was more than just a reward. Santiago and Phelps still stood there, watching, wanting their turn.
“Mine,” Maddox rumbled.
Santiago took a step toward them, not caring whose she was, but he froze in place when Maddox jumped to his feet.
“Mine!” Maddox bellowed.
“Reward,” Santiago answered, his own voice snarling.
Maddox shook his head. “No. Mine,” he insisted.
Phelps needed nothing else to understand. This female had been claimed, by his alpha no less. He turned and walked away, stroking himself as he went.
Santiago wasn’t so easily convinced. He stepped forward again, causing Maddox to attack.
Maddox rushed Santiago, shoving him so far away from his female that he ended up sprawled on the floor. Maddox jumped from a standing position and landed on Santiago who’d come to a stop some ten feet from where he’d previously stood. He knelt on Santiago’s chest and abdomen, reaching out with his right hand to grip Santiago’s throat, his claws extended, pricking the skin there. “Mine,” he rumbled.
Santiago decided that no female was worth his life, and he had no doubt at that moment that his alpha would kill him if he touched this female.
Santiago raised his hands, palms out and inclined his head one time, to indicate submission.
Maddox remained over him for several moments. “Mine,” he reiterated before finally getting off of Santiago and returning to his female.
As he turned, he was momentarily taken off guard to find Tex standing between his female, who still sat on the blanket, and the other end of the cell block where he and the other males were. Tex stood there, his back to the female and his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Maddox force Santiago to accept that the female wasn’t for sharing.
Maddox stared at Tex, who met his eyes without hesitance.
Tex nodded and stepped aside, allowing Maddox unfettered access to the female.
Maddox realized Tex had been protecting his female for him while he was otherwise occupied. He nodded at Tex and Tex went back into his own cell.
Maddox approached his female and reached out a hand for her. She slipped her hand into his and allowed him to pull her up from the floor. Maddox leaned over, sweeping her up into his left arm, and ignored every other single living thing in the cell block as he carried her back to his cell. He laid her on his bunk. Hard and cold though it was, he’d collected several blankets and a pillow that he readily shared with her. He forced her to her left side, then he lay down behind her and pulled the covers over both of them.
She dared to look over her shoulder at him and he looked directly into her eyes. “Mine,” he said simply.
Nina did her best to lie still, but her elbow hurt so badly it was almost impossible to do.
Maddox realized there was a problem and sat up, looking down at her. When she glanced at him, he lifted his chin in the direction of her arm. Slowly, she lifted her arm enough to show him the bandages. Surely he’d seen th
em…
Maddox reached out and tried to touch his female’s arm, but she moved it away from him. He snarled softly at her and reached for it again. This time she held still, but she clearly didn’t like it. He ran his fingers over the bandages and seemingly satisfied with the way it was wrapped, moved further up her arm to her elbow.
She whimpered as he got closer to the joint, and he looked more closely at it. There was an unnatural indention just above where the elbow should have been. That indention and the fact that the elbow wasn’t pointed as it should be, told him it was dislocated.
“Up,” he ordered.
Nina’s eyes moved to his and he repeated himself a little more sternly. “Up!”
Quickly Nina sat up, scooting her ass closer to his pillow to allow her to sit like he wanted, and still allow him to hold her arm since he didn’t appear to want to let it go.
He looked into her eyes and leaned toward her as his left hand wandered up her arm toward her bicep, and his right hand gripped her forearm just below her elbow. He leaned toward her and licked her lip, then nipped it between sharp pointed teeth, causing her to catch her breath. The moment she reacted with surprise at him nipping her lip, he jerked her lower arm at the same time he slid his left arm down to the joint feeling for it to slip back into place. It only took a split second and he felt everything align.
Nina screamed in pain, sobbing with tears beginning to form. Then suddenly, there was no more pain, no more screaming. Slowly she bent her arm, bringing her hand nearer her chest, then extended it again. She smiled at Maddox through the tears that spilled down her cheeks. Then she nodded.
Maddox gave her a single nod, then lay back down.
Nina lay back beside him, and he turned on his side to curl around her protectively. Maddox sensed someone standing near, watching him. He snarled. If it was Santiago, he was going to kick his ass. He lifted his head and met Tex’s eyes. Tex was standing just outside Maddox’s cell, alerted by the female’s scream, watching to be sure she wasn’t hurt.
Tex watched silently for a moment, then quietly made his way back to his own cell.
Chapter 7
Maddox rose quietly from his bunk and stepped silently to the barred door of his cell. He pulled it closed until the lock clicked into place, then crossed his arms waiting for the guards to come. He’d heard the rattle of the chains as they began to unlock the doors.
He heard movement behind himself and glanced over toward his bunk. His female was sitting up watching him. “Stay there,” he rumbled at her.
Nina didn’t answer, but neither did she move.
The guards walked into the cell block and realized something wasn’t right. Why was Maddox locked in his cell? Then they noticed the female locked in his cell with him. “Ohhh, that’s wrong, you wouldn’t share with your boys? And here I thought you were the fair one, making sure everybody had the same everything,” one of the guards said, chuckling. He looked over at the rest of the males in the cell block. “He didn’t even give you a taste! And you let him get away with that?”
All the males stood slightly outside their own cells, waiting to see what would happen next.
“That’s a damn shame,” the guard said, chuckling again as he moved toward the cell to unlock it. As soon as he unlocked it and tried to pull it open, Maddox grabbed the bars and slammed it shut again, causing the lock to engage.
“The fuck!” the guard yelled. “I gotta take that female back to her cell. Ya’ll got to report to training. The fuck is wrong with you?” he asked.
Maddox didn’t reply, just stood inside his cell with his hands wrapped around the bars, keeping the door closed.
“You gotta come out of there sometime. What you gonna do? Both of you going to starve in there? Then we just haul your rotting bodies out back and dump you in the hole in the ground out there. Is that what you want? Fine, stay here.”
The mouthy guard turned and started to walk away, the other falling into step behind him. “Let’s tell Doc this squad ain’t coming today. Their leader decided to starve to death in his cell.”
Maddox glanced over to the other cells he could see. None of his males were in their cells. They were standing together in a group, watching him. Their food depended on their performance as a group. Their rewards — the blankets, pillows, and even the soap they bathed with came as part of a reward system. And they earned every single thing they had. He glanced over his shoulder at his female. Fuck! He couldn’t let his males down, but he didn’t want to give up his female either.
“Mine!” he shouted.
The guard, who was almost at the doors turned around and faced him. “What?” he asked, though there was no doubt they’d heard him.
“She’s mine,” he snarled.
“That woman. You saying that one’s yours?” the guard asked.
“Only mine,” Maddox growled.
“Fine. We take her back to her cell, you go do what you’re supposed to, and we’ll bring her back tonight,” the guard said.
Maddox shook his head. “Stays here.”
“Here? Without supervision all day long? Not likely.”
“Doc,” Maddox said.
“The doctor is not coming down here.”
Maddox realized he had no bargaining power. If he kept his female and refused to back down, it would result in his males paying the price for his actions. And if he allowed the guards to take his female back to her cell, he’d be taking a chance that may or may not bring her back to him tonight.
He rattled the cell door.
“Oh, now you’re willing to give her up?” the guard said.
He looked over his shoulder, gesturing with his fingers for Nina to come to him. She put her feet on the floor and did as he asked.
Maddox looked down at her, standing at his side. “You're mine.”
She didn’t reply, just looked up at him. She didn’t see any way that she could guarantee him that she was his, and besides, this was a dangerous male. He was by far the most intimidating of all she’d been given to since her arrival. But he had kept her only to himself all night.
The guard unlocked his cell one more time and pulled the door open. He stepped back and waited impatiently for Maddox to send the female out. But instead of Nina, Maddox walked out of the cell. He stepped right up to the guard and towered over him.
The guard’s face twitched with nervousness, but still he feigned bravado.
“This female is mine. I will kill any who touch her,” Maddox threatened, his chest rumbling, claws sprouting from his fingertips.
“You better think again about who you’re threatening. I will not hesitate to take you down and remind you exactly who you are and who you aren’t,” the guard said, stepping away from Maddox to stand closer to his partner.
“I’m not threatening,” Maddox said, his hazel eyes bleeding to the black of the beast he’d become. “I’m promising.” He stared the guard down long enough to make him start fidgeting, then he barked his orders to his female. “Female! Come!” he said, pointing at the spot beside him on the floor.
Nina stood her ground and simply watched him.
Maddox stood glaring at the guard, waiting for his female to answer his call. When he realized that she hadn’t come to stand beside him, he whipped his head around and turned his glare on her.
Nina met his eyes and though her belly flipped with fear, she didn’t show it. She raised her chin and stayed where she was.
Maddox fought the urge to grin at her. Strong, brave, little thing. He pointed at the floor beside him. “Here,” he said, with a little less bark than he’d originally used.
Nina moved toward him, never taking her eyes from his. She came to a stop beside him and looked up at him.
Maddox turned and faced the guards again. “When we complete all our requirements, you will deliver two females tonight. Mine,” he said, “and another for my males.”
“I don’t know who you think…” the guard started, but his partner shoved him and took
over the negotiations.
“I can deliver your message. We don’t make the rules. We take orders just like you do. But I can promise you that I, personally, will not touch your female. I’ll tell everybody that will listen that you want her exclusively,” the guard said.
Maddox watched the guard who’d just spoken to him, then he turned to Nina. “Go with him.”
Nina walked toward the guards that had come to escort her back to her cell. They turned to walk her out of the cell block, and the first guard that Maddox had threatened reached out with intentions to push her.
The second guard blocked his attempt. “Are you out of your fucking mind?” he hissed at his partner. “You want to have your guts spilled on the floor here, don’t you? Don’t touch her!”
“Don’t ever fucking touch me,” the first guard snapped.
Maddox’s rumbling growl followed them both from the cell block as he watched helplessly as his female was led away from him by males he knew deserved to die.
He turned, went back into his cell, picking up his blanket and folding it into a tiny ball, then he removed the cinder block at the base of the wall and shoved the blanket inside before replacing the cinder block. No way in hell was he allowing them to take the blanket that smelled like his female.
He walked past his males to the back of the cell block and splashed cold water on his face and body, then returned to his cell and pulled on his standard pale-green scrubs, slipped his feet into his flip flops and stood there, at attention, waiting for their escort to the training rooms.
Over the next several minutes Conley came to stand beside him, then Tex, Phelps, and eventually Santiago. They all adopted the same stance and moved not a muscle until their escort came.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Nina was only away from the male that had decided she was his for a matter of minutes before she was slammed against a wall.
“Think you’ll get special treatment because one of these fucking animals decided you’re important to him? Think again, bitch. I’ll deliver you to whichever squad I choose, any time I choose. And if I decide to fuck you myself, I’ll do that, too,” the guard sneered in her face.
Beginnings Page 6
