The Breaking (The Curse of the Regina Book 1)
Page 13
“Let’s do this quick then. I don’t know where I am. The man holding me told me to call him Cam. I don’t even know what they want.” I try to think of anything helpful I can tell Zander but in reality, I know nothing about where I am.
“What does Cam look like?” Zander is all business as I quickly describe Cam.
“Tall, should length black dreads, chocolate skin. Handsome. Probably Nephilim. Has a serious God-complex.” I’m sure none of what I can describe will help Zander at all, but I give him what I know.
“Where are you?” Zander’s question is an exasperated huff and it’s almost more like he is asking himself than me.
“I really don’t know. Today is the first time I saw a window at all, but I couldn’t get close enough to see any landmarks. I’ve been kept in a jail cell like room in the basement of what seems to be a giant house. I’m sorry I don’t know more.” I can still feel Zander and his heart races as I’m speaking. “Zander, why can I do this?” I motion towards my own body for clarification.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen anyone be able to do this consciously before. Sometimes, when a mate passes, they can send an impression of themselves to their mates. It’s rare and I’ve only ever seen it sent in final moments, but it looks sort of like this.” Zander begins to walk around me in a circle as he inspects my projection. “Has anything else changed?”
“I can feel you. Your heart beat. Your pain.” Admitting this causes a rush of embarrassment to course through me. My cheeks warm and I look at my feet.
Zander lifts my chin up with his hand and runs his thumb over my cheekbone. When I look into his face, I don’t see embarrassment from him. I see joy. I can feel his heart rate calm.
“What does it mean?” I ask.
“I think it means that you are beginning to accept me as your mate. You won’t begin to develop pair abilities until you accept the pairing. You are developing the abilities; the only logical conclusion is that you have accepted me as your mate.” He brings his other hand up and cups my cheek. “I’m so sorry about what I said, Emily. It was completely out of line.”
It is impossible to deny his earnestness when I can feel see sorry he really is. His guilt is eating away at him like a rabid animal after a long period of starvation.
“It’s okay, Zander. I’m not mad at you anymore. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” I raise my hand to touch his arm and my own hand catches my attention. It has almost completely disappeared. “Zander listen. Be on guard. He has a plan for you. I don’t know what it is, but you need to be careful. Caiden too.” A not so gentle tug pulls behind my navel. The string that I followed here is pulling back. I speak in a rush to get out my thoughts before I return to my body, but Zander is shaking his head.
“Don’t you dare worry about me. I’m fine. I will find you. Don’t ever doubt that. And Emily, you need to know…”
My ears fill suddenly with cotton and my being floats on a vast ocean of emptiness. Zander himself sounds like a badly tuned radio. Loud one minute and quiet the next. By the end of his sentence I can’t hear him anymore at all.
His lips continue to move while my soul undulates in the invisible current and he adamantly tries to tell me whatever it is that I needed to know. Without the ability to hear him I just watch his lips move, mesmerized by their perfect curve and the plumpness to his bottom lip. Slowly at first, and then with a building intensity, the room spins around me until my consciousness fades into an empty void.
Chapter 13
Don’t Displease the Idiotic Sack of Shit
I feel my consciousness return to my body and it takes a moment to reorient myself. The water hitting me is from the running shower and not the waves I floated away on. After several seconds I feel stable enough to open my eyes when a whirling sense of nausea takes hold and squeezes at my intestines until I empty them into the shower. The relief I felt in Zander’s presence lingers even after I have returned to my body and I feel my lips curl upward for the first time since I arrived here.
Stepping out of the shower I grab a towel and wrap it around my shoulders. Showering is the most normal thing I have done since I got here but something doesn’t feel the same. I have a lightness in my gut that I can’t explain. Even after throwing up into the shower and despite my circumstance I feel happy. There is a lightening in my soul that forces my lips into a smile, which seems so screwed up, considering my current situation.
Walking to the sink I see myself clearly for the first time. My lip is busted and has a small yellowing bruise around the cut. My eyes have dark bruises under them that could almost pass for bags, but not quite. I have cuts and bruises peppering my arms and legs and a large dark bruise stretched over my ribs. All in all, it doesn’t look as bad as it feels, and I make a mental note to find a long sleeve shirt and pants to cover as many bruises as possible.
Wrapping the towel around myself again I step out into the bedroom and pray that I will be able to find some clean clothes to put on.
The plainness of the bedroom greets me on the other side of the door, everything is the same as it was before, except for one thing. Somebody laid out a clean set of clothes for me to wear. Normally, the gesture would seem sweet and thoughtful but in current company it seems manipulative and controlling. Glaring at the clothes I tug on the door handle that I hope belongs to a closet, only to find it unmoving. Wherever this door goes, I’m not supposed to be.
My forehead rests against the wooden door as I fill my lungs deeply with air. Clothes. He picked my clothes out. Turning to glare at the clothes I lean heavily against the door and allow it to lend me its strength. I can do this.
This is just like Cam. He would be the type to pick out the clothes he wanted you to wear. I hold up the dress and don’t even try to contain my cringe. To call this a “dress” would be grossly overstating it. This is glorified lingerie. It’s made of smooth, black silk and I’ll be lucky if it covers my butt cheeks. Cam has also been generous enough to lay out a pair of four-inch black stilettos and a black lace thong.
The only marks this dress will cover are the bruises on my ribs. Too much of what has happened has been overt manipulation for me to disregard this as an overlook on Cam’s part. He wants my wounds on display for some reason. As the silk slides down around my hips I wrap my arms around my middle, but it doesn’t help. A debilitating feeling of vulnerability grips my chest and squeezes like a fist. This dress will not protect my body at all.
The sound of knuckles rapping on the door draws my attention back to the door Cam brought me through. The metal on metal sound of a key sliding into the knob surprises me. Apparently, Cam had locked me into this bedroom, and I hadn’t even bothered checking. The door swings open and my breath hitches involuntarily at the hulking figure that is Cam. It opens before I have a chance to say anything and Cam walks in. His figure takes up the majority of the door frame and instantly my arms cross over my chest for protection.
His eyes roam my body appreciatively, lingering on the bruises on my arms. Slowly, one step at a time he walks towards me until he is right in front of me.
“I see the clothes fit. I’m glad.” He raises his hand and trails his fingers up my arm leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake.
“They did. I would have been more comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt though.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I know it was the wrong thing to say.
“You will be ‘more comfortable’ in whatever I tell you to wear.” His face hardens in anger as he continues, “Do you not appreciate my gifts? Would you have preferred to dine naked?”
“I’m sorry, Cam. Of course, I appreciate them. It’s just that I would have liked to cover my bruises. That’s all.” I try to make my voice as soothing as I can manage as I try to calm down the psychopath.
“Your bruises are to stay on display until I say otherwise.” His voice has calmed down some but there is still an undertone to his words. Something in his mannerisms tells me that I will be paying for this.
He takes my hand and leads me back out of the room. We retrace our earlier steps and head back to the first floor where he leads me to a large dining room. The table is large enough to fit 20 people but only 2 places are set. The head of the table and a spot on its right-hand side. Cam pulls back a chair for me and I sit as he walks to the head of the table.
As soon as we sit down a woman dressed head to toe in black brings in our plates and sets them in front of us. The food looks amazing and smells heavenly, but I wait for some cue from Cam before I pick up my silverware and start eating.
He makes small talk with the woman and still I wait. When she returns through the door she entered, Cam picks up his fork and I follow suit.
“So, Emily. How do you like your stay so far?” I’m so startled by his question that I can’t even decide if he is so delusional as to be serious or if he has a twisted sense of humor.
“Umm, well it has been interesting.” I’m afraid to be remotely honest and anger him but I can’t stomach the lie it would take to convince him it has been fine.
“I recognize that it may take a while for you to adjust to being here. You have been allowed to run amuck for most of your life. It will be a change to find that you have discipline in your life now.” Cam picks up his wine glass and takes a swig as he speaks. I choke on my mashed potatoes.
I had a foster father once who told me very nearly the same things. He believed you need to behave a certain way and would punish you if you didn’t. He ended up breaking my cheek over a bad test before I was removed from his house.
“I suppose it will be quite an adjustment.” I respond as non-committal as possible. Fortunately, it is not in my plans to be here long enough to adjust. I don’t mention that to Cam though.
I try to eat as quickly as I can manage, hoping that when I’m finished, he will leave me alone. But Cam keeps up a constant stream of babble through the entire meal, from Cam’s favorite places to travel (Paris and Greece) to the length of time the cook has worked here (all of her life) and the family who owned the house before him (the Applebottom’s or something). His rambling goes on without pause, thankfully not requiring me to contribute to the conversation.
My stomach fills with cotton candy and a euphoric haze fills my head. It’s so strange having emotions surge through my body that are unconnected from what I am doing, but this time I easily recognize them as foreign. It must be Zander, but oddly, something feels different.
All of the sudden I have a weird impression of something on the edge of my mind. Its like a memory that flashes to the forefront of my mind just to flit away again. It’s an image of the man sitting in front of me, but he looks much younger, and with it comes a thought, “Camden Stonebrook.” It’s almost like it is a name that I have always known and something just reminded me of it, even though I am sure I have never heard it before.
I glance at Cam startled and see that he is watching me closely. Camden Stonebrook. That must be Cam’s full name. The realization dawns that Zander must know who I am with. Zander is going to find me!
Cam must see the change in my facial expressions because he smiles politely and asks, “What are you so happy about?”
Too late I try to school my features do my best to play it off, “I’m just really glad that you found me. You know, to discipline me and all.” I’m so relieved by my communication with Zander that I can even manage to say this without any obvious sarcasm.
Cam smiles widely back at me. “I’m glad to hear that you see the value in my work. Too often people choose to live in an uncivilized manner because they are too lazy to accept the discipline and make the necessary changes.”
I nod emphatically as Cam is speaking. “I’m willing to make the changes, Cam. I don’t want to be uncivilized.”
This time Cam smiles at me with obvious pride. We make small talk until we have both finished our dinner. As we stand to leave the room Cam calls softly for a man named Tyler. I don’t think anything about it until a large burly man rounds the corner. It is one of the men who worked me over in the white room my first day here.
My stomach clenches when he walks into the room and Cam motions towards him. “Tyler here will take you to the training room. When you are finished with your training for tonight you will be returned to your room in the basement.”
I stare at Cam blankly not comprehending the obvious. “Training?” I wonder for one blissfully ignorant moment if he will start training me like Jacob had been doing before.
Cam nods and reaches for my hand which he brings to his lips. “Yes, training. You have displeased me tonight. Tyler will perform the training and we shall see if tomorrow night you can manage to do better.”
I look at Tyler apprehensively and then back to Cam. “Displeased you? How?” I hate playing up to Cam’s expectations but I’m desperate not to go back to the white room with Tyler.
“First, you questioned my motives for taking you out of your room. You belong to me. Whatever I wish to do to you, I will. You may not ever question me about that. Secondly, you were ungrateful for the clothes I gifted you. You will be glad for what I give you, always. Thirdly, and most seriously, I have reason to believe you were communicating with your past mate. You belong to me. You will not speak to him in any form without my consent.” Through parts of Cam’s rant, he seemed genuinely angry, but he softens as he says, “This is for the best Emily. You need to go through this training so that you can be a suitable mate for me. This is the only way for us.” He brings his hand up to brush along my cheek bone again and then he lightly plants a kiss on my cheek. “I will see you tomorrow, sweetheart. Sleep well.” And with that he turns and leaves me in the room with Tyler.
Tyler smiles menacingly at me and motions towards the opposite door than Cam left through. I assume that door will lead me back to the basement and into the “training room” but I have no intentions of going back there. I turn in the direction Tyler motioned but when he turns to follow me, I take off sprinting towards the front door.
Tyler catches me in less than three steps. I suppose he must be mated because when he moves it looks like I am standing still. He tosses me over his shoulder and carries me back through the maze to the training room. A very short, skinny man stands guard outside the room and when Tyler opens the door the man follows us in and shuts the door behind him.
“Mmm. I like the outfit. Whose choice was that?” The skinny man asks Tyler as he sets me down on a reclining, metal chair in the middle of the room. It reminds me of the type of chair in dentist offices. Despite my struggles, Tyler starts strapping down my extremities and securing them in place.
“Cam decides what she wears. We are not to touch her. You know that.” Tyler gives the man a pointed look and he has the decency to look ashamed.
“I wasna gonna touch her. I just wanna look.” The man moves his eyes over my body, and I resist the urge to cringe. I refuse to show them weakness.
“So how long is this going to take? I really need to catch up on my sleep.” I ask Tyler schooling my voice to sound bored.
Tyler grins in response and answers, “However long it takes. You heard Cam. You displeased him. We’ll be here until you learn not to do that.”
When he has me satisfactorily secured, he walks over to a large tool chest like cabinet in the corner and starts rifling through it.
“Couldn’t we expedite this process then? I promise I won’t displease Cam anymore. See, I’ve learned my lesson.” I try to smile sincerely at Tyler and hope that he gives in that easy.
“Jesus. It’s freakin’ sexy when she begs. How come Ca
m ain’t down here watchin’?” I glare at the skinny man as he speaks then Tyler and I speak at the same time,
I say, “What’s your name exactly?”
As Tyler says, “You know the plan. He can’t be here. But he sees enough.”
Glancing back and forth between skinny man and Tyler I try to figure out what plan it is that they both know about and the skinny man responds, “My name is Timmy, sweetie. But you best not le’ Cam think you’re in’erested.” He adds a wink for good measure and this time I do cringe.
“Uhh, Tyler. Any chance we can do this alone?” I ask eyeing Timmy out of the corner of my eye.
Tyler smiles widely as he turns back to his searching. “No can do. Always have to have two of us in the room. Cam’s orders.” He stands up and turns back to face me, revealing what he had been looking for. In his hand he holds a long intimidating looking knife.
I know from our last encounter in the room that Tyler likes using tools for intimidation. He can do a significant amount of damage with his bare hands, but where is the fun in that, I guess.
He starts with the same spiel he gave me last time. “Cam is your safety. You owe Cam your allegiance, your loyalty. He owns you and you belong to him.” He walks around as he recites this odd mantra and examines my body for the best place to start.
He decides on the crease of my elbow as he slowly digs the knife point in. “You displeased Cam and there are consequences for displeasing Cam. He is your only protection.”
Like last time, Tyler starts slow. Small, but deep cuts pepper my arms when he moves back to the drawers. The cuts sting and the knife was intimidating but I know how much worse this is about to become so I don’t waste much time worrying about the pain.
“Cam is willing to protect you and ensure nothing ever hurts you again. You only have to submit to his will. You belong to him. He owns you. There is nothing to be gained by fighting.”
I keep my mouth shut because I learned last time that responding only makes it worse but as he pulls out a long thin metal tube that looks a little like a curling wand I pull against my restraints. I can’t help it.