The female took a bite of her sandwich and moaned loudly around her food. The sound went, annoyingly, straight to his dick. Whoever had decided that sex would be healing to a dragon, had a terrible sense of humor. He had at least progressed to a point where he could turn onto his one side for short amounts of time and lift himself up into a semi-reclined position. His limbs felt less heavy and the worst of the pain had also mostly subsided. For the most part, he stayed still so as to preserve his strength and because he didn’t want to run the risk of anyone seeing him.
They'd served tasteless oatmeal and a box of juice for breakfast. Paige had given him two-thirds of the bowl of the tasteless goop. They were sharing the sandwich. It was pastrami this time. Although he tried to savor the damned thing, it was gone in just two bites.
Paige still had most of hers. She handed him the potato chips and mouthed. “You eat them.”
Flood shook his head. They had no idea when their next meal was coming. Quite frankly, he was shocked at the decent treatment. It wasn’t going to last. It couldn’t. It was on that thought he heard them approach.
“What?” she mouthed.
He pointedly looked into the hallway and frowned deeply.
Paige nodded once in understanding. Then she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, before finishing off her sandwich in two big bites. Her mouth was overfull, so she covered it with her hand. Again, he admired her strength. Despite being anxious ‒ he could scent the emotion on her ‒ she still did what was needed to survive. Food was item number two on the list, after water, which they had plenty of. So needless to say, getting that sandwich down was important.
She pushed the soda and the bag of chips under the mattress on the far side, next to his head. They locked eyes for a second and Flood nodded once. It was his way of wishing her luck for what was about to come.
Paige moved to the front of the cell, her shoulders back. Resolute and ready. His respect for her grew. Not once had she asked him to change his mind. She hadn’t pushed him for more answers. The female hadn’t even reacted as badly as he thought she would when he had blurted all that about sucking his cock and riding him. He was such an asshole for blurting that the way he had!
He forced himself to shut his eyes, to lie still. Everything in him wanted him to stand. To put himself in front of her. To help her like she had him, but he couldn’t. Wouldn’t! The sad fact was that she was on her own. There was nothing more he could do to help her. There was no faking not breathing. No intervening. No doing anything other than faking being out of it. He had no other choice. It wasn’t how he would normally handle something like this but what could he do?
Nothing.
A word he detested since he was a doer. Since he was someone who always got the job done. Come hell or high water. He got it done, dammit! Right now, he had zero choice in the matter. It didn’t matter how much he wished for it to be different.
There were three of the fuckers. He heard one of them unclip a holster, he drew the gun. There was a click as he disengaged the safety. No mistakes this time.
There was another clicking noise and the sound of a blade being drawn. Perhaps they suspected he wasn’t on death’s door anymore. Had they seen something? Heard them talking? Surely not.
The female swallowed thickly. “No need for the weapons.” She moved back a step. “Where are the others?” Paige asked, sounding nervous. “Where’s John…Mike, where’s he?”
“Those pansies aren’t here right now. Gus here is in charge, aren’t you, Gus?” It was that little cocksucker, Tim, who was speaking. Flood had a bad feeling about this. This male was bad news. The scent of testosterone was sickening.
“I–I don’t know about this, Tim,” Gus stuttered. “I think we should leave her be. The boss will be here in two hours. We were told to wait.”
“We’ll get a bonus when she tells us everything. You will tell us everything, won’t you sweetheart?”
There was a slapping noise. “I’m not your sweetheart,” Paige spoke through clenched teeth. Her voice held venom.
“That’s the last time you hit me, bitch. We clear?”
“I slapped your hand away because I didn’t want you touching me. It can hardly be called a hit. Who’s the pansy now?”
There was a harsh slapping noise and Paige gasped. The fucker had slapped her. Flood’s heartrate kicked up a notch and adrenaline pumped. It was becoming increasingly difficult to stay still. To keep faking it.
“You watch your mouth, little girl. Do everything I say and you’ll come out of this alive,” the prick said. “I’m going to ask you a couple of questions and unlike the others, you had better start talking.”
“I don’t know anything more than they do. You’re delusional if you think I do. You can tie me to a chair and beat me all you want,” her voice was high-pitched, “I don’t know anything more. I just don’t! None of us do.”
“The shifter does!” Gus said. Flood could hear that the male had turned towards where he was lying. Flood willed his lungs to stay rhythmic. Willed his muscles to stay completely relaxed. It wasn’t easy. “We just have to wait until—”
“So do the women,” Tim spat. “I’m telling you, they know more than they’re letting on. I’m going to get it out of her. We all are. We stick to the plan, as discussed.”
“It doesn’t seem—” Gus started.
“We’ll strip her naked and she’ll sing like a bird,” Tim said. Flood could scent arousal. It was coming off of more than one male. “You want to see this bitch naked, don’t you Elliot?”
Fuckers!
“Yeah, I sure do,” the male chuckled, sounding nervous. “I must say though, I prefer the tight-assed younger one.” He groaned. “But I guess she’ll do. She has a decent pair of tits on her.”
“Don’t you dare touch Kelly!” Paige sounded like she was trying to hold it together. “I don’t know anything more. None of us do. I swear to you.”
“You weren’t even there when we interrogated the other women, so how do you know that?” Tim asked.
“We talked.” She spoke quickly. “I don’t know where the lairs are. I don’t know where,” she hesitated, “the mines are.” She frowned. “I don’t even know what that means or why you want to know.” Her voice shook. “Please don’t do this.”
Tim choked out a laugh. “That’s good news then, boys. Means we get to have us some fun. This sweet thing is going to tell us everything soon enough. I get first crack at her.”
Paige swallowed thickly. The scent of her fear was strong.
“Why do you get to have her first?” Elliot whined, all sign of nerves gone.
“Um…this is rape,” Gus mumbled. “I’m not sure about this.”
Paige whimpered. Fuck! Flood was reading this right. He could scent it! Hadn’t wanted to believe it, and yet, there it was.
“No!” Paige sobbed. She took another step back. “Please, I’m begging you. I don’t know anything more. If I did I would tell you. I swear!”
“You don’t have to fuck her, Gus,” Tim said. “Elliot and I got that part covered.”
“Damn straight!” Elliot chimed in, sounding excited now. “I’d rather have the young one but pussy is pussy, right, Tim?”
“Damn straight,” the prick announced, which made Paige whimper again. The sound so soft it would be barely audible to the human ear. She was still trying to hold it together.
Rage clawed at Flood.
“We’ll fuck the answers out of her. You’ll talk then, won’t you, sweetheart?”
“No!” Paige half-yelled and half-sobbed. “I don’t know anything. Don’t you dare touch me.”
“I mean, I want to,” Gus groaned. “She’s hot but…but…shit!”
“Please don’t do this,” Paige begged some more. Probably speaking to Gus. The male was just as aroused as the others and would most likely be of no help to her. Flood felt his blood boil.
That fucking prick, Tim, slapped her again, harder this time. Hard enough to make
Paige was crying. He could hear it by the way her breathing had changed.
“We each take a turn. We won’t leave any marks. No-one needs to know. Even the other bitches will think we’re taking her to interrogate her. It’ll stay between us.”
“I don’t want any trouble,” Gus said.
Paige cried out. It sounded like that fucker, Tim, was hurting her somehow. “No trouble. If she tells anyone anything about this, I’ll kill her. We don’t need her.”
Paige was crying openly now. The bastard was definitely hurting her somehow. Flood couldn’t help it when his hands curled into fists. When his breathing increased a whole hell of a damn lot. He could taste the adrenaline in his saliva. Could scent it seeping from his pores. How could he sit by and allow this to happen?
Fuck!
He had to ignore this! He had to stay strong. The lives of his people depended on it. Besides, he was still too damned weak to be of much use.
“We’re going to show you how it’s done,” the prick said. “By the time we’re done with you, you’re going to beg us for more. Trust me though, when I say I’ll kill you if you say so much as a word. I mean it! You won’t say anything about this, will you, bitch? Will you?” His voice hardened up.
Paige cried out, louder this time. Her voice laced with pain. The prick was hurting her. Trying to force her to agree and then they were going to do what they pleased to her. These males had no honor.
Fuck that! Flood saw red. He was on his feet in an instant. His hand closed on the throat of the male closest to him. There was a yell, which quickly turned into a crunching noise. The male fell to the floor, his body jerking. His windpipe was crushed and his carotid artery was probably destroyed as well. Flood took it upon himself to study anatomy. The quickest ways to kill. It was a toss-up as to whether he would die from lack of oxygen or blood loss first. Flood didn’t care. His only hope was that it wouldn’t be too quick. The male needed to suffer some.
Both of the remaining males were yelling. Their eyes wide. Tim had Paige by the hair. She had both her hands around his, trying to alleviate the pressure to her scalp. Gus tried to stick him with the knife, but he grabbed his arm, hearing bones crunch beneath his grip. The male screamed, dropping to his knees. His gaze was zoned in on Paige though. So much so, that he almost forgot that Tim was holding a gun. Almost. The prick fired, Flood managed to dodge but not quite getting out of the way of the bullet, which went through his side. He felt the bullet enter and exit. Felt his hip bone shatter. Flood fell to the floor. Thankful when Tim let Paige go.
Tim began to level the gun at him. Flood felt all the strength leave him. The short burst of energy he had felt momentarily was gone.
Instead of running, the idiot female threw herself at Tim, knocking him onto the floor. The shot fired wide. The gun went flying. It took everything in him to claw himself back to his hands and knees just as Tim pushed Paige off of him.
“What the hell is going on here?” It was a woman who spoke. Not Paige. At least he didn’t think it had been Paige. Flood felt the last of his reserves drain. He collapsed in a heap.
Chapter 10
Oh, thank god!
Paige could hardly catch her breath. Her heart raced like mad.
She watched as the unknown woman in the business suit reached down and picked up the weapon, holding it like it was something that belonged in the garbage. Her hands were manicured. Her dark hair styled to perfection. Her blouse looked silk. The real kind. The long strand of pearls around her neck looked pretty authentic as well. She wore black stockings and high, stiletto heels. She looked completely out of place.
Paige pushed out a breath. For a second there she had been sure she was a goner. That both of them were. Flood! Dear god! He had been shot again.
She scrambled over to the fallen shifter. The back of his cotton pants were wet with blood and a pool was beginning to form below him. “Get the first aid kit!” she yelled, taking off her sweatshirt so that she could use it to staunch the flow of blood. “We need to get him into the recovery position. Dammit!” She said, feeling helpless. He might not survive this time. Her eyes stung with the realization. He had stood up for her in the end. He’d warned her he wouldn’t. Paige hadn’t expected him to and yet, here he was, fighting for his life again because of her.
She glanced at the guy on the floor. His eyes were fixed and glassy. She couldn’t muster a single smidgen of guilt that he was dead. The other guy, Gus, was cradling his arm and moaning softly. His face was pinched with pain.
“Answer me,” the woman said in a commanding tone. “What the hell happened here?”
“They wanted to rape me,” Paige blurted, looking the woman head-on. Screw Tim! He could go to hell if he expected her to keep quiet about this.
The woman’s eyes widened and her jaw tightened as she moved her eyes to where Tim was now standing.
“That’s bullshit, boss. I swear,” Tim growled, narrowing his eyes at Paige. “We were trying to take her to interrogate her. That’s all. She must have gotten the wrong idea.”
“That’s not true. They made it very clear what they planned on doing to me,” Paige countered. “How they were going to strip me and take turns.”
“Interrogating you,” Tim threw back. “Stripping a subject is not an unusual thing to do.”
“Bull! You said it was your duty to show me what a real man could do.”
The woman looked like she was mulling it over. “You were given strict instructions to wait,” she said, using a no-nonsense voice as she addressed Tim. She put her hands on her hips. “Why didn’t you do as you were told?”
“We were sure we could break her,” Tim replied, giving Boss Lady a tight smile. “All of that stuff I said was to scare her into talking. I know what I’m doing.”
“If rape can be considered breaking then yes, that’s what they planned.” Paige pushed her sweatshirt harder against both the exit and entry wounds using both hands. He was still bleeding badly.
“That’s complete crap!” Tim yelled. “Say something, Gus.”
“I need to go to the hospital,” he pushed out. “The bone is sticking out.” He sounded like he was on the verge of panic.
“This is a colossal mess,” Boss Lady said, not looking too impressed. “I made it clear that none of the women were to be touched sexually. That’s not the type of set-up I run.”
“I didn’t—”
“Save it!” She pointed a manicured finger at Tim, Paige noticed she had a tattoo on her hand. It was black and not very big. It seemed out of place on her otherwise perfectly coifed exterior. “You had better pray the dragon makes it because if he doesn’t you’ll regret it.”
“This bitc— woman is a…she’s something medical, a vet or something. She kept him alive before, I’m sure she can do it again.”
“You had better hope so. Gus, I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait to go to the hospital until the next shift arrives. With him,” she pointed to the body, “dead, and you injured, we’re officially short-staffed.”
“What do you need?” the woman asked Paige.
“He needs a hospital.” She pointed at Flood, thinking she’d try her luck.
The boss lady shook her head, looking amused. “Not going to happen. Try again.”
Shit! “I need that first aid kit for a start. Any other medical supplies you might have. Things like oxygen, IV fluids—”
The lady put her hand up. “This isn’t a medical facility, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“A blanket or two would be nice and regular meals would be fantastic too. He might have bouts of consciousness…if we’re lucky. He was extremely weak, barely even conscious before and now he’s been shot again.” She gave Tim a dirty look, wishing she could turn the gun on him. “I don’t know, chicken soup. Maybe fluids with electrolytes. I need to try to get some sustenance into him.” Paige stopped there. She didn’t want to push it.
“They don’t have blankets?” Boss Lady lifted her brows, turning to Tim. “And what’s this about regular meals? What’s been happening in my absence?”
He shuffled under her scrutiny. “We needed them to talk. Denying a couple of basic needs is a good way to make that happen. You hired us, you need to trust us.”
She ignored that statement. “Where are John and Mike? One of them was supposed to be here at all times.”
“It was John’s off shift and Mike had a family emergency. We had it covered.” Tim muttered weakly, looking at the floor as he spoke.
“I can see that.” The woman shook her head, looking disappointed. “Get whatever… What’s your name?”
“Paige.”
“Get one of the others to bring whatever Paige needs. If I catch you so much as looking at these women in the wrong way again, you’re off this team. Do I make myself clear?”
Tim’s eyes hardened but he nodded once. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. I’ll be in my office. Get rid of the body.” She turned back to Paige. “You can patch him up after you’ve seen to the shifter.” She pointed at Gus.
“No!” Paige spat. She pulled in a deep breath. “He was going to rape me. I’m not touching him.”
“N-no I wasn’t. I was—”
“Shut the fuck up!” Tim growled.
The woman sighed. “Sorry Gus, but you’re out of luck. I wouldn’t do it either if I was her.”
Gus made a pitiful whimpering noise. Paige had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Tim picked up the knife and handed it to Gus, who sheathed it using his good hand. It took some effort. Gus walked from the cell, crouching through his middle, still cradling his arm to his chest. Still moaning. Good!
Tim grabbed Elliot by the feet and pulled him out of the cell. He closed the door behind him. Boss Lady handed him the weapon and walked away. The sound of her clacking heels became softer and softer.
Tim smiled at her. There wasn’t an ounce of humor in it. “You’re dead!” he whispered, looking around to make sure no-one was listening in. “You’re as good as fucking dead. As soon as I get the chance, I’m coming for you.”
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