* * *
The scent of cooking meat woke Rowan as the sun’s final rays disappeared into the horizon. She was lying on her side on the ground with her fur wrapped over her and her head resting on Silas’ shirt. She knew it without having to look at it: his scent clung to it.
Slowly, the events of the day came back to her, how she had lain down to take a rest and when she’d woken, the creature had been resting its head on her lap as if waiting for her to wake, its body already having trapped her legs, the feel of it, its weight, its texture still very vivid on her mind.
She shuddered and sat upright, gasping. She turned to where the sound of crackling wood came from to find Silas tending the fire, watching her. Meat smoked on a stick suspended above the flames and she knew where that meat had come from. Her stomach heaved at the thought but at the same time, hunger made her mouth water.
“Feeling better?” Silas asked. The look in his eyes was something unreadable, not quite angry but not wholly tender either. She knew from looking at them that there would be a reckoning and soon.
“Yes,” she said, pulling the fur tighter around her shoulders. “Thank you for…”
“Saving your life?” he asked, filling in when she hesitated.
Rowan dropped her gaze and nodded.
“What are you doing out here? What were you thinking?” he asked, turning the meat.
“I thought I could go back on my own. Make a deal with the captain. Turn myself in in exchange for returning your son and leaving the settlement be.”
He nodded and took the meat off the fire, tearing off a piece and tasting it. “Come here and eat.”
“Silas, I…”
He lifted his gaze to hers, the look halting any more words she would have muttered. “I said come here and eat.”
Rowan rose and went to the fire to sit sat across from him. When she looked up at him, she found him watching her.
“Here,” he said, holding out a piece of meat.
“Is that the snake?”
“Yes. We don’t have anything else so you’ll eat it and you’ll be grateful for it.”
“I don’t think…”
“I said you’ll eat it and you’ll be grateful for it. Is that clear? I don’t have a whole lot of patience for you at the moment, Rowan.”
She lowered her lashes and took the meat from his hands. “Thank you,” she said, placing a morsel onto her tongue. It tasted good, if she could only get the image and the feel and weight of the thing’s head lying on her lap out of her mind long enough to enjoy it.
She took the next piece he offered and they ate in silence, him watching her, her with her head bowed but for occasional glances at him. Once they were finished, Silas added some wood to the fire and turned to her.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered before he said a word.
“Sorry for what exactly?” he asked.
She only dropped her gaze. “I…”
“You only needed to do one thing: stay put. The reason I put you where I did was because the walls underground are too thick for the signal from the colony’s tracking device to transmit. What you’ve done now with your incredibly naïve reasoning is put not only yourself in even more danger but the village as well, not to mention my son.”
“I didn’t mean to. I only wanted…”
“There are a lot of things I want too, Rowan, but I also know I have responsibilities and I think about those responsibilities before I act on impulse. Do you even realize that if I hadn’t found you when I had you’d be dead now? You’d be in the belly of the snake rather than the other way around,” he said, his tone angry now. “Do you realize it? I mean, do you get that?” He shook his head and took a moment before continuing. “Ok, let’s put that aside, say you got to the colony… eventually. What do you think would have happened to the villagers in that time?”
“I don’t know!” Rowan yelled back.
“What the hell do you think the colony soldiers would have done? It’s not that fucking hard to figure out!”
“Fuck you!”
He moved so quickly that she barely registered the motion at all, but in the next moment, she was pinned to the ground, his hands gripping her shoulders hard, his thighs clamped down around her hips.
When he next spoke, his tone was at odds with the heat of their conversation. “No. Fuck you,” he said, his tone quiet, deceptive in its calm.
Her eyes were still wide open when he crushed her mouth with his, her hands uselessly pressing against his chest while her mouth opened to him. He devoured her, his kiss urgent and frantic, his cock hard against her belly through the material of their clothes. Holding her tight to the ground, he moved lower, licking, never kissing, but instead biting her neck hard enough to call a cry from her lips, hard enough to cause her sex to come alive as he left a wet trail over the fabric of her dress to take the hardened nipple poking dark from behind her tunic into his mouth.
She managed a sound but she was unsure herself what it meant. Her hands pressed against his chest, then wrapped around his shoulders, pushing, pulling while he raised his head, his pupils dilated, almost wholly black now in that instant he met her gaze. He shifted his position, pushing her legs wide, her dress up to her waist to bare her. When his mouth closed over her clit, she moaned, pushing at his head and simultaneously forcing him closer, grinding her hips up into his face.
“Silas,” she managed when he pushed both thighs wide, spreading her open, looking at what he’d exposed.
“I smell you,” he said, his voice thick with arousal.
Her fingers intertwined in his hair and without even consciously knowing, she pulled at him, lifted herself up to him, but he wouldn’t do it, he wouldn’t take her into his mouth.
She opened her eyes, meeting his gaze with a passion to match his. He narrowed his and in the next moment, he’d freed his cock, the thick head throbbing. She lifted to him again but taking hold of one thigh, he pulled her down beneath him so his face was inches from hers as rocks and rough earth dug into her bare backside. His breath was ragged, the scruff on his face from several days of not shaving coarse against her face, her lips, when he brushed his mouth to hers, his cock sliding into her pussy while his mouth claimed hers again.
There was no question now that her hands pulled rather than pushed, but after a few moments when he leaned back and looked down at her, his cock deep inside her pussy, she knew he hadn’t forgotten her punishment. Not by a long shot. The look in his eyes told her that much.
Watching her all along, he slid his hands up the length of her arms dragging them up over her head until he held both wrists. He kissed her again before sliding out of her pussy to look down at her. He didn’t speak but watched her and she could not tear her eyes from his. Her mouth opened, a prayer on her lips when she felt the head of his cock press against her bottom hole. One side of his mouth twitched and the pattern of his breath changed when, with his free hand, he pushed one of her legs up, bending her knee, giving himself better access to what he wanted.
“I’ll fuck you,” he said, his voice a thick whisper. “And you’ll learn.”
Rowan gasped when he pushed, breaching the tight ring, his cock too thick, her bottom unprepared, not ready to receive, not ready to take that inside her.
“And you’ll come with my cock in your ass,” he continued, claiming another inch too fast, the only lubricant the residue from her pussy.
Her sucking in of breath seemed louder than the sound of water falling into the lake, but he kept watching her, his hand on her wrists only squeezing a little when she tried to pull free.
“More?” he asked, taking it without waiting for her answer.
The burn was impossible, unmanageable, punishing, just as he intended. Rowan’s mouth opened when he thrust just a little farther, the rough feel of his hair at her clit as he penetrated her bottom confusing the sensations.
“Silas,” she just managed, her voice breaking. When he took more too soon, she squeezed her eyes shut, t
rying to manage the pain.
“No. Open them. Look at me, Rowan. Look at me while I fuck your ass.”
She did, she couldn’t not. He leaned his mouth down and kissed her then, his tongue wet on her lips when he licked. Slowly, he pulled back just a little, moving slowly inside her, giving her time to adjust now. “I don’t want to stop,” he said a moment later, his tone a hair different. His hand softened around her wrists and he didn’t stop her when she pulled them free and brought them flat against his chest. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked, the hand that had held her wrists now wrapped around the top of her head while his hips moved slowly, his pubic hair still scratching against her clit, waking nerve endings, mixing pain and pleasure, turning all thought into pure sensation. She should say yes. She should tell him to stop, but all she could do was swallow and watch him, her mouth open. “Rowan,” he said. “You have to tell me now or I won’t be able to stop.”
Without uttering a word, she reached her face to his and with eyes open, kissed him softly. As opposite to his kiss as possible, hers gave as much as his took. He seemed to understand it and with a hand at the back of her head, he supported her, sealing their union, closing his eyes and thrusting fully inside her.
It hurt. It hurt as much as the strap across her bottom, but having him inside her, his weight crushing her, his eyes watching her, his scent filling her as surely as his cock took and claimed, Rowan wanted him. She wanted the pain he gave, the pleasure it promised. She wanted him.
“I love you,” she whispered as her back arched and more tears warmed her face. Their mouths touched, open, not in a kiss but something else, something more. As he moved inside her, she struggled to keep her eyes on his, pleasure now the dominant sensation.
“You’re mine, Rowan. Mine.”
Orgasm came at once for both, his cock throbbing, her muscles clamping down around him, her breath coming short. He moaned and closed his mouth over the side of her neck, the sound he made almost that of an animal and not a man. It wasn’t until the wave had passed and they lay together, his body crushing hers, both with ragged breath, that he whispered it, he said what she never thought she would hear, never thought she could feel. She, a breeder, less than human. She loved this man, this wild, savage, good man. And he loved her. She belonged to him like she’d never belonged to the colony or to anyone or anything before.
Chapter Fifteen
“Keep this inside your boot,” Silas said, handing her his dagger as they approached the tall walls of the colony. It was late, the sun would be gone within the next half hour.
Covered in their dark furs, they hoped to enter undetected. They had walked a full day and a half and without the weight of the wagon they had carried and the help of the meat they had, it took less time to reach her home. Or her one-time home. Rowan only felt foreboding at the sight of the gate. It was all she’d been feeling for the last day.
“I don’t know how to use it,” she said. “You should keep it, Silas.” She held the dagger out to him.
“They will take it from me, I am certain. They will not think to search you. If anything happens, if I am taken, you are to run, do you understand?”
She stared back at him and shook her head. “No.”
He had mentioned something like this earlier that day and she was no more open to the idea now than she had been then. His plan was simple, too simple. He would find and rescue his son and he would kill both Norrin and Amro to help the rebels from the settlements. Both Norrin and Amro were evil and for the good of all, they both needed to be eliminated. Sadly, in coming after her, he was unprepared, had no weapon beside this dagger.
Silas took her by the shoulders. “Rowan, if I am captured, I will fight. I am stronger than them individually, but I cannot defeat an army of men single-handedly. Once we are inside, we will find Tobias and you will take him out of the colony. I will remain and fight with the rebels. If colony soldiers find us before we can find him, I believe you will appear to them as another breeder. You will not stand out. You must then save yourself. Leave the colony and return to our settlement. Dr. Stone will help to hide you. This is an order, Rowan, not a request, do you understand?”
If he were captured, he would not be around to punish her. Yes, she understood. But there was no way in hell she would abandon him or his son to save herself. Silas didn’t need to know that though. Not yet.
“I understand,” she said, sliding the dagger into her boot in a pocket he had cut between the fur and the leather.
He nodded. “Let’s go inside. Our informant will get us into the breeder housing facility. Intelligence says Tobias is there. Remember, eyes down, Rowan.”
She nodded, her heart racing as they neared the gates. Guards would be standing by now. It was not yet curfew but close enough that the first of three calls alerting all those outside the colony that the gates would close soon had sounded. The calls came earlier than they used to and Rowan imagined it was due to the uprising.
When they turned a corner, they saw the light that poured out of the open gates. A dozen or so citizens who farmed nearby fields were making their way back into the colony and Silas led them toward the row. Farming was still relatively new to the colony, it was something they were learning from the outside settlements, but as the land required was so great, the farmers had to go outside of the safety of the colony. Rowan kept her gaze to the ground in order to shield her eyes from view, sliding closer to Silas, grateful for his hand holding hers.
They walked into the colony without incident, noticing the pockets of armed guards, the fewer people out on the streets, another result of the uprising. They followed a route toward the far entrance of the building they needed to access. Silas had told her about the maps he had, how he had studied and memorized the layout of the colony for months and although the settlers were only allowed one route during trading trips once inside the walls, Silas had managed on more than one occasion to slip past the lax guards and walk the city undetected.
The second warning rang out. One more to go before curfew. They would have to be off the street by then or they’d be found.
Rowan had questioned how they would leave the colony after they found Tobias as there was only one entrance and one exit. His reply had been underground. She was unaware of the tunnels that ran beneath the colonies, an ancient maze that was sealed off and, for the large part, unknown.
As the number of people in the street grew fewer and fewer, Rowan’s anxiety grew greater and greater. “Silas,” she said at one point. “I’m scared.”
“I know,” he said, squeezing her hand and walking them down an alley and to a small door at the far back of the building they sought to enter. “We’re here now,” he said. “Be as quiet as possible. At this point, we need to not be seen.”
She nodded as he pushed the door open. It was unlocked, just as they had been told it would be. The stale scent of a room closed up too long was nearly overwhelming. Rowan looked around, but the room was in darkness, the only light that from the street behind them. She turned to Silas who scanned the space, apparently found what he was looking for, and closed the door, shutting out the last of the light. Taking small steps, she followed him across the dark room. He felt around for a moment until, with a creaking, low sound, he pushed another door open and they stepped out into a corridor. This space was not as dark, at least she could make out the stairs at the end of the corridor. The floor and walls were tiled in what looked to be centuries-old tile, similar yet much more worn and filthy than the room she had been washed in before that horrific medical exam. The memory sent a shudder through her.
“Pay attention now. This is our exit,” he said, counting the doors that lined one side of the corridor. “This one,” he said, pushing the third one open and stepping inside. There, he found the latch on the door that seemed to be part of the floor and pulled. It was stuck and it took some moments before he finally pulled it open. He then stopped and looked around, spotting what he was looking for. “There behind y
ou is a lamp to light your way. You get down here, grab it, and close this door behind you. You’ll have a head start at least and I don’t think they’ll be able to track you underground.”
“Why do you keep talking like this is going to happen? We are going to leave together. All of us.”
The look on his face gave away the fact that he was unsure. Or more accurately, that he was fairly certain it would be one or two of them leaving, not three.
“Let’s go,” he said.
* * *
Silas had considered taking Rowan back to the settlement and forcing her to stay behind. The only reason he had brought her with him was that he was running out of time. Tomorrow was the day they wanted her back. And given the growing uprising, it was his place to be here and fight too.
A part of him thought about retaliation against the settlement if they were to fail tonight. But if everything went according to plan, there would be no retaliation as both Norrin and Amro would be dead.
“Here,” he said, tugging on her hand when they had ascended the stairs and were at the threshold of two corridors. “There’s a room down here for special prisoners.”
Silas took an eager step but she pulled him back.
“It will be heavily guarded,” she reminded him.
He nodded but tried again to step forward. Again, she tugged and shook her head. He knew she was afraid but he was too close. He considered sending her back but if he were captured, his son would have no chance if not for her.
“Silas, what if you’re right? If he’s there, he won’t be alone. There are too many holes in the plan.”
Given to the Savage Page 17