by Bec McMaster
The man's blue eyes looked glassily uncurious. "I'll take them."
He gestured the four of them toward the canvas curtains blowing in the arch. Behind them, Adam could smell faint traces of motor oil, gunpowder, and blood.
Time to meet the master of Rust City.
THIRTEEN
CYPHER WAS NOT what he expected.
To begin with, he was a she.
The second the pale man shoved open the canvas flaps on a tent in the middle of the camp, Adam found himself in a room lit with harsh electricity. An enormous chair hovered on some sort of dais, covered in sheepskins and wolf hides, and there was a woman leaning over a table in the middle, marking items off a piece of parchment.
"Got a guest for you, Vex," the pale man announced, letting the flap fall shut behind them.
The woman looked up, her skin polished bronze and her head shaved at the sides. A shock of dyed red hair swept in a ridge along the top of her skull, and her blue eyes were lined in kohl. Silver bands circled her upper arms, and another one circled her throat. Leather straps hooked onto it, and were attached to the bustier of her custom leather corset. A glint of steel flashed at her waist as she turned, but he couldn't see what she was carrying.
Hard. That was the word he would have used. That, and “dangerous.”
"Mmm," she breathed, her eyes lighting up like she'd just spotted cake the second she saw him. "Is this gift all for me?"
Adam froze.
"Well, aren't you as pretty as a picture," she announced, and eyed him from head to toe, virtually stripping him naked in her mind's eye. She wasn't young, though he suspected she was older than she looked.
"Vex Cypher," she announced, circling him slowly and examining every inch of him with hungry eyes. He had a sudden sickening feeling that he knew exactly how the slaves in Rust City felt.
Like meat.
"What's your name, handsome?"
Alright then. "Adam McClain. And this is my cousin, Jake, my woman, Mia, and—"
A hand cupped him firmly between the legs and Adam caught Vex's wrist, his eyes nearly bulging out of his face.
"Jesus," he breathed, as Jake made a strangled sound in his throat behind him.
For a second he didn't know what to do. He couldn't shove her away, or punch her in the face as he would have done to a man.
"It's impressive, isn't it?" Mia drawled. "You ever feel like you want to take that cock for a ride, you let me know and maybe we'll invite you to share our blankets."
Somehow he had to salvage this moment. Hard to do when a woman's hand was on his dick. "I told you, we don't share," he shot toward Mia. "Nobody else gets to touch you."
Mia crossed her arms over her chest and gave a somewhat predatory smile that she shared with Vex. "Sorry. I'm open to it, but he's not." With a sigh, she fixed those gorgeous dark eyes on him. "Are you still pissed about that guy at Fort Phoenix?"
"That's okay, princess," Vex said with a smile, caressing his cock as she stepped back. "Didn't realize you were so shy." She raked a nail up over his belt. "A shame though."
His cheeks flamed. He didn't know what to say. Thank Christ Mia had got them out of that predicament.
"Uh, we were told we had to present tribute or something?" Jake cut in.
Vex collapsed back onto her throne, hooking one long leg over the other. "And just what are you going to offer me?"
The arch of her brow suggested she'd be far happier unwrapping him, and Jake cleared his throat and took a faint step backward. "Uh...."
Vex snorted. "What a pair of disappointments." She tapped her painted lips. "Still... you both look cute when you blush."
There was silence. Of all the possibilities they'd prepared for, this hadn't even been considered.
"They look pretty, but they can be dumb as oxen sometimes." A pouch of coin flew through the air, and then Mia stepped forward. "Ten gold pieces do for a tribute? Maybe if we drink on it, they might lose their shyness?"
Vex snatched it out of the air, as fast as a viper, and hefted the bag. "It's a start."
When Vex glanced at Jake, Adam saw the edge of cunning in her. This whole thing was a game to her, a way to put them off-balance. It had succeeded. She'd picked him as the leader, and she'd gone after him, just to cut him down to size. Then Jake.
The woman was dangerous.
Especially when she turned those considering eyes on Mia.
"You aren't reivers," said a low, feminine voice from the shadows in the corner.
A faint blade rasped on stone, and Adam realized there was another woman kneeling in the corner, sharpening her knife. Vex's appearance threw him so far off balance that he'd not even noticed her.
Her brown braids were bound tightly across her head, and she had the same kohl-rimmed eyes as Vex, the same features in a younger face. She watched the four of them with a flat expression that reminded him of a predator like a coyote. Not quite strong enough to match up, one-on-one, but there the second your back was turned.
"No, you aren't," Vex agreed, watching the young woman with an inexplicable expression. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "This is my daughter, Zarina. And as she has pointed out, you clearly aren't the type of men who walk through my doors every day. What brings you to Rust City?"
Time to pull himself out of the nosedive. Adam gestured toward Ellie. "As you can see, we've had some luck out East. We're all growing tired of bounty hunting. It's long hours, alone, with little reward to show for it. We were paid to protect a small settlement out there along the Rim. They were having some problems with wargs, so we took care of the problem for an agreed-upon price. Only thing was, when we came back for the other half of our money, they told us they didn't have it." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Mia suggested other compensation. They disagreed, so we shot the place up and took what we wanted."
Vex lit a cigarette, watching them unemotionally. "You get any others?"
Jake ruffled his hair, almost apologetically. "Yeah. Sold a couple three days ago, just to the south of here."
"How far south?"
"Fort Phoenix," Adam interrupted, sweating a little. It was the only place where he knew the name of the man who ran the slave town.
"And how much did De la Vega give you for the product?" Vex asked.
Proving that she was no fool. "De la Vega?" Adam shot Jake and Mia a look, as if confused. "We dealt with a man named Thurston. He gave us thirty gold coins for the other girls. I thought that was kind of low, but we don't have a lot of experience in these matters. Wanted to sound out a new buyer. There are a lot of settlements out east that we know of, and nobody's touching them."
"There's a reason for that," Vex said dryly. "You'd take on the Confederacy enforcers that roam outside their territories?"
"It's better than ending up as some shadow-cat's last meal working for minimum pay as a bounty hunter. And let's be honest," Mia added, running with the story they'd worked out. "Competition is fierce down south among the reiver packs. That's why they're all heading north, looking for fresh pickings. But the north is sparse. Whoever doesn't get eaten alive by the revenants or the wargs up there is wizened by drought and protected by stone walls. Hardly prime product. Along the coast the Nomads rule, and I'm not suicidal enough to take on a bikie gang. That leaves the no-man's-lands along the edges of the Great Divide and the Rim as the last option. Settlements are few and far between, but nobody's trying for them and the three of us have experience in dealing with the critters out there. The enforcers make a lot of noise, but we know the lay of the land, and we know their regular routes." She shrugged. "It makes sense."
"How do I come in?"
"You have a market," Adam pointed out. "We have a resource route. And we didn't think much of Thurston's offer."
"Nero, fetch me something to drink," Cypher told her slave, then gestured with her fingers. "Sit. You have my interest. Make sure you keep it."
Adam sank into the chair opposite her, with Mia at his side. "The Con
federacy is tied up in building their wall to shut us all out," he pointed out. "They have enforcers riding the edges of the Great Divide, true, but if you know the territory then you know how to hide. And we don't like working in a large band. That's the sort of thing that gets you attention. Jake, Mia, and I are real good at slipping in and out before we've been noticed."
Vex accepted a glass from Nero. The blond man seated himself at her feet, and suddenly the implications of what he was began to take shape in Adam's mind. The shaved and oiled chest. The blank eyes. This was Vex's personal slave, and he could only imagine how the man served her. Vex tapped her long, painted fingernails on the sides of her chair. "The three of you can't haul much stock. Not much profit to be made from one or two sales."
"It's enough for us to start with," he replied, with a shrug. "And we pick the best."
For the first time, Vex took a good, long look at Ellie. "Gorgeous skin," she noted. "In her prime childbearing years too."
"Oh, I'm not selling this one," Jake cut in. "I have a personal stake in keeping her."
"She do you wrong?"
"Turned me down a few years back." Jake looked uneasy but he forced a smile. "Let's just say, I'm sure she regrets it now."
Vex drained her cup, watching with those witchy eyes that told Adam nothing. "So why are you three here if you've got nothing to sell?"
"We're interested in viewing your market," Adam replied. "We have a supply route, but we want to know where we can get the best price for prime quality. And my cousin here is in the mood to buy another woman of his own. This one's a cold fish. Thought we'd kill two birds with one stone, and maybe Mia and I might have a look and see if there's someone at the market that catches our eye."
"Something," Vex corrected. She eyed Jake. "I could help him out with that."
"I don't think you'd like what I like," Jake replied.
"Oh?" She turned all of that hawklike attention upon him, along with a sleazy smile. "You might be surprised."
"You look like you want to be in control." Jake smiled his own insincere smile, though the look in his eyes was faintly murderous. "So do I."
Vex sighed. "Pity. But you're right. We'd either end up killing each other, or I'd break you."
Jake flinched a little.
The smile on Vex's face vanished, almost as if it had never been there. "Rust City is mine. Which means I make 50 percent off each sale here."
"Twenty," Adam countered quickly, playing his part. He knew what she would be expecting.
"Forty," she bit out. "We're the closest slave market to the Great Divide. You're looking at an extra day's ride to find another, and you've already found Fort Phoenix is not as generous as I am."
"Hell if I'm paying forty," Mia said, nudging his foot. "Sixty split between the three of us is piss weak."
Adam frowned. "Thirty. There are at least five slave towns within a day's drive of here. And they're selling direct to New Merida."
"Not for prime stock, they're not," Vex pointed out. "They want field laborers to tend the plantations and farms down south." She tapped her nose. "I have a direct route for prime stock. It leads to someone who'll pay a lot of money. Forty percent."
"Who out here can pay that kind of money?" Mia blurted.
"I never said it was someone 'out here.'"
The implications shocked him. No wonder Vex Cypher was in control here, if she had some Confederacy general or higher-up in her pocket. Jesus. That was a dangerous supply line, and he had to wonder what she was getting out of it. The Eastern Confederacy had access to technology and medicines that were worth more than gold in this new world.
"It's better than nothing," Jake muttered. "Take the deal."
Adam rubbed Mia's thigh while she considered it. She finally gave a curt nod.
"Done," he said. "Forty percent."
"You try and cheat me, and I'll cut your throat. You bring me less than the best, and our deal goes south." Vex leaned closer, catching his gaze. "And if you steal from me, I'll take your balls and sell you myself. Understood?" That viper gaze extended to Mia. "Her I keep. I like her."
"I don't shit on my business contracts. If I give my word, then I mean it." Adam fanned himself abstractedly. Man, it was hot. "But I'm also not the type of man you should cross."
"Ooh, you are an interesting pair." Vex sized him up again.
"And I don't mix business with pleasure," he pointed out.
Vex drained her cup. She hadn't offered any of them anything to drink, which made it clear who ran this business discussion. But to roll over and show her his belly would be the end of them. "That doesn't sound like much fun, but I respect your thinking. Do we have a deal?"
He stood, and offered her his hand. "We have a deal."
Vex's hand was callused and firm. "Good. Then I want young women and men who look pretty and can handle the transition. Fit, healthy livestock. My buyer wants girls who can breed, primarily. The boys are for pleasure."
"We'll do our best." Fuck. He'd heard rumors that the Confederacy struggled with fertility. Something about radiation poisoning passing from generation to generation.
But kidnapping young women just to bear children for them?
That had to be stopped.
All of a sudden, this wasn't just about Mia's sister and the rest of the people who'd been stolen from Salvation Creek.
"Zarina, show these three to some quarters." Vex stood, dragging one of the wolf furs off the back of her chair. She draped it over her shoulders. "Then bring them to the arena. My box. We should celebrate our new partnership."
Snapping her fingers at Nero, she headed for the door. "Zarina will see you fed and watered. And then I expect you to attend me. I have some War Games to open."
FOURTEEN
ADAM CUPPED HIS palm in the basin of water, then poured what he'd captured over the back of his bare neck. He'd scrubbed himself clean and it felt good, but hell, he was tired. Three days of hard riding, a fight or two, and no sleep would do that to a man. It didn't help that Jake knew his secrets, and Mia kept pushing... pushing against those walls he kept trying to put up between them.
You're not invincible.
You're also not a saint, he thought, as he smelled her coming.
And now they were sharing a narrow bed in a small room, and everyone watching thought Mia belonged to him—or the other way around. There was no escaping her, or the thoughts she aroused.
Just when he needed to put as much distance between them as he could.
"You parade around like that in front of Vex, and Jake and I might be able to steal the others back right out from under her nose," Mia said.
Adam let the washcloth fall into the basin. The small bedroom Zarina had led them to was in a different compound to Vex's stronghold. Nobody stayed under the warlord's roof, but some reivers rented rooms to newcomers—for a hefty price. There went five more gold coins, but at least the rooms were clean, and separate from the main building. Jake and Ellie shared the other one.
Adam made sure his towel was tucked in, and turned to find Mia in the doorway to the small washroom, looking fresh and clean. He'd let her wash first and the smell of his soap on her skin made something possessive sit up and take notice inside him. "Real funny."
Amusement lit her whiskey-brown eyes. "I'm not going to lie. You and Jake nearly tripped over your shoes in there. I could have sworn the pair of you were rugged bounty hunters with a bit of experience under your belts...."
"Yeah, well, she didn't have her hand on your cock," he growled, and snatched up a small towel to blot his face dry. His cheeks felt ridiculously sensitive after that shave. "And while I don't usually complain, there was a possibility she'd have used her knife to remove it. I wasn't quite sure which way she was going to go. Makes a man nervous."
Mia leaned her hip against the door, crossing her arms over her black tank. Her gaze slid down his bare chest and hooked on the towel. "You don't look nervous right now."
No. His cock was partially e
rect. The side effect of having her here in the room with him when they were talking about cocks. "I think you almost like playing a female reiver."
Mia arched a brow. "Is that an insult?"
"No. I just meant that you're a little more open like this." Adam tossed the small towel aside.
Mia frowned. "The take-what-you-want attitude... it's wrong when it affects other people and their freedom," she admitted. "But maybe there's something to be said for admitting what you want in life, and going after it."
"And if you could take what you wanted?" Instantly he wanted to take the words back. This was not helping the situation.
Mia looked up slowly, those dark eyelashes shading her eyes. "I don't know. I think I'm still figuring that out, but I've been thinking... about what I'd regret if I died tomorrow."
"You're not going to die tomorrow," he growled. Not if he had anything to do with it.
Mia rolled her eyes. "Way to bypass the subject, McClain."
"Adam."
"What?"
"My name is Adam." For some reason, he desperately wanted to hear that name from her lips.
"Adam," she said, and there was the Mia he knew. Gentle, wary, and full of shy warmth. "And what about you? No regrets?"
A lifetime of them. He groaned. "Mia, we're not starting this."
"You're about a month too late with your warning."
"Reivers," he pointed out. "A psychotic warlord. Your sister."
"We're one step closer to Sage." Mia looked away though. "And you're right. I shouldn't even be thinking of this. Not right now. But...."
"But?"
"Nothing." She shook her head. "Just something Jenny said to me. I can't stop thinking about it." She stepped closer, making every muscle in his body tense. Mia tugged playfully at the towel around his waist. "And you never answered the question."
Adam clapped a hand over hers, keeping the towel in place.
If you could take what you wanted....
What did he want?
Her. That much was simple. The second he'd walked into her bar he'd known that Mia was different. Gorgeous, brusque, and clearly warning everyone off, she'd barely warmed up to him in the first week. But there'd been moments when she'd looked at him as if intrigued. Moments where her eyes tracked him and hinted that she didn't mind looking at him, even if she wouldn't let herself pursue anything else. Maybe that was what caught his attention: the loneliness that he saw echoed in her eyes.