by Jan Springer
And she did. He was weak as a kitten and barely able to enjoy the show as she unzipped his jacket. Pain burst through his chest and he gasped as she tried to maneuver his jacket off his shoulders.
“Sorry,” she soothed.
When she had his shirt off, concern flushed her face. Concern for him. He spied the blood streaking his upper body and the puckered hole in his shoulder. With every breath, the pain slicing through him grew more intense.
He wondered about Cade. Had he fared any better? He had been shot and went down about the same time Blade had been hit himself.
Was Cade dead? A spear of bitter disappointment grabbed him. Cade’s five brothers would hurt with the loss, and Blade might have made a good solid friend in the guy if they both hadn’t been after Red.
Through the pounding pain knocking through his brain, he wanted to ask her about Cade, but a motionless figure lay on another cot directly on the other side of the potbelly woodstove. Relief whispered through him.
Outlaw was pale. Like death warmed over.
“Cade?” he muttered.
“He took a couple of bullets. One in his right shoulder, the other in his upper chest. You’ve got a head wound besides this one.” She nodded to his blood-soaked upper torso. “Cade is alive. For now.”
For now. The two words echoed through his splitting skull like a death chant.
By the time Red had him naked, he was quite aware of his swollen erection and the erotic way she licked her lips. Licking lips was a sure sign she wanted to have his cock thrusting into her mouth.
She lifted his legs and maneuvered him onto the bed. His arousal was quickly forgotten as he lay down and a wave of dizziness swept through him. He sank onto the warm, cozy mattress, his vision swimming. Despite the pain, he managed to free himself from it to whip her a teasing grin.
“I guess I’m at your mercy this time around, eh, Red?”
“You better keep that in mind and behave, Will. Because there really is no reason for me to keep you alive, is there?”
Her words penetrated his foggy brain with an icy fierceness that made him realize he just might not get out of this alive. With that knowledge taking hold inside him, her face floated away, fading into the dark pain until nothing else existed but blackness.
Chapter Six
It was way too warm in the cabin, but she’d forced herself to eat. Her throbbing headache and the nausea clutching at her belly went away and, as she resettled the gauze over the tender-looking bullet slash on Will’s right temple, she said another prayer of thanks. One of many prayers tonight as she’d patched up the two men.
The wounds on Will weren’t too bad. The one on his temple wasn’t deep. Just a flesh wound, but he’d still bled like a stuck pig. She considered him lucky. Extremely lucky.
His chest wound had been more serious. She’d dug out a bullet, but it hadn’t penetrated more than an inch. Hadn’t hit anything vital. On his chest, she’d placed a poultice with some herbs she carried with her—herbs that should attack any infection that might follow her digging around.
She was glad she’d made alternative medicine a part of mandatory first-aid training for all Resistance members. Not only did alternative medicines work, they were easier to obtain than traditional antibiotics. And in many cases, members were able to grow their own herbs in the meadows around the areas where they hid.
The sharp snap and crackle of wood brought her attention back to the high temperature. She couldn’t be sure if the heat was due to the X-virus kicking in and her need to orgasm or because she’d been stoking too much wood into the woodstove and the living room fireplace. Or if it was due to the fact she had two naked men lying on the cots she’d set up on each side of the stove.
Reena sighed and checked Cade’s forehead again. Hot. He stirred beneath her touch, mumbled something about a beauty and then smiled in his sleep, sending a wild fluttering deep inside her heart. She answered his smile while surveying the damp hair sweeping over his forehead and the long, dark lashes framing his cheeks, flushed pink with fever.
Luckily she’d been able to get him to sip a few spoonfuls of a special blend of tea the Resistance’s trusted doctor had given her before she left to come out here.
Medicine of any kind, whether naturopathic or synthetically produced, was extremely hard to acquire—not to mention expensive these days with the bad economy. But she’d vowed to the doctor she wouldn’t take any unless absolutely necessary. Well, easing the men’s discomfort seemed to be a necessity.
The tea was a potent drug. Only a few spoonfuls every four hours would help fight infection and a fever. Given in larger quantities, it also acted as a sedative, knocking out the recipients for hours and making them virtually helpless.
She yawned as she tucked the blankets back in around Cade’s scar-riddled body. He’d been careless or taken too many risks during the Wars. He had several bullet scars and healed-over knife wounds where he’d been stabbed. He also had a bad habit of thrashing around when he slept, and she certainly didn’t need any more glimpses of his long, thick shaft or those interesting-looking slash-like scars lacing his lower belly and onto his cock. She’d seen the scars when she’d gotten him out of his clothing and, oh boy, how her pussy had clenched at the sight of him. She’d longed to stroke his shaft and watch it come to life. To touch it. Feel it. Hold it. But she’d been in a hurry, cleaning his wounds, applying ointment and feeding him tea before getting back onto the snowmobile to rescue Will.
She’d also had to deal with Will’s wounds. He’d remained semi-conscious as she’d undressed him. She hadn’t been able to coax too much tea into him, but he’d taken enough to help with the fever starting inside him. And his cock…oh my. Just as big and a bit longer than Cade’s.
She blew out a tense breath and came around the stove. Checking Will’s forehead, she found him hot, but thankfully not as hot as Cade. A similar, wild stirring snapped through her lower belly—just as it had with Cade—when she gazed down at Will’s body. His hair spilled over his damp forehead, giving him an innocent, boyish look. But she knew better.
He was no innocent and no boy.
Yep, definitely getting too hot in here.
Despite the horrors of what had happened today and her mind wanting to shut down, the X-virus wasn’t going to give her body a break. She needed to orgasm and she needed to get outside and cool herself down. She headed over to the sofa bed, pulled it open and grabbed the thick vibrator wrapped in a clean towel she’d hidden under the blankets. The vandals hadn’t discovered her vibe and she cursed the bastards as she walked past the damaged satellite radio they’d left strewn on the floor. Those hunters hadn’t wanted her to call for help, but by tomorrow night the Resistance would know there was a problem because she’d have missed the scheduled check-in time. Unless, of course, they tried to contact her before then.
She doubted that scenario, though. Lately, from the way she’d been biting off people’s heads and being such a bitch, they were probably glad to be rid of her.
Oh well, at least she had her vibe for companionship. It was the only toy she’d allowed herself to buy. Because sex toys were forbidden for women to use, she could only secure one through the black market. Talk about expensive. Guilt assailed her when she thought how the money could have been spent in better ways, like on medicine or milk for the few babies the Resistance now took care of. But she’d needed something powerful and safe to give her some relief and this handy, big gadget did the trick most of the time.
The vibe was lifelike and she couldn’t wait to use it as she rushed toward the door. Molded in a black jelly with raised veins, it measured a good eight inches long with a two-inch girth and was the most powerful vibe on the market. Past experience taught her it would help bring the orgasm she needed so badly to survive.
An icy sweep of winter air greeted her as she stepped onto the screened porch. It had grown dark outside, but not dark enough she couldn’t see the silhouette of the snowmobile and attached trai
ler she’d used to bring Cade and Blade here. Grandad had loved his snowmobile and it was the first thing Reena had thought about when she’d stopped screaming and pulled herself together in the hunters’ camp. She really should get the machinery into the shed and out of the elements. But it was cold out and she just wanted to forget the awful day, do what needed doing and get some rest.
Ever since returning to the cabin with Cade and then Will, the insistent, warning throbs of craving an orgasm had plagued her. She needed release and she needed it bad.
She moaned as she pulled down her panties, turned on the vibe and began to massage her clit. The cock head pulsed and pounded and she moaned louder as the electric pleasure mounted. She moved the cock head between her labia and plunged into her creaming vagina, crying out as the orgasm quickly rocked through her.
She withdrew and thrust it in again, imagining the vibrator was Blade fucking her up against the door of that bedroom. Then, to her surprise, thoughts of Cade fucking her burst to the forefront.
Confusion pummeled her as her thoughts whipped back to Blade again. Then Cade.
Both men fucking her? The devilish idea made her explode on a strangled cry. The orgasm tore into her like a tornado and Reena went with it.
Breathing deeply and thrusting her vibe in and out, she bucked her hips and with her free hand tugged on her nipple rings. Quickly, she became lost inside the magnificent spasms as they rocked through her at lightning speed. Too soon the orgasm ebbed, leaving Reena unfulfilled, knowing the momentary fantasy of Cade and Will making love to her would never come true.
The idea was crazy. She’d only just met Cade and she’d only been with Will that one time, but that didn’t stop her from smiling at the idea of having the Resistance keep the two men as captives purely to pleasure her.
Sighing, Reena withdrew her vibe, pulled up her panties, closed her eyes and rested. Her vaginal muscles spasmed softly and the blood pounded through her ears. Somewhere far off in the woods, an owl screeched, its echo sending chills down her spine. A moment later, its mate answered from close by.
Desolation crowded in around her. There were no neighbors to run to for help. She was alone and on her own to deal with what had happened to her.
After a few minutes of silence, the cold seeped into her. It didn’t frighten her as it had when she’d been handed back and forth between those men. Here, she could step into a building to warm herself.
Her feet were almost back to normal, nestled in a couple of pairs of wool socks and dry shoes. Tenderness still lingered though, and if Cade and Blade hadn’t shown up when they had, she wouldn’t be walking. She would have been those hunters’ slave.
Uneasiness zipped through her. She should have made sure all those men were dead. Some of them could still be alive, maybe even heading back here. Back to her.
She wished Granddad were here. Being with him and Grandmom had given her the safety and stability she’d always craved, even if it had only been for short bursts of time.
She’d loved her stays here.
Granddad had even shown her how to take his snowmobile in and out of storage. That’s how the vehicle had been in working condition, because she’d known exactly what to do to get it started.
Reena bit back a swell of nostalgia as she visualized her grandfather out in front of the cabin, sitting on the snowmobile, revving it up, waving to her and shouting for her to get a move on if she wanted to go out for a midnight run across the frozen lake.
Oh man! The icy wind blowing against her face as they raced the snowmobile back and forth across the flat of the lake had exhilarated her. The unleashed speed created a freedom that melted right into her soul. Grandpa had been such a sweet old man and her heart broke when she got the call from Grandmom, saying he’d died in his sleep up here in the cabin not too long before the X-virus had taken hold around the world.
Her grandmother died only weeks later after she herself had succumbed to the virus. Her mother had died shortly after that, leaving Reena with her cold, emotionless father. She tossed aside the sadness of her past and gazed around the picturesque scenery, smiling at the quietness. Yeah, this is why she’d come here alone in the first place. To get some solitude and figure out which direction she wanted to take the Resistance. She truly had no idea.
Wiping away a stray tear, she inhaled a cold breath as she tried to collect her jumbled emotions. It might have been easier to leave the two men back there to die. That would have solved her problem of taking care of them. But hell, she’d never been a woman who took the easy way out. And they’d saved her life so she owed them big-time.
While they were here, she’d have to make the best of the situation. Forcing away the memories of the violence she’d experienced earlier in the day, she inhaled and exhaled slowly until a peaceful calm entered her system. After a long while, she headed back inside.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Now you know how it feels, don’t you, torturer?” the woman whispered in a low, deadly voice. Cade clenched his teeth and pulled at his binds as she sliced into his flesh. Pain burned unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.
This cut was the deepest and too damned low on his belly. If she kept going in the general direction she was headed…
Cade breathed deep and fought the urge to scream as she cut again into his flesh. This time way too close to his cock.
“I have no wish to kill you, torturer,” she taunted.
He tensed as she lapped at the blood that spilled from the latest slash. Her long black hair tickled his left hip and made him cringe. He didn’t like any part of her touching him. At least not anymore.
Lifting her head, she gazed at him and he jolted at the sight of his blood dripping from her lips and down her chin. There was a mad glaze in her eyes. One he’d never noticed before, not even while he’d carved into her over the past several days. Was his torture of her responsible for that look? Or had she always been mad and just waiting for the right time to strike?
She held the knife close to her mouth. The blade gleamed beneath the light, flashing off the lone bare bulb hanging from the prison interrogation room ceiling. She licked the blood-soaked blade and he swallowed the sickness gushing up the back of his throat.
Jesus. He must have driven her insane. But he’d gone easy on her the last few days—after he’d developed feelings for her. Caring for a “client” was something he’d never done before.
It hadn’t been the first time he’d driven one of them off the deep end with his handy knife. Until this woman he’d enjoyed his job, carving into a terrorist’s flesh carefully and slowly, relishing his or her screams and begging. Appreciating their confessions as they spilled secrets the US Army wanted to know.
He tortured them because of what had happened to his sister. These sons of bitches had killed her by unleashing the X-virus, and he would continue to make them pay for as long as the Terrorist Wars continued. But with this prisoner, the process had been different right from the start.
She was a Saudi. A beautiful woman who, according to the reports of why she’d been captured, knew the whereabouts of three of the top ten terrorists on the US Most Wanted List.
But her beauty had blinded him. He could see that now. It had unleashed his long-suppressed lust for a woman and brought out his buried protective instincts. He should have known the moment he’d accepted her offer to open her legs for him. Should have walked away right then. Should have called in someone else to torture her.
Fuck! He’d ignored the number-one rule of a torturer. Never experience empathy for the “client”. But he’d folded. Accepted her propositions. Had come to her prison cell and, instead of torturing her, instead of permanently marring her soft velvety skin, he’d fucked her and enjoyed the way her beautiful face twisted with the pleasure he gave her. But he’d also cut her flawless flesh after each visit. Not too deep. Just enough to avoid suspicion until he could find a way to break her out of here.
How the hell had he been so naïve in thi
nking he was in love with this viper? He’d been used. Plain and simple. She’d been acting. She’d conned him as if he were a teenage boy high on hormones. He’d been eager to make love to her.
Yesterday, he’d told her he would figure out a way to help her escape. He’d meant it. By God, he had truly meant it.
“You are the best lover I’ve ever had, Cade. Even better than the Immudin brothers and there are three of them. When they find out you had me, they’ll want you dead. I need to get back to them. I hope you understand?”
The crazy gleam in her dark-brown—almost black—eyes intensified. But he met her gaze and held it. Defiance burned through him as she lowered the blade again.
He wanted to tell her she didn’t have to go back to them. She was an object to them. A sex slave. They would probably kill her when she went back.
“Before I go. I need to leave you a little reminder of our time together. I want you to remember me.”
The knife sliced into his skin. Pain blistered across his flesh and he ground back his moans of anguish.
She cannot break me. She will not break me.
“How does it feel? Huh?” Haylah asked in her sexy Saudi accent, then giggled and carved another deep gash just above his cock and balls.
It hurt like a son of a bitch. He should scream, but the gag he’d woken up with after she’d knocked him out prevented him from making too much noise. Through the searing pain he wondered not for the first time where she could have gotten the gag. Had one of the guards come in? Used it on her? Is that why she was doing this to him?
Rage splintered his pain. Had Haylah been raped in here? But wasn’t that what he’d been doing? Raping her? She’d been under duress, begging him to stop torturing her and make love to her instead. He’d taken advantage of her. He couldn’t hide behind the excuse that she’d begged him to sleep with her. She’d said she needed human companionship. Needed a man to protect her. She’d been so convincing. Saying she wanted him. He’d been so desperate to make love, to fall in love, he hadn’t thought of anything else.