“Okay. There’s no need to get hostile.” She dropped the pendant. “I won’t fight. Please just don’t hurt me or my baby.”
His eyes darted towards the baby gurgling inches from her fingertips. “May I?” She gestured to her daughter. “I’d hate for an accident to happen.” She was careful to not mention the sex of Sophie. She wouldn’t put it past Sebastene to order his man to harm Sophie, if it was found out the grandson he wanted, was actually a granddaughter.
“You have something which belongs to my employer.” He gestured with the gun. “Give him here.”
She edged closer to Sophie, sliding her hands under her. Slowly she picked her up. “Please, I’m nursing and there’s no formula in the bag. Take me with you. I won’t cause any problems. I’m assuming you’re not taking..him….straight to Sebastene…I can change diapers, feed him, and take care of him.” She didn’t know what was coming out of her mouth, all she knew is she was stalling for time. Surely if she kept him busy long enough, the nurse or doctor would eventually come back.
He scowled at her. “There was no deal for you. Just the child. Why should I take a thieving woman who has no right to her son.”
“Because I’m his mother. Let me have as much time as possible with him.” She cuddled Sophie closer, her fingers searching under the strap for the tracking chip. . “Please, I’ll give him over to Sebastene, without a protest, and you won’t have to deal with a fussy baby.” As if on cue, Sophie started to cry, protesting her mother’s tight grip on her. Fumbling with the binky, she tried to hide the pressing of the panic button, while she tried to place the pacifier in Sophie’s mouth. “Please, I’m all he knows…” Her finger brushed over the slight indent.
“No. Give me the baby.” He demanded, waving the gun at her. “I have no compunction about shooting you. I am a good shot and will miss the baby - but you will be dead. Think about it. There will be other children. This one does not belong to you. Either hand him and live, or die - and I’ll still take him. The choice is yours.”
She didn’t have to pretend to cause the tears to spill down her face, as she bent over Sophie. “Just let me…one last kiss…” Using the bending motion to hide her hands, she pressed the button, knowing it was sending out an electronic signal. Whispering a prayer that she was doing the right thing, and that she loved her, Zhenya pressed her trembling lips to Sophie’s forehead. She hoped her Master was on the way to her.
“Enough! Give me the child. I will shoot you, have no doubt of it.” To prove his point, he gently squeezed the tripper. The long silencer on the end puffed, and it wasn’t until she felt a burning across the top of her shoulder that she realized he’d actually shot at her. She stumbled forward, nearly dropping Sophie.
“Okay, okay. Don’t shoot again.” She pleaded, depositing her screaming daughter into his arms. The moment she transferred Sophie, she tried to grab his arm to wrench the gun away from him. When that didn’t work, she bit him hard, hoping the excruciating pain would send him to his knees, or at least stall him. She dug her teeth even deeper, until she tasted blood in her mouth.
“Damned whore.” He cursed, jerking his arm away, his greater strength overpowering her with ease. “You shall pay for that!”
“No, give me my baby!” She clawed at him, until sudden pain in her head rocked her. The son of bitch hit me. I’m so sorry, Sophie. I wish I had been stronger for you, was all she could think of as darkness claimed her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
"Please come back to me, louloúdi mou..." The soft voice of her Master had her brown furrowing. Why did he sound so scared? Gabriel was never scared. Struggling to open her eyes, she came to in a blaze of pain. Her head ached, her shoulder burned and...something about her daughter…
"Sophie!" Sitting straight up, she looked around wildly. "He's got Sophie. He's got my baby!" She grasped Gabriel's arms as he tried to guide her back onto the exam table. She was obviously still in the same exam room where the man had snatched Sophie. "I need to..."
Gabriel gently restrained her with concern in his eyes. "Whoa, slow down. The doctor’s coming to look at you."
"I'm fine.” She pushed at his hands.” I have to get Sophie. He took her, he's going to give her to Sebastene. I'll never get her back now!" She struggled against his hold, fear and adrenalin making her abnormally stronger than usual. Pleading with him seemed to be pointless, however.
"Stop it this instant, Zhenya!" His Dom tone and hardening of his gaze seemed to cut through her panic better than a splash of cold water to the face. "There, there..." He soothed her hair back. "You're bleeding, and until you've been looked at, there’s nothing you can do. You'll be no good to Sophie if you don't take care of yourself. Don't worry, Jude is tracking her signal. You did good, sweetheart." He pressed her fingers to his lips.
"Okay, as long as we get her back," she whispered, her strength suddenly deserting her
“We will,” Gabriel promised, his resolve evident in every line of his body. The opening of the door had both of their heads swinging to the left.
"Now, look what happens when I leave you alone, young lady." Dr. Schneider scuffled inside the room, tsking at Zhenya. He looked a bit paler than usual, and there was a fresh bloodstain on the cuff of his shirt where it peeked out from the crisp lab coat. As he flashed his penlight in her eyes, she noticed his hand trembling.
"Are you okay, Doctor?" This wasn’t the same confident pediatrician she’d seen during Sophie’s checkup.
His lips thinned, but he continued to test her reactions to the light. "I'm in better shape than you are at the moment." He continued the exam, tsking here and sighing there. She winced as the doctor dabbed at the wound on her shoulder. When he reached for another square of cotton gauze, Gabriel looked at him expectantly.
"So what's the prognosis?"
"Well, she'll live.” He patted Gabriel’s shoulder. “I’d have been pissed to lose one of my patients, along with Karen.” His eyes teared up. “However, judging by the way her eyes are responding, I’d say she’s got a mild concussion for sure, but everything else seems to be in working order.”
Gabriel nodded. “Yes, that’s good. It could’ve been a lot worse, Randy.” Relief crossed Gabriel’s face.
“True, however I need a better look at this wound on her shoulder.” He glanced around the room. “There’s nothing in here that could’ve caused this.”
Zhenya had to agree. The staff had definitely child-proofed this room. No sharp edges, all the outlets covered, and nothing a child could possibly hurt themselves on. There was another knock on the door and a grim Hark slipped into the room. If her head hadn’t been aching so much, she’d have smiled at the man and told him to lighten up, she wasn’t hurt that badly.
“Do you remember what he attacked you with?” the doctor asked her, making her realize he’d continued to prod at her shoulder. “It’s too wide to be a knife wound…”
Hark stepped closer. Glancing over the smaller doctor’s shoulder. “Why the hell didn’t you tell someone you’ve been shot, sh’da’zha’?” he asked softly, using the Najavo expression for ‘my sister’. It was something he’d started calling her during her stay with him.
“I…” She flinched when Gabriel jerked back, fury in his eyes. She could just see the wheels turning in his head, and she was just angry enough and hurting enough to be pissy. “Don’t you even go there, Master. I just came to. I was supposed to tell you I was shot when all I could think about was the pain and Sophie?” To her horror, she burst into tears.
“Zhenya…” His shoulders slumped then he reached for her hand as the doctor poured what felt like acid over her wound. She inhaled sharply, gripping his hand. He lifted it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “I wasn’t mad at you, louloúdi mou, just at the man who shot you.”
“As am I. Another thing this asshole will have to answer for when I get my hands around his throat. Only a coward shoots a woman and takes her baby.” Hark’s tone was flat, and for some reaso
n it scared Zhenya more than the barely banked fury in Gabriel’s eyes.
“Hark…” She didn’t know what she was going to say, but there was another knock on the door. The room was becoming Grand Central Station. Dr. Schneider must’ve obviously agreed with her when a plain-clothes police detective stepped in.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m Detective Zak Bobrow, and I need…” The man seemed apologetic, but Dr. Schneider still snapped at him, his previous gentle treatment of Zhenya morphing into outright irritation.
“Now what? Can’t you see I’m treating my patient? I already gave you my statement. I’ll be contacting you later about whatever paperwork I need to fill out for this gunshot wound…this is why I went into ‘peds’ instead of emergency room medicine.”
The detective stilled, his eyes more alert than they’d been when he walked into the room. “Who’s been shot?”
“This young lady. It’s only a graze over the top of her shoulder, but when they catch the son of a bitch, they can also charge him with attempted murder, along with my nurse’s murder."
“Count on it.” Detective Bobrow reached for the tablet in his front pocket. As he drew it out, he gazed at Zhenya. “So why don’t you tell me what happened, Ma’am, so I can go catch the bastard who thought shooting up a pediatric office was a good idea.”
She nodded and began to explain, never letting go of her Master’s hand. His presence grounded her as she relived one of the worst moments of her life.
* * * *
“Sophie!” Zhenya jerked upright in bed, breasts heaving and her hands strangling the blanket, startling Gabriel out of his light slumber. Rubbing his gritty eyes, he pulled her into his arms. It had been a long night, waking her every hour to check on her, asking questions to make sure her concussion wasn’t worse than the doctor had thought. But he wasn’t surprised she was having nightmares, after all that had happened.
“Shh, it’s just bad dream, baby. He can’t hurt you any more.” He brushed his hand over her hair. Pressing his lips to the crown of her head, he whispered soothing words. “We’ll find her, I promise. If anyone can find someone, it’s Jude. He’s relentless as a dog with a bone. Between him, Jackson and Hark, the ass who took her is going to regret he ever took the job from Sebastene.”
“But they found her binky and tracker on the ground in the parking garage. How are they gonna find her now?” She buried her face in his chest, trembling as her tears wet his skin. Rocking her slightly, he never realized how much a part of his life the tiny infant had become until some asshole had snatched her away. He found himself even missing the early morning feeding. He idly wondered if Hark or Ethan, who’d taken to camping out in his living room, had heard her cries. Not that he’d objected to their presence in his condo. They would do a lot more good in his home than across the hall in Mrs. Siems’ old condo. Then, as if he’d conjured him up, there was a sudden knock on the door, before Hark stuck his head inside the room.
“Is everything okay?” With the hall backlighting him, Gabriel could only make out a vague outline of the man without his glasses, but he knew by the timber of the voice it had to be Hark.
Gabriel shook his head. “Bad dream. We expected them though.” He continued to stroke her. “Anything yet?” It was six in the morning, but Jude had told him he had some friends who worked odd hours that might be able to help them.
“Yeah, I just got off the phone with him, when I heard her cry out.” He sighed. “You know she sometimes cries in her sleep? I’d love to have five minutes alone with the bastard who hurt her.”
“Me too. What he did to her was criminal. Did you know he never discussed safe limits with her?” Gabriel tightened his hold briefly on her.
“And ‘her’ is getting tired of being spoken about if she wasn’t here.” Zhenya stirred in his arms, before sitting up. He released her reluctantly. “And the bastard is dead, so don’t go looking for him.” She ran her hand through her hair, the sheet pooling around her waist, baring the lacy top of her nightgown. Gabriel jerked it back, immediately aware what the sliver of light from the hallway showed. If he could see the dusky outlines of her nipples through the semi-opaque material, Hark could as well. No matter that he calls her his sister. No man is going to get a glimpse of her pretty little nipples without my permission.
“You said you heard from Jude?” She pushed at the sheet, her eagerness obvious to Gabriel and Hark.
Hark cleared his throat before finally speaking. “Why don’t I let you both get dressed, and we’ll talk about this in the living room. I’ll make a pot of coffee.”
“Good idea,” Gabriel retorted darkly as the door shut behind Hark, throwing the room into the shadows once more. Before Zhenya could scramble away from him, he pinned her to the bed with his weight, allowing her to feel every inch of him against her, but being careful to not jar her shoulder. As he rocked his erection against her inner thigh, she whimpered and clung to his shoulders.
“Master?” Her fingers dug into his muscles in reaction.
“That’s right. I’m your Master, Zhenya. And as such, I choose who you tease with your pretty little breasts.” He tweaked one nipple, not hard enough to hurt but sharply enough it would get her juices flowing, before tugging and rolling it between his fingers. He kept it up until it drew tight and hard from his ministrations, then he released it to flick at it with his fingernail. When she arched and moaned, he stopped, abandoning her hard little peak. At her softly uttered protest, he smiled. Withholding pleasure seemed to get his point across, and he was just sadistic enough of a bastard to enjoy watching her squirm.
“I…wasn’t trying to entice him, Master. I was in a rush because he had word from Jude…”
He gave her other nipple the same treatment as the first, loving how she moaned and jerked against him, the prick of her nails driving him crazy too but in a good way. “Which is why I’m going to make to take it easy on you.”
“Take it easy on me…” She squirmed against his hold, her hips rocking up against him, as she rubbed her bare folds against his belly. Lying as he was with his hips resting on the bedding between her thighs, she couldn’t find the friction she needed to come.
“Yes - easy. You apologize nicely, and I won’t keep you pinned to this bed until you’re screaming what a sadistic bastard I am for the whole world to hear.” It was true, too. As much as he loved tormenting her, doing scenes with her, this time was for her, not him. He wanted to get her mind off Sophie for a brief moment, before she was thrust back into the hell their lives had become. He wanted to see the sexy little smile she had after he made her come for him. He pressed a kiss to her parted lips. “I’ll even let you come.” He slipped his hand between their bodies to rub her clit in small tight circles, loving the way she cried out.
“Master, please!” Even with the bandage on her shoulder and the shadows below her eyes, she was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever had the pleasure to be with.
“Say the words, louloúdi mou. They’re so easy…” He abandoned her pussy, knowing from experience she would cave. She craved his touch as much as he enjoyed giving it.
“Oh, god. I’m sorry, Master.” She babbled. “I won’t show my breasts again without…your permission.
A satisfied smile crossed his face. “Good girl.” His fingers found her slippery nub once more, brushing over it before gently capturing it between his fingers and thumb. Imitating a milking motion, he sent her soaring. Her gasps and groans told him so. “Come for me, Zhenya. Take your pleasure.” He stifled his own groan as she obeyed, her hips canting upward as she exploded. He caught her scream of release with his mouth, savoring the way her body trembled under his, while fighting the need to come himself. This was for her.
When it was over, he leaned over and clicked on the bedside table lamp, before returning to her. The smile he wanted to see was there, her cheeks flushed. “Absolutely beautiful.”
She gazed up at him for a moment before her expression clouded. “I should
n’t be…”
He placed a finger over her lips. “Shhh. You needed it - hell, I needed it. It’ll help us get through the next few hours of this nastiness. Pleasure, whether it’s sexual or emotional, is a powerful thing. It feeds hope, and I’d say, louloúdi mou, we need all the hope we can get, don’t you?”
She nodded, wrapping her arms around him. “Yes. I don’t know what I did to deserve you, Master, but I’ll take you for as long as I can have you.”
He growled playfully against her neck. “Be careful what you wish for…it might just come true.” He knew then without a doubt, the door Sophie’s birth had cracked open, had left enough room for her sexy mother to slip in and fill the empty spot Sara’s death had wrought. Nope, he wasn’t letting her go when this was over - he was keeping her if he had anything to say about it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“So Jude was able to track down the man who attacked me to this building?” Zhenya asked Gabriel from the passenger seat of the SUV. She was dressed in dark jeans, a black sweatshirt, half boots, and a midnight blue parka. She was nearly invisible in the darkness. It’d only been two hours since she’d woken up from her nightmare. The fast and furious planning Jude had done while she slept still amazed her. Somehow he managed to coordinate with the police force with the help of Detective Bobrow and his partner Kusner. Surrounding an abandoned warehouse west of the Dan Ryan, not only were there several unmarked sedans, but also a S.W.A.T. team on call in case the battle got bloody. She had a sneaky suspicion the only reason she was here was her threat to disobey and sneak out after Gabriel and the rest of the men.
“Yes. Evidently the attendant recalled seeing a man matching his description leave the parking garage with a baby. I’m just glad the man was retired ex-military, and noticed he had a baby with him when he didn’t have one when he came in. He wrote down the plate number, so Jude was able to track it with some help from Bobrow, who put a BOLO warrant out on the vehicle. A beat cop spotted it at this warehouse. I’m still surprised the detectives were willing to accept Jude’s help.” He glanced over at her.
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