by Keri Lake
“That’s why he’ll fight all six of them at once.”
“What?” I swing my gaze to Valdys, who slides on his helmet, taking his place in the center of the pit.
As though on cue, all of the men scramble for a weapon, fighting over the shovel and axe, until two of them manage to swipe them up from the others.
“He …. He can’t fight all six. Not at the same time. Maybe two, or three.”
“He’s been briefed what he’s to do. And if he fails, he knows all too well what’s at stake.”
My heart sinks at that, and perhaps Valdys sees it written on my face, when he drops his gaze from me, his focus now on the men who stand hunched and ready to attack.
The first brave soul rushes forward, axe raised in the air, but his efforts are stunted, as Valdys reaches out for the handle of the weapon and gives a hard shove that sends him flying backward, onto his butt.
A merciful defense, as far as I’m concerned.
“What is he to do?” I ask, my stomach twisting, as another sounds a battle cry, and two of the men rush toward him.
“Kill them all.”
“But why? You don’t have to do this. He’s proven loyal already. We’ve binded.”
“I’m well aware.”
The amusement in his voice tells me he did, in fact, watch the video of Valdys and me, and perhaps I should feel a slight bit ashamed at such a thing, but with three men swinging at Valdys at once, all I can think about is the rapid pulse of blood shooting through my veins.
“Orders are a very crucial part of his training. With the strength that Valdys possesses, it’s important for him to remember exactly who is holding the reigns.”
“You’re afraid of them. All three of them.” The words fall past my lips before I can stop them, and in the next breath, Valdys knocks the axe out of one subject’s hands, and swings the tip across the man’s throat.
Blood pours out of his wound, spilling onto the dirt, and with his hands at his throat, as if he could possibly stop the damage that way, the weaker male falls to his knees.
“Careful, girl. One wave of my hand, and I can have your knight in armor crushed beneath my iron fist.” The visual of that is laughable, but I don’t doubt the man has an emergency plan, in the event that one of his animals gets out of control.
Another man falls at Valdys’s hands, this one with a hammer lodged square in his skull.
One of the men breaks from the group, tool in hand as he rushes toward our cage, and I push myself up from the chair, as if he might hammer right through the steel. Fingers curled into the fence, the look of terror on his face must mirror mine. “Please! I don’t want to fight! I surrender! I surrender!”
Taking quick pants of breath, I watch, as, unknown to the man, Valdys strides toward him, and before he can see what’s coming, hands grip his skull, and the crack that follows is the man’s head severing from its spine.
My body is caught in a state of paralysis, as I watch the man fall to the ground in a slump of dead meat.
“Give a man a weapon, and he may kill for you. Give him purpose, and he’ll kill without question.” Doctor Ericsson chuckles beside me, breaking my stupor.
Chest rising and falling, Valdys stands before the fence, and if I’m not mistaken, I catch the slide of his gaze toward Doctor Ericsson. As if he would tear away the steel fence to get to him.
A hard thunk of metal flinches his muscles, and Valdys steps aside, exposing the man behind him holding a shovel upright. His body is slight and trembling, and when a stream of urine darkens his uniform, pooling onto the ground in front of him, he doesn’t bother to break his gaze from Valdys.
In one quick snatch, Valdys grabs the shovel and flips it around, before jabbing the blunt handle into the man’s chest. Mouth gaping, he looks down toward where the wood sticks out from his ribcage, blood seeping out of the unseen wound there. One choke of a cough, and he falls alongside the other man. Only two men remain in the pit, and it takes minutes for Valdys to finish them off. One by disembowelment with a hammer, the other by decapitation with an axe. By the time he’s done, the pit is covered in his carnage.
Elbows hiked on the back of his chair, as though he’s bored, Cadmus shakes his head. “Another glorious fight.”
“Congratulations.” Doctor Ericsson pushes against his thighs and stands, and once again, he’s smiling. “You’ve avoided punishment. And as a reward to Valdys, you’ll spend another night in his cell.”
Another sweep of the Pit sends a wave of nausea to my stomach. All these men were sacrificed to prove a point. To teach Valdys and I the difference between taking reward and earning it. Medusa, too. All these men were brutally murdered so that I might understand my place, and recognize that, no matter what I want, or hope for, Valdys is a weapon.
Their weapon.
Lying naked beside Valdys, my stomach still churns with guilt. The same guilt that wracked my conscience even through the pleasure of feeling him inside of me, just minutes ago.
“You’re troubled by what I did today.” His fingers trace over my shoulder, sending goosebumps across my skin.
“You didn’t have a choice. I know that.”
“I told you. No matter the cost. No one will hurt you.”
After a quick glance toward where I think they’ve hidden the cameras in his cell, I turn into him, resting my chin on his chest. “We should escape,” I whisper. “Run away from this place.”
With a snort, he tucks his arm beneath his head. “We’d be shot dead within a mile.”
I climb up his body, until my lips are at his ear. “Unless they didn’t know we were gone right away.”
He turns his face toward me, eyes on my lips. “How? The band at my throat would tell them exactly where to find us.”
I know Valdys doesn’t fear the consequences themselves. It’s only his fear of what might happen to me that gives him any sense of hesitation. Resting my head against his shoulder, I draw my hand down his face, kissing his stubbled cheek, and whisper again, “The band supplies a signal. One that I imagine could be turned off, or intercepted. As for how? Supply trucks. I’ve heard one escaped that way a few years back.”
“And she was killed by Ragers.”
Smiling against his ear, I run my leg along his, my knee brushing over his groin. “That’s because she didn’t have a big, strong Alpha to protect her. Imagine it, Valdys. You and I beneath the stars.” I speak so low, so paranoid of being heard on camera, that I’m not sure Valdys even picks up on my words, until he rolls over me, keeping himself hoisted up on his elbows.
“You’d be mine. Completely.”
I reach up to trace my finger across his brow, smiling at the lazy and heavy blink of his eyes. “Is that all you’d want? Not the freedom. or the beauty of sleeping wherever we want?”
“You’re the only reason I’d risk such a stupid idea.”
Chuckling, I watch him back himself down my body. and my stomach clenches the moment I realize what’s on his mind. “I already told you that I belong to you.”
“Prove it.”
“How?”
Instead of answering, he pushes my knees to the side, spreading me open to him. My gaze shifts from him to the camera, where Doctor Ericsson will undoubtedly be watching, if not tonight, then tomorrow. Yes, we’ve had sex on camera, but something about this feels more personal. Completely on display.
“The cameras.”
“Let them watch.” He lowers his head between my thighs, and the moment his tongue meets my sex, I grip the back of his head, slamming my legs against his ears. Wordlessly prying them apart, he holds me down and paints my sensitive flesh with his tongue. The sensation is like nothing I’ve felt before. Just enough pressure to make me squirm and flex my thighs.
“Oh, Valdys!”
“I can’t tell you how much I enjoy the sound of my name on your tongue.”
“As I’m enjoying your tongue.” I nibble on my bottom lip and let out a soft moan, as he keeps on with this
delicious suffering.
The tickle of his stubble dancing over my folds sends my hips forward in a sharp arc, but he pushes me back against the bed.
“Hold still,” he commands in a voice that shoots a rush of blood straight to the very spot he’s sucked and licked.
“Or what.” I smile down my body at the crown of his head, which he starts shaking between my legs, his rough skin scratching against my sensitive flesh. Giggling, I fight against his hold, to close my thighs, but it’s no use. “Valdys! Stop! Please!” An unintended squawk flies past my lips, and I kick to get away from his torment.
In a moment of mercy, he lifts his head from between my legs with a devious grin. “You’d do well not to challenge my orders.”
“Yessir.” Running my hands over his shaved head, I watch, as, eyes on me, he sets his lips to my sex, his eyelids fluttering shut while he runs his tongue up and down the seam. I think how incredible it is to see such a strong and dangerous man, a powerful weapon, touch me so reverently.
Lying back against the pillow, I close my eyes, focusing on the sensation, the affection, and the rumble of appreciation that vibrates against my skin. Toes curled, I dig them into either side of his back and writhe beneath his attentive tongue. He is pain and agony wrapped in fire, but his hands and lips are sheer bliss.
I won’t stand by and let this place destroy him. This is my silent vow, a promise I will keep to myself. No matter the cost, I won’t let them hurt Valdys.
I can’t.
He’s the flame that burns inside of me, the single spark that ignites my soul.
I open my eyes, staring up to where the camera is undoubtedly capturing this moment. Let them watch. Let them know what this man does to me. How, in spite of the ugly, the pain, and the suffering this place breeds, we find solace in each other.
We find light in the darkness of this world.
Tongue dancing over delicate folds, he kisses every inch of my forbidden places, somehow delighting in his toil, and my stomach squeezes against the first bout of pressure. The suction of his mouth pulls at my wet and sticky lips, drawing my hips off the bed and I open my mouth to silence, breath trapped in my lungs. I circle my hips against it, a feeling like something hot rising inside of me. Moaning and grunting against the foreign sensation, I let my hands travel the broad expanse of his shoulders up to his shaved head, his greedy tongue only exacerbating whatever this is. “Valdys,” I whisper. “Oh … it’s … strange.”
A masculine sound of appreciation rumbles in his chest, while his lips suck the swollen and sensitive flesh. Not quite a tickle, but the rush of something cold and slightly crampy strikes my belly, and every nerve in my body seems to come alive, more receptive than ever. I shake my head against whatever he’s stirred, frightened of the pain that’s sure to follow such intensity building inside of me. My legs tremble, my hands tighten and loosen over the bedsheets, and I can’t lie still. As if some kind of exquisite sickness churns inside of me, growing and growing. Small pants of breath are all I can muster as I focus on his tongue--his wet and wicked tongue, like a wand stirring magic in my belly. The pressure is too much.
Too much!
A sharp wave of heat crashes through my muscles, and I arch my back to it, eyes shuttered to the light that strikes the back of my head. I cry out, but Valdys doesn’t stop. He greedily sucks the last of my resistance, lapping up every drop. A wash of tingles bathes my weak muscles, and though I’m lying down, I feel somewhat dizzy, lightheaded. More relaxed than I’ve ever felt before, like the cool nights in the desert when we’d fall asleep by the fire. How that heat would warm my cheeks and settle in my bones.
I open my eyes on Valdys, who looms over me, the corner of his lips kicked up in a prideful sort of smile. I’ve hardly exerted myself, but I feel tired and cozy, and when he lies down beside me, drawing me into him, my muscles are soft and weak.
“Now you’ll sleep.” He plants a kiss to my forehead, as I lie curled into his chest like a child. “And sleep well.”
Chapter 26
I sit crosslegged on the grass, across from Roz, and split my extra piece of bread in half, offering some to her. So long as it doesn’t appear that I’ve stolen it for her, the guards won’t bother with us. “I need your help, Roz.” Eyes scanning our surroundings, I keep my voice low, so as not to draw the attention of not just the guards, but the girls who’ve been chosen to act as little birds to Doctor Ericsson.
Focused on her bread, she’s shrugs and nods. “Yeah, of course. What do you need?”
In the time I’ve known her, I’ve never asked her for much, in the way of favors. I’ve never needed anything quite as much as I do now.
“Information. Opportunity.”
Brows knitting together, she pauses midchew and lifts her gaze. “For what?”
I lean in a bit more and tear off a small piece of bread. “I want out. With Valdys.”
“Are you crazy? There is no out in this place. Believe me, I’d have found it by now.”
“The supply trucks. I need you to find out when they leave each night.”
“Okay, I’m just going to tell you right now, that’s not a viable option. Supply trucks are checked thoroughly now, after the last subject escaped. They’re heavily guarded in the loading docks.”
Roz has had to transport bodies to the trucks, sometimes. Not the bodies of dead subjects--they go straight to the incinerator—but the bodies of the occasional physician who kicks the bucket in this place, and gets a nice little burial back in Szolen.
Shoving a piece of bread in my mouth, I hesitate to chew. I haven’t had much of an appetite, at all, in the last two days, which is unheard of. “I have to try. They’re going to send Valdys down into the tunnels soon.”
“What tunnels?”
“According to Doctor Tims, there are tunnels beneath the hospital, where early first generation Ragers were kept. He says the antidote to the Dredge is down there, but you have to get past those Ragers first.”
“Jesus.” She shakes her head, feeding a chunk of bread into her mouth. “I can’t even imagine what those fuckers look like,” she says around a mouthfull of food. “This place scares the shit out of me, sometimes. Yesterday? I had take a failed fetus down to the incinerator.” A shiver twitches her body, her eyes staring off, as it she’s looking at it right now. “Didn’t even look human.”
“These things are the most pure, and according to Doctor Tims, they are the most violent of all.”
Huffing through her nose, she looks around, presumably for anyone close by. “I’ll talk to Kenny. See what I can find out.”
“Which … brings me to the opportunity part of my request. When the electricity shuts down, I need Kenny to help with a distraction.” Every night, the hospital powers down to conserve energy for the day. Some departments, like a few of the research labs, run on large generators that also power the cameras and locks for the Alpha Project. “I need him to alter the cameras.”
“Cali ...” She leans forward, her jaw tight with obvious frustration. “Do you even know what you’re asking?” she whispers. “They’ll gut him open and feed him to the Ragers for such a thing. And how do you plan to spring your little prince from his cell? It’ll be locked.”
“Medusa said they were able to switch the computer to recognize her left hand prints. If Kenny can assign me to Valdys’s cell, I can get him out.”
“Kenny, Kenny, Kenny. You realize I’m only giving him occasional blow jobs, right? It’s not like we’re in love, or he has any reason to do these things for me. It’s not like he won’t tell someone about it. I mean, what does he even get out of this? What do I get?”
“Come with us. Both of you. All four of us can get out.”
“And go where? Roam the desert, and get swiped up into a Rager’s nest? Or taken and sold by marauders to be a breeder? I have a decent gig here. Yeah, it’s shitty sometimes. Sucks what they do, but at least I’m not out there, living under rocks to stay hidden.”
�
��Have you forgotten already, Roz? Have you forgotten those first nights you were here? What they’ve taken from us?” I shake my head, glancing back to where the Ragers pace in the pens behind us. “Out there, we have a choice. In here? We’re animals, pacing in a cage, waiting for the day they call us into the Chop Shop.” That’s the name given to the wing of the hospital where samples of bones and flesh are cut away, bits at a time, for study. Doesn’t take long for those subjects to die off, as they usually carry something that interests the doctors.
Her gaze falls to her lap, and she finishes off the last piece of bread, swallowing it down.
I break off another piece of mine and hand it to her, which she accepts.
“I’m always starving,” she says on a laugh. “Seems like there’s never enough food to take away the hunger.”
Her comment doesn’t require an answer from me. Everyone here is starving, including me.
“I remember the nights when my father would kill a rabbit, or deer. How good it felt in our bellies. How filling. I haven’t felt like that in a long time,” she says, before popping the bread into her mouth. “I’ll see what I can do. No promises, okay?”
With a nod, I set my hand on hers and smile. “Thank you.”
“Do you have any idea how much dick I’m going to have to swallow for this?”
Both of us chuckle, and I finish off the last of my bread.
“You’re in love with him. Your Champion. You love him, right?”
I shrug, pulling my knees into my chest. “I don’t know. I’ve never felt that kind of love before.”
“You’d have to be in love, to want to do something as stupid as this. It’s for him, right? I mean, you’ve never talked about getting out of here before him.”
“I guess I just found reason.”
“Good. Because if something happens to you, or me, or Kenny, I’d like to know there was a good reason behind it. Love is the only good reason.”
Lowering my gaze, I blink away the tears I’ve fought for most of the day. “If they send him down in those tunnels, and I lose him, I’ll die. I’ll … shrivel up and die.”