“Practice?”
“They will see through you otherwise. You have to be very careful about what you say.”
“Okay. So should we do a rehearsal or something.”
“Yes. But not now. We’re just resting at the moment.”
Synrith drank more champagne. Cheryl took a handful of berries and started eating them.
“I really do hope she’s okay,” Cheryl said.
“She’ll be fine.”
“And Jet?”
“No,” Synrith said, his voice carrying out through the misty atmosphere. “He won’t be.”
CHAPTER NINE
Jet Strongarm woke up face down on the cold, hard floor of a cell so small that he couldn’t do more than kneel in it without hitting his head on the roof. There was no bed. There was no water. Agony pulsated through every part of his large body. Next to him, there was a large pool of blood on the ground. He’d been stabbed in the stomach with an enchanted blade, and the wound was still bleeding. Thankfully, the magic of the enchantment wasn’t all that strong, and he was able to cast restoration spell over his injury to stop the blood loss.
His memory was a bit fuzzy. It hadn’t all come back to him yet. He managed to crawl his way over to the bars and put his head to them, searching either side of the corridor outside. He heard a faint cough come from one of the cells opposite.
Jet took a deep breath and fixed his hands to the bars. He began pulling at them, hoping they would come out.
A foot came out from the side and struck his fingers.
Jet backed away in fright. He didn’t get a good look at the foot, but it appeared there was figure sitting directly to the left of his cell.
“Hey,” he murmured in a low voice. He cleared his throat and spoke up a bit louder. “Hey, is someone there?”
A black cat jumped from where the figure had been and landed in the centre of the bars. It meowed at him.
The figure got up from her chair and knelt down in front of the bars.
Jet recognized her.
It was Cheryl’s sister, Sophie.
“Hey,” he said. “Can you get me out of here?”
She scooped up her cat and began stroking him. The cat seemed a little distressed.
“I know you,” Jet said when she didn’t answer him. “Please help me.”
“There’s a lever right next to your cell here,” Sophie said quietly. “I’ve been told to pull it down if you misbehave.”
“What for?”
“It lowers the ceiling. It crushes you.”
Jet swallowed. Sweat poured off his face. “Who are you doing this for? Can I talk to them?”
“I’m not supposed to talk to you.”
Sophie stood up and went back to where she was sitting.
After a minute or so, the cat managed to get free again. He jumped into the cell with Jet.
Sophie sighed angrily and leant down again. “Give him to me.”
Jet picked the cat up and held him to his chest. “Just tell me what’s going on here. I … I was with Cheryl … Did something happen to her?”
“Cheryl’s fine. Now give him to me.”
“Look,” Jet leaned forward to the bars. “I’m your friend. We have to help each other.”
“Like you helped Cassandra’s brother?”
“What…?”
“I was told you burnt his face off while he was still alive.”
Jet lowered his head. He released the cat to her.
“That vampire was after your blood,” Jet muttered. “I saved your life from him.”
“If you had let me go and spared him, he would have sold the dagger to Rafe and you wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“Rafe… Oh. I see now.”
Jet leaned back against the wall. A tear dropped from his eye.
“I belong to him now,” Sophie declared. “When Cheryl comes here she’ll belong to pack too.”
“Cheryl…” Jet whispered.
“You heard me.”
Jet closed his eyes. He knew he couldn’t let that happen.
He had to get out of here somehow. He had to find a way.
Cheryl would never belong to these animals.
Cheryl belonged to him…
CHAPTER TEN
Third glass of champagne. Cheryl wasn’t sure she even remembered having the second.
With little prior explanation, Synrith had stepped off the bench and pulled his shirt and jacket off his muscular body. Cheryl tried to keep her eyes off him as he continued to undress, all the way down till nothing. It wasn’t easy.
She saw him dive into the pool and disappear underneath the bubbling water. Within a few seconds he was already on the other side of the pool. A few more seconds and he had swam back again. He was that fast.
Cheryl put down her glass and stepped forward towards the edge of the pool. She felt relaxed. Light headed. The scent of the air, the heat of the pool, and … the perfectly built Synrith doing laps in the water at lightning speed.
She looked around her, almost disbelieving of her surroundings. She thought about her job. How hard she had worked yesterday. It was a million miles away from this.
She crouched. Sat down at the edge of the pool and let her feet spill into the hot water.
She opened and closed her eyes.
God, she thought. He can’t see me like this.
But there he was. Swimming towards her. He put his arms over the edge and looked up.
“So, have you thought about your kiss then?” he casually asked.
“What?” Cheryl exclaimed.
“Our kiss. You do remember it, don’t you?”
Yes, she remembered. All too well.
“I was with Jet last night,” Cheryl said, deflecting his question. “Just like you asked me to be.”
“I know. That’s why he slept over at yours.”
“Right…”
“And after all this is over, you’re going to need to be there for him.”
“For … Jet?”
“Of course. You will hold him. Lie with him. Fuck him. Say you love him.”
“But why?”
“Because he’ll need that from you. More than need. He’ll expect it.”
“Just…” Cheryl muttered. “Just why do you keep pushing that on me?”
“Do we really have to go through it again?”
Cheryl’s head tilted. “Can’t you just be nice to me? I mean, it should be my choice who I sleep with. What you’ve done is blackmail. It’s almost like … rape…”
“Who’s raped you? Jet? Or me?”
Cheryl shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“I thought you were my friend, Cheryl.”
“Friend? Since when are we friends?”
“You like me, don’t you?”
Now she could hardly speak.
“It’s okay to say you do.”
She scoffed. Stared at him.
He reached out. Touched her ankle.
Her shoulders hunched.
“I know you like me,” Synrith said. “You don’t have to say it. I knew the moment we kissed. It just felt so right.”
She kicked his hand away. “Stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Manipulating me.”
“I’m not manipulating you. I’m just being honest. Is that so wrong?”
Cheryl laughed. “God, man.”
“Jet really likes you now,” Synrith said after a moment. “It is right for you to be with him.”
“Hmm.”
“You don’t like him?”
“It’s not that.”
“What is it then?”
“I feel like you’re … we’re … fucking with his head.”
“He’s a big boy. He can handle a little head fucking.”
“Okay…”
“So anyway. What about our kiss?”
Cheryl looked at him, alarmed. “What about it?”
“Do you want to try again?”
“What? No!”
; “Come on, I dare you.”
“You dare me? What is this?”
He touched her ankle again. His hand moved up and underneath her knee.
Cheryl knew she could kick him away again.
But this time she didn’t.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Water splashed up to the edge of the pool. It went underneath her legs. Synrith’s grip was all the more threatening. He knew it too. Their eyes locked for a moment, nothing but the pool’s hot bubbles, and the sound of the rainforest around them present. He was going to do it. She knew it. Her face was flushed with adrenalin, and she felt her heart beating faster. This anticipation, was killing her.
It felt…
So good.
Like a cat to a mouse, Synrith yanked her from the ledge and forced her entire body underneath the water, clothes and all.
But soon the clothes were slipping. They were being ripped and torn from her body. Cheryl surged through his arms to gasp for breath, only for him to push her back down again, and take the rest. She struggled again to rise to the surface, but it was useless. She felt his bare chest against hers. His hands were behind her shoulders. Her neck. Her hair.
His lips moved to hers and through the darkness of the water, he kissed her a second time. When their lips parted their heads were outside the water, and Cheryl could breathe. He only let her take in another gasp before he had given her a third kiss. She counted them like that. She knew she would remember it.
They moved through the water at his command, and she felt her back being pushed towards pool’s wall. Once there, he kissed her neck, bit her ears, let his tongue run gently across her eyes. Cheryl’s mouth was frozen open. He put his mouth to it and licked her tongue and she licked back.
His hands moved from behind her and cupped her breasts. She parted her legs as his body moved into her, and his erect cock scraped her clit. He broke from her kiss and looked at her a moment, in a cunning, observational type of way. Like he wanted one final assessment of her before their privates interlocked.
Just to see something.
Anything, almost.
Cheryl couldn’t read his mind. She knew he was the bad guy, and really, really wrong for her. She wasn’t like him at all. But as his stiff cock entered her, and he put his teeth to her shoulder to leave his mark, she knew she had fallen for him.
And she’d never been fucked this good.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The sex only lasted for five or six minutes. Cheryl wondered with all the hot water around her if she would even feel Synrith come, but as he did he quickly set the record straight. What he shot inside of her was like lava. This was also strange to her, because when she touched Synrith, his skin was always so cold. Part of that coolness made the sex that much more real…
But then it was over. Immediately afterward, he avoided eye contact with her and said nothing as he jumped out of the pool. Upon his leaving, Cheryl closed her eyes. Continued to relax in the water. She wasn’t relaxed inside though – it was a mixture of feelings. She was still giddy with the initial girl-meets-boy euphoria, and the sex had taken it to a whole other level. But she also knew that he didn’t feel the same. This was something else for him. And as callous she knew he could be, she was worried that she would still allow him to hurt her.
She opened her eyes.
No.
No, she wouldn’t be a victim.
If he wanted to play games with her, then she could play games with him too. At least she thought she could. In any case, her main priority should be tracking down Sophie and making sure she was okay. Beyond that, who knew what the future had in store…
A few minutes passed. More than a few minutes. Ten. Fifteen. Cheryl was more than ready to get out of the pool now. Unfortunately what was left of her clothes was a soaking lump hovering on the other side of the pool. Synrith would have to bring her some dry clothes. She hoped that he would.
Eventually the door opened. He had returned.
Cheryl swam across the pool and looked up to him apprehensively. He was now dressed in one of his black and green suits. Shoes and all.
But he had a robe underneath his arm for her.
“Out you come,” he said.
He stooped down and retrieved her from the pool. He put the robe around her and she stood there dripping.
“No towel?”
“You’ll be dry soon enough,” he said.
He opened the door to the next room for her. The temperature rose a few degrees here, and she felt the water melting away. Together they walked across a long hallway and continued around the corner to stop at one of several closed doors. He opened it and let her inside.
It was a dressing room. The adjacent wall had an enormous walk-in-closet attached, filled with exquisite women’s clothing. There was a dressing table on the opposite wall with a large mirror and an assortment of cosmetics.
“Is all this necessary?” Cheryl murmured.
Synrith walked across the room. He turned the light on inside the closet and plucked a shimmering black cocktail dress from it. As he laid it across the bed, she saw there was a ruby red streak running at the shoulders and base of the dress. Simply beautiful.
“You’re going into unchartered waters now. You have to look the part.”
“But you’ll be there, won’t you?” Cheryl asked. “If things go wrong.”
“Who knows where I’ll be,” Synrith replied. “You need to rely on yourself.”
“I will. I mean, I do.”
“Good.” Synrith took Cheryl’s phone from his pocket. He handed it to her. “I will soon have my team drive you out to the vampires’s whereabouts. My number is in your address book. You are to contact me when you’ve gotten the wolves’s likely location. I will take it from there.”
He stepped back and edged towards the doorway.
“I’ll leave you to it then,” he said.
“Wait,” Cheryl said quickly.
“Yes?”
She walked forward to him. “When will I see you again?”
“That’s up to me,” Synrith replied. “But for you, right now, there is only one dragon that you love. And his name is Jet.”
He left Cheryl standing there, feeling foolish.
Before turning back to the dress he’d left for her, she scrolled through her address book to make sure he had put his number in there under a name she recognized. She soon saw that he hadn’t written his full name.
He’d simply, called himself…
Syn.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Perfect black dress. Perfectly combed hair. Perfect purple eye shadow. Perfect purple lips. The face in the mirror didn’t look like Cheryl anymore (except maybe on Halloween) but this is what Synrith wanted her to look like. Almost as soon she was finished, two of Synrith’s guards appeared in the door to escort her to the elevator. From there, they went back down to the limousine where they’d been dropped off an hour or so ago. Cheryl got into the car and it sped away, leaving Synrith and his enchantments behind them.
Cheryl felt nervous. Mostly about the guards. She couldn’t tell whether they were looking at her. Now that she was openly flaunting her beauty she felt exposed to them. As if they shouldn’t be able to see her this way. Of course, now that she was closely working with Synrith she doubted they would make a move on her. She could only imagine what would happen to them if they did.
At the sight of a main road, the limousine pulled over to a stop.
When after a moment no one made any move to exit the vehicle, she asked, “What’s happening now?”
“We’ll sit here for a few hours,” one of the guards said. “Till night time.”
“What?” Cheryl protested. “Why didn’t you leave me back with Synrith then?”
“He had other matters to attend to,” the guard explained. “These were his orders.”
“But what are we supposed to do? We’re going to go crazy with boredom.”
The guards looked at each other.
Cheryl surveyed them all. “Hello?”
“You should lie down,” one of the guards suggested. “Go to sleep for a while. You could be in for a long night.”
“Why? I just have to talk to these … vampires and then I’ll be done.”
“Not necessarily.”
“What? Why? What are you talking about?”
“If you care about the Master, then you’ll do as you’re told.”
Cheryl lowered her eyes. She’d been put in her place.
She looked through the glass to the side of the road one last time, and then leant across the seat. As she did, she realized they were right to tell her to sleep.
She was tired.
So, so, so very tired.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Nightfall came in a passing breath. Cheryl awoke with one of the guards gently shaking her. She immediately sat up and curled into defensive position.
“It’s time,” the guard muttered.
Cheryl squinted as her vision faded in and the passenger door opened with everyone peeling out. The last guard waited for her to leave her seat and make her way out also. As she gained her footing outside the limousine, she noticed that their location had changed. They were presently at the top of a cliff-face overlooking a beach area below. One of the guards moved round Cheryl’s side and pointed out into the distance of the beach.
“Do you see those caves there?”
She followed where he was pointing. “All the way out there?”
“It will take you half an hour to forty minutes on foot.”
“Why don’t you just drive me there?”
“This is the closest we can get without being seen. Remember, you’re not supposed to tell them you’re working with Synrith. The only reason you found them is because your sister told you where they were and that’s because she trusts you.”
Cheryl blinked. “Okay. I think I can do it.”
She took off her high-heels and moved away from the car. She began her steady trek down the stairs leading out from the cliff.
As she hit the first sandbank, she heard the sound of the limousine’s tires crunching away from the edge.
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