by Raven Dark
I squeezed him tightly around the waist, whispering so that those around me couldn’t hear. “Thank you for the gifts, Masters. I love them.”
“Go change out of them for now.” Steel swatted my ass when I turned to walk back to the changing area. “We’ll have you put them back on when we get home.”
Home. Hopefully by the time I got back to the Grotto, I’d have managed to build a wall around my heart against these men. A wall against disappointment and loss. Since Steel and Pretty Boy had taken me from Damien, it always felt as though the moment things started to turn good, something went wrong and I lost it all.
An hour or so later, exhausted and hot, I was relieved when we were ready to leave. I’d once more dressed in the clothing I’d worn when we’d arrived, including the hood that hid my hair. Pretty Boy gave the packages to Hawk’s men to carry. I just hoped for their sake, that everything would fit in the cargo bags on the backs of their motorbikes. Steel and Pretty Boy were taking my wardrobe a little too seriously.
On our way to where we parked, an item on a canopied table caught my eye. Steel noticed my distraction, and our entourage stopped, waiting.
“See something you like, Petal?”
It was a book, bound in turquoise cloth and detailed in gold filigree. It was beautiful. “‘Selindra, A Book of Poems in Crimson Wings.’” I whispered the title like a prayer.
I couldn’t help but reach out to touch the cover, but stopped myself at the last instant. Women were not allowed to read or be so bold as to touch merchandise like this in public.
Realizing I might have been heard, I looked at Steel, but his head was turned while he talked with Pretty Boy.
Looking wistfully back at the book, I turned around to leave, but something made me freeze.
A strange sensation, unlike anything I’d ever felt before, filled my thoughts. A—there was no other word for it—presence filled my head, cutting across my thoughts, sharp and focused as glass. I thought I felt eyes on me, a gaze pressing into my back, so I spun around.
A woman stood near the table, bending over the books. She wore a deep red cloak with a hood pulled forward to hide her face, but when her head turned, there was no hiding her eyes.
My jaw dropped. Her eyes glittered like bright amethyst, as purple as mine, but darker. Nearly as tall as my Masters—except Steel—she had a powerful look about her that left me staring stupidly at her. A few strands of her violet hair fell from out of the hood. A small piercing in her nose, a single gemstone, glittered in her nose. Light caught the stone, making it seem to change colors in a way I’d never seen before. Then her pink lips quirked.
Was she smiling at me?
Feeling strangely frantic, I glanced around me, but no one else noticed anything. When I looked back where the woman had been, she was…gone.
I blinked. How could that be? She was nowhere to be seen. The sense of another person’s mind inside mine was gone too. Had I imagined her?
Shaking myself, I followed my Masters down the path.
“What’s wrong, Petal?” Steel said close to my ear.
So he had noticed. What was I supposed to say? I must not have been over my fever as I thought. Of course that woman had been a trick of my fever-addled brain. Unwilling to have him worry needlessly over me, I just shook my head.
“Nothing, Master. I just got spooked, that’s all.”
He put a hand on my shoulder protectively and looked around. I felt him tense at Pretty Boy’s next words.
“Shit. Hawk, T-man, and the rest of you, go wait by our rides and get ready to hightail it. J’nai at four o’clock.” Not understanding the tactical lingo Pretty Boy used, I forced myself not to look around.
“On it. Head out through the back, Steel. We’ll meet you there.” Hawk and his men, laden with packages, walked past us and into the crowd.
“Petal, we’re going to go find a hiding spot. Just keep close to me, understand?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Let’s go.” Gripping my shoulder, Steel walked briskly toward the back of the square, Pretty Boy following. At the end of an empty table, a few large tents lined a stone wall, their canvas flaps open. We chose the furthest one in.
“To the back, let’s go.” Pretty Boy stepped ahead of us, leading us to another open flap at the rear, this one directed out to a shadowed alleyway closed in by a wall of stone.
“You two stay here, I’ll check if they’re gone.” Pretty Boy slunk away, leaving Steel and I alone.
“Come here, Petal.” Out near the wall, he held out his arm, and I stepped into him. Raising my chin, he looked me over. Maker, he was checking for any signs of illness again.
“Master, I feel fine…just tired.”
He grunted. “I’m be glad when we’re back at the Grotto. It’s not safe, you traveling with us.”
Privately, I did feel a hint of fear, especially earlier in the courtyard when the J’nai were spotted. It unsettled me to realize, I felt safer with my masters.
Inwardly, I marveled at the turn of events. This concern, this almost…softness from them, I’d never get used to it. I still couldn’t bring myself to trust it, not when the last time I’d gotten close to Steel and Pretty Boy, they’d changed on me. Since the day they’d broken into Damien’s mansion, these men had wrought such a gambit of emotions in me, sometimes it felt like they’d given me emotional whiplash, one I wasn’t sure I’d ever recover from.
Steel must have interpreted my thoughts for fear of the J’nai. “Don’t worry, Petal. I’ll keep you safe; we just need to make sure it’s clear before we head out.” Then he squeezed my bottom and, Maker, did my body come to life.
“I missed you, woman. I told you I would. I missed that tight pussy, this soft skin, even your endless questions.” He nibbled at my lips and made a growling noise.
Over his shoulder, two J’nai guards, both dressed in the black breaches and silken tunics with the sunburst on their chests, pushed past us down the narrow alleyway. Steel froze. My breaths sawed in and out, my heartbeat thudding in my ears.
Damien’s men, inches from us. If they figured out who I was…
“Shhh.” Steel turned me and pushed my back against the wall, crushing me to it with his huge frame. Hiding me from view. He slid my arms around his waist and ground against me slowly. The bulge of his cock jabbed at my sex, filling me with crazy heat and making my head swim. Adrenaline pumped hot in my veins, mixing with arousal, intoxicating.
The guards stopped, looking over a table at the opening at the other end of the alleyway.
“Master we have to get out of—"
“Hush,” he whispered, a hungry growl that made my sex clench. “Just spread your legs and keep your head down, and they’ll think I’m just wetting my dick in a slave-whore.”
By the Light, his crude words never failed to ignite an inferno inside me. I buried my heated face in his chest and let him yank my frock up to my waist, letting his feet push my legs apart. All the guards had to do was turn their heads a little and they’d see us, they’d know, I was sure of it. And Maker, I’d never been so wet.
With no underwear on, Steel slid his hand between my legs, easily stroking my soaking clit.
“They’ll see me…” I started, panting into his chest.
“No, they won’t.” He spun me around so my back was to him, pushing my chest to the wall. I was wondering how this would hide my face much better when he grabbed the deep hood that covered my head and pulled it over my face so that it covered all but my nose and mouth.
Oh, Maker help me! A thrilling bolt of fear raced through me, especially when he gathered the hood’s slack at the back of my head, securing it there, blocking out most of the light. But with the fear also came a wild pulse of arousal that filled my entire being.
Steel growled into my ear and ground his hardness into my exposed backside.
“I’m gonna take you right here. My perfect, sweet little Petal.”
I gasped when his hand found my mound
from behind. One hand fisted the hood tight around my head, the other strummed my clit. I didn’t even realize my legs had spread wider for him until he’d slid his hand around to my front, his fingers gliding over my dripping sex. I bit my lip, repressing a moan.
“Yeah, you want it, don’t you? You wanna be fucked right here in a dirty alley like a little whore.”
Unable to get the words out, I just panted and nodded. I clawed at the wall and rocked into him, needy to the point of dizziness.
Steel made a deep approving noise, and I heard him working his belt and pants open. Then his cock teased and taunted my aching core. “Tell me what you want, Petal. I need to hear you say it.”
Shame and arousal warred in me as usual, knowing everyone around us could plainly see what he was doing to me. But my body needed Steel like my lungs needed air.
“I want you to take me. I want you inside me, Master.”
He groaned, licking my ear. “You’re so damn hot.” He thrust into me, deep, greedy, intense. I hummed my pleasure and rocked back into him. Steel turned my head to the side and his tongue lapped at my mouth while his hand pulled the low front of my frock down and palmed my breasts. The heat of his palm made me mewl into his mouth and grind harder against him.
We fucked fast and hard against the wall, gasping and grunting, our tongues mating hungrily. Steel filled me perfectly, pounding me to a wild release. For that moment, I wasn’t a slave or a whore. I was a woman whose man wanted her in a way that hadn’t been seen since the Old World in stories.
We came apart as one. I cried out into his mouth and thrashed; Steel gave me three sharp thrusts and spilled into me.
“Oh I’ve missed you. So fucking sweet.” He pressed his hot lips to my shoulder, remaining inside me for a moment longer, as if he couldn’t bring himself to leave me.
“Are the J’nai gone, Master?”
There was a pause, and then he pulled the hood off my face, settling it properly around my head. “They are.” He straightened my clothes and turned me to face him. For some reason, he searched my face intently, as though he was looking for something.
“What is it, Master?” I cradled his face in my hands, wondering what I saw in his dark blue gaze. Regret? Sadness?
“I just wish…” He looked toward the sky and his chest expanded on a heavy sigh. “Nothing, Petal. Let’s get gone.” He took my hand in his warm fist and led me out of the alley.
What had he been about to say? What did he wish? I didn’t know, but somehow, I would find out. For an instant, I’d seen a different man inside my giant of a master, and that was a man I dearly wanted to know.
We left the bazaar around noon, hitting the road with the sun blazing down on us. The wind whipped my hair behind me as we raced down an old road that snaked through the desert. I wrapped myself around Pretty Boy’s waist, reveling in the freedom I felt in the ride.
Hawk road first, Pretty Boy and me behind his right shoulder, Steel behind us, the rest of the men behind him, an order carefully maintained.
Suddenly, I understood why road warriors loved the ride, prized their bikes above all other possessions, and rode them as if they were an extension of themselves. There was something exhilarating about the roar of the bike’s motor filling my ears, the vibration of it between my legs. The vibration stimulated my clit in a strange way, a slow, low burn. The smell of leather cuts filled my nose along with the fierce, unforgiving scent of the desert.
I pressed my cheek to Pretty Boy’s back and closed my eyes. For this moment, with these three men, I loved my life. How long it would last, I had no idea. What would happen when I got back to the Grotto? I was still uncertain about my place there, still uncertain about Sheriff. All I could do was live in the now. I’d take all that I could before life turned hard again. Before the joy was sucked out of my life once more, and my world inevitably became somewhere I didn’t want to be.
In far too short a time, we pulled into the garage at the Grotto, by way of a large cavern filled with other sleek, black motorbikes. Pretty Boy cut his engine and Steel did the same.
“Come on, Princess, we’ll get that sand out of your hair and put some food in you.” Pretty Boy helped me off his bike.
“Wait a minute.” Steel grabbed my hand, stopping me, and Pretty Boy looked at him. “I want you back in those clothes we bought you.” He turned to Hawk and T-Man, the others who’d pulled up on their bikes behind us with the packages. After a few minutes of searching through the bags, Steel found the right package. “We’ll take you through the clubhouse and show you off. There’s a storage room over there you can use.”
Pretty Boy grinned and shrugged when I glanced at him. I shook my head with a smile, but went into the storage room, shutting the door.
In minutes, I’d changed, once more dressed in the low-cut black top, the leather jacket with the high-cut back, the high, leather boots. When I’d first put the clothes on, I’d felt odd, exposed and trashy, but now I felt free and wild, like I was theirs, and anyone who saw me would know it. Startled by my own thoughts, I drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. My thoughts were insane, not at all what I should want.
Was it up to me?
When I came out of the room, Steel grabbed my hand, his big grip dwarfing mine. I loved the feel of it, especially after what had happened between us at the bazaar. He and Pretty Boy led me up into the main caves of the Grotto, ultimately into the clubhouse. Hawk and his men brought up the rear, and I had the odd feeling of a heaviness weighing on him. He still wouldn’t look at me. If my new clothes had an effect on him, I’d never have known it.
Several of the men in the clubhouse nodded and clapped the men on the backs. For some reason, Diamond smiled at me, nodding at my clothes with approval. The high heel on one boot snagged in a rut on the floor, and I stumbled. Steel and Pretty Boy looked back at me, and a laugh bubbled up before I could stop it.
“Sorry, Masters. I’ll never get used to these heels.”
Steel snaked his big arm around me and pulled me into him, giving me a hard, long kiss. We walked through the clubhouse laughing. I didn’t think my happiness could grow any bigger, already seeming to swell to bursting in my chest.
A door to the side of the clubhouse’s main room opened, and everyone stopped. Sheriff walked over to us. Pretty Boy and Steel waved at him, but it looked awkward and stiff.
Sheriff scowled at the two of them and Pretty Boy sighed.
“General,” he said.
Then Sheriff’s gaze fell on me. He took in what I wore, and his nostrils flared, his lip curling. His eyes filled with so much disdain their midnight-blue hue darkened, nearly turning to obsidian.
And just like that, before he’d even said a word, the joy left me, draining out of me in an icy chill as if someone had sucked it out with the breath of winter. Steel held me tighter, protective. I loved that he did so, but it did nothing to make me feel any better about the General.
What lay ahead of me now, I didn’t know, but I did know one thing. My being kidnapped changed nothing as far as Sheriff was concerned. For whatever reason, he still didn’t want me there.
And for whatever reason, he still hated me, perhaps even more than he had before.
Chapter 4
Disagreement
“What the fuck is she wearing?”
Sheriff’s biting tone strangled whatever was left of the warmth I’d felt after the day I’d had with Pretty Boy and Steel. The memories of said day were only hours old, but they suddenly felt months gone.
“Clothes, Sheriff,” Pretty Boy half teased, and he grinned when the General’s jaw ticked. The playful, mischievous pirate who’d stolen me from Damien was back. “We were getting sick of those stupid frocks.”
Steel snorted into his fist. Sheriff shot him a murderous look and he cleared his throat.
“Where the hell is Hawk?” the General demanded, setting the beer he’d been holding in his hand on the bar near him.
“Right here, Sheriff,” Hawk rumbl
ed softly behind me. He sounded resigned as he strode forward from the crowd of men he’d been talking with. “What do you need, General?”
“Did you approve of this?” He nodded to me. “These assclowns dressing her like a fucking road rat?”
Hawk clasped his hands behind his back, silent, face stony and calm. Yantu warrior stoicism personified, a man waiting for the inevitable storm and ready to stand fast through it.
Sheriff made a disgusted sound. “In my office, all of you, now.”
“Come on, Petal.” Steel took my hand, jerking his head toward Sheriff, who’d turned and made his way toward his office, Hawk and Pretty Boy following.
I tugged on his arm at first, unsure that Sheriff intended me to come along, and that he hadn’t been addressing only his men.
“He means you, too.” Steel drew me into his side so I had to follow.
Once in the office, Sheriff went behind his desk. He gave me such a scathing look, I was surprised I didn’t burn to ash under that gaze. “Shut the door, Hawk.”
Hawk, who’d come in last, closed the door and then took up position on the opposite side of the desk to the General, his hands clasped behind his back.
“Hawk. Report. Tell me what happened out in Zone 2.”
The Captain of the Guard, and the next in line for the position of General, cleared his throat and stepped up until he was beside me. As he talked, Steel stood behind me, slipping his arms around me. Sheriff’s gaze zeroed in on Steel’s arms, and his lip curled before he returned his focus back to Hawk.
“We received a tip from Haslet that the merchant who set up passage on a ship was holed up in a hotel in Zone 2. Spider Cordan. We…persuaded…him to tell us where the Critians were waiting for the ship to set sail.” Hawk’s voice remained its usual unflappable calm, despite the deepening disapproval in Sheriff’s eyes. “We found them holding Setora and eight other slaves in a hangar. There was a fight.”