Ares takes my mouth by force, spreads my thighs with one brusque hand, and thrusts inside me. I open for him, instantly spreading my legs and welcoming his warm, talented fingers. I moan into his mouth, and his thumb gently strokes my clit. The feeling is strange. I’m used to pain and brutality from my master, not sweet caresses.
“Do not fight him, Pet. Things will go much worse for you if you do.”
I let out a shuddering breath. “I’m so afraid, Sir.”
“I know.” He presses another kiss to my forehead and unseats me from his lap. “If you behave, you will earn his trust. Be a good girl and do what he orders.”
“Yes, Sir.” I sob.
“No more tears.”
I nod and wipe the salt water from my face. Hermes pulls the limousine to a stop, and Ares whispers, “Be good, little one. I’ll come for you soon.”
He climbs out of the limo and doesn’t look back. I swallow the lump in my throat and take a deep breath. I meet Hermes’ eyes in the rear-view mirror. He darts his gaze back to the road, and then to me again.
“What?” I snap.
“I didn’t think you’d go through with it. When you came to me that night, I didn’t believe you had the courage to do it.”
“I had the courage to knock you out and escape, didn’t I?”
“And yet, you came back.”
I frown and glance through the tinted window. “I came back because I can’t live without him. It wasn’t living at all.”
Hermes pulls away from the curb and continues around the corner of the building. “And this is?”
“Do you want me to save your sister or not?”
“She’s my lover, little mouse.”
“She’s also your adopted sibling.”
“That sickens you, doesn’t it?” He meets my gaze in the mirror. “That my twin brother and I fucked our sister.”
“You grew up with her; you named her. She was younger than you, and you took advantage.”
“She wanted us to take advantage. She begged us to tie her up and fuck her like she was one of our father’s slaves.”
“You should have known better.”
“Maybe, but we were all just kids. And if you’d grown up in the world we had, perhaps you too would have made the choices we did.” Hermes shakes his head. “You were raised as a princess in New York, but Athena was a young bastard girl in Mexico. In that world—in our world—she did whatever she had to in order to stay alive.”
Perhaps he’s right. Maybe I would have clung to them both if I’d been in her position. Maybe Athena was smarter than I had been, and used her feminine wiles to ensure she’d be protected. Fat lot of good it did her.
I glance at the traffic in front of us, lines and lines of expensive cars, all making drop-offs, just like this one. All of the passengers in all of these cars will be sold in a matter of hours, just like me.
“Ares said you had intel on Athena. How?” My knees bounce up and down, and I feel sick to my stomach. “You had another girl, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“That’s why Vladik couldn’t see us at The Ranch.”
“Yes.”
“And where is she now?
“She’s dead, little mouse.”
Don’t get caught.
I open my mouth to ask “why,” but Hermes beats me to it. “Vladik found her out. He strung her up from the chandelier and decorated the room with her intestines.”
“You’re kidding right?”
“Why? Having second thoughts?”
I inhale slowly through my nose and whisper, “When we get out of here, I’m taking Ares far, far away from you.”
He just chuckles.
“I don’t know why I ever offered to do this. I could have just convinced him to leave with me, and you’d be all alone.”
“But you didn’t, and now it’s too late,” he says, pulling the car to a stop. I glance out the windows at the men crowding around the car with semi-automatic weapons. Beyond them the double doors yawn open, and golden light spills onto the concrete floor of the loading dock. I dart my gaze back to Hermes. “Goodbye, Pet.”
“Don’t you dare call me that,” I say, but Hermes flips a switch, and the divider goes up between us. The door opens, and a beefy arm reaches in and grabs my leash. I swat and kick, not ready for this. I didn’t sign up for this. Why did Ares leave me? Why would he leave me with his brother only to be handed over to these brutes?
“No!” I scream as they pull me from the car by the ankle, depositing me on the wet asphalt.
I’m pulled to my feet, and I struggle as a black fabric bag is shoved over my head. I’m yanked forward, my feet dragging, scraping painfully against the concrete.
“Stop fighting,” a gruff voice says in my ear. I still. For the briefest of seconds I freeze, unable to fight back. What am I doing here? Why did I ever think I could do this? Why would I betray myself and my Master by agreeing to be sold to another?
I must have lost my damn mind when Ares set me free.
“Good. You’re not completely stupid then.” The man yanks me forward, and I have no choice but to keep up or lose the skin on the top of my feet. “This will all go easier if you behave.”
I’m pulled inside a building. I can make out only bits and pieces of my surroundings—a large torso. A long hall. More guns, more guards.
Fear makes my heart trip all over itself as I’m led down the corridor by my leash. At least I’m allowed to walk instead of crawling.
I’m roughly shoved into a room at the end of the passageway. Inside, there’s a quiet, a stillness that is filled with fear. The stench is crippling. Someone coughs. Another person whimpers, but it’s silenced with the sharp whack of a heavy instrument pounding flesh, followed by a guttural cry. The bag is removed from my head. Light blinds me, and I squeeze my eyes closed against the sudden intrusion.
“Get in line. At the back,” my guard says as he shoves me forward. He lets go of my leash too late. I choke as I’m pulled backward and stumble into him. I gag, and cough, but a sharp smack across the back of my thigh with a cane has me standing up straight as white-hot pain lances through me.
My gaze lands on a woman with a cane. Her hair is blond, severely pulled back from her face in a tight bun. Her lips are red, and her heels are high. Apparently, so are her standards.
“Stand up straight,” she hisses in a thick Russian accent. I comply, because the cane is only my favorite torture implement when Mistress Violet wields it, and it’s obvious now she went easy on me.
“She’s very pretty, this one.” The Russian grabs my face between her thumb and forefinger. Her free hand whacks me with her cane across the front of my thighs, but it’s a warning tap this time, and not nearly as painful. “Spread.”
I do as she commands. I don’t like it, but I have no desire to be beaten by this bitch. She’s not as terrifying as Ares, but I no longer belong to him. At least, not for the next few days. I’m masterless once more. Maybe forever, if I fuck this up and get caught.
“Hmm.” She walks a wide circle around me. I keep my eyes trained to the front. “Bend at the waist.”
The millisecond that it takes to process this information earns me two hard whacks against the ass. Hard enough to brand, hard enough to break the skin. My knees buckle, but I hold it together despite the tears pooling in my eyes and the pain searing my bottom. I do as I’m ordered, and she steps closer, poking at the tender stripes against my flesh. She pinches and then soothes, and it takes everything I have not to turn and punch the bitch in the face. I hold position though, because I know it’s what my Master would want.
“Very nice,” she says, as a long-taloned finger slides down the seam of my ass, over the puckered flesh to my opening. “Mmm, nice and wet. Pink, and very, very beautiful.”
She shoves inside me, causing me to gasp because I’m taken unawares. She pulls out almost the entire way, and adds another finger, stretching me. “Not a virgin, though. Shame. Still, I like how tight she is.
My Master will be pleased.”
She pulls out of me, and the guard previously hauling me around outside hands her a moist towelette from a silver trolley lining the wall. She wipes her hands clean and tosses it back to him. His licentious gaze roams over me from head to toe. I shudder. Somehow this woman shoving her fingers inside me and exploring my deepest parts was less invasive than the man standing before me, practically licking his lips like a dog with a bone.
The woman leaves the room, and I’m ushered toward the back with the other girls. A sea of shaking, terrified women stand before me. I bow my head and wonder if they were all subjected to the same inspection I was. I take my place among them and wait.
For hours we’re made to stand, as one by one, girls are taken from the room. They don’t return. I’m almost falling asleep, my fear half-forgotten when the girl before me is carted away, kicking and screaming. When they come for me, I don’t kick and scream. I don’t carry on like a child, and I don’t fight. I do flinch because anything else would look suspicious, but I don’t have to fake the fear I know they’re seeing in my wide-eyed gaze.
We never discussed what would happen to me if Vladik doesn’t buy me. Will Ares come for me in time? Will my guard get to keep me as payment for services rendered? I don’t plan to stick around to find out.
I’m led through a short hall to a double set of doors that lead to a ballroom. There, I’m taken by the collar and pulled up onstage. I trip on the step, and the crowd of finely dressed men and women murmur. I dart my gaze around the room, seeking those fathomless brown eyes of the man I love, my Master, my Sir. I lock onto them, several rows back from the front. He gives an imperceptible nod.
Be good, Pet.
Yes, Sir. As you wish, Sir.
Movement from the front row draws my attention. The blonde who fingered me in the backroom sits staring up at me, a smirk on her face. My eyes drift over to her partner. Vladik. I know him because Ares showed me pictures. Granted, they were grainy, as if they’d been pulled from CCTV. He’s a short, squat man with a head too big for his body. His nose is proud and bulbous, and like the blonde, he seems to look down on everything and everyone around him. He doesn’t scare me though. Before the auctioneer can even begin, the woman beside him leans in to whisper something in his ear. He nods, and she raises her paddle. “Five hundred thousand.”
My jaw drops, and the auctioneer glances between the woman and an official at the side of the room.
A nervous chuckle escapes him. “Alright, it seems we’re keen to skip the intro and start the bidding for this lovely slave girl who happened to be a famous ballerina in her former life. I have five hundred thousand, do I have six?”
“Six,” a familiar voice says from the back, and I have to control my features, so I won’t frown and give away my thoughts. What is he doing? My heart soars and plummets all at once. Why would he bid on me?
“Seven,” the blonde says, raising her paddle. Vladik stares at me, but the woman beside him turns to assess the competition. Ares tilts his chin in greeting. The blonde does the same and turns back to the front with a satisfied grin.
Ares lifts his paddle. “Seven hundred and fifty.”
“Seven hundred and fifty,” the auctioneer shouts. “Do I have eight?”
A finely dressed Arab man across the room raises his paddle. The light glints off his gold, diamond-encrusted watch, and butterflies swoop and dive inside my stomach.
“Eight hundred thousand to the gentleman with the watch.”
The Russian’s patience is all but gone now, if her sharp gaze and white-knuckled grip on her paddle is anything to go by. “One million.”
“Two,” Ares says.
“Do I hear three?” the auctioneer asks. There are several people on cell phones, covering their mouths as they whisper into the microphone. Any one of them could stop this. They could have called the police, or sent footage, but they are not here to help. They’re here to buy. “Come on, ladies and gentlemen, three million is not a lot to ask for a prima ballerina. She’s awfully flexible, folks.”
A pretty Asian woman on the phone shouts, “Seven million.”
“Twelve,” a newcomer with a Spanish accent says. There’s a collective gasp from the gathered bidders. Several heads turn in the direction of a silver-haired man. I dart my gaze to Ares, who seems to have paled.
“Twelve million. Do I have thirteen? Perhaps from my Russian friend down the front?”
Vladik nods. The woman beside him raises her paddle and says, “Thirteen,”
“Thirteen million dollars.” The auctioneer waves his gavel in the air. “Going once, fair warning, going for thirteen million dollars.”
“Seventeen,” the man at the back of the room says. My heart plummets. My eyes dart to Ares. He’s rising from his seat, but Hermes tugs him back down. Ares’ eyes are black and fathomless. My Sir is not happy. And why should he be? We’re here for Vladik. I’m supposed to go to Vladik.
“Going once. Going twice?” The auctioneer glances at Vladik, waiting on the Russian’s answer as surely as the rest of us. There is only silence. “Sold to the gentleman in the back for seventeen million dollars.”
“No!” I scream, but I’m dragged offstage. Through the throng of moving bodies, I see Ares getting to his feet. His gaze meets mine, and in them is despair, and an apology.
Sold. I’m sold. To the wrong man. I collapse against my bodyguard. Sold. And now I’ll never see my Sir again. I’ll never kneel before him.
I’m the property of someone else.
Sold.
I no longer belong to my Sir.
Once again, I’m cast out. Alone. Owned by a new Master, and I have no idea how to exist without my Sir, or what fate has in store for me.
PET’S STORY CONTINUES ...
In the land of Gods and Monsters, Part III.
Coming soon.
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MORE BY CARMEN JENNER
Welcome to Sugartown (Sugartown Series #1)
Enjoy Your Stay (Sugartown Series #2)
Greetings from Sugartown (Sugartown Series #3)
Now Leaving Sugartown (Sugartown Series #4)
Sugartown: The Collection
REVELRY (Taint #1)
CLOSER (Taint #2)
KICK (Savage Saints MC #1)
TANK (Savage Saints MC #2)
Finding North
Toward the Sound of Chaos
The Way Back Home
Harley & Rose
Puck Love
Cake
In the Land of Gods and Monsters, Part I (Gods & Monsters Series)
In the Land of Gods and Monsters, Part II (Gods & Monsters Series)
Bittersweet (Co-write with Lauren K. McKellar)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carmen Jenner is a USA Today and international bestselling author.
A hardcore red lipstick addict and a romantic at heart, Carmen strives to give her characters the HEA they deserve, but not before ruining their lives completely first ... because what's a happily ever after without a little torture?
AUTHOR LINKS
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To my darling non-husband Ben, you are my world. I love you so much. Thanks for su
pporting me through all of the crazy this life throws our way. Cabin 70, baby.
Ava Rose and Ari Danger, I love you more than the sun, and more than the stars, and more than the moon, and more than Mars, and way more than ... chickens!
To my gorgeous family, I love you.
To my beautiful beta readers: Kristina Zolnar, Ali Hymer, and Anne Dawson. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I appreciate you all so much. I’m truly honored that you read for me time and again, but more than that, I’m blessed to call all three of you my friends.
Lauren from Creating Ink, thank you for being a super awesome editor who just gets it. I’m forever grateful, and I’m so honored to call you my friend. I still want to steal your babies.
To the ridiculously talented Ben from Be Designs, this cover? These teasers? *Dies* I really am the luckiest girl in all the land, and I can’t wait for everyone to fall in love with your talent the way I have.
And finally, THANK YOU to the readers! I hope you loved Ares as much as I do. It’s okay if you still hate him a little bit too. Just don’t say it to his face or he may do a lot worse than spank you. ;) I can’t wait to show you what’s next for Pet. Thank you for all your love and support. It means the world to me!
In the Land of Gods and Monsters, Part II (Gods & Monsters, #2) Page 17