by Raven Dark
Men shouted at me to keep back.
“Where’s Dice? Is Cherry in there?”
“Cherry?” Crank asked. “She should be down there!” He nodded to the laundering pool.
“She isn’t.”
“Shit.” He looked at the smoke-filled entrance. “We’ll find her. Go get Hawk and Sheriff. Now!”
I was about to obey, but one of the other guardsmen rushed over.
“We got Dice out, he’s gonna be ok.”
I looked behind the guardsman and could barely make out two men carrying a coughing Dice out of the tunnel to his apartment and down the walkway.
But where was Cherry? I looked around, thinking maybe I had missed her, but I knew in my gut that she would’ve been right there by her grandfather’s side. Which meant that she was somewhere in there, trapped.
The guardsman noticed me then. “Get out of here, everything’s being taken care of. Go get Captain Hawk.”
Problem was, by the time I went for Hawk, if Cherry was in there, she could be dead. I nodded at him and pretended to leave, then, taking advantage of the thick smoke and the growing crowd of people, I slunk down the hall while the men were focused on Dice.
I covered my mouth, my eyes watering, and searched the thick, smoky gloom as I made my way down the long passage. Passing the well cavern I’d noticed the first time I was here, my eyes caught sight of a bundle lying by the half constructed stone well in the middle of the room. I rushed over and knelt, turning the lump over. Cherry flopped onto her back, unconscious. A container of water lay beside her, water having spilled out of it in a pool. Stones that looked like they’d fallen from the ceiling lay crumbled around her, and there was a nasty, bleeding cut on her forehead where one of the stones must have hit her.
“Cherry…” I shook her, and she opened her eyes dazedly, then coughed when she inhaled smoke.
“Violet…” she hacked.
Relief swept over me. That name never sounded so wonderful. I grabbed her arm and pulled her up. “Come on, we have to get out of here.”
“Gramps,” she choked out.
“He’s already out. Here, cover your nose and mouth.” I held her sleeve over her face and hurried us toward the tunnel while piece of the stone ceiling dropped on us.
“I was trying to get water…ceiling fell on my head…”
“I know, it’s okay,” I choked out, smoke eating away at my vocal chords.
A hot chunk of ceiling stone hit my back, between my shoulder blades, and I cried out and rushed us toward the entrance to the outside. I pushed Cherry toward the sunlight while I bent over and choked on the smoke. A support beam that ran across the roof of the tunnel near the door broke loose with a crack. It dropped, slamming into me, sending me to the floor and pinning me under it.
Cherry whirled back toward me, shouting something I couldn’t hear, but one of the men grabbed her and pulled her out, then rushed inside to me. His smoky silhouette leaned close, indigo eyes filled with protective concern.
“Sher…Sheriff…”
He grabbed the support beam and heaved it up, lifting it above his head. I scrambled out, ignoring the pain in my side where the beam had hit. Someone reached into the haze from the door and yanked me out.
“Kitten. You alright?”
Hawk. I was suddenly in his arms. “What the hell were you doing in there? You were supposed to come get me.” He carried me out of the tunnel and onto the main walkway.
Coughing, I buried my face in his chest. Hawk hurried me away from the smoke. When he set me down, I looked around, realizing where we were. He’d taken me to the pool where I’d bathed the first day. He set me down on a rock beside the pool.
“Let me look at you.” He knelt in front of me, cradling my face in his hands.
The concern in his eyes made it easy to forget I couldn’t let myself get attached to him. “I’m fine, Master, really,” I croaked out in between coughing fits.
He turned me and examined my back with a growl, then turned me back to face him, his fingers pinching my arms. The skin on my back felt like it had been seared with a branding iron, but I hadn’t really noticed it until now. I coughed again, my throat raw.
“Part of the ceiling fell on me, but I’ll be fine.”
Hawk stood up and pulled off his cut and shirt. “What the fuck were you thinking? Why did you go in there? My men told you to get me.” He dunked his shirt into the pool, then wrung out the excess water. “Here, let me wash your face. Then breathe that in while I look at your back.” He handed me the shirt and waited for me to cover my mouth with it.
The wet material felt wonderful against my skin, and I kept it there, inhaling the moisture into my lungs and nose. I felt a rip in the back of my frock and jerked.
“Careful, Kitten.” I turned my head to see the flash of his knife cutting away at my frock. When he was done, he sheathed the knife back on his hip. He moved my hair over my shoulder and out of his way.
“You never answered me. Why did you go in there?”
“I couldn’t find Cherry. She—"
Hawk turned to me, his face hard. “What did I tell you before? What are the rules?”
“I know, but—”
“But nothing.” Protectiveness roughened his voice. “I told you to obey my men as you would me. Kitten, you never, ever put yourself in danger like that again, you hear me?”
A mix of annoyance and appreciation tugged at me. “Master, my friend was in danger. I—"
“No. Stop talking.” He put his finger in my face. “Listen to me. There are no exceptions here. You could have been killed. My men were all over the scene, one of them could have gone in and found her. When I tell you to do something, you do it, and when it comes to keeping you safe, that goes for my men, too.”
I sighed, my stomach clenching at the near viciousness in his voice. “You’re angry with me.”
“Yes,” he snapped. “I am. If you’re lucky, I won’t turn your ass black and blue.”
My mouth dropped, but I was saved from having to answer that when a man, followed by Crank, rushed into the area. The man carried a small medic’s case and knelt beside me. He assessed my wound.
“Figured you’d want a medic, Hawk,” Crank said.
Hawk gave him a nod. “How are Cherry and Dice?”
Crank motioned to the man inspecting my injury. “Doc says they’ll be right as rain, no damage.”
“Anyone else get hurt?”
“No. Fire’s out, just smells like burnt ass up there.”
I winced at the sting in my back as the man beside me cleaned my burn and then applied some kind of balm.
“Is she all right, Doc?” Hawk asked. I could hear it in the way he said the word, Doc was the man’s name, not just his title.
“She is. It’s a bad burn, but it’ll be fine in a few days if it’s kept clean and bandaged.”
Hawk’s mouth turned down at me. “Good. Then she won’t have trouble getting her ass whipped.”
Doc started bandaging my burn. “Nope, she sure won’t.”
I sighed. I was all right, but would I be fine once Hawk was through with me?
Chapter 14
Selfless
After changing into some clean clothes, Hawk and I made our way to the clubhouse. Sheriff had called a meeting of the higher Dark Legion members and anyone involved in the fire. Walking into the room, I noticed him seated in the same chair he’d sat in the night of the barbeque. The night he watched me come apart at Pretty Boy’s touch.
Maker, would I ever have a moment to myself to process everything I’d been through since I got here? Everywhere I looked, I was either reminded of sex or danger. I honestly didn’t think I could take much more.
“There you are, Violet,” Cherry called out from the corner of the room. She waved her hand, beckoning me over to the sofa where she sat with her grandfather. I looked up at Hawk, waiting for his response. Master he was, but I didn’t know him well enough yet to know if I could go as I pleased
in the clubhouse. This wasn’t exactly the laundering hole.
“Go ahead, Kitten. I’ll meet you over there later.” He waved in acknowledgement of Cherry and kissed my forehead.
“Thank you, Master.” I walked over to her, threading my way through the men, some sitting on the club house chairs and couches.
As soon as I reached her, Cherry patted the seat next to her. “Girl, sit your little ass down.” I looked at her. She looked different. It took me a moment to figure out what it was. Aside from the stitches in her forehead, she was smiling. I’ve never seen a real smile from her, aside from the brief hints of them when we joked around yesterday.
“How are you feeling, Dice?” I asked him as I sat between the two of them. Dice put his good arm around the back of the sofa and turned to me.
“I’m fine, honey. It’s you that we’ve been wondering about. We heard you got hit by a fallen beam. You ok?”
I answered his questions, telling them both that the medic said I’d be alright. When I finished, I noticed that the room had quieted down. I looked around. Sheriff held a gavel in his hand and hit it against the arm of his chair in three quick strikes.
“I’ve called you all in here because of the fire at Dice’s place this afternoon. My men say the fire started because a kitchen rag got too close to a pan of cooking oil. According to Cherry’s report of what happened, that checks out.
“Shit, he’s so damn paranoid,” Cherry muttered under her breath. If I wasn’t sitting so close to her, I’d never have heard her.
I turned my head in her direction and raised my eyebrow. She shook her head.
“Good news, no one was hurt,” Sheriff said. “Old Man Dice will live another day.” The men laughed, including Dice. “But I do want us all to pitch in and help Cherry get him moved into a new place tonight.” Sounds of agreement filled the room.
“What about that slave, General? She broke the rules,” Patch called out from the crowd. Beside me, Cherry groaned.
I watched Sheriff, waiting for his response. Hawk stood at his side. Sheriff leaned over and whispered something into his Captain of the Guard’s ear. Hawk nodded.
“She will be punished. Scheduled for the morning.”
My face paled, and Cherry stood up sharply.
“Cherry, sit your ass down,” Dice snapped. “Now isn’t the time.”
But she didn’t listen. “Why is she being punished? She saved my life!”
Sheriff caught and held my gaze. “I know. It’s great you’re all right. But that doesn’t excuse a slave’s disobeying the rules of the Grotto, Cherry. Law and Order must be maintained for the good of everyone here. You know this.”
Defeated, she sat back down. In an unaccustomed move, she grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I’m sorry, kid. There’s no getting out of a punishment. But you’re strong, you’ll deal with it. okay?” She didn’t look at me as she spoke.
I had questions, but now wasn’t the time to ask them. I squeezed her hand back in reply. I listened to the rest of Sheriff’s announcements, barely processing what I heard. It wasn’t until Hawk came back over to get me that I realized the lighting in the room changed. The smell of food, the sounds of chairs scrapping the floors, telling me that dinner was taking place. A few of the men sat down with plates of wings, fried chicken, or other greasy foods.
“Come on, Kitten. Let me take you to my rooms. I had them make us up a couple of plates, we can eat there.”
Shaking with what felt like the beginnings of a fever, I absently said goodbye to Cherry and Dice, and took Hawk’s hand. He led me to the bar to pick up two plates of food with paper wrapped over them, then out into early evening air of the Grotto.
As we walked back to his place in silence, I couldn’t help wondering what he was thinking. He didn’t walk ahead of me as he usually did. Instead, he kept pace at my side.
Every time we turned a corner on the walkways or the path changed direction, he set his hand on the top of my back as if he meant to guide me but stayed much closer than was necessary. He was careful not to touch the burn on my back, bandaged between my shoulder blades. His silence and his mask of regret gave the impression of a man fulfilling his duty, but it was hard to miss the protectiveness pounding off him.
“Master, may I speak freely?” Somehow, he was the only one I felt comfortable with enough to ask that.
His head bent to mine.
“You’re not angry with me for what I did?”
“I was,” he said, leading me inside his cave.
“Because I endangered myself.”
“Because you endangered what’s mine, Kitten.” He set the plates down on that low table in his living room and started lighting his rows upon rows of candles that lined his cave walls.
“Um.” I bit my lip, warmth filling my chest. I nodded to the cedar-scented lighting sticks. “Can I help?”
“Please.”
I picked up a second stick, lit the end with a flame from a candle already burning and started on a row. “Why is Sheriff the one punishing me, Master?”
“Because. Everyone in the Grotto has a place, Kitten. You didn’t disobey mine or Pretty Boy’s or Steel’s orders. You disobeyed a club mandate, acting above your station. When you disobeyed my guards, you made it clear that your judgment was right and ours was wrong. Disciplining you for that kind of violation is the General’s right, and his alone.”
“What…um. What will Sheriff do to me tomorrow?”
Hawk glanced at me, considering. After a long moment, he said, “I’m not sure. Sheriff has a list of punishments he gives slaves when he feels they’re warranted.”
I let out a shaky breath and focused on lighting more candles.
Hawk set his stick down in a holder and stroked my hair. “You’re scared.”
I turned my face up to his. “I wish you could do it.” My own words shocked me, and my cheeks heated.
Surprise touched his eyes, and appreciation. “Do you?”
I nodded.
“I wouldn’t go any easier on you.”
“Yes, you would.” My voice trembled. The memory of the way Sheriff had touched me, the menace that had radiated from him careened through my mind.
“What makes you think that?”
“Um.” I struggled for the best way to explain, then decided bluntness was best. “Sheriff hates me, Master.” It unsettled me a little that he didn’t see that.
“He doesn’t hate you, Kitten. Sheriff is just…a hard man to reach. He thinks in black and white terms. You have to earn his trust.”
He thinks I’m a spy. I lit the last candle, blew out the end of the lighting stick, and set it in the holder. He did the same with his. “How can I do that? He sees me as the enemy.”
“You earned Cherry’s respect.”
“I…I did?” I stared. “She still calls me Violet.” Except, when she said the name now, it sounded…different. A warm, fuzzy feeling spread through me.
“If anyone can crack Sheriff’s armor, it’s you, Kitten.”
We spent the next hour eating the food Hawk had brought, a delicious rice and beans dish. We talked a bit about mundane things as we ate. He asked me how I as feeling, and about my back. I was so tired from the day’s events, I honestly couldn’t have told him how I was feeling.
“Kitten, I’m going to have you spend the night in Cherry’s quarters. I think you need a break tonight.”
I was so confused by his words, it took me a minute to respond. “Master, did I do something wrong?”
He touched my cheek. “Not at all. I think you’ve been through enough today. You need some rest and staying here with me tonight wouldn’t be wise.” He rubbed his thumb over my mouth. “You’re too tempting to leave alone. My control isn’t that strong, no matter what you may think.” He grinned.
I nodded, unsure what else to say.
“But first.” He stood up and took my hands in his. “With all the commotion, I haven’t had a chance to wash up yet. But I wanted to show you this an
yway. Come with me.”
He went to his bedroom and came back with a towel and an extra frock for me. Then I followed him out of the cave.
Sunset had turned the sky to a purple-ish grey. The solar trees on the grasslands that spread between the cliffs were closed now, the branches folded all the way up so that the trees looked like long silvery bottle-brushes, the solar panels like bristles covering the upper halves. Hawk led me down the darkening paths to a small alcove a cave or two away from his place. We walked down a narrow tunnel that burrowed deep into the rock. He kept his hand in mine.
At the end of the tunnel, we entered a small, cylindrical cavern. Torches mounted on wall brackets illuminated the space, setting the pale, white rock walls to a silvery glow. Near the back wall of the cavern, a waterfall cascaded from the opening at the top, down to a set of rocks that formed stairs, the water gathering in a pool that never seemed to rise more than a foot or so off of the glistening rock bottom.
“Wow.” I looked around in wonder. Here and there, diamonds gleamed in the rock faces, making the place look ethereal. The top of the cavern opened to reveal a slice of darkening sky. “This place is beautiful, Master.”
“This is my personal bath.” Standing on the rocks that surrounded the pool, Hawk took off his boots and stripped, leaving his tanned, ripped body naked and gleaming in the moonlight. He walked me into the shallow water, to the center of the pool. The cool water trickled over my bare feet, tickling my ankles. The place had such a clean, fresh scent, I could have stayed here all night.
He closed both my hands in his. “I like to come to this place to think. Now it’s yours when you need a space to be alone. No one will be allowed to come in here without your permission except me.”
“Not even Sheriff?”
“Not even Sheriff.” His thumbs made circles on the backs of my hands before he led me over to a flat rock beside the waterfall and sat me down. “Kitten, you have to know, if Sheriff didn’t think of you as his, the same way I do, he probably would have let me punish you. Sheriff always protects what’s his, including the Grotto. That’s why he will discipline you.”