Savage Kingdom: A Dark Romance (Sekten Book 1)

by C. Lymari

  Her lips curled in disgust.

  “Once.” Her word was hushed.

  It brought me hope. I hated failure, and I wouldn’t go back to my country until I had succeeded.

  “Do you care to elaborate?”

  “There’s a club,” she said, and I cut her off.

  “Of course there is. Let me guess, some underground shit for peddling?”

  “Why are you looking for him?” She changed the subject.

  “Do you know more than you’re telling?” I replied.

  “No, I have no reason to lie to you.”

  My laughter vibrated through the quiet room. She licked her lips, and I followed the movements.

  “Petal, you have the face of an angel, body of a goddess, but I bet that mind of yours is cunning.”

  Nothing was more dangerous than someone looking for freedom. They had nothing to lose, and the taste of the world to gain.

  “Take me with you, and I’ll tell you what I know.”

  I laughed.

  “Love, you’re in no position to make any demands, plus you forget the fact that you’re injured. Bringing you with me is a liability.”

  “It won’t be in five days,” she said with a hint of mischief in her eyes. For someone with no poker face, her eyes lit one hell of a spark. “Pain doesn’t bother me. And besides, if you want to get into Sinestre, you need a reason. What better reason that a pet who’s already trained?”

  She raised a brow.

  I shook my head at her audacity. Slowly I rose from my chair, her vigilant eyes following the movement.

  “How do you know about the club?”

  Her previous glow dimmed. “Let’s just say I wasn’t an exclusive commodity.”

  “What the fuck does that mean? You are supposedly the thing Yoro values the most?”

  “I think I’ve spoken enough for one day.” She dismissed me.

  Walking out of the room, I headed for the kitchen. Pulling out my phone, I called my contact back at headquarters.

  “Get me everything and anything you can find on Yorovich. I want to know about a woman. About five two, raven hair, gray eyes…Russian. And then see what you can find on Sinestre. Start with cartels or maybe even mafia. Get back to me when you have something useful.”

  The call started and ended before the other agent could even say a word. Daphne was getting on my nerves, and being honest, I didn’t know why. Was it because she wasn’t meek and succumbing to my demands?

  After grabbing a blade, bottled water, a granola bar, and an apple, I brought them back to the bedroom. It’s not that I wasn’t trying to feed her, but it was all I had, and keeping her weak was a bonus.

  “Tell me about the club and I’ll give this to you. I’ll even uncuff one of your hands. Give you a little room to breathe.”

  She stared at me, weighing her options. “Petal,” I warned. “I suggest you take the peace offering.”

  “It opens only on Saturdays. The location is sent to those who wish to participate two hours before. It’s how the FBI hasn’t been able to close its operations. If you want an invite, you’re going to have to track down Beto.”

  I threw the water at her, and it landed next to her hip. She eyed it greedily but didn’t try to grab it.

  “Do you know more about Beto?”

  She licked her lips. My cock twitched.

  “He was part of the old Sinaloa cartel before they were betrayed. He stayed here with a few other ex-members—at least that’s what I gathered from listening to what Yoro and his men talked about.”

  I took the information in, not saying a word, my mind going over all possible scenarios. When I was by her side of the bed, Daphne held her breath. It was small, barely there, but it was her tell she was preparing for the worst.

  This was nothing. How I was treating her was fucking heaven, but if she betrayed the trust I so precariously gave her, hell would be tame to what I would do to her.

  “Are you scared, Petal?” I mocked as I grabbed the chain that held her wrists together. She glared at me, and the sight of her gray eyes glowing with loathing was becoming addicting. Dare I say, it was more alluring than watching stars shine at night.

  Instead of unchaining one of her wrists, I brought her arms up, resting just below the headboard, the chain right at the top. I grabbed a knife and stabbed it to the wood right between one of the holes of the chain, holding it in place.

  Some would say playing on her fears was a low blow, but in this job, nothing was personal. She was just another sob story. More than half a million of people were trafficked a year; seventy percent were female, and about fifty were children. Almost always they forced them into sex slavery.

  When I straddled her, the vein on her neck started to strum. She might be used to it, being taken against her will, but I bet it was a feeling that you never looked forward to.

  “You lie to me, love, you won’t like what happens to you,” I warned.

  “Are you going to punish me with your cock?” She raised an eyebrow defiantly.

  My dick got hard—fast.

  Couldn’t help it. My dick was a crowd-pleaser, and it wanted to pound into Daphne like there was no tomorrow. Make her choke on her words, have her pleas die in her throat while tears fell from those pretty eyes.

  I ignored my dick, and she pretended like hardness wasn’t trying to poke through her stomach. I pulled my lock kit from my back pocket and uncuffed one of her arms, leaving the other arm raised. She wasn’t comfortable, but hey, at least she wasn’t getting raped.

  “Eat up, buttercup,” I said as I grabbed her chin and forced her to look at me, my head bent low, our breaths mixing. Her breathing was labored but stable. She was trying hard not to be rattled, but it was coming out forced. “When we fuck…” Her eyes grew wide at my statement. “You’re not going to only be willing, but you’re going to be the one—” I got so close to her lips she was frozen. Maybe in fear or shock. My lips touched her briefly. “—fucking me.”

  “Get off me before I fucking kill you.” She seethed, and I smiled.

  “If it’s death by pussy, Petal, count me in,” I mocked as I got off her.

  The days passed in a blur despite being stuck in the penthouse babysitting. My intel came back. Daphne was a ghost. We couldn’t find anything on her, not a trace. I didn’t think she was a Russian spy. Something told me she wasn’t SVR—Yoro had a lot of pull, and the Russian government tended to leave him alone. I guess we wouldn’t be switching Interpol IDs anytime soon.

  All the other information she gave me on Beto, the club, and cartel members all checked out. I mean, there was the possibility that she was just a pawn. Someone at the wrong place and time. First getting trafficked and now in my possession. Some people just had shitty luck.

  I liked to think of myself as a humanitarian. I kept Daphne hydrated, fed her some food, and I sanitized her foot. That was just the kind of stand-up guy I was. I had just finished my workout when I made my way to her room.

  Anything sex-related made Daphne uncomfortable, so naturally, I used it against her. I walked in the room with my shorts riding low on my hips, a hint of my happy trail peeking out. She would never admit it, but she loved me in all my sweaty after-workout glory. I could tell by the way her eyes would roam my body.

  See, I was a nice guy coming to her right after my workout so her eyes could feast on the male specimen I was.

  “Mornin’, Petal.”

  She didn’t answer; she rarely did. I was sure what I told her about her fucking me messed with her head. This time I didn’t go for the bandages to change her wound. Instead, I went for the shower, turning the water on and adjusting it so it was lukewarm.

  Daphne still had that cold, elusive look on her face. I grinned because what I was about to do was going to make her a spitfire. God, was she a beauty when she got pissed.

  “Shower time, gorgeous,” I singsonged as I went to the side of the bed where her hand was cuffed.

  “Tomorrow is Saturday
. Why not then?”

  This bitch. This was the first shower I was letting her have, and she wasn’t even complaining for the right reasons.

  “Because we need to go out, and you need not look like a homeless porn star. Figured this way, I can test your leash.” I winked at her as I removed the cuffs for the first time in days.

  Her hands came to the red welts on her wrist, massaging them, relieving some of the tension that had gathered there. She then got up, stretching her hands, craning her neck and making it crack.

  I stood there impassively as she stretched, and watched as her eyes fluttered with delight at the feelings.

  “Come on, love, the water is going to get cold.” I pointed to the bathroom.

  I watched her eye me suspiciously. She then got into the bathroom, and I grinned. I gave her a head start of five minutes while I removed my clothes outside of the bathroom.

  Picking the lock was a piece of cake. I didn’t know why she bothered in locking the door in the first place.

  As soon as I opened the door, I knew something was wrong because the lights were off. Immediately I barged in, closing the door right behind me when I felt Daphne come at me.

  For the last three days, I was wondering if I had lost my mind. I was Daphne, I was Sekten, and I had no need to be subjected to this task. I had wanted to escape Yoro, willing to go with the first man who came, but I think I had bitten off more than I could chew.

  Everything was fine until he said I was going to be the one fucking him. I know the words might not mean much to many, but they were also said deliberately to make a point.

  My whole life, I had been taken against my will. Kneeling and bending backward for my allegiance, it was never for my pleasure but for theirs. No, Gideon wanted mine, and that fucked with my head. Which I’ll admit was something he was after too. We didn’t trust each other, but we needed one another for whatever fucked-up tasked we had to perform.

  So, I knew I couldn’t give away all my cards. Gideon was bound to get suspicious of me. What did every person in captivity try to do? Escape. They all tried to be free, and I had yet to attempt to flee.

  He was smart. As soon as he opened the door, he saw the lights off, and he barged in, closing the door behind him. My hand hit him in the rib. I was not aiming to maim but wanted to cause damage as payback for how he was making me feel. I wasn’t scared to take on a man twice my size.

  Gideon was fast. In the dark, he grabbed my wrist as soon as I hit his ribs. He gripped the tender skin of my wrist. The one that had turned red from being cuffed. He squeezed it hard, then slammed me against the door, my forehead hitting the wood.

  That shit hurt.

  My arm was twisted behind my back, and then he pushed behind my knees, making me kneel for him.

  Gideon grabbed a handful of my head and pulled it back. My scalp burned like a motherfucker.

  “Petal, my sweet, sweet Petal,” he mocked as he turned on the light.

  I looked up at him from my position and noticed three things right away. He was naked. Two, he was hard. And the third, perhaps the most important one, he was furious. His jaw was clenched, and those whiskey eyes were dark swirls of bourbon ready to unleash mayhem.

  My face stayed impassive.

  “I tried to be nice because, despite the shit I do, I’m no monster. One thing to know about me, love. I hate traitors,” he spat before he threw me by the hair to the side.

  I caught myself before I landed face-first.

  There was a feeling deep in my gut that felt a lot like disappointment.

  “Strip.” Gideon’s voice was low, controlled, but I knew he was barely holding it together.

  The last thing I wanted to do was be naked in front of him. My body was not perfect—Yoro had made sure of that. He made sure I was only appealing to him. A product of his creation. When I had a mark, I never let them see me naked. Most couldn’t stand the sight before them. How the perfect face and delectable body belonged to a monster.

  “Either you get naked, or I do it for you.” He stood with his arms crossed by the door holding guard so I would think twice before trying to escape again.

  When my clothes came off and the beast that hid within showed, most men ran scared, and a part of me didn’t want that to happen. I told myself it was because I needed him. I needed my Yoro problem rid of once and for all.

  I crisscrossed my arms and then pulled my shirt off, looking anywhere but at Gideon. Then came the pants. I turned around when I removed my jeans, giving him a prime view of my back. I knew he had seen my wounds already when he had cleaned my back, but not like this, all of them exposed. I squared my shoulders and walked into the shower. The water wasn’t scalding; it was warm. Only when I was covered in the water spray did I take a deep breath.

  My eyes were closed, my face tipped toward the water when I felt Gideon at my back. I hated the way my heart sped up. It was a beat I didn’t like the rhythm of. I didn’t want to feel.

  It was all wrong, but the disturbing thing was that it felt right.

  “If I can’t trust you, then you have no use to me.” His voice vibrated through the small room.

  Removing the water from my eyes, I turned around to face him. There was always something about a distressed man that looked beautiful—alluring.

  Something maddening and inviting that could kill you.

  “I’d be no use to you dead?” I quipped.

  “Look at me,” he demanded.

  I kept staring past him.

  “I am loo—”

  Gideon took another step forward. “Another thing I hate is liars.” Then he was right in front of me, his hand wrapped around my waist, pulling my body flush to his.

  “You’re going to try harder if you want to fool me, Petal. I can’t tell when those wolf eyes are on me or past me.”

  When he let go of me, I took a step back and slowly looked up at him, and my lips parted when I noticed how there was no repulsion in his gaze. Far from it. His eyes were full, hungry—he wanted me.

  That terrified me.

  I’d been wanted before—that wasn’t the issue—but not by someone who had seen more of me than most men had. It went skin-deep through the scars and cut down to my bones.

  Gideon got under the water, our bodies millimeters away from one another. His hand came to the wall behind me, blocking the water from hitting me and instead cascading down his back.

  I held my breath, waiting to see what he would say. Gideon didn’t press our bodies together, but he did bring his head down. I’d tasted a thousand lips, and none of them meant a thing. I’d rather not taste his, because you could never miss something you’ve never known.

  “Until you earn my trust back, Petal, I am your fucking shadow.”

  “And if that never happens?” My words were low, getting lost with the noise, but he heard them.

  “Then I guess you’d better get used to my presence,” he chided against my cheek. I felt a zip go through my body. Something so violent against a soft touch. With my eyes closed, I let him have his fill. It’s what I always did when men were near. As quickly as his lips had roamed over my cheek, they were gone, to the point I felt like I imagined it.

  “Hurry up and shower. We have things to do,” Gideon said, sounding farther away. When I opened my eyes, he was across the shower. He was giving me space. Turning around, I did as he asked in record time.

  We dried in silence, my eyes not going anywhere near his vicinity while I felt the scalding burn of his gaze on my skin. Lust was a feeling I knew well—one I didn’t particularly enjoy either.

  Once we were both dressed, I expected him to chain me again. Gideon handed me a Band-Aid and some slippers. My cut was healing. It still ached when I added pressure on it, but being chained and in bed had helped the healing process.

  “We’re going out,” he informed me.

  Not saying a word, I got ready and followed him out of the door.

  “You wanted to be a pet, love, let’s see how well you
do,” Gideon said as he guided me to the elevator.

  There was excitement humming through my veins. I loved a good challenge. I loved being victorious.

  “I wasn’t trying to fool you before…” I told him as the elevator door closed.

  “And now?”

  My head turned around, watching him out of the corner of my eyes. He stood tall and confident behind me. He looked like someone who got off on intimidating scared little girls. I grinned at him. The cocky look on his face slipped a bit.

  “You’ll learn,” I told him dismissively.

  The elevator door dinged, and it opened to the lobby. Before I could take a step, Gideon curled an arm around my hip and pushed me back against his hard body.

  “Is that a threat?”

  I looked up, stood on my tiptoes, and kissed his chin. The action made him freeze. Finally, I felt like I was gaining some ground.

  “It’s a promise, handsome.”

  The low, throaty growl that came from him was sexy. I shook my head, not wanting to think those things of him, or of any man.

  As we left the lobby of the Hilton, my eyes scanned every available surface. Gideon noticed and mistook it for fear.

  “Relax, I won’t ever let him take you,” he swore.

  My throat clogged.

  No one had ever stepped a foot in trying to defend me. I was a hot commodity. A whore. Not even my own society took me seriously. I was a weapon, and it was time I started acting like it.

  We walked a few blocks when he made his way inside a little hole-in-the-wall bar. It was small; the patrons in here were peculiar, a range between lowlives and suits. I took a seat by the bar, right in front of the bartender.

  “Anything I can get you, gorgeous?” He smiled, leaning into the bar.

  “Cranberry vodka,” I said, not really caring what I drank. As long as it had vodka, I was game. I rarely drank, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know how to hold my own. I was Russian, after all.

  The bartender winked and got to work on my order. I didn’t know where Gideon had left to, but wherever he was, I knew he had eyes on me.

  A chair scraped next to me, the noise alarming—a warning more than anything. I slightly turned my head to see the person who was next to me.