Page 23 of Black Mamba

“I won’t run again. I promise.” She eyes the rope. “Please don’t tie me up.”

She draws away when I move closer. “This will only be for a short time. Until you realize that I am trying to help you and there is nothing to fear from me.”

“You say that, but you’re about to tie me up in your bed.”

“Nesssst,” I correct her. “I do not sleep in a bed. I sleep in a soft pile of hides. Hides that are trophies that I have collected. They are thick and warm, as you can see.”

I lean down to search her wide eyes and pale expression, her barely tempered panic edging them.

“Come out.” I hold my empty hand out to her.

“No.”

I slide my tailtip toward her and wrap it around her lower leg. She gasps and tugs her leg back as I drag her out from under the table. “Stop! No! I won’t run again—I promise!” She kicks.

I gather her against me and, twisting her until her back is to my chest, I secure her with my tail and arms. She tries yanking hers out of my grip as I gently maneuver them behind her back. Tying the end of the rope around her wrists, I keep it loose enough that she can still move around and outside my nest. I do not want to restrain her to the point it will make her uncomfortable. She should be allowed to move.

I get the knot tight between her wrists and release her. She jerks away to face me, stumbling over the hides, and presses her back against the wall. She strains her arms outward, fighting the binds while keeping her furrowed gaze on me.

She lifts her chin as her fumbling comes to a stop. “I will never be yours. Whatever you do, I will never submit to you.” She spits the words like an oath.

Anger rushes me. “You will stay here while I find you some food.” I turn to leave, clenching my fists.

I want to touch her. I want to press into her and smell her. I do not want to quarrel with her. But here we are… I should have expected this.

“I will not eat anything you bring,” she snaps as I leave the cavern, putting distance between us before I do something I will regret. Her fear taints her scent and I do not like it.

I glance over my shoulder. “Yessss. You will,” I vow in return.

Yes.

You will.

THIRTEEN

UNWANTED ATTENTION

Lukys

Over the next several days she fights me relentlessly, eventually refusing to speak to me.

I consider her bent form and the way she partially rests against my nest. The top of her body leans into the pile of hides while her bottom half lies on the thinner ones on the stone floor. Though she is not in my nest, she has not fully shunned it.

I had not expected such a fight, not after I saw her crying for days on end. But fight me she does, going so far as to let herself suffer. I hiss.

When I returned after tying her up, I brought a skinned hare. She gave me a scrunched face when I showed her the fresh, lean creature that would be her evening’s meal. I was proud of the small catch. It was more than enough meat to feed her. Not having seen her eat fresh meat on her ship, I thought she would perk up with the offering.

Not only had I caught the first animal I would feed her, but I had hoped to watch her eat it too.

I sigh.

But even after I made a fire in the pit and untied her to join me within the larger, warmer cavern, she refused. She then refused the cooked meat when I brought it to her. Instead, she moved to the wall beside my nest and huddled there after snatching her blanket from the ground.

The next day was not any better. Her words, which she threw at me at first, were no longer there. Eventually, nothing I said would get me a response. I had to retie her so I could hunt another meal for her, and when I did… she barely fought me.

She did not eat that evening either. It had been a fish from the river, cooked over the fire like the hare the previous night. She stared at the fillet with agog before she paled and turned away, hiding her face in her hair.

I expected her sentiment would change the next morning. It had to. She could not keep going on like this.