Page 20 of Lace & Flames


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God, she’d been so stupid. To her, the club had been nothing more than a scintillating bar full of exciting people having sex. Now, she saw it for the den of vipers it was. Sam half-turned toward her, dipped down, and spoke so only they could hear.

“You look incredible. You’ve already got them on their feet.” He wasn’t exaggerating. Several of the men had abandoned their places at the bar and some of the tables to get a better look at them. Kimberly straightened her shoulders but lowered her head. They’d spent the last week drilling her on their protocols and rules. She’d told them everything she could remember about the things Shawna shared with her, and now her only part of the mission was to attract her agents as much attention as possible. If their scenes caught them the right kind of notice from the right men, she’d have a real part in finding her friend and the other missing women. If she had to have a couple of threesomes with two of the hottest men alive to save them… well, that’s the cross she had to bear.

“Hey there.” A man dressed in raggedy jeans materialized out of the shadows. Kimberly jumped, and she heard his mean, appreciative chuckle. “Me’n my friends was hoping y’all would show up.”

“Is that right?” Dean prompted as he and Sam closed ranks in front of her, shielding her from view until their shoulders were practically touching. “Why so?”

“We were hoping you and yer little subbie there would join us at a place we got set aside fer our own party tonight.” She heard the smile in his voice; it was evil. “Like I was sayin’ last time, this place here don’t offer as much options as we like. Tonight, we got us some real fun and games lined up.”

Oh shit, oh shit, ohshitoshitoshitohshit!Kimberly had expected more time. They’d prepped her to wait weeks, possibly months of surveillance before they’d gain enough trust from a circle like this to be invited in. She reminded herself that this was what they’d hoped for, even as sweat pricked her upper lip and under her arms.

“Sounds like fun,” Sam answered in a hard voice, unlike his usual on-the-edge-of-laughter one.

“Yeah,” Dean agreed in the same tone, “why not?”

“All right!”

Kimberly tried not to recoil at the delight in the creepy man’s voice. If she met this man in a bar, she’d run as fast as she could in the other direction.

“It’s tricky to get there, out in the woods and no real address. Y’all can ride with me’n Leviathan. He’s got room.”

The drive into the woods was already terrifying. Kimberly felt like they were being kidnapped. The men all kept up guarded chatter, being manly, talking cars and engines, then they moved on to sports. She stayed huddled and silent between Dean and Sam with her mouth shut and her head down. Truthfully, she was so scared she probably couldn’t lift it if she tried.

So much for intrepid.

Then Dean squeezed her knee, and his thigh pressed against hers in the smelly backseat, and she felt bolstered. They had gone over this part too. She had the guys, and she had her collar if they got separated. Sure, this happened much faster than she expected, but all in all, that was a good thing. Right?

It took an eternity of bumpy, pitted roads before they finally stopped. “This here place is far enough away that the cows can beller all they want. Ain’t nobody gonna hear ‘em.” Grungy guy’s cackle was pure backwoods villain.

They climbed out of the beat-up SUV quietly, none of them amused at the joke. Grungy didn’t seem to notice and just kept cackling. “Oh, look! We’re late. They already got the bonfire started and everything. Git a move on.” And he shuffled away.

Leviathan was more courteous as he motioned them ahead of him. Although, as they passed, Kimberly suspected it was more to keep them in his sight than out of manners.

Each of her men steadied her with a hand on her elbow; the uneven ground was littered with trash and booby-trapped with exposed tree roots and ankle-breaking holes. Not at all ideal for platforms.

She continued to keep her head down but stole furtive glances at her surroundings as they went. Trucks and SUVs in varying conditions and value were parked in a haphazard pile up next to a shabby-looking cabin. If anybody needed to leave in a hurry, they’d better hope their car was on the outside of that mess, she thought.

About a dozen men in clothing and of sizes as varied as their vehicles stood around a raging fire pit. They each had submissives with them, but Kimberly couldn’t tell if any of them were as scared as she was. Most looked excited to be there from what she could see.

“Alrighty. We got us some first-time guests with us here tonight,” Grungy said loud enough to grab everyone’s attention, “so I’ll go over the game rules for y’all as a refresher. We’re gonna let the little heifers go, give ‘em a two-minute head start, and then it’s off to the races, men.”

“Oh shit,” Kimberly breathed. Dean still had his hand on her elbow, and he squeezed reassuringly, while Samuel rubbed a comforting circle on her lower back.

“Now…” Grungy’s cackle was back and meaner than ever. “This ain’t no catch and release, boys. You find yourself one, you can fuck ‘em—no matter who they belong to. You hear that, subbies? Better hope it’s your Dom who finds you, because if not, I believe we’s gonna have ourselves some mighty fine punishments for our afterparty once things cool down. So, keep feisty, ladies. Or maybe not, eh?” All the men but her two laughed; shockingly to her, some of the subs did too.

Kimberly felt leaden with fear. She hadn’t been able to make it across the parking lot without assistance. Now, she had to go running through the fucking woods in the dark, with a dozen men chasing her intent on rape? Because if anyone but Sam or Dean got their hands on her, that’s exactly what it would be. Kimberly thought she might throw up. She started to shake.

Dean leaned close; she felt his warm breath on her neck, his kiss under the shell of her ear in a tender brush of lips. “We’ll find you,” he whispered fervently. “Sam and I will get to you first and keep you safe. We will find you.”

Kimberly nodded, but when she lifted her hand and pressed her finger to activate the collar, she was still shaking.

“Let’s line ‘em up, boys,” Grunge said. “Night ain’t gettin’ any younger.”

“Why the fuck did I have to go with the platforms tonight?” she bemoaned as they helped her to the edge of the clearing. The big, clunky things were going to snag on every twig and rock out there.

“At least they aren’t stilettos,” Sam said helpfully.

“Break away from the other girls as soon as you can,” Dean told her in a harsh undertone. “We don’t know what it looks like in there but try to stick to the left. Most people are right-handed, and when frightened, they tend to run in that direction, so you go left whenever possible. It should help separate you from the others.”

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