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Katrina
Pain sliced through my skull, bringing me out of unconsciousness. Flinching, I tried to reach up to soothe the ache in my head, but nothing worked, my arms not obeying, my lids still too heavy to fully open. Everything hurt, and I longed to slip back into the void where no pain or confusion existed.
As if sifting through mud, my brain struggled to recall my last memories. Glimpses of Croygen, a barn, an alleyway…
Voices murmured around me, pulling me further from peace, tugging my lids fully up. My blurry vision took in a fire shining in the gloom of heavy darkness a few feet away, and I inhaled the scent of stale, damp air and dirt. Cave walls towered above me, dripping with blackness. Even my cat eyes could barely penetrate the gloom.
Shifting on the cold ground, I groaned from deep within my chest, my muscles protesting, tight, sore, and stressed. Peering down, I noticed a shirt, pants, and shoes that weren’t mine. A rope bound my wrists and ankles, and a goblin metal bracelet encircled my arm, keeping me lethargic and unable to shift.
Recollections formed in my thoughts—figures approaching me in a dark alley, someone knocking me over the head before everything went dark. An image of a woman leaning over me.
The same feeling tickled the back of my brain, like I knew her, recognized her face, but my mind was still too murky to put it together.
Then my brain rolled back to the barn and the fight with the assailants before. Heat burned through my body up to my cheeks, reminding me it wasn’t only fighting that caused me to be so sore. My core pulsed, my thighs and ass burned with the memory of his hands. My skin thrummed with electricity, singling out every mark he put on me and how I had loved it.
Desire flushed through me as I tore my thoughts from him to what needed to take precedence.
Not important right now, Kat. Getting out of here is.
Twisting my head to slyly look around me, I counted a dozen silhouettes, all men, setting up camp, mainly talking in Mandarin. No one was paying me any notice, and I used that to take in more of my surroundings, searching for anything that might help me.
Noticing a sharp rock near my feet, I subtly wiggled down, tapping my shoe over it and slowly dragging it up. With every slight movement, I watched the men, hoping they wouldn’t see what I was doing. I tried to pretend I was still asleep while moving the rock up far enough until I could reach it.
Ten minutes later, my fingers wrapped around the stone, pushing it between the ropes cuffing my wrists. The goblin metal would keep me from shifting, but if I could free myself of the ropes, I might have a chance of running.
Time seemed to stand still, sweat pooling down my back as I sawed at the rope. What felt like hours went by before I felt a break in the twine, loose enough so my hands could slip out. Bucking the need to escape, I kept the rope around my hands for appearances as I curled up tighter, starting on the rope between my ankles.
“Ni zài zuò!” What are you doing?a voice barked, freezing me in place. The air stalled in my lungs, and I waited for someone to stomp over and grab me. When no one came, I pried open my lashes, seeing the man marching over to another, the pair arguing. Air heaved through my lips, my throat swallowing back my fear.
Come on, Kat. You’ve been in worse situations than this,I berated myself. Since I was a kid on the streets, getting out of precarious circumstances was my thing. I learned young to never count on anyone else.
I saved myself.
Getting back to work, I rubbed at the rope, the goblin metal stealing more and more of my energy. I couldn’t let it beat me. When I got loose, I had to run, because whatever reason I was taken was not a good one. My theory? I was being used as bait.
The men’s voices suddenly stopped, their attitudes changing in a blink as they stood up straight. I knew their leader was coming.
A slim, lithe figure sauntered closer to the fire, and their heads bowed to this woman in sheer terror and respect. The shadows hid her face, but I saw she was taller than me with a model-thin figure. Her long, dark hair was up in a messy bun, and she wore designer cargo-style pants and a black shirt with clean boots. She appeared like she should be on a photo shoot for hiking and camping, not actually doing it.
She paid them no mind, her thin legs heading straight for me. The flames from the fire illuminated her features, causing a gasp to stick in my throat. I was no longer pretending to be asleep.
“You,” I whispered, recalling the woman I met in the bathroom weeks ago in Shanghai.
A malicious smile curved her face, like I was the fool for not seeing through her facade.
“You believed I was some common whore trying to kindly warn you against Croygen’s meandering ways?” She squatted down, her head tipping. She no longer bothered with the Chinese inflection, her phrasing now thicker and rougher, but I couldn’t place where it was from. “How precious.” Cruelty tightened her features. “If youreallyknew him, you’d know he doesn’t sleep with prostitutes. He doesn’t see the point.” I sensed a familiarity there, a possessiveness, which women felt without a word being said. “Always an angle with him, looking out for himself. So if you thought you were more than a fuck of convenience, you are far more naive than I gave you credit for.”
“Then why take me?” My mouth shot back before I even thought about responding, feeling the dig she was trying to make. “I mean, why bother kidnapping me if I am nothing to him?”
“Because he likes to play the part of a good man.” Again, a malevolent smile played on her mouth. “You will see he is not.”
“I already know he’s not a good man.” I glowered back. “And I do know him. I know him better than anyone. And I can pick out a woman he’s left in his wake at a glance. Bitter, heartbroken, resentful, and angry they couldn’t tame him. Still holding on because they hope he will give them another chance. I saw you women all the time.” The stream of words dashed off my tongue; my hatred for this woman was not something I understood. “Hurts to find you’re nothing special, huh?”
“Oh, you have no clue,” she snarled back, her shoulders rising. “You’re just another one of his little disciples who I’ll have to put in their place.” This felt personal. She didn’t just take me for leverage. She wanted to make a point.
“Disciples?” I laughed. “I’m not the one following him like a stalker and kidnapping the woman hefuckedlast night because I’m jealous.” Stopping my mouth was impossible. I wanted to hurt her, to let her know he was with me. It was so unlike me to feel possessive, to care enough, but with Croygen, something came over me I couldn’t control.
Mine.The thought growled from the depths.
