Claimed (11 page)

People close to me got injured or they died. Andrei. Luke. I didn’t inspire longevity. Except now, for the first time in my life, I was actually prepared to act on my yearning for normalcy. When Ellie talked about classes and Christmas ornaments and a cat called Midnight, I wanted that life too.

Seven days,
George had said. I hoped against hope that in a week, all of this would be over.

I gave Ellie the condensed version of the story. Predictably, she zoomed in on Pamela, as I knew she would. “What happened to her?”

“Eventually, she healed in a fashion,” I said. “She works in a pet shelter now. Tending to the animals soothes her.”

She was silent for a while. Just when my eyes were once again beginning to shut, she spoke again. “Do you think Madame Lorraine is angry with me? You never answered that part of my question.”

I gave her a puzzled look. “Probably,” I said, “but she’ll get over it.”

“Hmm,” she murmured. She gazed into space for a while. “I feel guilty about the pretence,” she confided.

“Why?”

“Because…” she paused to gather her thoughts. “I automatically assumed that nothing good could come out of that auction, but I was wrong, wasn’t I? There was a girl there, Susan, who assured me that she’d been coming to this auction year after year and that it was really great. But I’d experienced Dylan and I couldn’t see past that.” She sighed. “I think Lucien had always encouraged me to see the dark side in people. He thought I’d get abducted again in the auction. If the wrong person won me, he was preparing to get me out by force.”

I shook my head. “The auction is really just about fun and games,” I said. “But Bectell probably knew that.”

She nodded. “I’m pretty sure he did. He also hinted that you’d killed your previous submissives.”

I swore. The first class cabin was mostly empty and her voice was low, so I wasn’t concerned about being overheard. “I didn’t.”

She huffed. “Come on, Alexander,” she said, “if I thought you were capable of that, even for a minute, do you think I’d be here? It was supposed to make me afraid of you, make me keep you at arm’s length. But it never worked.”

Her trust awed me and humbled me and forcibly brought home how lucky we’d been. The odds against us had been insurmountably large. My father had kidnapped her and held her as a sex slave for two years. She’d stumbled into a random bar one night and we’d met entirely by chance, and then, reunited under the most difficult of circumstances, that little seed of love had somehow managed to grow. At any step, things could have intruded. Bectell’s dire warnings, Daniel Schneider’s revelations, Sylvia’s cruel assault. But somehow, we’d survived all of that.

She was at my side and despite the fact that I was being hunted by Bectell, I still felt like the most fortunate man in the world.

“If I apologize, do you think she’ll forgive me?”

I pulled my mind back to our conversation. She was talking about Lori. “Eventually,” I replied. I couldn’t hold back the smug grin from my face. “She’ll want to punish you first.”

“Punish me?”

“Tie you up and spank you,” I said. “It’s all very safe-word friendly, of course.”

My cock hardened at that mental image. She noticed, of course. Her hand rested lightly on my erection. “I’ll get spanked by Madame Lorraine?”

“Nah, she’s in a relationship now,” I replied. “But watching is different from participating. I’m assuming one of her resident Doms will have to serve in her stead.”

“Would you like that?” Her hand had started stroking my cock in even strokes that had me thrusting my hips towards her like a horny teenager. “Would you like to watch me get spanked?”

I pictured that image in my head and blood rushed from my brain. “Very much.” The hoarseness in my voice brought a satisfied smile to her lips.
Brat.

“Intriguing,” she purred. “And will you participate in this punishment? Is this a threesome fantasy?”

“No,
cherie,”
I corrected her. “I’m appreciative enough about what we have to not want to try and mess with it.” I gripped her wrist and ground her palm into my dick. Her feather-light caresses were going to have me exploding in my pants. We were having a relatively important conversation and my brain was filled with fuzz, all blood diverted lower. If she was to get any sense out of me, she needed to stop stroking.

Of course, that didn’t explain why I kept rubbing her palm over my erection.

She laughed. “Tell me more, Alexander,” she teased. “What were you about to say?”

“That I’d very much enjoy watching you get punished,” I said silkily. “I think it’ll be good for you. It’ll teach you not to torment me.”

She winked at me and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Everyone’s asleep,” she said, “meet me in the washroom and I’ll make it up to you.”

Fuck. I was hard and horny and I was about to make out with her in the bathroom of a commercial plane. I could see the headlines right now. And I didn’t care.

“Go on ahead, Ellie,” I said. My erection was tenting my pants and I needed a few minutes to get the situation under control enough that I could stand. “I’ll join you in a second or two.”

As soon as it was humanly possible for me to walk again, I rose and made my way to the washroom. “Tease,” I accused her as I entered.

She laughed. “If I’m going to get punished, Sir,” she sassed, “I’m going to make it count.” She flipped the toilet seat lid down and sat on it. “I’m assuming they clean the washrooms better in first class,” she said with a twitch of her lips. “Or at least, that’s what I’m telling myself, Alexander, so don’t ruin my illusions.”

My dick was aching, throbbing for the feel of her wet mouth. I didn’t have to close my eyes to picture the way her red lips would wrap around my shaft, the way she’d moan as I slid down her throat. “Hard and fast,” I gave her my instructions. “Do you understand?”

Her eyes glazed in lust as I unzipped my pants and lowered them, along with my briefs. My cock jumped out, eager to participate in the proceedings and her lips automatically fell open. The tip of her pink tongue peeked out as she wet her lips in anticipation. I growled with my own desire and she parted her legs to give me room as I shoved my dick down her throat.

I wasn’t kind or sweet or soft, but neither was she. Her nails raked down my thighs as I hit the back of her throat. Her cheeks sucked inward as she took every inch of me willingly, moaning with each thrust into her mouth. Her tongue coated and fluttered against my length. Each stroke had me fisting my hands in her hair and pushing deeper into her for more.

Her hands caressed and roamed and explored in turn, kneading my balls with exactly the right amount of pressure, cupping my ass and pulling me further down her throat. I felt my cock swell still further as she whimpered. My body started to clench as I hurtled towards the point of no return.

She was precious. She was mine. And fuck me, she could give head like a champion.

Her fingers curled tight around the base of my shaft while her other hand cradled my balls. Sensing how close I was, she switched to softer, teasing laps. Her tongue swirled over my head and her eyes danced with mischief as they made contact with mine.

Mischief and an arousal that was impossible to hide.

“No teasing,” I growled, grabbing the back of her head and pushing her back down my dick. She groaned at my tone and obediently sucked her cheeks inward.

I was close, speeding towards the cliff of my orgasm, with no ability to hold back. She knew exactly what to do, the exact rhythm, the sweetest whimpers. The perfect pout of her lips wrapped around my girth. The soft moans of pleasure as my hands tightened in her hair.

There was no holding back, even if I wanted to. I exploded into her mouth with a grunt, my body almost convulsing as I found my release.

When we got back to our seats, I gave her an amused look. “Talking about threesomes really got you horny,” I teased her. “I should probably tell you that Anton is also on his way to Nigeria.”

“For a threesome?” Her cheeks were still flushed, her body was languid and sated with the three orgasms my fingers and my tongue had brought her to in the washroom, once I’d recovered enough to reciprocate.

I shook my head. “Would you believe that when we are being shot at, arranging threesomes for you is not at the top of my mind? We need security in a hurry. There’s only five of us handy with a gun and I don’t think that’s going to be sufficient. There’s no time to hire additional guards and to vet them – that would just provide someone a perfect opportunity to infiltrate my ranks. So, I called in a favour. Anton’s guards can be trusted.”

She coloured slightly. “He’s seen me naked,” she said. She blinked. “Come to think of it, and I’m surprised it hasn’t occurred to me before, so has Jean-Luc. He did see the videos of Dylan’s training sessions, didn’t he?”

Those damn videos. I’d wanted to burn them right away. But I’d hidden them at the back of a cupboard in Paris, just in case Ellie wanted to watch them for closure. “Anton was undoubtedly turned on at your nakedness, but I assure you that he’s seen plenty of unclothed women,” I said dryly. “As for Jean-Luc, he was sick to his stomach, as I fully expected. I told you once, no one in my employ will ever pass by a screaming woman without intervening.”

“You did say that,” she remembered. “I didn’t believe you then.” She smiled. “I’m glad I believe you now.”

Ellie:

He’d looked pensive and haunted as he’d talked about Pamela. “People next to me get hurt,” he’d said, his voice, his voice thick with pain. “It’s not easy to sleep at night.”

I’d held him then. It wasn’t logic he wanted; he knew that no one could have predicted how Pamela would react.

What he wanted was comfort. He needed me to be a warm supportive presence, to hold him tight. He needed the same thing from me that he’d offered me since the day I met him. No questions, no words. Just the knowledge that he was there.

It really mattered that he turned to me for this. I was used to seeing Alexander as this almost mythic person. He’d been one step ahead of me for the entire Kill-Dylan operation. He’d seen through my disguise, found out who I was, and he’d controlled the situation from start to finish.

Of course, he would have disagreed with my assessment. I was always my own harshest critic. What he saw was strength and an ability to survive. And he trusted me enough to be vulnerable in front of me.

I’d fallen in lust the first time I’d seen Alexander. I’d started falling in love the last time I was in Paris. Now, there was no doubt. I was in love. And no matter what, this time, I wasn’t going to walk away.

***

On the plane, I’d distracted myself as best as I could, in very pleasurable ways. But as the plane touched down in Lagos, I grew silent.

Nigeria hadn’t changed. The roads were still packed with people and traffic. Motorbikes wove in and out of stalled traffic. The small minivans that served as public transit screeched to a stop in the middle of the street when they spied a passenger. Even in winter, it was hot and dusty, and the cacophony of sound caused my head to pound.

Alexander’s hand enveloped mine. “I’m here,” he said. “You aren’t alone this time.”

“I know,” I whispered. It wasn’t really the traffic jam that was causing my headache. This was the only place that I’d never come back to. Here, there were no good memories. Even when I remembered how Lucien had rescued me, it was accompanied by the memory of what preceded it. The panic and fear I’d felt when I realized Dylan was going to sell me. The smell of gunpowder in the room as Lucien had started shooting, the three dead bodies sprawled on the floor as a result.

I clutched at Alexander’s hand but I didn’t talk. I didn’t know if I had anything to say, and I didn’t think I could force it out past the rock of fear that had nestled in my throat.

***

The estate was completely transformed but I barely had time to register that when a woman hobbled out to greet us. Another shockwave pulsed through me. This was a figure from my past, one that played a recurring role in my nightmares. Mrs. Olusola. I hadn’t realized she’d still be here.

“She’s the caretaker,” Alexander started to explain. Then he looked at my face and swore. “Fuck. She was here before, I take it?”

“Yes.” My mouth was dry. “She prepped me for Dylan that first day. She made sure I shaved every bit of hair from my body. The Master liked his girls to look young, she had said.”

“Ellie.” His voice was helpless and troubled and hearing it, shame rippled through me. What was the point of burdening him with this? He couldn’t do anything about my past. My fingers clasped the pendant around my neck, one I still wore, despite its value.
‘There’s a future, Ellie,’
I told myself.
‘Remember.’
 

“It’s okay,” I tried to tell him. “It’s not all bad. I was just startled to see her here, that’s all.” I swallowed. “She gave me money when she knew Dylan was going to sell me.” She’d been kind in other ways. After my beatings, it had been Mrs. Olusola who’d nursed me back to health. When my back was bloody and raw, she’d been the one to bathe the wounds. Where possible, she’d tried to make my time easier.

I had no intention of sharing that with Alexander. Telling him would just fill his eyes with pain and sorrow, and I didn’t want to hurt him. “I’m glad you didn’t fire her.”

“Dylan did,” he responded. He shook his head. “Once the bodies of the men he’d sold you to were found, he fired everyone and he fled to Georgia. Durov kept him safe there until he moved to Hanoi.”

I was still in the car, my body unwilling to leave the relative sanctuary of the vehicle. I looked at him. “There’s more to that story, isn’t there? I can tell by your tone.”

He nodded. “The last woman with Dylan was a plant,” he replied. “And her family was supposedly very persistent. The net was closing around him and he decided he needed to clean up. So he sent people to shoot everyone who’d ever worked for him.”

My knuckles were white as he continued. “Of course, I was Dylan’s financier and no one died,” he said. “But Mrs. Olusola did take a bullet.” His mouth twisted in a wry line. “Daniel Schneider was a former lover, and when Dylan crossed that line, he changed his allegiance.”

“That’s how you found out who I was.” God, everything was so complicated. For a second, I wished myself back in San Francisco, in my cozy little condo, with Midnight purring on my lap while I curled up and read a book. But only for a second. Because when I gazed into his blue eyes, I knew that my life was irrevocably bound up with this man.

“Let’s get out,” I said, straightening my shoulders. “I can’t hide in here forever.”

“Ellie,” his voice stopped me. “I can’t read your mind. Do you want to walk around on your own, or do you want me to come with you?”

His words made me realize that I wasn’t alone anymore. We were together now and we were a team. I could lean on him and he would be there for me. “I need you, Alexander,” I whispered.

“I’m here.” His eyes were warm. “I’m not going anywhere.”

***

Mrs. Olusola’s eyes grew round with shock the instant she caught sight of my face. “Ellie,” she said. Tears started to drip down her cheeks. “You are alive.”

I had been too focused on my own survival when I had been here, and I hadn’t realized how traumatic it must have been for her to watch Dylan beat and rape his slaves. She’d had two daughters. She’d never once brought them around to Dylan’s compound.
No surprise there.

Jean-Luc strode out and greeted us. His eyes searched my expression with concern. “
D’accord,
Ellie?” Just then, Andrei ran out to greet Alexander and Sasha followed him. She enveloped me in a hug, and I realized that I didn’t really have to do this alone. I had friends.

I smiled my first real smile since we’d landed. “Sasha,” I hugged her back. “It’s good to see you too.”

Alexander cleared his throat. “Everyone,” he said, setting Andrei down. “Can you excuse us? Ellie and I need to settle in.”

My memories of this place were etched into my soul. But as we walked around, I realized that the compound had been thoroughly remodelled. The house had been rebuilt and none of the rooms I remembered existed anymore. Instead, there were large open spaces with bright, colourful artwork. There were several small rooms, each equipped with basic furnishings – a bed and a table, a small cupboard. “What is this place?” I asked. “This wasn’t what it looked like when Dylan was here.”

Alexander smiled. “It’s being repurposed,” he said. “It was your idea, really. When I inherited this place, I was going to sell it at first. Then I remembered what you said in Provence when you saw the Ferrari.” His hand tightened on mine. “I’d tucked away the car, preferring to lock away a bad memory, but you told me to sell it and use the money to do some good. Same thing here. This place is going to be a shelter for the abused, the needy and the destitute. Just a safe place to spend the night.”

I hugged him, tears prickling at my eyelids.
Can you donate to a women’s shelter,
I had asked him in Provence.
He had remembered and he had acted.

“There’s twenty bedrooms on two levels,” he continued. “There’s plenty of room on the grounds for the kids to play too…” His voice trailed off. I looked at him curiously and he smiled before resuming. “For too long,” he said softly, “I’d fought this fight and I’d made it personal. Then you came along and made me realize that I could help more than just Dylan’s victims. And,” his lips twisted in a wry grin, “even better, I could help without feeling guilty about it.”

“So when you said Mrs. Olusola was the caretaker, you meant…”

“Administrator, I guess.” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “This compound is perfect for a shelter. No one can sneak up here unawares. Women who stay here can sleep in peace knowing they are safe. It opens in a couple of months.”

I looked around the brightly lit room. “My cell used to be here,” I said. I reached up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Alexander.”

“For what,
cherie?
I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have done in the same situation.”

I didn’t think that was true and I told him that. He grinned. “Since you didn’t sleep on the plane and you didn’t let me sleep either, shall we go to bed once Jean-Luc gives us a security briefing?”

“There’s a security briefing?”

He nodded. “The dogs were locked up when we arrived, but they patrol the grounds. They won’t approach the house but you should call up to the gate-house if you want to leave the compound.”

I wasn’t planning on leaving. I usually wanted to explore the cities I traveled to, but this place had too many unpleasant memories for me to engage in tourist activities.

Jean-Luc filled in the rest of the details. The exterior fence was electrified. The six dogs that roamed the property could tear me apart from limb to limb, so I needed to call their handler if I was going to be wandering the gardens.

My brows furrowed as I listened to him. The dogs would be useful, but the electric fence would be laughably easy to dismantle, especially in Nigeria where frequent power fluctuations were the norm. “There are two backup generators,” Jean-Luc assured me in response to my question. “But the truth of it is that we don’t anticipate needing it. Bectell
shouldn’t
know that Alexander has left France. This is just a precaution until George locates him.”

I wasn’t as reassured as he was, but I nodded anyway. Right now, I was too tired to think and Jean-Luc had years of experience. Until I had better ideas than he did, I wasn’t going to interfere.

“Bed now,
cherie
?” Alexander’s tone was affectionate.

I squeezed his hand in response. It was bright outside and if I went to sleep now, my jetlag would worsen, not improve
.
Yet my eyes were drooping shut and the idea of a night spent in Alexander’s arms sounded lovely. “Lead the way,” I told him.