Yours (16 page)

“Stop it!”

I realized that I was moaning, stretching my hands toward the locked door. Vale set me down on the floor as I twisted. Then I saw it.

The handle of a knife sticking out from behind his belt.

I reached out and pulled it without thinking. The knife turned, and I saw the blood seeping red against Vale’s shirt before I heard him swear.

“Fuck!”

I leapt backward and Vale took a step back, too. We faced off, only a few feet apart. I crouched under the window in the back of the cell. My foot braced back against the wall. If he came close, then, at least I would have leverage. The light from the window might have blinded him, if only it had been earlier in the day. Now it was almost night time, and the light was dim. All of my luck was bad luck, but I was desperate. I had to take any chance I could get.

He shifted toward me and I raised the knife. My hand trembled. The blade glinted in the reddish rays from the window, sending dim sprays of reflected light across the ceiling of the cell.

“Jessica, stop. You don’t know how to fight with a knife.”

“The easiest way is to slit the throat,” I said, parroting him. “Or through the ribs. I should be holding the blade sideways, right?”

“Jessica—”

He moved slightly forward and I jabbed the knife in the air. He stopped, his hands raised to protect himself. His face was solemn, but I could still see his muscles tensed. Ready to catch me.

“Or the femoral artery.”

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he said.

“Really? You’re not here to hurt me? That’s pretty fucking unbelievable, considering what you did to that other girl.”

His face paled slightly. He turned to glance at the door, shifting his weight as he did. I shifted mine. I wasn’t going to let him take me off-guard. He turned back to me.

“You saw that?”

“I was going to escape then, but I saw you and that guy outside and closed the door. I saw her, too. Don’t tell me—”

“El Alfa did that to her.”

“Sure,” I hissed. “
El Alfa
did that to her. And
El Alfa
made you kill James. And
El Alfa
made you fuck me—”

“I am not going to hurt you,” Vale said, a frown drawing together on his brow.

“That’s damn right you’re not going to hurt me. Or I’ll stab you. Now get out of my way.”

He stepped sideways then, lunging at my arm. I sliced the knife across the air, but it only nicked his arm. He was already stepping back between me and the door. Blood dripped from the shallow cut on his arm.

“Stay. Back.”

“I can’t let you out that door, Jessica.”

“Why?”

“You know why. They’ll hurt you. El Alfa will hurt you.”

“I’ll take my chances.” He was bleeding from his arm and his side, and still he didn’t want to get out of my way.

“You don’t understand.”

“No? Then explain.”

A cloud moved over his face. I realized that the sun had gone away dipped below the horizon, and the cell was dimmer. He shook his head.

“I can’t.”

“Then get out of my way.”

“Don’t make me do this, Jessica.” He took one step toward me. I held up the knife. I’d already gotten him twice. I could do it. I could stab him.

As he moved forward, his arm came up to grab me on the right. I sliced the knife in that direction, but he was already out of the way, spinning left. He moved faster than I’d ever seen anyone move before. In an instant, he had gripped my arm.

“No!”

I twisted to try and get away, but his other arm came around me. He spun back against the wall, holding my body tightly against his. I kicked, but he picked me up off of my feet. My wrist was held as though by pincers in his rough, strong fingers.

“Stop! Let me go!”

I squirmed, but he only squeezed my wrist harder. A shock of pain stabbed through my arm. I yelped, my fingers loosening. The knife clattered to the stone floor.

“No!
NO
!”

My only weapon. My only hope. Gone.

He kicked the knife away with his shoe. It spun off into the dark corner of the cell. I felt my muscles weaken. The shot of adrenaline through my body had worn its course, and it hadn’t been enough.

Now my heart beat fast with terror. I was going to die, or worse. I’d seen a glimpse of what they’d done to the girl in the cell next to me. The one who’d tried to run away. She had been covered in blood. I let out a cry of defeat as Vale spun me around.

“Jessica.”

I closed my eyes, waiting for the first blow. My breath came fast and I could hear the rush of blood in my ears. A second passed, then another. I felt his hand cup my cheek, and I trembled.

“Please—”

“Jessica, look at me.”

My eyelids fluttered open. I saw Vale’s icy blue eyes.

“Don’t hurt me. Please—please don’t do to me what you did to her. Oh, God.”

“I told you. I’m not going to hurt you.”

He backed away from me slowly and picked up the knife. He tucked it back into his belt, this time on the other side. I stood shakily as he held up one of the leather cuffs. The knots were all undone. Was that a smile on his lips? It couldn’t be.

He tossed the useless cuff back down.

“Wait here,” he said.

Before I could respond, the iron door was closing behind him. I waited for only a second before darting forward. The image of that girl in his arms, her hair red with blood—I couldn’t wait here. But he was too quick, and as my hand touched the iron door handle, it swung back open. I lunged to get past him, but he shoved me back into the cell easily. I scrambled back as he moved toward me.

“I told you to wait here.”

“Please, no,” I said. There was another leather collar in his hand, this one with a thicker silver clasp. “Don’t. Please don’t put it on me—”

“You can’t leave this room.”

“Please
.”

“Kneel.”

I gritted my teeth, but there was no way to escape. I had to do what he said.

I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my cheeks. I had tried to escape. Tried and failed. My hands came out in front of me. Palms up. My tears dripped onto the stone floor as I bent my head forward.

The collar came around my neck. The chain rattled as he attached it, his strong hand brushing my shoulder. The lock clicked shut.

I was on a leash now.

Sobs choked my throat. It was over. I would never escape. I would never save April. I was locked up for good this time.

“Jessica—”

“Kill me.”

The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them. I felt his hesitation, his hand on my shoulders as he knelt down in front of me. Was he pulling his knife out with his other hand? I hoped so.

“Kill me,” I repeated numbly. “Please. Just kill me.”

“Jessica—”

“I don’t want to be here forever,” I said. I looked up into his eyes. “Please.”

He blinked, his dark lashes flickering over glassy blue irises. Then the veil lifted, and his face filled with concern.

“Oh, Jessica.”

Before I could say anything, he was kissing me, a slow soft kiss that shocked me so badly I didn’t move. His hands cupped my face, brushing away my tears as he deepened the kiss. Heat shot through me and my lips parted, opening myself up to him.

Resist him? It was impossible. I let out a cry as my own body responded traitorously to his lips pressing against mine.

Then, just as suddenly, he tore away from me. My eyes refocused onto his face, his expression tense. Was he afraid?

“Don’t leave this room,” he said. “Not yet. It’s too dangerous.”

“Vale?”

“
Trust me
.”

There was a secret in his face, something that I couldn’t read yet. But it was there, I knew it. Something beyond his icy exterior. Something even more dangerous than before. He looked like a completely different person.

“Who are you?”

I could hear footsteps coming down the hallway. Vale swiveled his head to look. The tendons in his neck were taut, standing out under his skin.

“I can’t tell you now. Trust me.
You will not be in here forever.
I promise.”

“But—”

The door opened.

Chapter Thirty-One

Vale

“El Alfa.”

I stood up, straightening myself. The knife was still in my hand, and I pretended to tuck my shirt back in, pocketing the knife into my belt as I did so.

“I wanted to see how your training was coming along,” he asked. His words were slurred, and his hair was wet. I wondered if he’d had another drink after his bath.

“It’s fine.”

I had one more day. One more day to pretend, and then I could kill him. There were two guards in the hallway now. Killing him down here wouldn’t be ideal, and I dismissed the idea.

“Excellent. I’m glad to hear it.”

“We were just finishing—”

“I would like to see a demonstration.”

I stiffened. Behind me, Jessica cowered.

“Of course.”

I gestured for El Alfa to come into the cell. As he did, his eyes traced down my shirt to where Jessica had sliced through me with a knife. The shirt was stained red with blood. Even though he was drunk, his attention narrowed onto the cut.

“You have cut yourself?”

“It’s nothing.” I waved it off. “An accident with a knife.”

He tilted his head toward Jessica.

“Did you cut the girl?”

“No.”

“Then why take the knife?”

Shit
. He had seen it. I tried not to act out of the ordinary.

“Only as a threat,” I said lightly. “I wanted to make it clear to her that disobedience would be punished.”

“We don’t allow knives down here,” he said. “Or they might end up in the wrong hands.”

He held out his hand. Slowly, I drew the knife from behind my belt and laid it in his palm. He looked at me. Was he suspicious?

“Now,” he said. “Show me how you’ve trained her.”

I turned around and licked my lip nervously. I could control my behavior. But Jessica? She was a wild card. I could only hope that she understood that she would have to perform for El Alfa. And that meant following my orders.

“Kneel,” I commanded.

For a split second, when she met my eye, I thought she wouldn’t listen to me. A flash of fear went through my chest. But she obeyed.

Falling to her feet, she put her arms out in front of her. Her wrists turned, palms up. I could see the marks from her wrists cuffs where she’d taken them off.

“Good work,” El Alfa said. “Can she do more?”

“Of course,” I said, hedging. “But we’ve been working for a while now—”

“Show me.”

Jessica looked up with a burst of terror passing over her face. All of the time I’d spent trying to get her to trust me was useless now, unless she did what El Alfa commanded.

I stepped in front of her so that El Alfa couldn’t see. With a sympathetic expression, I mouthed the words:
Trust me.

She nodded, a quick sharp motion meant to be hidden from El Alfa. And although we had stalled for a few moments, El Alfa seemed drunk enough that he didn’t notice the pause.

“Sit up,” I ordered.

She sat up, kneeling on the hard floor. I ached for her as she suffered, the suffering itself written in winces whenever she shifted her weight slightly. El Alfa moved over to the side of the wall where one chain hung loosely. It was the other one that was attached to her, at the collar.

I hoped that he didn’t notice that the wrist cuffs had been unraveled at the seams. The cuffs lay off in one corner of the dim cell. It was then that I thanked whoever had kept light out of this place. In the shadows, the evidence of her escape attempt was invisible.

“Take off your bra,” I ordered.

She obeyed me, and the bra fell to the floor. Not too far off from the cuffs.

“Cup them with your hands.” She cradled her breasts in her palms. It was a performance, that was something I knew as well as she did. Still, though, my cock stiffened at the sight of her gorgeous breasts peeking out from behind her fingers.

I could tell she was unsure of what I was doing, but she did exactly what I said. A perfect submissive. El Alfa was right about that. He was wrong about a lot of other things, though. It was what I was counting on.

“Head back.”

She leaned her head back, and I gripped her by the hair, pulling her back further in an apparent display of strength. I hoped El Alfa would notice only that I was pulling her hair, not that I was gripping it at the scalp where it hurt the least.

“Mmm.” El Alfa scratched at his groin as he watched, obviously aroused. I was too, and I hoped that I wouldn’t lose my arousal by going through these sadistic actions. As I looked down, though, Jessica licked her lips.

God, those lips. Those perfect, plump lips. I wanted to kiss them forever. As I watched, she chewed on one corner of her bottom lip. That was enough to make me hard for the rest of the night.

Alright, time to get this done with.

I unzipped my pants and took out my cock, already rock hard. She leaned forward, as though to take it in her mouth, but that wasn’t what I intended. I jerked her head back by the hair. She gasped, a small gasp, as I took my cock in my hand and leaned down to her.

I spit on her chest. The splittle ran down between her breasts. She winced, but only a little.

El Alfa breathed in sharply. I didn’t want to look over at him. I wasn’t sure what he was doing over on the side of the cell, in the dim shadows. Maybe he was jerking it to us. Maybe. Who cared, as long as I could keep him distracted for another two days? That was all I needed… just two more days. Then I could kill him and stand by Jessica until the raid came to save us both.

“Stay still,” I whispered, my eyes finding hers in the dim light. There was a trust in them that broke my heart. She trusted me, but only because she had to. Only because there was no other option.

Lifting Jessica up an inch farther, I thrust my cock between her breasts. She gasped. I breathed in too, hard. The delicious sensation of her smooth breasts taking my cock between them was almost too much.