His Pet (Warlord’s Captives Duet #2)

Chapter 1

1

Bella wriggled her way out from underneath Alex's arm. He groaned and made a sleepy, protesting noise, but allowed her to go. Since he'd pretty much exhausted himself in the pool, and then inside of her, she wasn't surprised that he was tired. But she was feeling energized and strangely hopeful.

There were four of the sigils in the room that denoted where a secret passageway was. She doubted that the one next to the main door opened since that would be pointless. But that still left three options. The only question was: was anyone watching?

Since the night they'd had their sexual exploits while she'd been under the influence of the aphrodisiac spread across a screen for the Wolf's soldiers' entertainment, she and Alex had basically been operating under the assumption that someone could be watching at any time. But there had been no indication that anyone had since then. Maybe the cameras had only been activated because they'd wanted to see what Alex would do when she came back to the room horny and begging.

After all, it wasn't like any of their activities with the Wolf had been put up for public consumption. So maybe the cameras weren't always on. Maybe she and Alex were being too paranoid. It seemed like wishful thinking, but maybe there was a way she could test it.

Looking up at the ceiling, she noted that in the corners of the room and the angles where the walls met the ceiling, she couldn't see anything that looked like a camera. So if they were there, they were behind the walls. Thinking that over, Bella cleaned up the cum that was starting to leak out of her with a corner of the sheet, blushing as she thought about what she and Alex had just done. She didn’t regret it. At all. But would he?

They never talked about what they would do when the Wolf let them go. Or if they did somehow manage to escape first. At least, they didn't talk about whatever this was between them.

Not that Bella wanted to have that conversation yet. How could they know how they would feel once they were out of captivity? She didn't think her feelings for Alex were going to go away, but she didn't know if he felt the same. And it seemed kind of unfair to push that on him while they were trapped together. Better to say nothing at all for now.

Looking back up at the ceiling, Bella waved her arms above her head."Hey! I'm hungry! Can we get some food in here?"

Alex’s groan as he woke distracted her and she turned to see him blearily staring at her from the center of the bed, the sheets rumpled around him. Sexy, but obviously exhausted.

"What are you doing?" he asked with a sleepy groan. The normalcy of his tone made her smile.

"Trying to get some food," she answered, turning back around and waving her arms again.

She wasn’t really that hungry. If someone actually brought food, she would eat, but mostly she just wanted to know if there would be a response. Alex groaned again and she heard the soft thump as he fell back into place on the bed. Deciding not to disturb his rest anymore, Bella sat down at the table, staring at the door.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

She started singing in her head to pass the time.

Nothing.

She looked back up at the sigil on the wall, not five feet away from her. Standing up, she went over to it and traced her fingers along the S-curve, almost absently. Not following the pattern Trish had given her, just to see if someone would come in and stop her. A loud snore from the bed made her jump a bit, but nothing else happened.

Holding her breath, she pressed as she'd been directed. The right end of the bar, the left end, the bottom curve, the top curve, and then three fingers on where the S intersected.

Nothing.

Bella did it again just to be sure. More nothing. But Trish had said that not all of them led to passageways. Or at least that's what Jordan had told supposedly her and it did make sense.

There was another one over the bed, but Bella didn't think that very likely, so she turned to the wall where the television screen had been. Now that one might make more sense. Walking over, she dragged her fingers along the surface as she did so, although she was feeling more confident by the minute that she was unobserved, that the Wolf had only taped them because he'd known there'd be something to watch.

Today, though, when everyone was distracted by whatever mission they were on, and Alex and Bella were just afterthoughts? Why bother?

Reaching the sigil, she ran her fingers along it, waiting. Still a bit cautious. Just in case. She couldn’t help but listen for the door to open and soldiers to come bursting through.

Nothing. Again.

She pressed her fingers against the sigil, harder this time. The right end of the bar, the left end, the bottom curve, the top curve, and then three fingers on where the S intersected.

And to her left, a hole opened up. Bella gasped in shock. Even though Trish had told her, some part of her hadn't quite believed, had thought that maybe it was a trick.

But there it was.

Stepping to her left, she faced it square on, looking down the long, narrow hall. The light was dim but there was enough for visibility while walking. Bella turned back to look at the bed.

"Alex? Alex?"

No response. He was still out of it. Should she wake him? He’d want to know, but then again, she'd rather only get herself into trouble, just in case she did get caught. And if she woke him up, who knew what his reaction might be. If he'd even be able to think straight. He was exhausted.

The opening slid shut, automatically, while she was still standing there staring at it. If she went into the passageway, she'd be able to get out the same way. That's what Trish had said. And also that Jordan had warned her the passageways were complex and it was easy to get lost, especially since there were no markers to indicate where you were once you were in them.

Bella opened the door again and stared at it, trying to gather her courage. Eventually it closed and she still hadn't stepped into it.

Okay. This was stupid. If someone was watching, they would have come to stop her by now. Wouldn't they have? It couldn't hurt to at least go inside and look around. She could head in one direction only and keep track by counting the sigils she passed. That made the most sense.

This time, when she opened the passageway, she stepped into it and stood there until the door closed behind her. Letting out a long breath, she looked in the three directions she could go; left, right, or straight ahead. Going straight ahead seemed smartest, that way as long as she didn't make any turns, she could just come straight back.

Walking forward, she couldn't help the tingling inside of her chest, of both anxiety and excitement. The giddy feeling that came from knowing she was doing something dangerous, the exhilaration that came from being fairly certain she wasn't going to be caught. She'd only walked about thirty paces when she came to the next sigil, on the right side of the wall. Pressing her ear against it, she could hear voices; loud enough to be audible, but not quite loud enough to be distinct. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but at least it was a warning that people were there. Trying that with the next two sigils she came to, she could hear people behind the second one but not the third.

She almost opened up that one, just to see what was there, but caution stayed her hand. What if there were soldiers there who were just being quiet? The idea made her too nervous. Maybe the passageways weren't quite as useful as she’d thought they would be, not without actually knowing where each of them led to.

Up ahead was an intersection, and she picked up the pace a little bit, wanting to know if she might see some kind of marker or directional indicator that Trish had missed. After all, Bella had a lot more time to look around than Trish had—at least that was what she assumed, considering how Jordan dragged the young blonde around at his long-legged pace.

When she got to the intersection she glanced right and then left... and froze.

Fear and shock weakened her knees and her legs gave out beneath her, leaving her kneeling and leaning forward on her hands as shivering tremors shook her body.

Jordan shook his head at her, his arms crossed over his chest. Two soldiers she didn’t recognize stood behind him. By his side was Trish, kneeling on the ground, a red ball gag in her mouth and a pleading expression on her face. She stared straight at Bella, looking agonized. For one sharp moment, Bella wondered if Trish had betrayed her... but Jordan's next words cut through that theory.

He rested his hand on top of Trish's head, stroking it back and making the young woman shudder. "What bad girls you two are," he said, his deep voice laced with a kind of satisfaction. He wrapped his fingers around Trish's hair and used it to haul her to her feet. Jerking his head at Bella, he looked over his shoulder at the two soldiers. "Bring her."

Bella couldn't do anything but stare in horror, a small voice in the back of her brain cursing her own misguided confidence as the soldiers approached.