Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The sound of sirens woke me up. Hope surged but quickly died as the sounds faded. At least now I knew, wherever I was, I was still in the city. That was good, but also bad. Good that I was still close, but bad because Motan was so big.
Hestian walked into the room with Javier.
“Take care,” Hestian warned as Javier approached me.
I wasn’t sure which of us he was warning until Javier shoved me forward again.
Eyes fixed on Hestian’s hands, I watched his grip tighten on the cane’s head.
“Did Mr. Fuck Off and Die deliver my message?” I asked.
“He did,” Hestian said. “What did he do to upset you?”
“He threatened me.”
I jerked out of Javier’s hold again and straightened, meeting his gaze instead of Hestian’s.
“Intimidation is the unimpressive weapon of the insecure and unintelligent. Pain and suffering won’t gain my obedience.
They’ll fuel my anger and ensure a retribution so hellish you won’t just wish for death; you’ll regret you were ever born. ”
Shifting my attention back to Hestian, I said, “I suggest you continue to send Marta whenever possible. Now if you’re done checking the mark…”
I leaned back in the bed, keeping a bored expression of indifference on my face as I nodded toward the door in a silent command for him to leave.
Hestian studied me for a long time. Javier stayed right next to me, waiting for Hestian’s reaction to my rudeness. I could feel how badly he was itching to hit me and knew I was walking a dangerous line.
“You tempt me more than any of my previous wives, Sophia. Watching that defiant light in your eyes as I fuck my next child into you will be an exquisite pleasure.”
They left, and a ball of ice quietly grew in my stomach as I acknowledged I was walking two dangerous lines.
Marta returned with breakfast not long after. The swelling had increased overnight, and I hoped that didn’t mean Javier had hit her again.
Instead of offering me water first, she held up a note for me.
Your hunger strike can’t continue. If this food isn’t to your liking, speak your preference, and I’ll ensure to meet your needs. Any request you make, within reason, will be granted. This is your home. You will want for nothing.
Your eager lover,
H
I nodded toward the water.
Marta helped me drink then brought out the bedpan. Anger boiled up again. Hestian had to be mentally disturbed to think he could tie me to a bed, force me to use a bedpan, and then think I’d calmly tell him my preferred breakfast order.
I looked at the camera.
“I prefer using a toilet.”
Javier entered the room a minute later, a phone in his hand.
“Ready, sir,” he said in a deep voice.
Hestian’s voice came from the phone.
“It saddens me to deny the first request you make—”
“Then don’t,” I said.
“But I’m unable to remove your restraints,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “It was a condition of your stay here, and I’m a man of my word.”
I snorted. Javier’s gaze darkened. I narrowed my gaze at him.
“Man of your word? How? Which of my needs are you meeting? I don’t even have the freedom to take a piss in private.”
“That’s not a need. It’s a want. You’re sheltered, safe, and provided with food and water. Those are needs, Sophia. However, if there is something you want and it’s within my ability to provide it, I will.”
“I want you to go to hell and take Javier with you.”
“You’re being unnecessarily difficult. We’ll speak again when I return.”
The call disconnected. Javier said something to Marta and left the room. Marta reached for my pants, showing me that using the bedpan was no longer a choice she could offer. I didn’t fight her. She wasn’t my enemy.
Lunch came and went. So did dinner.
Between not eating anything and not drinking enough, I didn’t need the bedpan again. I could feel the toll that not enough fluids was taking but didn’t ask for more than what was offered. Instead, I slept.
When I woke the next morning, my mouth was dry, and I would have killed for a toothbrush. The thought of feeling clean again almost brought me to tears. To distract myself, I focused on the almost imperceivable sound of distant sirens.
Where was Konni? What was taking him so long?
Marta entered with a tray. This time, it had soup on it. That’s it. A clear broth instead of water. When she lifted it to my lips, I drank it down.
Then she brought out the bedpan. I lay there, not helping her like I usually did. It wasn’t that I was being purposely uncooperative—my thoughts were foggy, and I was just slower to respond. She had my pants down and the pan under me before I even thought to sit up.
After a few minutes of her waiting, I shrugged.
“I don’t have to go.”
She removed the pan then turned toward the pants pooled around my ankles. The snick of a pair of scissors registered after a second.
I frowned and looked down, watching her cut away my pants.
“What are you doing?”
She didn’t pause her careful work.
“What are you doing?” I repeated, fear growing as I attempted to jerk my feet back.
She hung onto the material and continued to cut. After a few more snips, she removed the ruins of pants and underwear. Then she picked up her tray and left the room.
I shivered, exposed from the waist down.
To the camera.
To anyone who walked into the room.
Vulnerability attempted to suffocate me. Tears wanted to flow, but I refused.
Hestian strode in with Javier a few steps behind him. Javier kept his gaze on my face. Not Hestian. His gaze devoured me, and I’d never felt more disgusted or afraid in my life.
I hated the fear. I hated the way I started to shake as he drew closer.
“You are beautiful, Sophia,” Hestian said roughly. “Seeing you tremble like this… If I cut these ropes, would you spread your legs for me?”
He set a hand on my shin and trailed his fingers up to my knee.
The fragile rational calm I’d maintained so far shattered.
I opened my mouth and started screaming like an insane person, pulling violently at the cuffs and jackknifing on the bed, trying to dislodge his touch.
“Stop her before she hurts herself,” Hestian ordered, stepping back.
Javier moved fast, grabbing my head and pressing a cloth to my mouth.
Reality started to blur within seconds.
I screamed my terror into the growing void.
I screamed for the mate who was supposed to be protecting me.
And I screamed at what would happen to me once I was unconscious.
The ache in my head was back, times ten. However, even as I swam toward awareness, I had the sense not to move. The fear had stayed with me.
I took a moment to assess what else hurt. Other than my head, everything was fine.
And my ankles were still tied.
A single tear escaped and tracked down my cheek.
The low murmur of conversation penetrated the flood of relief that I hadn’t been violated.
“…the fires in the East Village development have been contained, and nearby evacuated residents have been warned not to return to their homes. Authorities are warning residents to avoid contact and watch the skies. Anyone with any information regarding the current location of Sophia Elmantas should call the number at the bottom of the screen. It’s imperative she is located as soon as possible. ”
The sirens…they were because of Konni.
He was looking for me.
I opened my eyes and laughed, the low, hoarse laugh sounding nothing like me.
Hestian, who was sitting beside me, looked up from the news he was watching on the tablet he held.
“This amuses you?” he asked, a hint of anger in his voice. “That beast has burned three of my properties already.”
“That’s what dragons do when someone takes their mate—they burn the village. But that’s just the start.”
I sat up suddenly, leaning toward Hestian as far as my chained wrists would allow.
Javier, who’d been a step behind Hestian, moved equally fast and slapped me across the face.
I tasted blood.
Outside, an unholy roar rattled the windows.
Hestian bolted to his feet and swore.
“Idiot. I said not to hurt her.”
Understanding flooded me. Konni had felt my pain. If he hadn’t known where I was, he would now.
I laughed harder as Hestian hurried from the room, Javier on his heels.
“Dragons don’t forgive, you fucker! You’d better hope he finds you before he finds me!”
Alone in the room, I started pulling violently at the cuffs. It hurt.
The bellowing cries outside grew louder.
What sounded like an explosion shook the house hard enough that I felt it on the bed.
“Konni!” I screamed, pulling harder, afraid he’d burn the place down with me inside.
Windows shook with his answer.
People started yelling inside. Someone ran past my door. A big guy like Javier, but carrying some kind of semi-automatic gun.
“They have guns!” I yelled.
The dragon noise suddenly went quiet. Distant, panicked yelling broke out, followed by a very brief burst of rapid gunfire.
I stopped pulling. Another tear escaped.
“Don’t you dare die,” I yelled. “Or show up empty-handed. I want Hestian and that piece of shit with him, or I will never forgive you.”
Trembling with the effort to keep it together and breathe normally, I watched the doorway. Hoping. Fearing.
A thump and steady rasp came from the hallway several minutes later.
My shoulder heated sharply the second Konni filled the doorway. He was coated in blood and ash, but had never looked better, unlike the two barely recognizable people he was dragging by their ankles.
Gaze locked on me, he dropped them. But he didn’t come closer. He took in my nakedness from the waist down and the cuffs chaining me to the bed. The overlay of his scales rippled in and out of view as he started shaking violently.
“Konni, I really need a hug, a drink of water, and a baseball bat. In that order, please, okay?”
He moved toward me like he was fighting his way through quicksand, and I knew his need to give me what I wanted was the only thing stopping him from going on a killing rampage.
When he reached me, tears started to fall.
His.
“Kitten,” he said brokenly.