Chapter Eleven
Kristina
Kristina’s mind reeled at his words.
This man, or whatever he wanted her to believe he was, was demanding her complete obedience.
Was he having a fucking laugh?
Yet everything that had transpired in the last few minutes confirmed that he was not joking.
He said he was Kronos; a name that chimed with something she’d once read about Greek mythology.
But she didn’t believe in gods, Greek or otherwise, and she knew beyond a doubt that the only ‘higher power’ in the world was the science she studied.
She was a graduate for fuck’s sake. To yield to such mindless nonsense was incomprehensible, but watching Kronos in action, it was difficult to know what else to conclude.
Science might not have taught her to believe in gods, but it had shown her why faith in the evidence of her own senses was important.
She’d already seen him do things that she couldn’t explain on more than one occasion, and although she still wasn’t sure how he was achieving those accomplishments, he did seem able to influence his surroundings.
The fact that he’d seemed to step out of thin air was impossible, but he’d also known her name and where she lived without her needing to tell him, and then, most perplexingly, he’d managed to silence her without even touching her.
The horror of that moment was difficult to overstate.
To lie there unable to even part her lips had filled her with the sort of cold dread she’d never experienced before, and frankly, never wanted to again.
Even when those three thugs had surrounded her, and one of them pinioned her to the wall, she hadn’t felt so overwhelmed and powerless as sprawled, spread-eagled and silent before Kronos.
And somehow, he’d achieved that with only a wave of his hand.
That was why she’d remained prone and compliant to his demands thereafter.
To have actively defied him at such a vulnerable moment would have been insanity.
Whoever Kronos truly was, and however he had garnered control over her, tethered to a bed with no clothes on, she was exceptionally helpless.
Instinctively, her gaze fell over his bare torso, crawling over his ripped pectoral and abdominal muscles.
He was a beast of a man who could have overpowered her without the need for binds.
Physically, he was mesmerizing, but in her current situation, the appeal of her captor really shouldn’t have mattered.
She had to admit, if only to herself, though, that she’d never seen a body like his before.
“Do you remember what happened last night, Kristina?”
His question drew her focus to the intensity of his compelling eyes.
Shit, had he seen her staring at his chest?
The last thing she needed was for the mysterious man who’d taken her to think she was attracted to him.
That truly would have been provocation. But then, why else would he have chosen to wear such a tantalizing outfit, if that was what it could be called?
He must have been seeking her attention.
“When?”
The quietness of her tone revealed how hesitant she still was to speak. She worried that she’d unintentionally say something to offend him and find her lips locked again. If she lived another hundred years, she never wanted to experience that sense of crushing impotency again.
“Tell me what you recollect.”
The tension in his jaw was subtle, but Kristina was focused on him, and she noticed the gesture at once. Apparently, something she’d done or said had unimpressed him, and that didn’t bode well.
“I remember the men who tried to hurt me.”
She frowned at the unpleasant memory. Under normal circumstances, an event like that might have been the most traumatic thing that a woman had to experience, but she supposed waking up naked and bound in Kronos’ dominion had the potential to be much worse.
“And I recall that you frightened them off.” That was one way of putting it. Kronos had flung two of them onto the concrete before she’d even caught sight of him. “Thank you again for that.”
He nodded, his lips twisting as though he was fighting a smile.
“And then?” His clipped tone elevated her heart rate. “What else do you remember?”
“I…” She glanced away, struggling to think. “I don’t know. It feels like I went to sleep after that, but… that doesn’t make sense.”
“That’s right.” His voice was softer when he spoke again, and he leaned closer, his huge body approaching her. “You came with me after that, and you have slept ever since.”
Her brows knitted at the confusing news, but yet again, she was reticent to ask too many questions. One query, though, plagued her for an answer.
“Where am I, Kronos?”
It seemed preposterous using that name to address him, but she noted the way his chin rose when she did, his lips curling into the smile he had previously denied. Her gaze lingered on his face, admiring his features; his knowing eyes and those chiseled cheekbones, which were lit up by the gesture.
Who the hell was this guy, and why did he have her bound to the bed?
A part of her suspected she knew the answer to the latter question, apprehension twisting in her tummy as she tried to decide how she felt about the likelihood.
Someone as strong as Kronos clearly didn’t need restraints to take what he wanted.
His performance on the street proved that.
If he was going to force himself on her, then there wasn’t much she could do to stop him, even if her hands and feet had magically been freed.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the whole predicament, though, was the other aspect of her that wasn’t even sure she’d want to fight him off. He was gorgeous, after all, and despite the growing ache in her shoulders, she wasn’t opposed to the idea of being closer to him.
“You shall know soon.” His voice vibrated over her as though it were an erotic lullaby. “I must continue to convey what matters most.”
She gulped back the urge to repeat his words. As far as she was concerned, not many things mattered more than where the hell she was.
“Your arms are aching.” His words were less a question and more of a statement.
“Er, y-yes,” she replied, bewildered at how he could have read her thoughts on the subject.
He didn’t, she assured herself. He just deduced as much from the amount of time he’s held me here.
If he released her from her fetters, that had to be a promising sign. However strong he was, if a man could be reasoned with, there was hope.
“I shall release you, little one, but do not think to defy me.” One of his dark eyebrows arched as though challenging her to disobey.
Whether Kristina was pinioned into surrender by fear alone, she couldn’t be sure. Lust circled her body, collecting between her legs and goading her. Staring at his foreboding expression, though, she hoped the giant couldn’t sense her admiration.
“I won’t.” Her voice was hardly a whisper when she finally replied.
“Master.” His tone was hard, his glare unforgiving as it bored down at her. “You shall refer to me hereafter as your master.”
Master?
Kristina’s lips parted. She wanted to tell him no, that he had no right to bind her or insist she call him anything of the sort, but the words refused to form. Instead, her brain whirred into action, analyzing her situation and calibrating how she should best react.
The man who’d taken her, presumably drugged her, and subsequently tethered her, demanded that she call him Master. She should have been enduring one of her worst nightmares, yet still, an unnerving veil of calm descended over her, convincing her not to give in to panic.
She didn’t understand the compulsion, but meeting Kronos’ determined gaze, she was grateful for it.
Unravelling into hysteria wouldn’t help her at that most pivotal of moments.
Better that she relinquished as he suggested.
Give her abductor what he wanted and keep him as amenable as possible.
Sooner or later, there would be an opportunity to escape, and once she was freed and in a position to take that chance, she would flee.
Until then, she’d have to swallow back her outrage at the idea of submitting to the virtual stranger.
“Kristina.” The muscles of her body tightened at the terse sound of her name. “Comply, please.” He scowled, folding his muscular arms across his chest. “You will do well not to make me wait.”
“Master.” She forced out the word, finding it was easier to say than she’d feared. No one was her true master, but he needn’t know that.
The word was said, the giant appeased.
“I’ll be good, I promise.”
“You promise?” His lips tugged into a smirk. “Human promises are like your bodies; weak and easily broken.”
He cast a glower in her direction, the thrumming anxiety in her belly knotting in response. Had he just talked about breaking bodies? Her toes curled, her mind unable to keep up with her contrasting emotions. One moment, she imagined being with him, and the next, he said something ugly like that.
“I’ll be good,” she repeated, trying to collect her thoughts.
It wasn’t the first time Kronos had referred to ‘humans,’ a premise Kris found utterly confusing. Did he think he was superhuman? Her focus flitted over his Adonis-like body again. Perhaps all that physical strength had led him to believe he was some sort of god.
The theory made sense. If Kronos was suffering from a type of psychotic breakdown, he could have persuaded himself of an alternative reality, possibly taking pharmaceuticals to reinforce the delusion.
Maybe that’s what he gave me, too. She heaved in a breath. And that’s why I saw him appear from nothing.
“Yes, you will.”
The tension in his voice eased with the reply, and raising one hand, he motioned toward the head of the bed.