Chapter 19 #2
Dr. Gardner was here, she’d heard him even if she hadn't seen him yet.
Right at this very second, the rest of Delta Team would be assessing this location and figuring out the best way to breach it to ensure that this time the man they were hunting didn't get a chance to escape.
The best way to make sure she and Thunder didn't get caught in the crossfire.
Well, her more than Thunder since he knew how to take care of himself.
Nothing was going to go wrong this time. It couldn’t. The fact that Delta Team had already stripped away almost everything Dr. Gardner had meant the man was at his most vulnerable. There wasn't going to be a better time to strike.
Despite the fear that had grown exponentially over the last several hours, there was pride there, too.
So far, she hadn't drifted off into her special place, even though that chasm between her and it had grown smaller.
She hadn't done anything to give away the fact that she was a lot more mentally competent than everyone seemed to believe.
Well, she had done one thing. After taking her from the bedroom at the house, they’d carried her downstairs and out to a van.
In the back of the van was a cage, like a dog crate, and inside it had been Thunder.
She’d been thrown into it along with him, and since he’d been unconscious, Maya had done her best to ensure he didn't get thrown about too badly.
Of course, that was easier said than done, given their massively disproportionate sizes. But she’d pressed herself up against his much larger body, soaking up the feel of it, secure in the fact that the chest she was curled up against rose and fell with each breath he took.
Their gamble had paid off, and they were both alive, both here, both just waiting for the rest of Delta Team to come swooping in to save them. It was hard to wait, but Maya understood it took time to come up with the perfect plan.
Failing once again wasn't an option. This had to end the way they all wanted it to, with Dr. Gardner dead and the rest of them finally set free.
Right now, the man in question was in the next room, talking to Thunder. Just because she hadn't heard Thunder’s voice didn't mean that she couldn’t tell from what Dr. Gardner was saying, that’s who he was talking to. Which meant that Thunder was still alive, and obviously awake.
It took enormous restraint not to call out to him, not to get up and run to him.
After all, she wasn't restrained in any way.
Since everybody seemed to think she was nothing more than the empty shell of a person, they didn't see her as a threat. When they arrived at this house, she’d been carried inside, deposited on a bed, and left there.
A temporary reprieve.
Because sooner or later, Master was coming to her.
Sooner rather than later, it turned out, because the next words she heard told her that her time was up.
“I think I feel like making a visit to my sweet, little slave. I've missed her these last few weeks, and I think it’s time I go and get reacquainted with her,” Dr. Gardner told Thunder.
No doubt it was to taunt the man she was falling in love with. There might be no way for Master to have learned about their connection, but then again, he didn't really need to.
Despite making Thunder and the others feel like they were monsters, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
They were good men, kind men, honorable men.
Maybe they messed up sometimes, deciding to use Rose as bait was proof of that, but they were human, and they’d been badly damaged by the man who had lied to get them to sign up for a program they hadn't fully understood.
Even if she and Thunder hadn't grown close, he wouldn't have liked the idea of her being used for Dr. Gardner’s pleasure when it was more than obvious what her role in the scientist’s life was, and that it wasn't a willing one.
Footsteps sounded across the floor, softer than the ones she’d heard coming up the stairs to get her back at the house, but still coming right for her.
And there was nothing she could do to stop it.
They hadn't discussed in detail how far she was willing to go to keep up this charade. It went without saying that she needed to keep it up long enough for her and Thunder to get eyes on Dr. Gardner. But beyond that, everyone had assured her that no one expected her to let the man rape her. If it came down to it, she could break character if she had to. All she had to do was try not to let on that she’d been building a connection with Delta Team, Thunder specifically.
A shadow fell over the bed she’d been set on, and she knew it was Dr. Gardner standing in the doorway.
Only as he stood there looking at her, he wasn't Dr. Gardner.
That was the man Thunder had known, that Delta Team had known, that Whitney and Indigo had known.
The man she knew was Master. Someone who took great pleasure in using and abusing her body.
He had never seen her as an equal, not even as a human being.
She was just a toy to be played with, not even making it to the level of a pet.
Now, as he stood there watching her, Maya knew she wasn't ready to let on yet that she was anything more than he remembered. So she shifted on the bed, almost on autopilot, to present herself the way he liked, ever so grateful for the clothing that still covered her body.
“Such a good little toy, aren't you?” Master crooned as he walked toward her.
Giving no response, she just lay there, staring at the wall and trying to make her expression as blank as possible.
Something that was much harder to do now than it was just a few weeks ago when she was back on Dr. Gardner’s island inside her cage.
Then, her mind was shattered into a thousand pieces, but now it had been slowly stitched back together by the very man who was so close, separated just by a single wall, and yet it felt like there may as well be an ocean between them.
“You were a bad girl, though, weren't you? You let them take you away from me. You know you need to be punished for that, don’t you, my pretty toy?”
A small shiver rocketed through her before she could stop it. What kind of punishment did he have in mind?
While she wanted to do whatever it took to maintain her cover until Delta Team was there, because Maya knew that if she didn't, she was putting Thunder’s life at further risk, she wasn't sure that she could follow through with it.
Yet Thunder was only there right now because she wanted to do her part in helping bring down Dr. Gardner.
It was only right that she do anything she had to in order to at least minimize the risk to him.
Which meant letting Master deliver whatever punishment he chose.
Delta Team was out there somewhere.
They’d be there soon.
She could do this.
With her future with Thunder hanging in the balance, Maya found she could do anything to make that future a reality.
“Stand,” Master ordered, and she didn't hesitate to push to her feet, standing beside him and awaiting her next instruction.
Following orders was safe, it prevented further suffering. That was a lesson she’d learned as a teenager, and she found it still applied.
With a slowness she knew was because he was immensely enjoying himself, Master unbuckled his belt and slid it out of the loops.
Because she’d been the man’s prisoner for years, she knew what the punishment was going to be, and even though Maya knew it was going to hurt, she was glad it was going to be physical pain and not sexual.
After having Thunder inside her, she knew what sex without pain felt like. What it was supposed to be. The emotional connection it was supposed to have. Could she really stand having Master put his penis inside her again, even knowing that in doing so, she was keeping Thunder safe?
“Over my knee,” Master ordered as he sat on the edge of the bed, and Maya forced her limbs to move as she positioned herself so she was draped across his lap.
His hands tugged on the waistband of Thunder’s borrowed clothes, and he pulled them down enough to bare her backside. Fingers skimmed her skin before kneading at her flesh. Those fingers skimmed closer to her center than she liked, and Maya squeezed her eyes closed, struggling to keep in her tears.
She didn't want this, but she had to endure it.
When there was a slight whizzing sound, signaling the coming crack of leather against her bare skin, it was relief and not pain she felt when it connected. This she could handle, this helped her keep her perspective and remember what was at risk if she did the wrong thing.
But what happened if Master decided he needed more before Delta Team made their entrance? Was she strong enough to follow through on what she’d assured Thunder she could handle?