Chapter Nineteen
Moth
The ringing in my head woke me from my deep slumber. I squeezed my eyelids closed to try and calm the pounding pain that rattled my brain. I didn't want to wake up, I'd been numb to it all, switched off again, just like my normal self.
Dragging my eyelids up, I fought the darkness as it tried to suck me back under. I wanted to go, but something… an instinct was calling me to wake up.
Where was I? And why did I feel so drugged? Moving my arm, I paused when the grinding of metal on the ground shrilled through my head. I suddenly became aware of the cool concrete beneath my fingers, my torso and my forehead.
Alia!
Lifting my head weakly, my eyes blinked open, squinting when the light attacked my pupils. The last time I'd seen Alia, she'd been held hostage by Brandon and he'd fired something at me. Clearly it hadn't been a bullet, otherwise I'd be with Wasp right now.
My eyes slowly adjusted to the light and things started to come into focus. Metal poles rose from the floor to the ceiling, concreted in at either end. A bright light from above illuminated the whole room.
“Alia.”
She was in the corner of the square cage, her arms tied by chains that were attached to the metal poles around her.
I pushed myself up, ready to go to her. The heaviness around my wrists pulled and I looked down, studying the manacles that bound me.
Shit, I was also chained to the metal poles, in the opposite corner of the cage.
“Alia,” I croaked, “wake up!”
Her body was slouched against the poles, her head resting awkwardly. She was beautiful, despite the drool that dribbled down her chin. My chest tightened, and I pushed up into a stand, unsteady on my legs.
“Sunshine, wake the fuck up,” I barked, my voice getting stronger.
The sound of a door opening drew my attention. There was a sliding metal door just outside the cage. Brandon came through it, swinging something on a piece of string as he closed it behind him and came nearer.
“Oh, good, you're awake!” he said, coming to stand by the bars that formed an entrance to the cage. “How's the headache?”
Growling, I rushed towards him, gasping when the chains tugged me back, yanking on my wrists painfully.
“I'm not going to lie,” Brandon said, leaning on the bars, “I can see why she's fallen for you. The tattoos, the leathers, the muscles and the dirty hair flopping in your eyes. She used to like me because I was a brooding hero.”
“Fuck off,” I spat, “and let her go.”
Lifting the key on the string, he unlocked the door and came inside, smirking when I tried, and failed, to go for him again.
My wrists burned from the cold metal as it dug into my skin. Brandon held up a finger, his face a mask as he studied me.
“It's funny,” he said, moving closer to Alia, “I thought I was obsessed with her, which I was to a certain degree, but I just wanted to fuck her, one last time, against her will.”
My teeth gritted as I breathed through them, my chest rising and falling. Brandon crouched beside Alia and stroked a strand of blonde hair out of her face.
“Get off her!” I took hold of the chain attached to the right manacle and tried to pull it off, using all of my strength.
Brandon chuckled at my feeble attempt to escape. “Don't pretend that it wouldn't turn you on to do the same. She's comatose right now. I could just bury myself deep inside her and she wouldn't even know.”
A feral shout exploded from me as I struggled against my restraints, pacing towards him and away. “I said, get away from her!”
My insides quivered at the powerlessness that gripped me. If he dared to touch Alia, in any way, I would break my own hands to get out. I'd somehow reach her before he could get his cock out of his jeans.
“It's too early.” Brandon stood and backed away from Alia. “And she's too sweaty. I like my woman clean. I shall give her a strip wash tomorrow. Something we'll both enjoy, I'm sure. You better get some rest, all that pacing will wear you out and the thirst will kill you before I've had my fun.”
He slipped through the gate and locked it, turning straight to the door.
“Release me!” I shouted loudly.
He didn't even flinch, just threw up a wave without looking back before disappearing out the door.
Alia groaned and stirred, lifting her head and clasping it with a hand. “What's going on?” she muttered, smacking her dry mouth.
Stretching the chains out as far as I could, I sighed, relieved that she had come around. “That motherfucker has us in chains. Are you okay?”
Her forehead scrunched as her eyes opened, snapping shut again as soon as the light hit them. She'd also been drugged by the evil monster. He’d better not have done anything to her while we’d been out cold.
“How did we get here?” Alia blinked her eyes open and stared at me, her eyebrows still furrowed. “Especially you, you're heavy.”
“Thanks,” I replied, not quite sure how to reassure her. “He must have put us in a truck or van, I don't know.”
Her little hand balled and she wiped the drying saliva from the corner of her mouth. The small action was innocent and cute, and for the first time, my chest swelled from affection. Shit.
“I'm sorry,” I started, “I promised to keep you protected, and I failed. I–”
“You sure had a lot to say back there,” she interrupted. “Are you in on this with him?”
She put a tentative hand on the ground and tried to push up into a stand. I wanted to go forward, to catch her when she wobbled, but I couldn't move. Our binds kept us apart.
“I was trying to throw him off, gain his trust so I could kill him,” I said, “You would doubt me after everything?”
My chest was tight, emotion bubbling under the surface as I watched my sworn enemy, weak and in danger. I wasn’t supposed to feel anything for Alia. What did it mean?
“Just for a moment there, you were pretty convincing. You did hate me, after all.” She sighed.
“Things have changed, you know that,” I snapped. “And I should’ve been able to protect you better. Instead, we’re in here.”
“You couldn't have predicted that this would happen,” she went on, holding onto the bar to right herself. “It was a stupid moment of negligence on our part, that's all.”
Shaking my head violently, I clenched my hands into fists. “You can try and justify it, but I was distracted, which goes against the first rule of vengeance.”
“You have rules?” She was standing straight now, checking herself and dusting down her skirt.
Thank fuck she'd kept her jacket on, it was cold in the warehouse, and I wouldn't have wanted her to freeze. Shit, I was getting soft.
“We have rules.”
“We?”
I scowled. “Yes, the three fucking men I swore an allegiance to on the day we got taken back to our families.”
We looked at one another, clearly agitated by our situation. It wasn’t fair to take it out on one another, not when we had to think of a solution to our little problem.
Alia hugged herself and shivered, looking around us to take in our surroundings. “We could do with those men right now.”
My brothers would be looking for us, I was certain. However, I had no idea if they'd find us in time.
“Do you have CCTV on the wall outside the store?” I stepped forward, my arms stretching back towards the cage wall.
Nodding, she came closer, tugging her wrists to pull on the chains.
“Careful,” I warned, “you'll hurt yourself.”
She looked down at my wrists and gasped. “You've cut yourself. You're the one who needs to be careful.”
I gave myself a cursory glance, ignoring the slight mar of red blood on my skin. We had to think of a way to get out of the chains and escape.
“There is CCTV,” Alia replied to my previous question. “I don't know how angled it is but hopefully they can see how he got us out of the alley.” Her face screwed up and she swore. “Fucking asshole! I thought you were dead.”
“Am I the asshole? Did you want me to be dead?”
“No,” she muttered, coming as close as she could, “of course not. My whole being screamed on the inside when I thought you were dead. Waking up to see you here, alive, breathing, sweaty and bare-chested…”
I stepped forward, almost coming flush against her as we stood facing one another, our arms outstretched behind us where the chains were pulled taut through the air.
“I want to fuck you slow,” I said, my voice cracking as blood pumped to my cock.
She was in my head, in my body, her essence running through my veins, and it was bliss. Except, I couldn't touch her. She was just out of reach, even though her breath fanned my nipples.
She dropped her head back and leaned closer, wincing when the chains pulled and her tits rubbed against my chest, just barely grazing me in the most delicious tease.
“Fuck, Sunshine.” Shaking my head, I moved away, “Don't hurt yourself.”
“Don't run away,” she muttered, closing her eyes and leaning towards me as far as she could.
Her shoulders started to distort, the pressure too much on her joints.
“Stop!” I barked as I went to her, trying to nudge her with my torso.
The slight connection jolted her and she stumbled back, cringing as she rolled her shoulders.
“Trust you to want a fuck when we've been kidnapped.” She ran her tongue across her top lip suggestively
“What can I say?” I muttered, going to stand by the corner to allow my achy arms to rest. “Adrenaline fucks with my mind.”
“And you're trying so hard to resist me.” Alia stretched her eyes and swayed slightly.
She was still drugged. Great, she had to rest and drink water. Except, there wasn't any. Not even on the outside of the cage.
“You need fluids.” I checked the corners of the ceiling to see if there were any cameras. There weren’t any visible, although that didn't mean Brandon hadn't hidden them somewhere.
Slipping down into a sit, Alia lifted her knees and leant back against the cage. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she looked around, searching for a way out.
“He's been in,” I said, lowering myself to the floor and mirroring her position.