Page 174 of Bound By Her

She shook her head. “You do not owe me anything.”

He smirked, stepping back again. “Sure thing, boss.”

His voice was light, teasing—but his eyes?

His eyes weren’t teasing at all.

“But we both know how often I follow directions.”

CHAPTER 41

NORTH CAROLINA

Bryson, Kaydon, and Seth reported to the foyer promptly at six in the evening. The three of them falling into a strict routine. Three days with Eric studying and practicing amongst themselves. And typically, on the fourth day, they ran through drills with Adria.

She didn’t eat with them anymore. In fact, unless an interaction held some sort ofeducationalvalue, they rarely saw her at all.

At first, Bryson reasoned that she needed time adjusting. But he watched as weeks turned to months, and as the knife marks on his body faded, it became clear that she was avoiding what had happened between them.

Her ignoring him wasn’t necessarily a new phenomenon, but she wasn’t herself with Seth or Kaydon either.

She flickered in and out like a pilot-light trying to start. They saw glimpses of her, but the flame wouldn’t hold.

The version of her that Bryson experienced in her room was gone. She said all the right words, did all the right things, looked the same way, but she wasn’t right.

She wasn’t Adria.

It was for the best, he told himself.

They were going to be sold and needed to be ready to move on.

The three of them knelt as she entered the room. Kaydon and Seth took to the training very well, but Bryson felt as robotic as Adria looked.

With their eyes on the floor, they waited for her to speak.

“Today we are going to do something new,” Adria said. “I am not going to lie, it might be difficult, even a first for some of you, but I expect you to trust me and do as I say.”

“Yes, Mistress,” the three of them said in unison.

Her heels clicked, and when she was a few paces away, she called out, “Pets, you may follow me.”

That was another thing. She never used their names. Instead, she used, pet, stallion, boy, or sub. Bryson wasn’t going to lie, it was pissing him off.

Crawling behind Seth, Bryson’s mind wandered to Elena.

She had agreed to look into their father’s motives, but they both already knew the truth. Callen had sent him here to die.

That realization sat in his chest like a stone.

And Elena—cool, calculating—had given him the best advice she could.

“Rival any of her other stock,” she had said. “Do that, and the Triune will have no choice but to leave her alone.”

That was the play.

That was the best way to ensure Adria’s safety.

So, every time he wanted to mouth off, every time he wanted to shake her after she called him pet, he bit his tongue and reminded himself.

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