Page 17 of Ruthlessly Mated
“I’m… I’ve never shared a bed,” I say. “Maybe you can sleep in the bed, and I can sleep at the end of it?”
“Like a dog? No, Kita. You are going to sleep with me like my mate.”
“But…”
I play shy and overwrought. I cover my face with my hands. “I know this seems silly,” I say. “But I… I don’t know…”
He gives me a piercing look, one that feels like it is going right through me. I am afraid for a moment that he somehow knows what I have been up to. Maybe Damon told him my secret, or maybe it’s just written all over me somehow.
“You are a wild thing, and you are trapped, and you hate it,” he says. “You are afraid of me, and you are looking for little escapes. Come to bed, and let me show you how to enjoy being a mate.”
“No.”
“Maybe Conroy’s approach is better for you after all,” he says. “Maybe you need to be made to do what you should do.”
“I can’t sleep in bed with anybody else. Let me sleep at the end of your bed, please. You’re so…” I make a face that sort of implies I am not worthy to sleep in the bed with him. “Fancy.”
“Fancy?” He laughs, but it tickles his ego, and that is all I need to do in order to get the leniency I want. “Alright. Sleep however you are comfortable. If you want to come and get closer in the night, I would not object, but I won’t force you into the bed.”
“Thank you, sir,” I say, throwing in the sir because he seems like the sort of guy who likes that sort of thing. I curl up at the foot of his bed, lying sideways. I fit quite well, actually. I’m not particularly tall, and I have always felt much more secure snuggled up rather than stretched out. Tailor comes and puts a pillow under my head, which I accept.
“Aren’t you going to take your clothes off?”
“I’m used to sleeping in my clothes,” I say. “I get scared if I don’t have my things on me. I wake up over and over thinking someone might steal them from me.”
I am probably going to go to hell for this series of lies, but hell is closer than anybody suspects.
“I am looking forward to learning more about you,” he says. “It is late tonight, but there will be plenty of time tomorrow.”
Plenty of time. Tomorrow.
I lie down and pretend to sleep. I am sure my boots being on the coverlet is driving Tailor crazy, but he tolerates it. I’d feel bad, but I have bigger problems to deal with.
I wait until his breathing changes, suggesting he is asleep. Then I wait longer still, until his breathing really changes, indicating he is actually genuinely asleep. I couldn’t sleep if I wanted to. I have to make my escape before the kind of chaos that could rip this port apart forever comes knocking.
These men have no idea what they’ve brought upon themselves. They think having mated me has changed my brain forever, made it impossible for me to leave. They’re wrong. So fucking wrong.
I sneak out while Tailor is still asleep and find the port buzzing with the quietest activity I have ever beheld. People are moving quickly, silently, and definitely without wanting to rouse the port masters.
They’ve been warned.
I can hear the whispers.
When I turn around, I can see sails on the horizon. Red sails.
I run for my truck.
By some absolute fucking miracle, my cargo is on the back, the shipping container locked in place. Yes. This is going to work. Everything is going to be okay.
CHAPTER 2
Tailor
They say you don’t wake up to the smell of fire, but I do. I wake to the scent of our world burning. I look down at the end of the bed and discover that it is empty. Did that girl set us on fire? I wouldn’t put it past her, I suppose.
I pull on my clothes as fast as I can and grab all the weaponry that comes to hand.
“Sirs! Sirs!”
