Page 43 of Bought to Break
‘What about you? What about last night?’ she asked plaintively.
He tutted at her. ‘Come now. We didn’t really hurt you, did we?’ It was more of a statement than a question. ‘Sorin and I held you so you didn’t harm yourself trying to fight Kane when there was no reason to.’
She drew back. ‘And Kane?’
‘His cock is quite big for your first. He took you as softly as he could. It won’t be like that in future.’
‘In future?’ Lana gulped.
Viktor chuckled, caressing her cheek. He kept forgetting how innocent she was. ‘Did you not enjoy it?’
‘I did … after the first bit, but what about the knife?’ She felt the small cut above her breast, which had already healed shut.
‘That was part of the binding. We don’t need to do that again. It means you’re almost one of us now. You’re not a slave anymore. You can come and go as you please. In fact –’ He drew the Writ of Ownership Dirk had given him from his pocket and threw it into one of the braziers used to warm the tent. It caught light immediately and was reduced to ash in moments. Lana’s mouth hung open.
‘I can leave?’ she asked in disbelief.
‘Not without us,’ he amended. ‘You have no fighting skills. You need to be trained. Until then, one of us will always be with you. Our world is a dangerous one, as you well know.’
Her brow furrowed in confusion. ‘But I thought – now I’m claimed, I’m safe from other Dark Brothers, aren’t I?’
Almost unconsciously, he began to stroke up and down her arms. ‘Well, you can’t be taken from us by another unit and we will protect you. As a Dark Brother, you have the same rights as any one of us, but we have other enemies who would harm us if they could.’
‘The fact of it is, my sweet, you’re weak.’ Another voice joined their conversation. Sorin, now sitting up in the bed, stood and sauntered over. ‘We will make you strong, but until then you’re a millstone – to all of us.’
Chapter 22
Lana
Amillstone.Lana frowned at Sorin and Viktor. ‘Then why did you buy me from Dirk? Why did Kane bother bringing me here at all after he caught me? I don’t understand.’ She shook her head in irritation. ‘Since I met you, I’ve been attacked, beaten multiple times. I’ve lost my fatheragain, been hung up like a piece of meat, displayed, taunted and tortured, and now claimed by a murdering sell-sword army. Why? Why me?’
Viktor’s expression was hard, but he said nothing; his hands simply moved lightly up and down her arms, trying to soothe her, she supposed.
Sorin walked behind her and she tensed, but all he did was gather her long hair and plait it for her. ‘We would have saved you from all of that if we could. If we could have left you in your old life, we would have, but we couldn’t.’
‘Why not? And,’ she felt him tie a leather cord around the end of the braid he’d just finished, ‘where did you learn to do that?’
‘Because we’re drawn to you as you are drawn to us, Lana, and that means something. We couldn’t ignore it. As for this,’ he tickled her neck with the end of the plait he’d just done, ‘like you, I wasn’t always a Dark Brother.’
Lana craned her neck to look at him. ‘What did you used to be and what does it mean?’
Sorin gave Viktor a pointed look. ‘It doesn’t matter what I was, but you –’
She never found out what Sorin was going to say, for at that moment Kane strode into the tent.
‘Is she ready?’ His eyes raked over her naked body in a way that made her want to cover herself even though he’d seen every inch of her last night. ‘Clearly not.’
Viktor gave her one last caress and went to pick up a package from the table. ‘Clothes.’
Kane snatched it from him immediately and threw it at her. She caught it deftly and glared at him.
‘Your reflexes could use work,’ he remarked. ‘Get dressed, woman. You’re not a pleasure slave anymore, and your training starts now. I’ll not have a liability in my unit.’
‘I was hardly a pleasure slave,’ she muttered, eyeing him as he was eyeing her. ‘What will we be doing?’
Kane moved so quickly he was a blur and suddenly he was looming over her. She wanted to stand her ground, but her body, conditioned for pain, instinctively cowered.
‘Your training is whatever I say it is. Now, get dressed. We have a long day ahead.’
