Page 87 of Stone Seduction
She laughed. “There you go. Much better.”
Hot air sucked me from the cavern, dumping me back inside my aching body somewhere in the dark.
A red light blinked to my left, my body heavy from exhaustion and a few…extras.
What the hell?
Movement, the shuffling of fabric.
With a throat as dry as sand, my senses murky, I tried speaking.
“Hello?” God, it hurt to talk.
The shuffling responded, a soft sigh following.
The scent of almonds broiled my guts.
Oh. Crap. Not him. Please don’t let me be trapped in the dark with him.
“You’re awake,” Seth said, the tip of his joint glowing, igniting parts of his face.
I gulped, afraid of him again. He had the upper hand, my powers offline. I reached out to them, but they were fully locked away. Deeper than before, swaddled in layers upon layer of suppressant.
Too far. Way too far.
“What… What have you done to me?”
“Hush, Luke. Don’t strain yourself.”
I tried moving, my limbs bound by heavy shackles, a collar around my neck. Panic landed, prompting my flight response. I struggled, but their hold barely gave me room to twitch.
“Oh, God. Oh, God.” The harder I resisted, the heavier the binds became.
My head filled with dizziness, bringing on heart palpitations.
“Let me out. Let me out.” The darkness pressed in on me, no room for hope to break the crushing cocoon.
I’m trapped. I’m trapped. I’m trapped.
“I can’t be here…”
“There’s no need to be afraid, Luke.”
Stress heat enveloped me, reason leaving the building. I knew I should stop, calm down, but I’d already fallen into the swamp. Disorientated, whimpering, begging.
Please…
“Please let me out of here…” Every word hurt my throat. “Please… Please…”
“I can’t, I’m afraid.” His voice. His damn voice.
“Please…” I let the messy tears flow in front of the worst man on the planet. Begging him to make it stop, hating every second under his control.
Always there. An unkillable virus.
Too afraid to be furious, I kept pleading, my head spinning until the place of ice plucked me into its freezing nightmare.
“Not here.” Cold. So cold. Poison. Poison. Poison.
