Page 22 of Cold-Blooded Creatures
The man’s words were reminiscent of what Eislyn had shared about her assigned partner, whose ghost haunted her to this day. Finally, after two years, she had dared to venture out into Ilasall to search for the man.
Her stories of him were a drop in the ocean of a thousand similar ones. Like him punishing her for taking too long to heal after the birth of their fourth child.
The day I had met her, I had wanted to find him, drag him back, and let Zion have his way. But when I had asked Eislyn if she would be okay with that, she had meekly said no. I had to threaten half of the compound to stay in place that night and grant favors to the other half who cared less about the consequences than getting rid of a man who would acquire another innocent to use at the next auction.
At least today she had Eli coming with her to search for the bastard. She had trained extensively these past months, and I would not be surprised if she had a few painful tricks up her sleeve that she had picked up from all those nights in the basement with Zion. That rat of a man was going on a death ride.
“Going somewhere?” Two guards in dark green and black uniforms blocked the small city gates at the end of a narrow street.
Shit, they were not supposed to be here. It must have been the new shift in place of the one we had taken care of.
Time to improvise.
“She tried to run away. So I am going to teach her a lesson.” I lifted my treasure’s wrist, jingling our glinting green bands, and parted her legs to reveal a few yards of rope I had attached to my belt. A precautionary measure if the drugs had not worked as intended. “I am going to strip her naked, tie her up to a tree, and leave her there for as long as it will take for her to realize that I own her. I will force my cock down those pretty lips and fuck her tight little pussy until she cannot stand anymore. I will mark her in bruises so she knows who her owner is. Only after she begs me to take her home,myhome, will I bring her back.”
For an added effect, I squeezed her ass, hoping these perverted worms would let me through. Of course, I could simply dispose of them—the tiny gates were down a deserted street—but I had her to think of. I did not want to hurt her by throwing her limp body onto the road.
They exchanged looks and the shorter of them motioned toward a digital lock. It beeped and lit up, and the gates began sliding aside automatically as the system recognized the guard. They were probably planning to spend their night jerking off to the fantasy I had described.
“If you need any help, we’re here for the rest of the night. Give us a shout.” The guard moved aside to let me through, his focus set on her ass in a leering manner.
He was not going on the list for Zion to toy with. I was taking care of his eyesight myself.
I moved through the gates without a hitch and hurried to the forest to avoid the risk of staying too long in the open area.Wildness had overgrown in the field, providing us with perfect opportunities to crawl inside the city and out. They kept clearing the field around the wall surrounding the city, but it was possible to sneak through it if you knew the guards’ rotations.
Hidden from the city’s eyes by the thick foliage, I tensed my diaphragm and, ignoring the protest of my lungs at the forced break, listened: a snap of a branch breaking free from a tree, a shuffle of feet on crunching leaves, a chirp of a bird, and a dull, percussive thump.
“Yes! It stuck!”
The joyous screech had to be Eislyn.
“Oh, shut up, like you can do it better.”
A single thump sounded more to the right of the previous one.
“You were saying?”
The question had to have come from Eli. He was teaching Eislyn how to throw knives.
“Here. This is a single-edged, handle-heavy knife. It’s not balanced, so take it by the blade and throw it, handle-first. Place the blunt side of the blade into your palm and keep your pinky free from the sharp tip or you’ll cut yourself.”
Their chatter increased in volume as I strode closer to them, her arms swaying and bumping against my lower back, snagging on my shirt.
“Yeah, that’s good. Now position your dominant leg back—yes, yours is the right one—and place your weight on it. Okay, now that oak you are targeting is quite close to you, so you want your knife to turn over in the air quickly. Bend your forearm toward your bicep and lift your arm so the knife rests alongside your head. Yeah, like that, just don’t bend your wrist.
“It’s more about the movement than strength at this point. You want to shift your weight from the leg behind you to the onein front while swinging your arm forward. Try it, but don’t throw the knife yet.”
“Stop it,” Eislyn snapped. “Go ahead and play with your catch. Let me concentrate.”
Now that had to be directed at Zion.
I emerged to the right of the maple tree Zion was leaning on. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“He kept distracting me.” Eislyn spotted who I was carrying and grimaced. “You know she won’t go easy on you for this.”
“That’s what I’m looking forward to,” I said, then shot a glare at Zion tugging at the hips of the passed-out woman I had thrown over my shoulder, as if to take her from me. “Do you want me to make you Eislyn’s next target?”
Eislyn jumped up and down, clapping her hands, and exclaimed, “Can I? Can I practice throwing the knife at him?”
