The window that overlooked a small backyard was narrow, but she could easily squirm through it. And if nothing else, she could climb onto the stack of dusty boxes in the corner to bust through the rotting timbers of the roof.
But she wasn’t at her full strength.
That had been stolen from her, just as the comfort of her cat had been stolen.
And it didn’t matter if was the result of the metal collar or poison or some magical curse. The end result was that she felt so exposed and embarrassingly vulnerable she wanted to curl in a corner and hide.
Instead, she was standing in the center of the cell when a human male crossed the warped floorboards and shoved a tray of mush that passed as food through a small slot in the door. Keira grimly moved to catch the tray before it fell. The shit tasted bad enough without having to eat it off the floor.
The man smirked, his brown hair greasy and his narrow face in need of a shave. He wore jeans and a flannel shirt that always looked like it needed to be washed. There was a cunning intelligence, however, in the mud-brown eyes and a sadistic hunger in his gaze as it slid slowly down her slender body.
Thanks to the old-fashioned cheval mirror in one corner of the attic she knew precisely what he was seeing. Sleek black hair that was pulled into a braid hung halfway down her back. Eyes that looked a dull yellow. Delicately carved features. Skin that was pale from a lack of sunlight. And a sleek, too-thin body that was covered by a pair of spandex exercise pants and matching sports bra.
“How’s my pretty kitty today?” the man taunted. She didn’t know his name. Why would she? He was just one of a long line of tormentors she’d endured. But she’d privately named him the ‘Ferret’. “Are you ready to purr for daddy?”
Setting the tray on the narrow cot that was the only furniture in the cell beyond the small TV, she turned back to the man with a mocking smile. She didn’t know why she found it so important to remain defiant in front of her guards. She was trapped like a rat. Helpless. Abandoned. And closer to the edge of insanity with every passing day.
What was the point?
But some stubborn, rebellious part of her refused to accept defeat.
She would spit in the face of fate until the madness consumed her.
“Come and get it, fucker,” she taunted.
He deliberately licked his lips. “Someday.”
It was a constant threat, but so far the guards hadn’t sexually attacked her.
Not yet.
Keira didn’t know why they hadn’t. They’d humiliated, shamed, and taunted her in every other way. But if sexual assault was coming, she desperately hoped her luck held until she was too insane to know what was happening.
“Yeah, and someday I’ll rip your heart out and eat it with special sauce on a sesame seed bun,” she retorted.
“Naughty kitty.” The bastard touched the band strapped around his wrist, sending a jolt of electricity through the collar around Keira’s neck. She hissed, her heart missing a painful beat. “But don’t worry. You won’t be in your cage for much longer.”
Keira frowned. “Why?”
“The word has started to filter down the ranks. Our time is finally here.”
“Your time? You sound like a cheesy super villain.”
The Ferret stepped forward, his eyes glittering with a fevered lust. “You won’t be nearly so funny when we don’t need you anymore. I’m going to fuck you to death.”
She kept her smile in place even as a sick dread clenched her gut. There was a smug cockiness in his voice that warned her it wasn’t yet another empty bluff.
He was truly confident he was soon going to get his hands on her.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“With that miniscule dick?” She tilted her chin, refusing to let him see her fear. “If I’m going to be screwed, at least send a man to do it.”
“You bitch.”
He pressed his finger onto the switch that sent the electrical pulses out of the collar. But this time he continued to hold it down, sending jolt after jolt through her body. Keira’s teeth ground together as she fell to her knees. Holy shit. She’d gone too far. The bastard was going to kill her.
Her head was bowed and her mind going dark when the sound of a male voice floated from the doorway at the bottom of the stairs.
“Roger.”
Roger? Her lips twisted despite the agony searing through her rigid muscles. His name was Roger?
Ferret fit him better.
Abruptly the pain stopped as the Ferret muttered a curse. “What?”
“Meeting.”
“Another one?” the Ferret shouted. “What the hell is this one about?”
“I didn’t call it,” his companion groused. “We leave in ten minutes.”
The Ferret moved to stand near the bars of Keira’s cell, his stench only adding to her misery.
“Maybe it’s good news. Maybe we’re going public and I can finally have you flat on your back where you belong.”
With a laugh, he turned and left the attic, allowing Keira to take a deep, cleansing breath as she struggled to clear the fog from her mind.
“Be careful what you wish for, asshole,” she muttered, pressing her fingers to her temples that throbbed from the massive amount of electricity that had scorched through her.
Remaining on her knees she waited for the nausea to pass, surviving the time by picturing the various ways she could kill the Ferret if he was stupid enough to unlock her cell.
Snapping his neck would be the most efficient, but it was far too clean a death for the loathsome creature. She wanted something slow. Something that would cause maximum pain.
An hour passed. Then two. Darkness slowly filled the attic as she wearily curled into a tiny ball on the floor. Later she would try to choke down the sludge they called food. For now, she was alone with no need to act brave.
“Keira. My name is Keira,” she murmured. “I’m strong. I’m brave. And those bastards aren’t going to break me.”
Softly chanting the words over and over, Keira nearly missed the faint sound of footsteps that crept up the stairs. She frowned, a strange fear clenching her heart. Those steps were too light, too graceful for a mere human.
What was coming?
She remained curled on the floor, lost in the shadows as she glanced warily through the gathering gloom.
A large, male form appeared, but with obvious caution, he circled the entire room, searching for hidden enemies before at last turning his attention to the cage in the center of the floor.
Only then did he suck in a horrified breath as he caught sight of her cowering form.
“What the hell?”
The man stepped forward and Keira’s heart missed a beat as she took in his golden male beauty. He disturbed her. Not like the ferret-man. Or his various human partners. This was…different. Somehow more personal.
“Is this a trick?” he breathed.
She scowled. “I don’t understand what you’re asking.”
“You’re dead.”
His stark words sliced through the muddle in her mind. She blinked, struggling to process them. Dead. Bizarrely, the thought didn’t frighten her.
Actually, it explained so much.
“So this is hell?” She gave a short, near hysterical laugh. “I hope I earned a spot here by partying my ass off. Laissez les bons temps rouler.”
There was a short, nerve-scraping silence before a soft word floated on the air.
“Keira?”
A startled hiss was wrenched from her throat. Her name. It was the one thing that she’d been able to cling to from her past. It had kept her grounded when her captors did everything in their power to crush her will. Or when her mind threatened to become lost in the dark depths of despair.
And through it all she’d kept it protected.