FUCK, IT WAS BAD THIS TIME.
Worse than bad.
They knew. They had to know I’d finally welcomed a woman into my home.
I thought they’d be happy. That they’d give me a reprieve from the steady drip of burning agony—so I’d actually have the energy to have sex.
Hadn’t they wanted a scenario like this?
They wanted me to get close to someone—to break my steadfast rule never to condemn a child of mine to this endless suffering.
I could’ve raped the invaders they sent my way. I could’ve turned into an absolute monster and had my fill with hundreds of women, but...I didn’t.
Not because I liked being a twenty-nine-year-old celibate virgin but because I refused to take even the slimmest chance that I could get one of them pregnant.
I’d geld myself before that ever happened.
They’d even slipped drugs into my system when I was at the height of puberty—designed to override my stubbornness and make me burn with lust. That level of pain had been almost unbearable, and if Whisper hadn’t been there to chase away the girls who tried to sneak into my bed, I might have done something very regretful.
At least they’d stopped trying to make me perform like a human stallion, yet I couldn’t understand why the pain was excruciatingly bad.
My veins scorched to dust.
My blood transformed into flames.
My heart pounded faster and faster, reaching that critical moment that triggered the vitalsync core to dose me with a sedative.
My teeth clenched so hard I almost cracked them. Sweat poured down my back from misery.
I tried to decide what would be better: keep fighting and hope the pain would fade? Or let my heart trip over that warning line and get knocked out?
But she was in my home.
She was in my living room, far, far too close to my bedroom, where I choked on guttural screams.
If I passed out with her here...she could do anything to me.
Perhaps they were trying to knock me out so I would be at her mercy.
They’d use some new trick to harvest, not only my blood, but my sperm too, stealing my DNA in a different form to create the life I refused to condemn. Not that they’d gone that far yet. Or at least...I hadn’t been conscious if they had.
A blast of pain.
A punch of agony.
The world went grey—
Chapter Twenty-One
“OW.” I HELD UP MY HANDS and counted the blisters forming.
I’d never had the courage to tell anyone this, but...I’d never had a blister before. Never done menial labour—apart from that short time in Vietnam—that would ever result in such afflictions.
But today?
Today was my very first taste of domestication and...I didn’t hate it.
In fact, I was still standing, even as the sun set. I was still coherent as I went around Lucien Ashfall’s private quarters and turned on the lamps and lanterns. Even when I was younger and my parents were still alive, I hadn’t done well in the corporate environment.
I would function enough to work in my assigned office. I’d help compile research and perform whatever tasks my parents asked me to do, but I’d almost always end the day in a stupor from dealing with people, computer screens, and weighty responsibilities.
But this?
Cleaning had almost allowed my mind to turn off. Dusting his shelves, tidying up his books, mopping the floor. I didn’t enjoy it exactly, and my lazy tendencies urged me to sit down and have a nap, but I was actually a little proud of myself.
I’d actually achieved something.
I hadn’t passed out.
And now, I’m very hungry.
My stomach growled for the hundredth time. Lucien hadn’t returned after telling me to get to work this morning and I hadn’t had the courage to steal anything from his cupboards, but...I also didn’t have the courage to leave without his permission.
I might not be afraid of him, but I also didn’t want to see what sort of punishment he’d come up with if I disobeyed him.
So that left only one option.
Flicking back my hair that’d fallen over my shoulder while polishing the chessboard set—all the pieces neatly back in the wooden box beside it—I collected the rag and bottle and made my way back into the kitchen.
I hadn’t had time to tackle that room yet and my entire body ached at the thought.
Wine.
I perked up.
Wine would make everything better.
Especially the delicious flavours that existed in Cinderkeep.
Dumping the rag and citrus-scented disinfectant on the bench, I headed toward the fridge and opened it. The shelves groaned with food. Fresh melons and strawberries, roasted chicken, cold meats, colourful vegetables, protein shakes, and prepacked soups. My stomach snarled again as I opened the container holding pre-cut celery sticks, scooped up some hummus, and grabbed a handful of strawberries.
Devouring my little feast, I spied one of those earthen jars full of floral wine that I’d become rather fond of.
Excellent.
Plopping the last strawberry into my mouth, I grabbed the jar, nudged the fridge closed with my hip and went hunting for a glass.
Footsteps padded behind me, heavy and soft.
My heart pounded, delivering an instant headache as I whirled around and almost dropped the wine. “Haven’t you heard of employment laws?” I blurted. “I deserve a break and—” I exhaled heavily. “Oh, thank God, it’s just you.”
Whisper blinked, eyeing up the wine in my hands as if he knew exactly what I was doing—raiding his master’s supplies.
“Shoo.” I smiled. “This is for humans only.”
Moving past him, I tried one of the drawers, finding plates and bowls but no glasses.
Whisper followed me, pressing his nose against my hip.
“Are you hungry too?” I opened another drawer.
Aha!
Snatching a crystal glass, I uncorked the jar and splashed clear alcohol into it. Tart pear hit my nose. Perfect. That was one of my favourites. Where did Lucien and his prison guards get this stuff? If they sold them in supermarkets, I would definitely have a drinking problem because they were far too delicious.
Bringing the glass to my lips, I closed my eyes to enjoy the first mouthful and—
Fell on my ass as Whisper knocked me over.
Wine splashed all over me, soaking into my white shirt, turning it see-through and revealing—just like I didn’t like tight clothing—I didn’t like restrictive lingerie. The silk camisole I wore underneath plastered to my skin just like my shirt, making me shiver with icy shock.
“What are you doing, you silly thing?” Pushing the giant predator off me, I tried to climb to my feet, but Whisper pushed me again, his giant head against my wet chest, scooting me along the floor.
“Hey!”
He didn’t stop using me as a mop, pushing me around the island and toward another door in the distance that led to an area I hadn’t been bold enough to explore.
Backing away, Whisper gave me just enough time to stagger to my feet before grabbing the material of my linen trousers and jerking me forward.
I tripped.
My hand landed on his shoulder blades, feeling muscles working beneath sleek fur. “What’s wrong?” I asked, having no choice but to go where the panther yanked me. “Where the hell are you taking me?”
Whisper growled and carted me like a dead gazelle under the archway, down another corridor, and through a cracked open doorway.
I stumbled inside and froze.