Savage Chains: Scarred (#2) (7 page)

“I know. So, how about we pay our respects to our elegant host, then get the hell out of here, if it’s okay to skip those other parties.”

He smiled. “We’ve made our appearance, so we’ll be fine. You can leave the shoes, though. I’ll carry you if have to.”

“Can’t you just fly me out of here?”

He shook his head. “There’s a basic rule when there’s this much drinking. Everyone walks.”

“You mean you broke the rules flying me up the stairs?”

“I took a chance.”

Angelica glanced behind her and saw that the room beyond was empty; “Let’s go then, because if I see one more naked woman on her knees in front of another self-satisfied slaver I may go ballistic.”

He smiled. “Then we’d better get you home.”

He led her on her leash into the hall, then down the stairs. More than one partygoer glanced at Angelica’s bare feet and seemed to approve. She hadn’t realized that her barefootedness might be received as a way to control her. How ironic that instead Reyes had saved her some pain. His fellow Starlin members would be extremely disappointed if they knew the truth, bastards that they were.

He’d just reached the open front doors when Engles’s voice reached across at least forty feet of foyer. “Reyes, where have you been keeping your prize? Ah, you’ve stripped her of her shoes. I approve. Now if only she lost the costume.”

She felt Reyes bristle as he turned in Engles’s direction.

Engles, with a drink in one hand, caught Reyes’s arm with the other, lifting it high. “Our highest bidder for one of our finest trophies in a long time.” A burst of applause followed.

Angelica felt sick.

“I believe I now regret not exceeding your bid.”

“You’ll have a chance at her six-month mark.”

“Ah, yes.” He smiled, then glanced around at his guests. “You’ll notice how well-preserved our beauty is despite that she was in the hands of a man like Reyes all last night. But he’s assured me that he has plans to recoup his investment at her six-month transition. I suggest you all start saving your money for the chance to bid on her once she completes the process.” He then turned to Angelica and took her chin in his hand, forcing her to meet his gaze. “For I have no doubt that you’ll survive and when you do you’ll become the perfect slave-companion. Again, I envy Reyes.”

Angelica knew that those slaves who survived the six-month mark underwent a terrible sexual transition that caused them to fully embrace the slaver lifestyle.

As she stared into Engles’s evil dark eyes her spirit rose up within her, demanding that she speak. Though he still had hold of her chin, she squared her shoulders. “But if all the rumors about you are true, I wouldn’t have lived to see my six-month transition had I been in your hands.”

Reyes’s voice was suddenly in her mind.
Angelica, back down, now.

Engles’s nostrils flared and his dark eyes flashed. “You dare to speak to me in that manner, slave?” He released her chin but lifted his hand high, his lips pulled back, fangs showing.

She cringed, turning away from him, knowing she’d get hit.

When nothing happened she righted herself, appalled to find that Reyes held Engles’s arm trapped in his powerful grip.

The two men glared at each other.

Angelica,
Reyes called to her sharply, mind-to-mind.
Drop to the ground and prostrate yourself at my feet. Hold on to my ankles and put on the best begging-for-mercy show you can think of.

She fell down instantly and began sobbing. “I’m so sorry, master. I forgot myself. Please forgive me. Forgive me.”

“Silence, slave,” Reyes bit out.

Angelica didn’t dare look.

“You must discipline her!” Engles shouted. “Here and now.”

“She will be disciplined. Beyond that, you have no rights other than my apology for my slave’s thoughtless behavior.”

“She shows no respect. You have not brought her into proper submission, which means that your current method doesn’t seem to be working. All slaves are worthless and need to be taught well from the second you take possession. It’s clear to me, you still have a lot to learn.”

###

Reyes stared into Engles’s hard, dark eyes. He held the man’s arm high overhead, his fingers gripping Engles’s wrist. But Reyes felt no give whatsoever.

“Relent,” Reyes said quietly. “I will discipline my slave, and she clearly realizes now that she erred. Remember how much fight this one has. And again, I’m taking my time to season the meat. That is my way. And so far, she’s proved savory. I’ll have her in my game room next, for a few hours, teaching the lesson, as you suggest, that she so badly needs.”

Finally, Engles started to relax, pulling his arm away. “And we do have our rules.” He tugged on the cuffs of his silk shirt. “And I have no rights over your slave. But I would like to own her one day. I’d like her to learn a new set of lessons at my hands. In fact, I look forward to it.”

Reyes dropped his arm to his sides and felt a little flattery might help. “I looked at several organizations before setting my sights on Starlin. What I always valued, that isn’t true across the board, is that the owner has all the rights and members of the organization are not allowed to infringe on an owner’s property, not where his slave is concerned, at least not without permission.”

“You know our laws well.”

“I do.”

Engles once more glanced down at Angelica. His tongue made an appearance between newly emerged fangs. The bastard lusted after her, which sent off a warning bell in Reyes’s head. Engles would do what he could to gain control of Angelica. More than at any other moment, Reyes understood Engles’s mind and his purpose. The man was biding his time.

Engles gestured with an elegantly swept arm, encompassing the audience of at least a hundred of his guests. “We have resolved our differences. Please, enjoy the party.”

Like magic, the crowd turned back to its various conversations.

Reyes glanced down and spoke to Angelica in a forced voice of command. “You may stand now, slave, well behind me.”

She rose to her feet, her head bowed heavily. Her arms crossed over her stomach. He felt her remorse. More than anything, he needed to get her out of Engles’s home.

He was about to thank Engles for his party when he said, “A word, Reyes, if you will, for I want you to know that despite your slave’s unfortunate conduct, I have some good news for you. If you’ll come with me.”

Reyes wanted to protest, but Engles had already turned and now headed down the central hall that took him beneath the split staircase.

Angelica’s voice broke into Reyes’s thoughts.
Do we have to go with him? I despise the man.

We don’t have a choice. He’s the gateway to what I need for Starlin’s destruction.

Angelica sighed.
I know. My question was more rhetorical.

Believe me, if there was any other way …

Engles led them deep into what appeared to be the private part of his home, unavailable to his guests except by invitation. The hallway was part of a much older section bored out of solid rock. Again that odd shiver chased down Reyes’s back. Why did Engles’s home seem so damn familiar?

Reyes, you’re feeling it again, aren’t you? That you’ve been here before?

The chains didn’t lie.
Yes.

Are you sure you haven’t?
She sounded worried.

I don’t think so.

Engles led them to an alcove and through a doorway into a smaller room full of books and two maroon leather chairs. “Please sit down.”

With leash in hand Reyes took a seat, gesturing for Angelica to stand behind his chair.

Engles poured out a drink. “I hear you like a good Bowmore.”

Apparently, Engles had done his homework as well.

“I do.”

Engles poured from a crystal carafe, then handed Reyes a heavy cut-glass tumbler. He held the scotch beneath his nose but never took his eyes off Engles as he sipped. “Excellent, but I must say I’m honored that you actually have the brand I prefer.”

Engles planted his hand on his chest. “You do not have me to thank but rather Scorpion. He had you vetted and learned your proclivities and your background. I understand that you were a slave yourself once, but that you managed to elude your captor. I was stunned but, more than that, could not imagine how you escaped. So how did you?”

Reyes fell to a place of vampire stillness so that his mind could work on these swiftly rendered bits of his life. No one knew of his slavery, so how did Engles?

“I see I’ve stunned you.” Engles smiled and poured his own drink. He sat down slowly in the chair opposite. Behind Engles’s chair a slow trickle of water ran down the natural cave wall. Reyes watched the water, his mind turning in deep circles.

Reyes, what’s going on? It’s as though you’ve disappeared.

I need a moment.
He needed several. What was Engles’s game?

But how did he know about your past?

I don’t know.
He glanced around the room and felt uneasy once more.

And this place seems familiar to you, doesn’t it? I can feel it through the chains.

Yes. Like a dream I can’t quite remember.

###

Angelica touched the chain at her neck, focusing on Reyes and Engles at the same time, as well as this small, strange room. Suddenly it was as though the edges of the space began to spin and she felt herself drifting backward in time.

Another revisiting vision, a trip into the past.

After a few seconds the full vision arrived and she saw Reyes in this exact same space, because she recognized the narrow waterfall along the natural flow of rock.

There were no chairs, however. Instead, a hard wood platform took up the same space as Engles’s current chair. Reyes lay on the table, on his back. His face was bruised, his arms bound overhead. A familiar woman with a mass of curly red hair straddled him, riding him hard.

He cried out as if in pain.

Sweet Dove.

She lifted her hand, cloaked with the cat’s claw, and dragged it down his chest, cutting deep. Blood flowed from Reyes’s wounds. He screamed in agony.

Angelica felt faint. She wanted the vision to end, but she couldn’t turn away. This was Reyes, and she needed to know something about this moment in time. She needed to understand.

She worked hard within the vision to take herself backward, to see more of the room. Someone else was present, but who?

Then she heard him: “Yes, Sweet Dove, make him come like that. It will be better for you both. He’s taken enough for now. Focus on his cock. Slow down just a little. Let him feel himself low. The pain from the cuts will dim just enough and he’ll start connecting pain with pleasure.”

Angelica knew that voice. It belonged to the man opposite Reyes in the present.

Sweet Dove cried out. “He’s hard, Master Engles. So hard. I want to come.”

“Not yet. Lean down and take the blood from his chest. This is part of the process, the reward.”

Still straddling him, she leaned forward and lapped Reyes’s blood. Tears streamed from Reyes’s eyes, which were now closed. He moaned as her hips kept working him low.

“You’ll see. He’ll grow to enjoy all of it, including the pain.”

“And you’ll slice his memories after?”

“Yes, as we agreed, so that he’ll never think of me as his master. You were always a favorite of mine, Sweet Dove. And now you’re becoming the master. How does it feel?”

Sweet Dove turned to him and smiled. “A bit like heaven.”

Engles laughed.

Angelica had seen and heard enough. She released the chain at her neck and the vision faded.

Reyes, however, stood next to her now, his hand gripping her arm. “What’s going on?”

She met his gaze, blinking hard, as though trying to remove from her eyes the sights she’d just seen. Aloud she said, “I think I blacked out. I don’t know.” But to his mind she added,
Reyes, I had a vision, but I can’t talk about it right now. It involves Engles.

“On your knees, and no more of this crying out.”

Did I cry out?

Yes. Just drop to your knees before Engles becomes suspicious.

She fell quickly, bending over to plant her hands beside her knees. She felt so dizzy and sick at heart that tears once more welled, then plopped on the faux-leopard trim of her black stockings. She’d seen the beginning of Reyes’s torture, and her heart hurt because of it.

Engles had trained Sweet Dove how to become a sadist.

Reyes’s voice filled the room. “And be silent, slave.”

“Yes, master,” she whispered.

“Very good, Reyes.” Engles’s approving voice made Angelica cringe. “She’s probably just in shock. Now, on to more important things.”

His dismissive tone gave Angelica some relief. As long as Engles thought her worthless, he wouldn’t assign too much weight to anything she did.

He cleared his throat. “Now that you’ve brought your slave under control, I wanted to let you know that Scorpion asked me to speak with you tonight. I see that you’re surprised, but I’m happy to tell you that he has singled you out, hopefully for a quick promotion to the Board of Governors.”

“I beg your pardon?” Reyes was clearly stunned.

“I think you heard me.”

The leather chair creaked as Reyes shifted his weight. “I don’t understand, Engles. I’ve been a member for two days now. What have I done to deserve that kind of elevation? I wouldn’t say I’ve proved myself yet.”

“I understand why you’re skeptical, and in my view you should be. I don’t agree with the concept generally. You’re relatively new to the lifestyle and you have some growing to do. Our leader, however, believes differently and thinks you possess tremendous potential. And perhaps this will be an excellent means of proving yourself, since Scorpion has a requirement, something very simple and basic that I’m sure you won’t have the smallest problem fulfilling.”

Angelica’s chain vibrated against her neck. Clearly, Reyes didn’t like where this was headed.

“And that would be?”

“A bit of fun, actually. Scorpion commands a private show, just you and your slave, engaged in bondage play. The choice of dominance would be yours, chains, ropes, silk scarves, whatever you prefer. I will be there, of course, with my own slaves. Scorpion usually doesn’t allow me to attend, but he’s made an exception in this case. He knows how much I value your slave’s attributes, and if you haven’t figured it out by now, Scorpion and I are close business associates.”