Torment (Primal Progeny Book 1) (11 page)

Scolding herself inwardly she fluidly turned the unplanned motion into a comforting grasp of his hands; wrapping her delicate fingers over the harsh angles of his tightly clenched hands.

‘We must go’ she said it so quietly it was almost a whisper. ‘Tobias has gone to start up one of the cars and we really do have no time to waste.’

Hunter looked down at the hand draped over his own and slowly unfolded his fingers beneath it; feeling an unexpected pang of desire as her fingertips trailed over his calloused skin when she lifted it away. Disgusted by the threat of stirring in his groin he looked her straight in the eyes as he replied, how could he be responding like that to so little? And when Lucy was in such grave danger?

‘I thought we were using my van? You’re right though, we need to leave.’ His voice was flat and emotionless by design, and he suspected he must have sounded very cold.

Eve returned his stare unflinchingly and held out a hand to help him from his seat. ‘We can if you prefer but I expect that ours is probably faster.’

Hunter nodded and elected to stand unaided, pushing his chair back under the table and following her out of the room at a pace so fast it was almost a jog. For a moment his eyes struggled to adjust to the gloom of the corridor and he disjointedly wondered why the lights were permanently off. But it was just seconds before they were both outside in the cool evening air, and he was quickly distracted by other thoughts.

Tobias had started the engine of the car they were set to travel in and was sat tensely behind the wheel watching them walk towards the vehicle. The rumble of the engine cut through the haze of Hunter’s mind, and as he lowered himself on to the back seat he felt the fog lift and his senses sharpen.

Slamming shut the door of the dark blue people carrier he clipped his seatbelt into place, and leaned between the two front seats to question the stony silent betas. ‘How far have we got to go?’

It was Tobias who answered ‘its fifteen minutes away from here but I’m confident I can make it in ten.’

Hunter nodded ‘push for five.’

A slight smile briefly curved the lips of the man behind the wheel at the blatant pushiness of the lone wolf’s statement.

‘Don’t worry’ he replied. ‘I will. Trust me when I say we don’t want him to get away any more than you do.’

Eve leaned forwards in her seat and glared at her co-beta. ‘Drive then Tobias!’ She barked.

He obliged with a screeching of tires and the car shot out of the clearing to be concealed by the blackness beneath the trees. Within it both Hunter and Eve both clung on tightly to their seats and Tobias clutched so tightly to the steering wheel that his knuckles were white.

He was pushing for five.

Chapter 11

Two hours previously.

Lucy’s head pounded, she wanted to open her eyes but somehow couldn’t get them to obey her.

She could hear something faintly behind her, quiet noises she could not discern.

She wanted to open her eyes but they refused to comply.

What was that sound…?

She couldn’t feel her limbs… was that important?

A quiet voice whispered into her ear ‘rest now sweet one.’

That seemed like a good idea… she did as she was told.

She could have sworn the world flipped upside down, but she had to rest…

That seemed important…

*****

An hour later.

Varulv sat watching the slow breathing of his newest catch in silent contentment. He loved that part of the game; those quiet, placid moments in the calm before the storm.

Settling back on his haunches he lent his back against the rough wall of the barn and sank comfortably into the shadows below the hayloft.  He liked to sit and reflect on the actual ensnaring of his women whilst they recovered from their cocktails. To tick over in his mind how smoothly things had run thus far, before commencing with the later stages of his routine.

The fun stages.

He watched the slow, steady rise and fall of her chest as she hung suspended before him. A wicked smile crept across his lips at how beautifully he had arranged her limp and pliant body ready for his amusement. He had purchased a great length of harsh rope before arriving in the town; along with some heavy steel hooks, some thick chains and a variety of screws and plates in various sizes and lengths. The previous evening he had visited his newest playground and modified the old barn to suit his purpose. It had taken him a few hours to complete the task but he had worked happily, knowing that it would all be worth it in the end.

First he had donned a pair of think leather gloves, before clearing away the straw that was strewn across the floor. Eventually he had created a large clear space in the centre of the building. He had used a rickety old wooden ladder to access the old beams in the roof. He had been lucky enough to find that outside, half buried in the grass along the edge of the building. With an ease born of experience he had fixed two lengths of chain to the central beam that ran from one end of the barn to the other; then had attached one hook carefully to each dangling end.  Next he had screwed into place two metal plates topped with heavy rings into the concrete floor.  A Normal human man would never have managed this feat but Nicolai did not even break a sweat. He had smiled to himself as he had snapped the chain onto the set of police issue handcuffs he had bought online… He always marveled at how weak the connective chain was in comparison to the perfectly efficient cuffs. These he then soldered to the rings which he had bolted to the floor, before tugging on each to test their durability.

Varulv had returned to his hotel happy that night, content with the work he had done and anticipating the next evening of joyful cruelty.

He had been pleasantly surprised by the appearance of Lucy when he had first laid eyes on her. He had seen a photograph of her in a local paper but it had failed to do her beauty justice… Besides which he had always had a weakness for blondes.

She had also surprised him with how quickly she had succumbed to the effects of the drinks he had bought her. In his experience women from wealthy backgrounds tended to hold their liquor well as a general rule. Not that spending less of his dwindling resources displeased him in any way. Even without the drugs he suspected he still would have had to carry her into the taxi. Had he possessed even an ounce of empathy he might have guessed that she was over drinking thanks to a recent trauma; but he simply did not. He merely felt great pleasure that she had been so easy to capture.

First he had taken her to a quiet country pub on the outskirts of the town, letting her caress his leg as they had sat in a dark corner. His nostrils had been filled with the scent of her arousal, and he had responded in kind. With a wicked smile that somehow came across to her drunken mind as seductive, he had placed her hand on the firm bulge at his groin. He had laughed quietly when she gasped and wrapped her fingers over it through the fabric of his trousers. Before she could move her hand however, he had lifted it away again and leaned in close to whisper into her ear that perhaps they should go for a walk in the starlight. She had nodded slowly, and seductively bitten her lower lip as he quickly rearranged his throbbing erection to hide it and stood to leave.

They had not gotten far before she had stumbled into him and clutched a hand to her head, complaining of feeling peculiar. He offered to carry her and she had mumbled something into his chest, which he had not heard past her mouthful of his shirt. He had scooped her up into his arms and taken her down a dark country road and straight to the barn, luckily without detection.

She had been easy to hoist into the restraints, and had only stirred once as he had lifted her arms to the overhead restraints and snapped the cuffs around her wrists. Since she had been secured in place he had observed her in silence, waiting patiently for the drugs to wear off of their own accord.

Taking in every detail of her he had struggled not to touch her delicately tanned skin, and somehow had managed to restrain himself. It would be much more fun when she was fully conscious…

Instead he let his eyes creep over her nearly naked body, pleased with his decision to remove her dress. Her underwear was rather conservative for his tastes. A simple padded white t-shirt bra encasing her voluptuous breasts, and a matching set of white hipster boy-shorts hugged the luscious curves of her rear. Although they were simple garments the white offset the golden tone of her skin beautifully, and he could see the faint bumps of her nipples through the fabric of the brassiere.

As he looked at her dangling there before him he felt his groin stir to attention, whilst his mind filled with ideas of what he could do with her. His eyes slid over her limp form as he tucked his hand into the waistband of his trousers. He absorbed the curves of her body glistening with a fine sheen of sweat, as he tightly grasped the hot length of his throbbing manhood and groaned in pleasure as his hand worked at it. For a fraction of a second he closed his eyes, snapping them back open again as the sound of rattling chains rang through the air.

Snatching back his hand he lent forwards in the darkness, she was waking… His game was about to begin.

*****

Lucy’s head ached relentlessly. Her ears rang, and her mouth was so dry her tongue stuck to her palate when she attempted to swallow. Pulling a face she attempted to rub her eyes and found her arms resisted her somehow. Frowning slightly she let her dry tongue snake out to lick her lips and tried again, startling herself with the metallic rattling that resulted.

Half opening her eyes she rapidly screwed them shut again… Her watch must have caught somehow on her bed’s metal barred headboard … But since when had she ever slept with both hands flung above her head? … And why were her legs spread so far apart?

How had she even got to bed in the first place…?

Blinking heavily, like a newborn fawn, she forced her eyes to open, willing them to focus in the gloom. Only it wasn’t dark as she had expected but glaringly bright, almost blindingly so.

She felt panic begin to rise in her chest and flung back her head to look at her hands.

She wasn’t in bed.

Her head fell back to a right angle and she found herself staring groggily at shackled hands… Her hands.

Suddenly feeling very much awake she tried to look down at her feet, and found her head flopped forward onto her chest all too readily. Her bare chest. Her dress had gone; she was half naked and shackled. Her feet just close enough to the ground to allow her a clawing attempt at tiptoeing to support her weight.

The realisation that she had been drugged hit her like a slap in the face. She desperately shook her arms and legs against her restraints in a feeble attempt to break free, filling the air with the harsh rattle and clank of the chains.

That man! He had done this to her! He had drugged her and tied her up… Worse than that, chained her up.

‘Help me?!’ She croaked hoarsely, her voice denying her the volume she wished to reach. She tried again but in vain, nothing but a hoarse rasp uttering from between her dry, cracked lips.

A quiet, masculine chuckle echoed around her, full of a strange mix of genuine amusement and sinister intention. Her eyes rolled in her head as she desperately tried to force them into focus, to discern where she was… Where the laughter was coming from. With muscles quaking from the effort she forced her head to rise sluggishly from her chest, her eyes wide but unseeing.

Out of nowhere a freezing barrage of water cascaded onto her back, spraying over her shoulders and sloshing down her bare legs. With a small sound of surprise she attempted to lunge sideways out of the way, and succeeded only in throwing herself from her feet. Pain shot through her arms as her weight suddenly hit her aching limbs. Dangling from her restraints she grunted at the sudden pain, scrabbling frantically for a foothold as the cold liquid continued to beat onto her exposed skin. She barely noticed it was moving around her until the harsh spray splashed into her face.

Screwing her eyes shut she flinched backwards and again lost her footing, squealing at the weight on her tightly shackled wrists. The cold metal bit into the soft skin there, pinching and burning. Her open mouth filled with water as the sound broke free from her lips, the barrage cold and painful on her tongue with the force of the spray.

Gargling and spluttering she clamped her mouth shut. She knew without being able to see it that she was being hosed down, she had done it to the horses enough times to know. The spray remained on her face, deliberately following her heavy movements as she tried to turn her head out of the way, filling her ear and spraying up her nose.

Coughing and spluttering she somehow managed to get back onto her tiptoes; panic filling her in a cold icy wave as the harsh stream of water was projected down her chest and onto her breasts. The pressure was rapidly adjusted and she cried out in pain as it stung against her nipples through the sodden cloth of her bra. She writhed and squirmed, clawing at the ground for purchase with the tips of her toes as the water sluiced from side to side and then lower and lower…  Bucking backwards away from the stream as it crashed icily onto her groin and thighs, she again lost her footing and found her voice. She screamed as she toppled and her weight jerked on her tender joints.

Another low-pitched chuckle rumbled through the air as she scrambled back onto her toes, puffing ad panting in pain. The chill water cut onto her goose pimpled skin with no respite. She whimpered feeble sounds of fright as the water again lowered its target, splashing at her legs and then tauntingly stinging at her toes. Then threatening to throw her off balance once again as she scrabbled her feet to try and avoid the pain.

Then all of a sudden it was over, and she was left dangling and shivering fitfully, sobbing quietly as she finally dared to open her eyes.

Her stinging eyes came slowly into focus as she blinked hard to expel the water that had forced its way in and clung heavily to her lashes. Cold and frightened she slowly lifted her heavy head and tried to take in her surroundings, very conscious of the sudden silence and tensely preparing her quaking body for another onslaught of water. Maybe it would be all right? Maybe he was just one of those kinky city types who she had heard about… The kind who thrive on control in the bedroom…

Not remotely believing the frantic offerings of her terrified mind she still clung to the feeble idea in blind hope, her vision slowly coming into focus.

‘A – are we playing a game?’ Her voice cracked as she spoke, echoing hollowly around her.

All hope began to fade as she fully realised she was not in a bedroom; the tattered wooden walls and distant piles of hay revealing the room to be a cavernous derelict barn… This wasn’t right.