“Are you going to kill me?” She whispers, and I’m so surprised that I nearly drop her.
“What? No!” I insist, but she doesn’t believe me. Her body shakes, quivering in my arms, and I struggle to hold onto her. “Please stop moving,” I say quietly, gently. “I don’t want to drop you.”
“What does it matter?” She’s definitely crying now. I walk faster because I’m worried that she’s going to attract attention and if there’s one thing you really, really don’t want to do on Dreagle, it’s get noticed. “What’s it matter if you do it here or back at your house? I can’t believe this is how I’m going to die. Years on Mirroean and all I wanted to do was see the world. All I wanted was someone to love me and someplace to belong and that’s all gone. It’s just gone.”
“Please,” I insist. “I’m not going to kill you, but you do need to be quiet.”
She keeps shaking in my arms and I’m not sure what to do. It’s raining hard, but if we pass someone, they’ll definitely hear her crying. They’ll definitely notice her. They’ll definitely remember the strange out-of-towner with the crying woman.
Desperate, I do the one thing I hate doing, the one thing I really, really don’t want to do.
I raise her hand to my mouth and I bite her wrist.
Hard.
Chapter 5
Fiona
“You bit me,” I blurt out.
I’m shocked into silence. I shouldn’t be. The tears should be coming quite freely at this point, but they’re not. They’ve stopped and I’m looking up at the dark-eyed man who purchased me.
“I did,” he says. “And I need you to be quiet now.”
“You’re blue,” I say next. Apparently, being bitten removes any filter I thought I had on my mouth. Damn. I don’t know why I said that. It’s just that I’ve never seen anyone with skin as gorgeous as his. His face is a dark blue and even in the dim light, I can see that his eyes are piercing.
Even his hair is blue.
I wonder if the rest of him is, too, but then I sort of hate myself for thinking that. I can’t be perverted. I can’t be. Shouldn’t be. This isn’t the type of thing that’s okay. This is the man who purchased me. This is the man who went to an auction house to buy a woman, a person, and who chose me.
This is the man who paid money to the people who kidnapped me.
This is the man who took me.
“Yes,” he says. “I am blue. No more talking.” I cradle my wrist with my other hand. Both of my palms are killing me from when one of the security guys used a knife to cut me. I know the blade wasn’t clean. I just know it was filled with bacteria and germs and probably weird diseases, but I can’t do anything about it now.
Now all I can do is sit here as this huge, monster alien carries me to his lair. He’s going to devour me. I just know it.
I should have stayed quiet. He’s right that I deserved to be bitten. I know that, but I couldn’t help feeling scared. I’m small and he’s huge. I’m lost and he’s determined. He walked into an auction house and purchased a live, human being for his pleasure.
This isn’t the kind of guy I should mess with.
Still, he didn’t have to cover me with his jacket. He didn’t have to put his hat on me. I’m still cold and wet and my skin is clammy, but the gesture was sweet. It was weirdly sweet coming from someone who wants to kill, maim, or seriously injure me.
The thought of being tortured is fucking depressing, so finally, I close my eyes. I could try to escape from this guy. I probably should try to escape from him, but the truth is that I’m tired. I’m worn out. I’m exhausted. I already tried to run and I got caught. I was punched and hit and cut.
The security guys made sure I wouldn’t want to run again and I’d say they did a good job because now the idea of escaping seems like more trouble than it’s worth.
I could try.
I could try to run, try to flee from this blue-haired beast, but I wouldn’t get very far before he caught me. He’s huge. He’s a giant, really, and even though I’m not small for a human, I’m tiny compared to him.
I could try to escape, but he’d find me, and if he didn’t, someone else would. Dreagle is not the place lonely humans should be wandering around alone. It’s not a place anyone should be wandering around alone, and suddenly, I’m filled with concern for my family.
What happened to them?
What happened to my fiancé?