I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel about anything—least of all the man sitting next to me, driving me further and further away from my prison. Why was he doing it? Why had he done any of it?
I wanted to blame it on his temper—that was the reason he’d taken hold of the man and snapped the life right out of him. But I’d made Derek mad countless times, and not once had it seemed like he’d responded in anger. He’d hurt me, yes, but it had always seemed like he’d done it with a completely level head. I wasn’t sure that made it better, but it did tell me he didn’t act on impulse, not that kind.
And so as much as I wanted to deny it, I knew he’d done it for me. He’d killed a man…for me. I didn’t know how to feel about that either. People seldom did anything for me, never mind taking a person’s life to keep me safe!
And then he’d helped me escape—at least, I thought that was what he was doing. It hadn’t felt like much on an escape when he’d trussed me up in collar and clamps and paraded me through that wretched house. When that man had approached us, when he’d touched me where nobody but Derek ever had, it had taken everything I’d had to keep from lunging at him with teeth and claws drawn.
But Derek said he would keep me safe. He wouldn’t let any of them hurt me. And he’d kept his promise. Though my skin crawled to think about that man’s hands on me, he hadn’t hurt me, and Derek had hurried us out of there before he could. Though I wondered if it was more for his benefit than mine. The rage that had coursed through him when the man touched me had been palpable in the air.
I should care. I was still painfully aware that this was insane. But it had sent an odd thrill through me to see him responding so possessively. I was his. Only his. That man had no business touching me because I belonged to Derek. And God help me, that was exactly what I wanted.
And it was beginning to seem like he wanted it too. Why else would he have done all that he did? Why else would he have taken me away from there when just hours before he’d been determined to sell me?
The same thrill that coursed through me earlier, pulsed through my veins now. He wasn’t going to sell me. He was going to keep me. I would be his, and maybe the emotion I’d seen in him when the man who was my father had been hurting me would grow. And then I would be more than just a possession to him. I would be a woman. His woman.
My stomach growled, not for the first time in the past hour. But I kept my mouth shut. Derek had been the one to feed me, to bring my meals regularly. He must know I was hungry. If he wasn’t stopping to feed me, then there had to be a good reason for it.
So, I wasn’t surprised when we pulled off the highway a short while later and he pulled up to a motel with an all-night diner out in front of it.
“Stay here,” he said, and he eyed me for a moment.
“I won’t leave. I promise,” I said, and I meant it. I didn’t want to leave. I never wanted to leave him.
And I must have been convincing because he nodded and hopped out, striding across the lot to the motel office. I watched the door once he’d gone inside, waiting for him to return.
I’d expected him to go to the diner, not the motel. Were we stopping for the night then? I suppose it made sense. He’d somehow become something more than human in my head, but he was human—flawed and beautiful—and probably tired.
I watched him walk toward me a few moments later, and like before, he struck me as some graceful predator. But this time, though my breath came quicker and my heart sped up, it wasn’t fear I felt as he came closer.
He opened the door to my side. “Come on, Pet,” he said as he extended his hand. I took it, thinking that no one had ever opened a car door for me before. It was strange how special such a simple gesture could make a person feel.
Once out though, I was immediately aware of my state of dress. The shirt came down to cover the tops of my thighs, but little more. It had been fine in the car, with only Derek to see me. Now though, with people coming and going, it was uncomfortable. But he kept my hand in his and pulled me along with him to a motel room ten yards from the car. It was the first time he’d let me walk beside him. It felt…human—a man and a woman, holding hands and walking toward a motel room.