I shake my head. My name is not Pet. All my conditioning tells me that it’s wrong to call myself anything else, but that’s not my name. I don’t know my name, but I know I must have had one.
“Miss.” The officer waves his hand in front of my face. I snap out of my reverie. “We’re trying to help you, but you gotta give us something to go off.”
“I don’t know,” I say through chattering teeth.
“You don’t know your name?”
I shake my head. “I’m the swan.”
He looks at his partner, lips pursed, eyes narrowed. “Jesus Christ. We’re gonna need to call this in. See if Bellevue has a bed for her tonight. Any longer in this weather and she’s gonna end up with frostbite. Psych can evaluate her in the morning.”
“No. I’m not crazy. I was abducted.”
He laughs as if I’m kidding, and then his eyes roam over me, the bruises, my dirty negligee. “What did you say?”
“I was abducted. I don’t know my name, but I know I’m a dancer. I was the swan. I was taken.”
“Holy shit, you’re her,” he says, and turns to his partner. “Get her a blanket, would ya?”
“Her?”
“You’re the Flynn girl.” He frowns as if concentrating. “Camille Flynn, that famous ballerina who went missing after opening night. Every cop in this city’s been looking for you. Your family put up a hefty price to get you back. Three million dollars.”
“My family?” I’m reeling. My head spins as I’m covered in a blanket and ushered toward a car. The officer opens the door, but before I climb in, I stare up at the billboard again, and then a movement nearby catches my eye. Standing at the edge of the crowd who’ve gathered to watch is a man—no, a god—with dark eyes and darker leather, who kisses hard, who fucks harder, and who tore my whole world apart. He watches me with a stony expression. He presses his index finger to his pursed lips, something I’ve seen him do a thousand times. That domineering gaze cuts me right to the core. With a small, seemingly insignificant gesture, my Sir has just given me an order. I suck in a deep breath as he turns and melts back into the throng of people. And just like that, my world is ripped in two again. Instead of my freedom, I’ve entered another cage. One where I’m the victim. One that I’ll never escape.
Maybe that’s the point. Maybe in letting me go, Ares knew I’d be safe. He’ll never have me again, and if he can’t get his hands on me, I’ll never be sold.
I can’t decide which is worse: being discarded like trash in order to save me, or sold off to the highest bidder. Either way, it was his decision to make. I belong to him. I’m his Pet. I never had a choice in any of it, not my captivity, not my freedom, and not in my love for him. I don’t know how to be free anymore. How do I return to my old life, co-exist with mere mortals, after living so long in a land of gods and monsters?