Between the two of them, Clay was better thinking on his feet. You answer him.
His partner glanced at him, but he hid his surprise well. “We need someone soft and nubile to fill out our line. Dargon and I want someone we can train.”
Why the general chose the stupid name Dargon as an alias was beyond him. A spark of uncertainty flashed in Hood’s eye. Damn. Clay’s description shouldn’t have been so precise.
The man’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I think I might be able to accommodate you. Would you like me to hold your money while you look?” He held out a hand.
Since the case required an eye scan to open the lock, he figured Hood wouldn’t be able to steal the money. “Sure.” Dirk handed it to him. Immediately, Hood passed it off to one of his men.
“As long as no one else is in the room with the lady, feel free to check out each one, but please don’t harm the merchandise. You break it, you pay for it.”
The warning wasn’t necessary.
Since they didn’t know which room contained Elena, they started as far away from the newcomers as possible. No potential buyer was inside the first room, but the captive wasn’t Elena. Her mother had provided a picture of her very beautiful daughter and this blonde didn’t look remotely like her. He wouldn’t put it past Hood to dye the woman’s hair to make identification more difficult, but even Hood couldn’t have made a girl grow four inches.
A blonde, with very long legs, sat on a red sofa with her hands tightly laced on her lap, her crossed legs bouncing up and down. Dirk spotted the security camera in two corners. Most likely there would be audio, too.
Talk to her, he telepathed to Clay. Christ this sucked. Pretending to buy a woman as their sexual slave made him sick.
Clay held out his hand. “Well hello. My name’s Randy. What’s yours?”
Her smile came out weak. “Cindy.”
“Hello, Cindy. Why don’t you stand so we can see what you have to offer?”
What the fuck are you doing?
Making us look good. Stand between the camera and me.
Dirk understood and slipped behind his friend. To block more of the visual, he placed his hands behind his head. Clay ran his fingers down her arms and even patted her butt, but he was as respectful as possible. He asked her a few questions about her education and where she was from. The girl shook and Dirk tightened his hands into fists.
Let’s go. It took all of his self-control not to kill someone.
“Thank you, Cindy. You’re a beautiful girl.”
“Thank you.” The girl, who barely looked eighteen, dropped back onto the sofa.
As soon as they stepped out, Clay went into full-blown acting mode. “She’s a real beauty. We could make a mint off her.” His tone sounded too fake and too loud. “The guys would line up to get those full lips on their cocks.”
So furious, Dirk couldn’t even respond. Instead of entering the next room, he decided to look in each window first. The sooner they found Elena, the better he’d feel. He was halfway down the hall when Clay’s telepathic words stopped him cold. Come back here or I’m walking.
Dirk wasn’t sure he could repeat the meet and greet scene nine more times without exploding. But he had to suck it up. On the fifth girl, they opened the door and he recognized her as Elena. Thank God. His pulse raced and his body nearly burst with need. His damned bones cracked and his fangs elongated.
Dirk!
Clay’s sharp command pulled him out of his sexual haze. Holy shit. What the hell had just happened? One look at Elena and he wanted to shift.
#
Elena was close to her breaking point. It was bad enough to dress like a whore, but for men to come in and press their hands on her breasts and grab her ass, she’d rather they’d killed her in the warehouse.
The click of the door had her heart sprinting. Two men who looked closer to giants strutted in. Instantly, her adrenaline spiked, but then calmed almost as quickly. Her reaction to them was different from all the others who’d entered. Something was unusual about these two.
For one, neither of these men leered at her like the others had. In fact, the broader one didn’t even make eye contact. His full-lipped mouth was pressed closed and his hands were clasped behind his back. The taller, fairer one smiled. He was the first one who actually looked kind. Appreciating the reprieve, her blood pressure dropped.
“What’s your name, sugar?” His tone was even and, dare she say, gentle?
The woman dressed in black had stopped by after Elena had showered and dressed and forbade her to tell anyone her real name. She also explained how men would come by, and for her sake, she needed to convince one of them to buy her. If at the end of the evening, no one had offered for her, she’d be wishing she were back in the cage in the warehouse.