“Did you think I was heartless?” he asked, clearly uninterested in an honest answer. “I know you’re a good big cousin and would like to spare Abby any more pain. And I’m willing to do my part. But not unless you Shift back.”
I tilted my head to the other side. Go on.
“A simple trade. You, for her. But I’m not into bestiality, for obvious reasons. Those claws look pretty sharp.”
Yawning, I showed him my teeth were sharp, too.
“Yeah, and those canines could do some real damage. They’ll have to go if you want to make a deal with me.”
There has to be some way to negotiate without using words, I thought. I wasn’t willing to Shift back until I knew exactly what he had in mind, other than the obvious. After my Shift, I’d be naked and vulnerable, which was no big deal when surrounded by my own Pride members. But with Eric as my only company, it was nothing less than suicidal.
“I tell you what,” he said, tapping his watch pointedly. “I’ll give you one minute to decide. You Shift back and agree to play nice, and I’ll leave Abby alone. For now. Or, you can sit with your tail curled around your haunches and listen to how well your cousin likes it. She’s a screamer, you know.”
Abby refused to look at me. She was clearly terrified, now sitting in her favorite corner with her knees pulled up to her chest. But she wouldn’t ask me to do it. She wouldn’t wish what she’d been through on anyone else. She was just a kid and already so strong—but she shouldn’t have to be.
“Thirty seconds,” Eric said, barely hiding a smile as he bounced the key in his palm.
What the hell is he up to? Miguel had said Eric couldn’t touch me. Could that have changed? Or was Eric taking advantage of the boss’s absence? Maybe Miguel gave Eric a chance to try to break me, before giving up on me entirely. That certainly sounded like something Miguel would do, and for him it was a win-win situation. He could send Eric in to wear me down so I’d be too tired to resist when he got back. Even if Eric lost, I’d be exhausted from having fought him off. Plus, if Eric got hurt, Miguel’s injuries wouldn’t be so humiliating by comparison.
But then the scariest possibility of all snaked its way into my brain. What if this was my fault and had nothing to do with Miguel? What if challenging Eric’s masculinity and embarrassing him in front of the others had made him want to prove himself?
Shit. With a mouth like mine, who needs mortal enemies?
“Seven, six, five…” Eric counted, eyeing his watch.
I growled at him one last time. I’ll kill you if I get the chance. If he understood, I saw no sign. He smiled in ignorance, convinced he’d won. For once, he was right. I couldn’t sit there and listen while he raped my cousin. Again.
“Do we have a deal?”Just for a moment, I hesitated, my heart pounding as I looked at Abby. She still wouldn’t meet my eyes, so I nodded. It wouldn’t be as bad for me as it was for her. Hopefully.
Eric smiled, and my stomach churned. “Good. You’re a wonderful cousin. Now Shift back.” He glanced at Abby over his shoulder. “I hope you appreciate what your cousin’s doing for you,” he said.
That was all she could take. “Don’t do it, Faythe,” she whispered. “You don’t have to do this.”
But I did have to. I’d already given my word, in a manner of speaking. Anyway, he’d have to open the door to get in, which was what I’d wanted in the first place. And when opportunity knocks…
Eric came closer to my cage, still standing well out of my reach. “Get on with it, before I change my mind.”
I wanted privacy for my Shift but knew he wouldn’t oblige me, even if I had a way to ask. So I Shifted on the rough concrete floor while he watched, ogling each phase as it came.
At the end of the first phase, Eric came close enough to wrap his hands around the bars. He knew he was safe. If I could have lunged for him, I would have, but I could no more pounce during a Shift than I could sprout butterfly wings and fly away.
I considered reversing the process, hoping he wouldn’t realize what I’d done until it was too late. In the end, I didn’t do it because I knew it wouldn’t work. And because once I’d tried and failed to kill him, he’d go after Abby, just to punish me. My best shot would come once he’d locked himself in with me.
Still panting from my Shift, I knelt on the floor, naked and shivering. I was too exhausted to maintain my own body temperature, even in the middle of the summer, because I’d Shifted twice with no water and too little food. And because I hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in days.
Eric allowed me no time to recover. He wouldn’t give me another chance to attack him. Not intentionally, anyway.
He had the lock off and the door opened before I’d even made it to my feet. He wasn’t as fast as Miguel, but I was tired and weak. My body wouldn’t take much more stress and deprivation without serious consequences. Like passing out. I desperately didn’t want to pass out with Eric in my cage. Unlike Miguel, he didn’t want me to fight back. I wasn’t even sure he’d wait for me to wake up.
He closed the door, and I jumped when he snapped the lock into place.
So much for bowling him over in a rush for the exit. Instead, I struggled to remain standing. My vision darkened and my head swam. I held my arms out at my sides, trying to maintain my balance.
“You okay?” he asked, clearly pleased, rather than concerned by how weak I’d become.
“I’m fine.” I wiped cold sweat from my face with both hands, then realized I had nothing to wipe it on. “Let’s get this over with.”
His eyes roamed my body, and I cringed, crossing my arms over my breasts. Yes, I knew his eyes were the least of my worries, but the invasion still angered me. And anger was good. It helped clear my head and forced me to focus. As weak as I was, I would only get one shot at him. If I missed, his first retaliatory punch was likely to knock me out. So I would have to choose my moment very carefully.
“Okay, ground rules…” he began.
“There are ground rules?” I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Imagine how fortunate I felt to have gotten a rapist who had ground rules. But all the rules turned out to be for me. Figures.
“If you hit, or scratch, or pull any of that kicking shit like you did with Miguel, I’m out of here. I’ll leave you in here to pound dents in the bars, and Abby and I can have another go at it. Can’t we, Abby-cat?”
I glanced at her, but she had her back to us both. And if I wasn’t mistaken, her fingers were in her ears. Either way, she didn’t respond, so Eric turned back to me.
“Do you understand?” he asked, and I nodded, because there was nothing else could I do. My moment hadn’t come yet. “So we have a deal?”
Another nod. But then neither of us moved. He didn’t seem to know what to do next, as if my compliance had confused him, and I wasn’t about to volunteer my understanding of the process. Several awkward seconds passed. Awkward for him, anyway. I was just tired and pissed off. Finally, he put on a resolute face and pulled me forward by my left elbow.
I jerked my arm free on instinct, pleased and surprised to realize that the pain in my shoulder wasn’t that bad. Shifting back had done even more to help heal my injury.
Eric shot me a warning glance and a growl. I focused on Abby’s curls, and the next time he took my arm, I let him. He kissed me, and I just stood there. I could taste his toothpaste and smell his shampoo. My veins pumped scalding fury throughout my body, but I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have the strength to hit him hard enough to hurt him, and if I tried and failed, whatever he did to Abby would be my fault. I’d have to take him out with a single strike. Anything less than a death blow wouldn’t be good enough.
If I could just figure out how to Shift my teeth…
I closed my eyes in concentration, doing my best to ignore Eric’s hand cupping my ass as I tried again to make my face Shift. Come on, damn it, change. Nothing happened.
Eric was oblivious to my efforts and to my mounting frustration. He shoved his tongue into my mouth, deep enough to make me gag. The intrusion shattered the vestiges of my concentration like an ax through a thin sheet of ice. I barely resisted the urge to bite his tongue off. I could have done it, even with blunt human teeth, but I didn’t, because it wouldn’t have killed him. Not fast enough, anyway. It would damn well have pissed him off, though.
He walked me backward, his mouth still sucking at mine, until I was trapped between his body and the bars. His hands roamed, squeezing and prodding. His tongue trailed down my neck. I closed my eyes, again trying to force a Shift. His teeth pinched my earlobe, not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to leave indentations. He was marking me. I hate being marked.
But the worst by far was the hard lump in his jeans. It throbbed against my stomach through the denim, a warning of worse things to come.
Eric unzipped his pants, and that tiny whisper of a sound thundered through me like the roar of jet engine. My eyes flew open. He pushed his jeans down without ever taking his mouth from my neck.
This was going too far. If my moment didn’t come soon, it would be too late.Angry and beyond mortified, I stared at the back of Abby’s head, trying to keep in mind the reason I was submitting without a fight. It didn’t help. Pain, I could take. I understood pain and knew how to deal with it. But I didn’t understand this. This was absolute degradation, with no purpose but to humiliate me and break my will. And it pissed me off.