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“I need your shopping skills, Vi.”

“Cock cage and chastity belt?” she asked innocently.

“I don’t need contraptions to keep my hands off her, Violet,” he reprimanded sharply. “I want to buy the girl some goddamn clothes and whatever the fuck else she’s gonna need while she’s here. Are you gonna help or do I have to call Ericka?”

“Oh, touchy.” Violet’s voice adopted a more dominant edge, going head to head with his without hesitation. “Tell me what clothes you want and I’ll deal with it. As for the rest of whatever the fuck else, you might want to expand on that.”

“Tampons,” he bit off, seeing as it was the first female thing that came to mind. “Hairbrush, toothbrush, underwear. Maybe some bath shit that smells good.”

“All available in the club store,” she reminded him.

He rubbed his hand over his jaw, glad she couldn’t see him. “Yeah, I… They need to be the right ones. You know, in case she doesn’t like them or she likes a certain kind or a… fragrance,” he finished lamely.

“Are we talking tampons or bath shit here?” Laughter echoed under the words.

“Bite me, Vi.”

“I’ve never known you to be flustered over, well, anything. Don’t tell me you’ve done something stupid, Merrick.”

“Like what?”

“Like falling for her. Like getting attached to her.”

He harrumphed loudly. “Give me some credit. I don’t fall for women, Violet, and attachments are reserved solely for friendship. I’m simply trying to make her feel comfortable in a situation where comfort is a limited commodity.”

The Mistress went silent, long enough he felt unease crawling up his spine. If she was building romantic fantasies about instant love and fate, she could damn well slam a lid on them and keep them to herself. “I suppose you’re a responsible, mature adult who knows and understands his own feelings. Just remember, we don’t know how long she’ll be here.”

Before he could fire back an angry response and hang up, Violet sighed softly.

“I can hear you fuming, Merrick. That doesn’t change my opinion, but seeing as you’ve taken charge of the poor soul, I’ll follow your lead. Tell me what you need and I’ll help.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he took a long, slow breath.

Somehow, this felt like a monumental step on a twisted path.

The question was, was it therightpath?

For him and for her.

Only time would tell.

Chapter Three

Tamsyn

There were people in a box.

Mouth hanging open, toast dangling from her fingers, she watched the screen at the foot of the bed with unabashed amazement and a great deal of wariness. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that there werepeoplein there. People with black skin, brown skin, skin like her own. Not just people, but entireworlds.

For three days, she’d been fascinated by the television.

Three days of using the little silver box Merrick had given her to flip from one world to another. Even though he’d explained there wasn’t really anyone trapped behind the glass, that it was all electrical signals and pixels, she was suspicious.

Tamsyn was grateful for the distraction—it kept her brain from focusing too hard on the two biggest worries swirling around in her head. The first was entirely out of her hands; her father and the rest of the council would be looking for her, and she no longer had a headstart. Three days of being stuck in bed meant they were surely in the vicinity by now, if they’d followed her path correctly.

She prayed fervently every few hours that they were on the wrong side of the mountain, traipsing around in the cold, searching for her on a ghost trail. It didn’t matter, of course, because they wouldn’t stop until they found her and dragged her back to the community.

Straight back to the altar where women were sold and traded, blood exchanged for hierarchy and power.