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I shudder, then soundlessly make my way to the sleeping bag. I pull myself in, leaving my left hand out.

It’s humiliating to obey this towering warrior without question – but I know if I don’tchooseto follow his orders, he and his battle-brothers are more than large enough toforceme to.

I lay in bed and try to rest – but it eludes me.

Closing my eyes doesn’t help. The truth is: There’s no way I can sleep – not knowing what I have to look forward to tomorrow.

Brennan’s going to make good on his word.

He’s going to punish me.

I already experienced being thrown over his shoulder and spanked, and that was merely the punishment for insolence. I don’t even dare imagine what he’s going to do to me for trying to escape. The thought terrifies me.

Brennan leaves the flap of the tent open as he steps inside and takes care of his business. I hear the running of the frigid shower – and can only imagine him slathering that marble-colored, muscular body of his beneath the deluge of cold water.

Perhaps earlier, I’d have thought of using this as an opportunity to escape – but I’ve already learned my lesson. Brennan moves inhumanly fast – and even naked, and dripping wet, I know he’d be able to catch up with me before I even reach the stairs if I tried to make a break for it.

Not that I’m planning to. After all, Otho and Brennan just brutally executed those scavenging humans; and they’re probably not the only ones lurking outside.

I’d rather remain the prisoner of these Aurelians than risk whatever awaits me out there, in the abandoned rubble of this industrial sector.

The sound of the water stops, and I look up as Brennan steps out of the tent.

He’s now clad in only light shorts. Water still drips from Brennan’s magnificent body, making his muscles glisten in the faint light. Barely giving me a glance, he lays down in the sleeping bag next to me – and only then clips the other end of my handcuffs around his wrist.

“You’re not going anywhere tonight.”

I’m linked to the alien beast, now. I can’t get more than a few feet away without the chain connecting the cuffs getting pulled taut.

As I lie in the sleeping bag, feeling the cold steel around my wrist, I hear the sound of heavy footsteps above us. They make my heart pound – but Brennan doesn’t even seem to hear them.

I soon realize why. As the footsteps increase in volume, I turn my head to see Otho striding down the metal stairs, covered in blood and dirt.

“I threw the bodies in a compactor a click away,” the Aurelian grunts. “There are probably more of the fuckers hiding around outside. I say we put up a watch.”

“Do it,” Brennan nods, still lying on the sleeping bag. “You take first watch. Lazar can take over when he returns. I’ll take first watch tomorrow night.”

Just like that. No emotion. No guilt that they just killed those men – that they’d taken people’s lives. The Aurelians are clearly hardened warriors – without a trace of humanity left in them…

…and I’m handcuffed to their leader.

Brennan’s breathing slows. Somehow, he’s found sleep easily – even in this abandoned factory, after a brief and bloody battle. My heart, meanwhile, is still racing.

It’s racing from my desperate escape into the rubble and ruins outside. It’s racing because of gouging my thigh open, and having Brennan repair my injury; his hands hot and firm on my thigh as he held me steady.

It’s racing because I saw the bloody aftermath of Otho and Brennan slaughtering those scavengers.

It’s racing because I know he’s going to punish me tomorrow.

I squirm in my sleeping bag. Brenna’s arm is stretched out of his own bag, reaching across the floor towards me, the cuff that links his wrist to mine glinting in the pale light.

As I cower in my sleeping bag, I look at that huge, muscular forearm. I can see every vein in his bulging muscles. My mind can’t even fathom the inhuman strength he must have in that powerful limb. My tender backside twitches just at the memory of him spanking me earlier.

I know he went light on me in the hotel room – even though I can still feel the heat of his palm on my cheeks. I have the feeling that tomorrow, Brennan will not be showing me any mercy.

That’s just one of the many reasons why I know sleep will elude me tonight, despite my exhaustion. In fact, it’s almost morning already. I can’t even calculate how many hours I’ve remained awake – terrified, trembling, and filled with a cocktail of swirling impulses.

I know Ineedto catch some hours of sleep before dawn – or my mind will be slow tomorrow; and my mind is the only weapon I have to escape my captivity.