Page 38 of Bad Blood

“This might actually hurt, since your hair is so…tangled. But I’ll try my best to be gentle.”

I just grunted, not knowing what to say to that. I had no idea what it might feel like.

He held the hair at the nape of my neck and I guessed…started brushing it. I wasn’t sure. I just felt gentle little tugs in a steady rhythm.

It didn’t hurt at all. And when he started humming, my eyes slid closed.

The feel of his hands in my hair, the sound of his deep voice, the smell of him as I sat between his thighs…

I didn’t know when I fell asleep, or if I was sleeping, or dreaming, or half awake. There was a low voice, a soft laugh, and I was surrounded by warmth. I was floating and then…gone.

I was getting too usedto this.

For the first time in my life, there were things to do. To look at. I wasn’t just sitting around in a cold, dark cell. I wasn’t waiting for Hayes or Hunter to walk in, or for one of the hounds to corrupt, or for my next meal of tasteless slop.

I had apples and books and a mirror and food and water and…

Someone that smiled.

At me.

Someone that brushed my hair.

Someone that talked to me.

Someone who…

Who was pretending to help me for some reason I still couldn’t figure out. I needed to remember this was a trick. That he wanted something, had some other purpose for me, and I needed toleave.

I would. I would leave. Soon. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe even today. Yeah, today. How long had I been here? A month? Two? A year? It was time to go.

I wanted to see the sun again.

I sat up, a fresh determination to escape giving me the push I needed to move.

I’d escaped much worse before, and this time I wasn’t in a cage, I wasn’t chained to something or someone. I could move freely, and I needed to use that to my advantage.

There were lots of things here I could use as weapons, too. Was that long metal object that I’d hit him with that first day still in that room somewhere? It had been a bit heavy, but light enough to carry around. It might come in handy.

Anticipation flooded my system, a nervous excitement, a tense thrill that ran through my veins like a crackling fire.

I had to do whatever it took.

I grabbed the walking stick and was about to stand when I sensed it.

The rain.

There was a storm coming, and it was rolling in fast.

The blood in my veins began thrumming with an all-too-familiar awareness, pure, primalneedinvading my body, taking over.

No.

No!

I had nowhere to go.

Nowhere to hide.