Page 16 of Gilded Locks

The blond trailed a finger down her leg. “You understand, don’t you, Mary.” It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway.

“Yes.”

The long-haired man leaned close to her neck and breathed deeply, with a satisfied growl. “Until your debt is paid or the weather breaks. But fair warning, if you run, you’re only tempting us with a good chase.”

“And we love a lively hunt.” The one with blond hair grinned. “It’s going to be a long winter.”

“Does that mean I can stay?”

He shifted close enough that she could count the gold flecks in his ice-blue eyes. “Printsessa, didn’t we just make that clear? You’re not permitted to leave until we say so.”

“But, you expect me to…”

Green Eyes grinned. “You’ll do exactly what we tell you to do. When we tell you to do it. No questions. No arguments. No escape.”

This couldn’t be happening. “And if I refuse?”

His smile was as sharp as a scalpel. “Then we make a phone call.”

“After the authorities come for you, it won’t be long for whoever you’re running from to follow. But, if you consent to our terms, we’ll protect you from whatever enemy is out there.” He pointed toward the window where the storm raged outside.

Protect her under circumstances where she had absolutely no control. “You aren’t leaving me much of a choice.”

“There’s always a choice. Just like you chose this home, these clothes, and this bed. Now, you get to choose if you stay or go.”

They wouldn’t call it a choice if they knew what her other options were.

Marigold stared at the three of them. Massive, dangerous men who held her life in their hands. Did they realize how much power they literally had over her? She should never have lied about not knowing where she was going. She could have kept up the story of Mary and shown them the invitation. But hiding her intentions gave them all the leverage they needed.

She had no other choice but to give them what they wanted, but she wouldn’t give them her secrets. She would stick with her story and demand they call her Mary, whether they believed her or not. She would do anything to avoid returning to where she’d been.

“What exactly are you asking me to do?” she whispered, the words barely audible above the thundering of her own heartbeat.

The quiet one leaned down, his face angled over her thighs, as he made a show of breathing her in. When he looked up at her with possessive arctic eyes full of chilling promise, he grinned and said, “Everything.”

That single word carried the weight of her destiny. Outside, the storm howled like a living thing, but inside this room, she had gone deadly still. If she planned to survive these monsters she had to be courageous enough to let them devour her whole.

If she managed that, and managed to keep them from killing her or turning her in, she might actually make it to the end of winter. Then she could start her new life wherever she wished. But tonight, the real nightmare was just beginning.

Chapter 5

Blood Bonds

Everything.

The word echoed in the silence like a funeral bell tolling for her former life.

Marigold’s hands fisted in the oversized sweater, knuckles bleaching white against charcoal wool. Her mind raced through impossible calculations. The storm outside that promised certain death. The men surrounding her offered something potentially worse. The only other option was to say fuck off and let them turn her in. But it would only be a matter of time before her family found her.

The blond lowered to the bed with the others, his pale eyes holding warmth but no mercy. “The question is, printsessa, are you intelligent enough to survive us?”

Something flashed in his cold eyes. A dare, perhaps. He looked at her as if he already knew all her secrets.

“I can survive anything that doesn’t kill me.”

His full lips stretched into a slow smile. “I’m counting on it.”

His confidence in her put her strangely at ease. Of the three men, the blond seemed the safest. Or maybe she was just too desperate to face reality.