Page 32

“No.” The man shifted to the back of the cage where a pale, blonde woman crouched in the shadows.

Tazm turned for guidance to Watrat, who seemed to be the boss around here. His boss pinched the bridge of his nose, looking frustrated.

“Make him.” He waved his hand at Tazm and the others.

Rattling with a bundle of keys, Piara unlocked the cage, and two other fae reached in to retrieve the man.

He grabbed the bars on the opposite side of the cage, stretching along the floor.

“Peter!” the human woman shrieked, gripping his arm.

“Stay back, Maria,” the man gritted through his teeth, kicking his feet in a futile attempt to shake the fae off.

Much stronger than him, they pulled him out and onto the sand.

“Drink it!” One of the fae sat on Peter’s chest and held down his arms while Tazm forced the man’s mouth open and shoved the tea kettle’s spout between his teeth.

“Leave him alone!” Maria lunged forward, slamming her shoulder against Tazm to push him off Peter.

Elaine and I crawled to the bars of our cage.

I didn’t know either Peter or Maria. But I fervently looked for a way to help.

Shoving my hands between the bars, I tried to get hold of any fae to help pull them away from the couple but couldn’t reach them.

The tips of my fingers barely touched the bars of Peter and Maria’s cage.

Piara grabbed a fistful of Maria’s dress over her chest and shoved her back into the cage.

“Get out of the way, Sweet One. Your turn will come,” she said calmly as Peter was choking on the tea that Tazm and the others poured down his throat.

Reaching between the bars, Elaine punched Piara in the back of her right knee. The fae gasped in shock and lost her balance. Her leg bent, sending her to her knees. She grabbed on to the bars of our cage, stopping herself from face-planting.

“You chubby, little rat,” Piara hissed.

Elaine met the insult with a defiant glare.

Maria crawled from her cage, scrambled to her knees, and ran into the dark night of the desert.

“Get her!” Watrat ordered, sending two of his thugs after the woman.

I rooted for her. Even knowing that only death waited for humans out there, I’d follow Maria in a heartbeat if given a chance. Whatever these fae had planned for us could be worse than death.

Peter coughed and gagged, spattering the shimmering golden tea that ran down his face.

“Did he swallow any?” Watrat asked.

“He sure did.” Tazm got up from Peter’s chest, then wrung the spilled tea out of his skirt.

“Fucking human. He messed up my clothes!” Ripping the yellow flowers from his makeshift armor, he got down, shoving his knee into Peter’s chest again.

“Eat these, too, since you can’t drink tea without making a mess. ”

He stuffed the flowers into Peter’s mouth.

The syrupy juice from the thick, semi-transparent stem of the flower trickled out from the corners of the poor man’s mouth.

He stopped struggling, staring straight up into the starry sky with a pensive expression as if trying to see in the stars something no one of us could see.

Maria’s scream pierced the night, and my heart sank into my stomach.

They got her.

One of the Watrat’s fae carried the woman back to the cages, holding her under his arm like she was no heavier than a kitten.

“Where do you want her, chief?” he asked Watrat. “Back in the cage?”

Tazm had already stuffed the lethargic Peter back into his cage.

“Yeah, may as well. Give her some of the tea too,” Watrat ordered. “He may tear her to pieces otherwise. We’ll get more pleasure from two Vessels than one, anyway.”

Elaine and I exchanged worried looks.

As the other two fae held Maria, Tazm grabbed her chin, forcing her to open her mouth, then shoved the spout down her throat, making her gag and drink.

“It’s all gone now,” Tazm announced after a moment. “The stupid human man spilled a lot.”

“Well, this should help. Here you go, Sweet One.” Watrat ripped the flower from his chest, too, then stuffed it into Maria’s mouth, despite her tears and protests. “Eat it. You’ll have more fun this way.” Watrat smirked, shoving the woman into the cage with Peter.

“What are they doing? What are they doing?” Elaine chanted under her breath, with her eyes opened wide in shock. “Stop it!”

Piara scowled at Elaine. “Shut up. Or you’ll end up in there with them. He drank enough hyacinth juice to handle both of you in there.”

Peter groaned, arching his back. His long, beige tunic bulged over his crotch. His hands fisted the blanket on the floor of their cage.

“Peter?” Maria crawled to him. “How are you doing?”

She placed her hand on his chest, and he jerked his head up, staring at her. His pale, hazel eyes had turned dark like night with golden flecks flickering in his dilated irises like fire sparks in the abyss.

“Peter?” Maria’s voice trembled, but she didn’t move away.

He fisted her blonde hair on the back of her head, then pulled her in for a kiss.

She gasped when he grabbed her hand and pressed it to the bulge between his legs.

“It’s working.” Watrat clapped his hands once, then palmed the handle of the sword on his belt. “One tendril each. Or I’ll cut your head off myself.”

The fae gathered closer to Peter and Maria’s cage. The smoky tendrils extended, one from each person, as per their boss’s order. They reached for the leilathas of the human couple. But there were more than twice fae than the eight leilathas on the harnesses.

“Tazm and you…” he pointed at a fae next to Tazm, then singled out a few more from the crowd. “You. You. Runel too, and…” he selected a couple more. “And me, of course. We’re staying here, so we get the first turn. Piara and the rest, you’re leaving tonight. So, your turn will be at the next camp.”

Piara spat on the ground with a disgruntled groan and stepped back, followed by a handful of others. Watrat, Tazm, and the rest slithered their tendrils between the bars of the cage in search of Peter’s and Maria’s leilathas .

Needy, feral sounds came from Peter’s mouth as he rubbed himself against Maria’s hand. Grabbing her shoulders, he shoved her against the cage bars.

“No,” I whimpered. “Please…don’t… ”

The sound of my pleas and the sight of rough male hands mistreating a woman brought back painful memories. My stomach roiled. My chest felt hollow, and my hands shook.

“Stop it!” I screamed.

No one paid me any attention. The fae already had their tendrils in the leilathas of both humans.

Why did they do it? Didn’t they understand how much fear Maria must be feeling?

Except that the expression on Maria’s face was far from scared or pained. Her eyelids dropped as she gripped the bars of the cage. Her breathing grew heavier. With a guttural sound, she yanked Peter’s tunic up, then shoved his underwear down, revealing his straining erection.

“Oh God!” Elaine gasped, turning away quickly.

I knew I had to turn away, too, but I needed to make sure that the woman in that cage was not a helpless victim like I had been so many times myself.

Peter tore at her dress, exposing her breasts.

“Yes.” She shoved his head toward her chest and moaned when he sucked a nipple into his mouth. “More,” she panted. “Harder.”

He growled, dragging his teeth over her skin, biting and squeezing her breasts. Shoving her to the ground, he hiked up her skirt, then tore her underwear off.

She spread her legs wide, welcoming him.

“Fuck me,” she groaned, thrusting her hips up in a needy, desperate gesture. “Fuck me. Now!”

He pushed into her in wild, frantic thrusts, pounding so hard, their cage shook. Sweat beaded on his forehead, slicking his wavy brown hair. He bared his teeth in a feral expression that reflected perfectly on the faces of the fae around the cage.

Elaine rocked in a crouch, with her hands over her ears, and her back turned to the couple fucking in the next cage.

“It’s the tea,” she said when our gazes crossed. “There’s something in that flower that makes them do this.”

I didn’t doubt that. I didn’t know Peter and Maria at all. I’d only glimpsed their personalities before they had the tea and the flower juice. But even I could tell this behavior wasn’t normal for them.

“Whatever they do to us…” Elaine’s voice almost drowned in the grunts and moans of both human and fae. “Wherever they take us… Do not drink that tea, Ciana.”

Maria screamed, coming so hard, her legs shook. Peter’s breathing came in ragged gasps. It looked like he came too, only instead of slowing down, he flipped Maria onto her stomach, then raised her hips to his still hard cock and rammed into her from behind.

She gripped the bars. Her face was turned to us now.

Her hair had fallen out of her bun. Sweat soaked her blonde tresses, plastering them to her cheeks and forehead.

Her eyes turned dark, just like Peter’s.

And when she looked at me, I didn’t think she saw me or anyone else around us.

But her expression wasn’t vacant. It was that of intense focus.

This woman had a purpose, a goal. And her entire being seemed to be focused on reaching it.

“Yes…yes,” she panted, thrusting her ass back and clearly welcoming Peter’s punishing pounding.

Her mouth slackened, and her eyes rolled back as she came again, breathing jerkily through her orgasm.

Tazm had his tendril connected to her upper arm. He moaned. A shiver of pleasure ran through his body, shaking his legs and forcing him to lean back against our cage. Something hard thudded against a wooden bar, and I glimpsed a knife in the folds of his skirt.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I crawled toward him along the floor. Maria still gasped and moaned, lost to her climax. Tazm seemed to be drinking in her pleasure, savoring every drop. Just like her, he also seemed completely oblivious to the world around him.

Halting my breath, I swiped the knife from his belt, then hid it under the blanket on the floor.