Page 46 of The Last True Hero

Thirteen

CYPHER WAS NOTwhat he expected.

To begin with, he was ashe.

The second the pale man shoved open the canvas flaps on a tent in the middle of the camp, Adam found himself in a room lit with harsh electricity. An enormous chair hovered on some sort of dais, covered in sheepskins and wolf hides, and there was a woman leaning over a table in the middle, marking items off a piece of parchment.

"Got a guest for you, Vex," the pale man announced, letting the flap fall shut behind them.

The woman looked up, her skin polished bronze and her head shaved at the sides. A shock of dyed red hair swept in a ridge along the top of her skull, and her blue eyes were lined in kohl. Silver bands circled her upper arms, and another one circled her throat. Leather straps hooked onto it, and were attached to the bustier of her custom leather corset. A glint of steel flashed at her waist as she turned, but he couldn't see what she was carrying.

Hard. That was the word he would have used. That, and “dangerous.”

"Mmm," she breathed, her eyes lighting up like she'd just spotted cake the second she saw him. "Is this gift all for me?"

Adam froze.

"Well, aren't you as pretty as a picture," she announced, and eyed him from head to toe, virtually stripping him naked in her mind's eye. She wasn't young, though he suspected she was older than she looked.

"Vex Cypher," she announced, circling him slowly and examining every inch of him with hungry eyes. He had a sudden sickening feeling that he knew exactly how the slaves in Rust City felt.

Like meat.

"What's your name, handsome?"

Alright then. "Adam McClain. And this is my cousin, Jake, my woman, Mia, and—"

A hand cupped him firmly between the legs and Adam caught Vex's wrist, his eyes nearly bulging out of his face.

"Jesus," he breathed, as Jake made a strangled sound in his throat behind him.

For a second he didn't know what to do. He couldn't shove her away, or punch her in the face as he would have done to a man.

"It's impressive, isn't it?" Mia drawled. "You ever feel like you want to take that cock for a ride, you let me know and maybe we'll invite you to share our blankets."

Somehow he had to salvage this moment. Hard to do when a woman's hand was on his dick. "I told you, we don't share," he shot toward Mia. "Nobody else gets to touch you."

Mia crossed her arms over her chest and gave a somewhat predatory smile that she shared with Vex. "Sorry. I'm open to it, but he's not." With a sigh, she fixed those gorgeous dark eyes on him. "Are you still pissed about that guy at Fort Phoenix?"

"That's okay, princess," Vex said with a smile, caressing his cock as she stepped back. "Didn't realize you were so shy." She raked a nail up over his belt. "A shame though."

His cheeks flamed. He didn't know what to say. Thank Christ Mia had got them out of that predicament.

"Uh, we were told we had to present tribute or something?" Jake cut in.

Vex collapsed back onto her throne, hooking one long leg over the other. "And just what are you going to offer me?"

The arch of her brow suggested she'd be far happier unwrapping him, and Jake cleared his throat and took a faint step backward. "Uh...."

Vex snorted. "What a pair of disappointments." She tapped her painted lips. "Still... you both look cute when you blush."

There was silence. Of all the possibilities they'd prepared for, this hadn't even been considered.

"They look pretty, but they can be dumb as oxen sometimes." A pouch of coin flew through the air, and then Mia stepped forward. "Ten gold pieces do for a tribute? Maybe if we drink on it, they might lose their shyness?"

Vex snatched it out of the air, as fast as a viper, and hefted the bag. "It's a start."

When Vex glanced at Jake, Adam saw the edge of cunning in her. This whole thing was a game to her, a way to put them off-balance. It had succeeded. She'd picked him as the leader, and she'd gone after him, just to cut him down to size. Then Jake.