Page 6

CHAPTER 6

S asha

I’m trapped, my entire body caged under his, his powerful muscles molded to my breasts, my stomach, my legs. And lower, where I feel the push of a large erection.

Vulnerable and defeated. That’s what I am.

I’m still alive.

I breathe fast and shallow, refusing to acknowledge the way my core clenches at the contact of this dangerous male body. There must be something wrong with me for feeling aroused at a moment like this. For feeling aroused at this manhandling.

That face hovers just a few inches above me, cruel in its perfection. The angles of his bones are sharp, sharper than humans, with a straight, prominent nose and deep, pointed cheekbones. He looks like the land he calls home.

Perfect. Dangerous. Merciless.

And that body? Power radiates through every inch of those bulging muscles, every inch of that dark gray skin, smooth and thick. Inhuman. Just like those long, deadly spikes along his limbs. His eyes are a deep teal, sclera and irises in two shades of the same color. Blue on blue. Mystical. Mesmerizing.

Like a snake paralyzing its prey before the killing blow.

I am so dead.

“Who are you working for, Sasha?” The Huugwor speaks in a low, controlled voice that betrays nothing of his feelings. If he even knows what feelings are.

I allow myself a moment of weakness to despair, shutting my eyelids. I should talk. Should give up Sargul. He would do the same if he was in my place. There’s no honor among thieves, unlike what many people want to believe.

But as my mouth opens to answer, no sound comes out.

Then those fingers on my throat move, just grazing up and down the length of my neck. Reminding me that my life hangs on a thread and that he’s holding the scissors.

“I can’t tell you that.” I finally manage to speak, but my voice sounds all wrong. Small and defeated, so unlike the woman I’ve worked so hard to become.

“You can’t?” The Huugwor tilts his head, his glare going from cold to dangerous. “Or you won’t?”

A single digit slides across my trachea, inch by inch. It’s both the most erotic and terrifying thing I’ve ever felt. My belly flutters with renewed terror, but something else awakens lower, too. My body betrays me then, arousal pooling between my legs.

“I won’t,” I answer flatly, knowing full well there’s nothing I can do to save my life. The faces of Naeve, Maitlin, and the others flash in my mind, then my brain settles on the hard features of Sargul. He was never much of a father, that’s true, but he took me in when everyone else would have let me starve in the streets.

I should give him up. But I can’t. I won’t. Sargul saved my life and now, it’s my turn to save his. Too bad he will never know I repaid my debt, after all.

A life for a life. It was fair.

“We’ll see about that, little thief.” The Huugwor lowers his face until his nose brushes mine. It’s such a bold, intimate gesture that I feel my entire body respond. Arousal scatters underneath my skin like ants on fire, spreading to each of my extremities until even my fingertips twitch with it.

What’s wrong with me? Am I some pervert or something?

Maybe, because now my core clenches and my clit pulses to life as the Huugwor’s nostrils flare. Embarrassment lights up my cheeks as I understand what this means.

He can smell it on me. He can smell how turned on I am.

The Huugwor moves, digging his thighs between my legs until my knees part on each side of his body. I try to fight it, try to ignore the need, but as he presses his erection firmly against my most sensitive place, I push back against him.

Shame burns my face as arousal pulses in my core and I can feel the hot rush of wetness in my panties. He still holds my wrists together above my head with one hand, the other wrapped around my throat. It’s such a helpless position, I’ve never felt so vulnerable and utterly under anyone’s control before.

And my treacherous body loves it.

“What are you doing?” My voice shakes, the tone threadbare and unrecognizable.

“I’m going to make you talk.” His voice is husky, leaving no doubt as to what he’s implying.

“So, you’re going to hurt a defenseless woman?” I have no idea where the guts to speak to him like that came from, but a part of me is proud of it. A small part. The rest of me is terrified. “And I always thought Huugwors were honorable.”

The Huugwor buries his face in my neck, the contact of his skin like an electroshock. I whimper and my hips move of their own accord, rubbing against him with a shameful boldness. He chuckles, right there in my neck, still covering me with his size, like a powerful blanket that’s also a prison.

“We have ways to punish our females when they refuse to obey.” His lips brush underneath my ear, on that soft, sensitive place. My entire body shivers and more heat spills between my legs. “Ways that are infinitely more efficient that the base violence humans use. Believe me, when I’m done with you, not only will you tell me everything I want to know, but you will beg me for more.”

His face moves, his nose brushing underneath my jaw all the way to my chin. When his lips part and the shocking contact of two fangs on my jugular makes me cry out, I’m not sure if it’s from fear or arousal.

But only one thing is certain. I’ve lost my damn mind.

The Huugwor moves fast, faster than I expected. Faster than any creature his size should be able to. His weight lifts from my body, leaving me instantly cold.

I don’t have time to dwell on it, though.

As soon as he lifts himself from me, he grabs my wrists again. I scream and kick as he hauls me to my feet, but my rebellion is short-lived as he picks me up and throws me over his shoulder. I find myself facing the impressive planes of a well-muscled back.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I screech, then proceed to kick him, but he has my legs well pinned to his front and all I manage is to waddle side to side like a duck. “Put me down!”

“Quiet.” His tone is curt, self-confident.

The bastard thinks he can intimidate me.

“Fat chance!” I grit between my teeth before renewing my efforts to break free. I wiggle and fight, hitting with my fists along his large back to loosen his grip on me.

It makes no difference. I could as well have been fighting a boulder.

“This is your last warning. I am not a man who tolerates defiance to his authority.”

Something in that tone, in the way he knows he has absolute power over me, sets me on fire. With the last remnant of my sanity, I do the only thing I can think of.

I bite.

I press my face to the soft skin of his side and clamp down as hard as I can with my pathetic, blunt human teeth.

It’s not much, but the shout of surprise and pain that follows makes me double down on the bite. Maybe I can get away, after all.

Then a shocking, stinging pain shoots through my backside and I open my jaw in shock.

Did Ambassador Eirik just spank me?