She was bent over, just a step from me, his sharp pants giving way to grunts, his fingers clawed into her neck.
‘Dee—’
With a tortured cry, I snapped forward at the waist, pulling Jann’s arm with me. I pretended to pitch forward, pulling Jann forward by his belt so he stumbled, snarling with shock.
I gripped her shoulders because she was the only thing close enough for me to grab, and held her eyes. Saw the light in them, the dead despair, the pleading…
She couldn’t talk, he’d cut off her air. Tears poured down my cheeks as I grabbed her, shrieking, jolting as if Jann pumped into me as well—and I carefully, gently, inserted an image in her mind.
And a question.
And to my relief and horror, her eyes closed and she jerked her chin down twice. As much of a nod as she was capable of giving.
Lips thick and numb with my tears, body convulsing in an attempt to hide the fact that Jann hadn’t undressed me at all under my cloak, I shifted my grip on her shoulders, to the point—right under where he gripped her. He’d been so close and it would have been so merciful… but he knew nothing.
As that fucker grunted and spasmed, about to orgasm inside her, I pinched the spot, the pulse, the one place I’d always been warned never tohold.Because a simple pinch would drop a man unconscious in half a second, and it would take several more for him to find his wits again. But holding that pinch…
Holding that pinch stole life.
The moment I grabbed her there, her eyes met mine sadly—gratefully.
A moment later, she dropped to the stone under our feet, her thrusting Neph, moaning his ecstasy.
I let it appear that I was dragged with her too—my stomach churning when that bastard’s free hand brushed my side—but I held on, screaming, pleading,no!
Then she was gone, and I wept. As Jann snarled and dragged me to my feet by my hair—a move we’d perfected weeks earlier—he’d fist my hair, I’d grab his wrist, then he’d pull me to my feet with the appearance of levering me by the tight strands, when in fact, my weight hung from my grip on his wrist.
But, I was so heartbroken, so afraid, sosickof these awful men, that when Jann gripped my hair at the top of my scalp, Ididn’t move fast enough. Didn’t grip hard enough. He yanked me to my feet—and I cried out as my hand slipped, and a strand of my hair was torn out by the roots.
Jann shoved me aside from the others—careful not to push me too far so the leash attached to his wrist remained slack between us—cursing and shouting. But the activity had sparked the others.
They barked and guffawed, tore at their slaves, or gripped them and launched into the air.
As if the moment had been a starter’s call, the Advisors scattered, leaving us stumbling along the rampart, Jann growling and me shrieking.
I wept as westruggledalong the wall, then Jann wrapped a thick arm around my middle, leaned over me, whispered, “Hold on!” in my ear, then launched us into the night.
My tears never stopped. But my pretend-fight did.
No one watched us. No one cared. I was nothing but a slave-mate to them. A claimed woman, who would be taken as he pleased. The others were all off to pursue whatever disgusting delight they had planned.
Jann flew me into the dark so that I could shroud us, then plummeted again, towards the balcony of his apartment.
I was still weeping when we landed.
He held me up, curled himself over me, because I had us obscured and no one could see him hold me, stroke my hair, and murmur comforts.
Except there was no comfort. When Jann straightened, drawing me with him, and whispered, “Let’s get inside,” I didn’t nod, or smile. I didn’t let a rush of gratitude reach him through the bond.
I stumbled to my feet and through the door into the apartment, where I let go of the shroud and turned to face him, my lips twisted.
“Dee—” he reached for me and I jerked back, out of his grip. Jann jerked to a halt, his eyes going wide. “What are you doing?”
“You just watched!” I hissed. “You just stood there and watched while he fuckingtorturedher!”
Jann looked over his shoulder. “If you’re going to chastise me, you have to bequiet!”
“I’m not doing it anymore. I’m not.”
