The drugs made it impossible to ignore her voice or her maddening hand as it teased his cock. Finally, when he thought he couldn’t take another moment of her knowing touch, she sped up her strokes, urging him toward climax. He cried out in relief as he came in a burst of guilty pleasure, then lay drained and panting on the chair-table.
Cynthia’s face hung over him, her breasts within easy reach if he could have moved his arms. “I guess you didn’t get the headache,” she said in a dry voice.
“Wha...what?”
“I threw some couples together.” She stopped and laughed. “Like one of the kids from the clinic was a twin, and his brother was collateral damage in a drug hit. He’d been trying for years to find out who was responsible. I sent him information that pointed him in the right direction. To a New Orleans high society type who was also a drug smuggler. His fiancée happened to be another one of Solomon’s spawn.” She sobered. “I almost captured them, but it went bad in the end. And then there were the ones who didn’t survive their first mutual sexual experience. They were the ones who died in bed together. Maybe having sex was too much for them, or maybe they chickened out, and that’s what did it. The cause of death was cerebral hemorrhages, according to the autopsies.”
The words were going over Travis’s head. He had no idea what she was talking about.
But she pressed on—probing for information he couldn’t give her. “Did coming with your mate change anything for you? Can we merge our minds? Try to untie the bonds on your wrists. You want to get free, don’t you?”
“Yes.” The syllable came out like a low growl.
“Then untie the knots. Or maybe you can burn the rope.” Her insistent voice stopped for a moment. “Well, that might not be prudent. You don’t want to burn yourself.”
With every shred of determination he possessed, Travis tried to loosen the knots. He had to get away from this woman—from this nightmare situation. But even after exerting a tremendous effort, he simply had no power to break free.
“What about a thunderbolt?” she asked. “Use your mind to throw one across the room. Or throw one at me. You want to do that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” he managed between clenched teeth. She had taken advantage of him. Aroused him. Raped him. And he wanted to make her pay for what she had done.
Desperation made him redouble his efforts, but he might as well have been trying to throw a cannonball. Nothing happened. It couldn’t happen. There was nothing different about him. He was the same man who had awakened as a captive in this room
“Maybe if we try a jolt of chemical stimulant,” a voice muttered. It was Smith again. The sexy Cynthia had vanished. Had she really been there? He didn’t know.
Travis felt another needle jabbing into a vein, and his whole body seized. “Do it,” Smith shouted. “Do something. Don’t just lie there like a sorry victim. Free yourself. Don’t you have the power to do it?”
Hewanted to.With every ounce of will in his body, hewanted to.
Desperately, Travis tried to find a way to accomplish the impossible, feeling all his muscles strain as he strove to pull himself free. But there was no amount of effort that could make any difference. Finally exhausted, he fell back against the table.
He heard Smith sigh. “Well, we gave it the old college try. I guess a simulation isn’t going to work. Too bad. I’m afraid I’m going to have to examine some of your brain tissue to see if I find anything unusual.”
As Travis heard the sound of a power drill firing to life, a jolt of fear shot through him.
“Does that inspire you to try harder?” Smith asked.
It did. If there had been any way to manipulate his physical surroundings, he would have done it. But he simply couldn’t manage it. All he could do was lie there as the whirring of the drill came closer.
He screamed, then screamed again as he felt the metal bit jab into his skull.
CHAPTEREIGHT
This time, it was Olivia who screamed. She sat up with a jerk and started to push herself off the bed, afraid that she was going to throw up on the covers. Somehow, she brought the nausea under control.
Eyes closed, she collapsed back against the pillows as sobs began to wrack her. Terrifying and disgusting moments from the scene with Smith played over and over in her mind. That man must not possess any shred of morality—or he never could have done those horrible things to another human being.
Travis reached for her and wrapped her in his embrace. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry you had to see that.” He made an angry sound. “To see my shame.”
Her hands tightened on him, and somehow she managed to get words out between sobs. “Oh Lord, Travis. It’s not your shame. He forced it on you.”
“But I shouldn’t have taken you there.”
“Not your fault. I practically ordered you to do it.” Several minutes passed before she could add, “None of it was your fault. And you did what I asked.” As she spoke, she struggled to regain her composure. The new normal, because she didn’t think her life going forward would be what anybody considered normal.
It seemed that the children from that clinic had become an obsession for Smith. That, and his utter lack of morality were a terrible combination.
As her mind switched back to a previous snippet of conversation, a bolt of insight shot through her, and she knew Travis felt it.
