“Shaddup!”
The man clapped one hand over Rona’s mouth, silencing her. Then, with his other hand, he pushed up the front of her tank top, exposing her breasts.
“Purdy,” the man said. “Real purdy. Gunna have some fun with these before I take you to see Tulliver.”
His free hand cupped one of her breasts and squeezed hard. Rona tried to scream, but the sound was muffled by the hand over her mouth. Tears of rage filled her eyes and rolled down her temples. The man lowered his face and licked one of her breasts. Then he wrapped his lips around her nipple and started to suck.
“Hey asshole.”
At the sound of those words, the man released Rona’s nipple and sat upright, turning in the direction of the voice. Before he could speak or react, a boot slammed into his face, sending him toppling backward, gurgling in agony.
Pebbles rained down on Rona’s exposed chest.
No, not pebbles.
Teeth.
Murdok fell upon the man with a snarl and began pummeling him with his fists. Then he picked him up and started slamming his bald head against the wall. Rona heard something break. She was pretty sure it wasn’t the bricks. When Murdok finally let go, the man slumped to the ground, motionless save for a single, twitching leg.
Before Rona even realized what she was doing, she was on her feet, kicking the shit out of the man’s ribs. She’d been taughtto never kick a man while he was down, but this seemed like a reasonable time to break that rule.
And hopefully break a few of the man’s ribs as well.
“Fuck you!” she snarled. “And fuck Tulliver too! I shoulda killed that piece of shit when I had the chance!”
“Easy, little one. Easy.”
It was Zeth. The young Merc took hold of Rona from behind and pulled her away from the fallen man.
“Let me go!” Rona yelled. “He tried to hurt me.”
“I know,” Zeth said, his voice soft and soothing. “But if you’re not careful, you’re going to end up hurting yourself. That guy’s a lump. You’re liable to twist an ankle kicking him like that.”
“Give ’er here,” Murdok growled.
The big, scarred mercenary took hold of Rona from the front and started to look her over. His eyes stopped on her throat.
“You’re bleeding,” he said.
“It’s just a scratch. It happened when I cut my collar off.”
Murdok leaned in to get a better look at the cut.
Then he kissed it. Rona remembered her father used to do that when she was little and she would hurt herself. Only, her father never kissed her the way Murdok was kissing her now. It felt like the Merc was trying to give her a damn hickey, and when he finally pulled back, the skin around her cut was tingling.
Weird.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” he asked.
If Rona hadn’t known any better, she would have said he actually sounded concerned. She realized, with a twinge of surprise, that she also felt relieved to be in his company.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “No, I don’t think so. Not really. I banged my butt when I fell. And he grabbed my boob and—”
Before Rona could react, Murdok lifted her shirt and examined her breasts, then her belly. He forcibly turned her and examined her back in a similar fashion. Then he turned her again so they were once more face to face.
He unbuckled her belt.
“Hey!” Rona gasped. “What are you doing?”
