She focused back on the giant in the room, trying to assuage her alarm, yet failing miserably.Until that moment, she’d remained unreasonably calm.Even when she’d realized she’d been taken, and when he’d forced her over him for the preposterous punishment she didn’t even deserve.She’d hated it, despised the way he was able to make her behave, but she hadn’t given in to panic.Muscles taut at that moment, though, she sensed how easy it would have been to slip into that hysteria.
He was talking about killing someone, for God’s sake.A woman he’d taken as his captive.A woman just like her.She had to get away from him.
“We both have our roles to play.I shall look after your needs, while you…” He paused, the dark light in his eyes dancing.“You shall serve me.”
“Serve you.”
She parroted the sentiment, as though he’d ordered her to repeat the words, but the truth was, the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach insisted she say something compliant.
Sitting there like a statue, she realized just how important it was to keep Kronos on her side.What had she been thinking, arguing and resisting him?She wasn’t embroiled in some childish game.Her life, and the life of another innocent woman, could very well depend on the way she behaved in the next few hours.
Shehadto make him happy.
He beamed at her, pride emanating from his face as if she were a small child expressing her first words and he were her eager parent.“That’s right.I knew you were a smart woman.”
Her gaze speared him, as though glancing elsewhere could directly result in her end.Should she have said something in reply?But then, what was there to say that she hadn’t already mumbled ten times already?All the ‘yes, Master,’ ‘no, Master,’ crap was starting to do her head in.Whoever he was, he was no master of her.No man was.She might have chased a romantic relationship with one, but that didn’t mean she’d offered any of them the right to treat her that way.
Stewing on her indignity, her anger met the growing wall of fear swelling in her stomach, and for the first time, she considered getting up.He didn’t have her bound, so she could have leaped to her feet and looked for a way out, but she dared not do anything to tip the precarious balance between them.
Kronos seemed pleased with her.Apparently, tanning her backside and pumping his cum over her face was enough to placate the fucker for the time being.But as disgraceful as that was, it was a good thing.Lives depended upon her ‘good behavior’.
That thought was suffocating, numbing her mind until even her panic dimmed.
“Rule three is an extension of rule two.You will receive no satisfaction until I say you merit the reward.”He smirked.“You remember this rule from before, I think.You were over my knees to be chastised, not gratified.”
She vaguely recalled her frustration at the denial, the way she’d groaned with disappointment when he’d yanked her from his cock.In light of the present peril he presented, though, she could hardly remember why the loss was so important.What difference did it make if she didn’t get to come if there were lives on the line?Her hands slid to the side of the chair in disgust, and gripping at the edge of the seat, she could hardly believe she’d been worried about such a trivial matter.
“What’s wrong?”He tilted his head, as if he was trying to decide for himself.“Your pulse has increased, and I see no reason for its elevation.”
She shot a perplexed look in his direction.How could he have known her pulse had sped up?What was he, a doctor?
As though he intended to answer, he rose from the bed abruptly, forcing her to recoil against the chair.Somehow, while he’d been sitting down, she’d forgotten the sheer size of him.There was no choice but to register his height then, though, her head craning to meet his eyes as she fought to catch her breath.
“Please.”Her fingers tightened on the chair, and briefly, she considered making a run for the door, until she remembered there was no door.“Don’t harm me.”
Not for the first time, she hated how pitiful she sounded, but her imploring tone was necessary.Keeping Kronos happy was her number one ambition until she could find a way out.If that meant letting him come all over her five times a day, then so be it.She didn’t relish the thought, but while he was there, reveling in her degradation, he wasn’t hurting anyone.
“Harm you?”He shook his head as if she were insane.“Now, what would make you say that?”
“I…” What was she supposed to say?She could hardly tell him she feared being disposed of after he’d killed the other woman he was holding.
“Kristina.”His voice was like a sigh, and closing the distance between them, he fell to his haunches by her shins.“I have told you, I will never harm you.”Lifting one hand, he rested the vast palm on her left knee.“You must believe that.”
Must she?A man bold enough to take her from the street she lived on and admit to having kidnapped before was capable of just about anything, wasn’t he?She couldn’t trust anything he told her.
“Kristina.”His voice deepened to that lower octave that spoke to her body, and she watched, paralyzed, as those two enormous palms of his rose to steady either side of her face.“Do you believe me?”
“I…” Again, she tried to speak, but her voice lacked power.“I don’t know what to believe, Master.”
Her head pounded, taunting her with the chilling quandary.She’d been aroused by the man who’d intimated killing another woman.What was wrong with her?
Yet, being forced to stare into his mesmerizing eyes, it wasn’t so difficult to see how she’d fallen under his spell.Whoever he was, his air of authority was as captivating as his body, and even though she derided the way he’d treated her, so far, hehadkept his word.His palm had stung, but other than that smarting discomfort and her chagrin at being denied, no genuine harm had befallen her.
Yet.
Those things had occurred before she’d known about the other woman he was holding, and about his obvious appetite for destruction.
How could she marry those conflicting versions of Kronos?
