“I’m sure others would have too, but Joseph killed the one who bit me and told the others a worse fate awaited them if they harmed me.”
Saxon’s skin prickled at Joseph’s name. The bastard had been dead for months, but the mention of him still sent a bolt of wrath through him. Joseph had caused so much destruction while he was alive that they were still dealing with the aftermath of it.
An increased number of Savages were entering the cities, and since Joseph managed to take down and turn a fair number of hunters before his death, some of those Savages were more lethal than normal. They’d be dealing with the repercussions of Joseph’s betrayal for years to come, but they were building their numbers and systematically destroying the Savages.
It wasn’t his business, and there was no delicate way to ask her, but he had to know. “Did they ever rape you?”
“No. I’m not sure why, but they never tried it.”
He suspected it was because they needed her, and raping her might have broken her before they finished with her. Joseph made her off-limits, but once they finished with her, all restrictions would be lifted.
“Joseph brought you here?” he asked.
The underlying hostility in Saxon’s voice caused her to hesitate before answering, “Yes.”
“Why?” When her mouth flattened into a thin line, he realized she wasn’t going to answer him, but he decided to push her on it. “Why did they bring you here, Elyse?”
“This is where they put me after they took me.”
He realized it was an answer but not the one he was seeking. “Took you from where?”
“I was leaving work when they grabbed me.”
She’d been in a good mood that night too. She’d made enough in tips to pay her cell phone bill. Her good mood went to shit when a couple of goons bound, gagged, and knocked her out before tossing her into a car.
“How long have you been here?” Saxon asked.
“What month is it?”
“January.”
The blood drained from her face. At first, she tried to keep track of the time, but she had nothing to write with here and no calendar. She was scared to scratch a mark indicating the passing days as she had no idea how the things holding her would react. Eventually, she’d lost all track of the days and only knew the general time of the year by the changing seasons.
“I’ve been here since May, so… nine months.”
“Wow.”
Saxon ran a hand through his hair as he studied the cabin. As far as prisons went, it wasn’t awful, but he couldn’t imagine being stuck somewhere for so long. Judging by her thinness and too baggy clothes, she hadn’t been treated great.
“Do you know that Joseph’s dead?” he asked.
Elyse’s mouth dropped, and her eyes widened. “Dead?”
“Yes. Some of my friends took him down.”
“Oh, thank God.”
After all the torment that bastard put her through, she wanted to run outside laughing at the top of her lungs while she spun in circles. She hadn’t seen him in months, but she’d spent every day fearing he would return to finish the torture he started.
“That’s why he hasn’t been here,” she said. “He came at least once a week in the beginning, but I figured he’d found something else to occupy his time and moved on from me.”
“And what did he do with you?”
Tears burned her eyes; she couldn’t tell him the awful things he’d done to her and made her witness. There were many times she’d prayed he’d kill her and get it over with, but he’d never be that merciful.
Then her relief over his death vanished as she realized she’d still been kept here and forced to use her strange ability for these monsters after his death. She’d also remained off-limits as none of her guards tried to touch her. That could only mean one thing…
“He may be dead, but someone else is running things,” she said.
