“It’s your birthday! Do whatever you want!” Stephan insists.
Applause fills the room for a second or two, along with murmurs of interest.
The pit in my stomach is filled with bile and all I can do is stand here and look back over at the cage.
I can’t let this woman be used this way, but I can’t just yank her out of the cage and out of the house in front of all these people.
So, I’m forced to watch as several people go up to the cage and reach in, touching her naked body however they want to.
The woman whines and cries out, begging for help. I hear her voice as I turn away from the cage and look back at Dante,Butch, and Matthew, all of them look like hungry animals. Their eyes fixed on the caged woman as if she is simply for their amusement and nothing else.
“You do this every year?” I ask. I keep my voice level and low.
“Every birthday, of the inner circle anyway,” Dante explains. He licks his lips. “Poor things never know what’s coming.”
I growl under my breath, though I don’t mean to.
“You’re pretty worked up, never had this type of thing before?” he asks.
An idea sparks in my head and I quickly look back over at the woman in the cage. “No,” I tell them. I quickly walk over to the cage and grasp the bars with both hands. Dante follows me.
“Look at her, she’s no innocent,” he croons. “I’ll let you have her first, if you really want. Since you’ve never done this before.”
“Would you?” I ask him.
“Yes,” he replies. “You want that don’t you? To touch her, use her… I mean, God, look at that body.” He reaches into the cage and tries to touch her ass but I grab his arm and yank it away from her.
“Don’t touch her,” I hiss. He looks at me with wide eyes.
“She’s mine,” I insist.
“Whoa,” he puts a hand up. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” He has an amused look on his face.
“I have to have her,” I say, and look up at her again, looking over her body up and down, grazing my eyes along her naked breasts and the triangle of hair over her pubic area. Lecherous and needy.
“I’ll pay you,” I say quickly.
“Pay me?” Dante asks, raising a brow. “For what? To have her just to yourself?”
“Yes,” I tell him as I reach into the cage and ghost my fingertips along her thigh. She flinches away from me, her eyes big and frightened.
“How much?” Dante eyes me.
“How much do you want?” I ask him in return. I only have so much money, but right now I’m willing to risk it all.
Dante laughs and moves over to the lock on the cage. He motions to the guards next to it. “Give me the key,” he demands.
“What are you doing?” the woman asks as the cage is unlocked, and he opens the door.
“Shut up,” he sneers at the woman and grabs her by the arm. I watch as he pulls her out of the cage and then tosses her over to me.
“Whatever you’re going to do to her, make it good. You owe me.” He grins at me, but his eyes are dark, desperate. “I don’t want to see her again afterward, you got it?”
I realize what he means, and my mouth goes dry. He expects me to kill her and make sure she’s never found afterward. Is that what they do to the others on their birthdays?
It takes all of me not to pull my gun out of its holster and shoot him in the face right where he stands. I have the young woman in my arms, though, and I know if I hesitate it might tip him off.
“I’ll do whatever I want with her,” I growl at him, and grab her by the arm tightly. So tightly that I’m certain it will leave a bruise, but it’s nothing compared to what they want to do to her.
