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For a few minutes, he basked in the silence, lulled by the subtle hum of the water. What he said next would unleash only God knew what, and he needed just a moment of peace to cherish before he opened the gates to her personal hell.
“Who asked you to kill the rabbit, Caera?”
She didn’t answer him. Not straight away. He could see the question circulating behind her eyes when they slid over to him, but he didn’t know what her answer might be. Would she try to lie to him? Mask her pain, defend him from it with naughty little tales?
“I…remembered.”
“Tell me.”
She swallowed, the darkness in her eyes growing. It wasn’t violent or overpowering, not in the sense he was used to—he’d seen darkness in his friends’ eyes that spoke of death and retribution when someone had hurt their subs, the loves of their lives, but this was different. This was a kind of disturbing resignation, tainting the beautiful green of her irises.
“There was a woman. The woman with the voice,” she said dully. “She gave me a rabbit. A white rabbit with a…” Her hand lifted from beneath the water to trace a marking around her nose and mouth. “A black butterfly on its face. It was so small, fluffy and warm. I’d never felt anything like it. I don’t think I had a lot of contact with people, or soft, cute animals.”
Saul studied her face. “You liked the rabbit.”
“I was seven. I loved it, even though I’d never seen it before. I remember stroking it, feeling that softness. Wanting to bury my face in it and squeeze it like a teddy bear.” Her lips trembled. “Then there was a syringe. It was full of blue stuff.”
His heart sank.
“She wanted me to kill it. That sweet, innocent ball of fluff, because she said so. I wouldn’t do it, couldn’t, even though I knew it would disappoint her. Make her angry and get that look on her face that spoke of pain.” Caera’s voice faltered, thick with unshed tears. “So she did it, right there in front of me.”
“Who was she?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t remembered that much. I just know that I thought of her as Mother, and that she didn’t love me. No one’s ever loved me.” She cleared her throat. “She gave me to a man, a blond man with blue eyes. He was…young, I guess. Maybe not a man, but near enough. She told him to kill me, and he said he wouldn’t kill a child.”
Well, at least someone had some fucking morals, Saul thought furiously.
“Mother told him that it was what he was trained to do, and if he didn’t, he wouldn’t graduate. He was to put me down, dispose of me where I wouldn’t be found, or it would be his funeral.” Caera pressed her fingers to her mouth, sucking in a noisy breath. “So, he—Darius. His name was Darius.”
“What did Darius do?”
“What could he do? He agreed, and told her that he would live by his own rules once he left. He would put not killing children at the top of his rule list. He grabbed me by the neck and dragged me toward the doors…”
“You were in a house?”
Caera looked at him properly then, her eyes clearer than before. “I think so. The setting is fuzzy. I can see just Darius, and the shadow of the woman.”
“Where did he take you?”
She shrugged. “I just…the last thing in my mind is watching her walk away without a second thought, knowing I was going to die on her orders, and not giving a shit. Like she did it every day of the week, and it didn’t affect her.”
Maybe she did, he thought viciously. The question was, was she still doing it? “I’m repeating myself, but the fault was with her, not you, Caera. It sounds to me like she’s involved in something horribly illegal, completely unethical, and downright cruel. People like that don’t have morals.”
“She told Darius that she could have several…buyers at the house within the hour if he preferred it. That she could…recoup some of her investments.” The heat of the water had brought color to her cheeks, but it faded fast. “How close did I come to being sold to a pedophile, Saul? Would they have raped me until I was dead or used me as a breeding whore—”
Faster than she could blink, he surged up in the water and snatched her, hauling her on top of him. His cock was erect before he settled her over his hips, but he paid no mind to it. Sex wasn’t at the forefront of his mind, not when she was tormenting herself with what might have been. “Don’t think about it, little rabbit. Don’t torture yourself with something that didn’t happen, and will not happen.”
You’re mine.
He almost said it aloud. It came damn close to tripping off his tongue, ready to throw another wrench in the night, but he cut it off just in time. “She had no right to treat you as anything but human, let alone a possession she could trade or discard. The bitch needs to be hunted down and…” He trailed off as Caera’s eyes widened. She shouldn’t be subjected to how deep the well of his hate for this nameless, faceless woman ran. “Were there any names, bunny? Anything I can use to track them down?”
“No, I…” Her hips rocked, her pussy sliding along the rigid shaft of his erection. A glint appeared in those fabulous green eyes, lifting the darkness. Setting her tiny hands on his chest, she pushed herself up, leaning back to look down between them. “Oh my.”
Oh my, indeed. Saul had never seen anything as obscenely beautiful as the sight of his cock beneath the bubbling water, and the glimpse of pink surrounding it. All he had to do was grip her hips and lift her up a few inches, run the crown up and down between her labia until he found that tight hole, then sink her down every inch of his dick until she had no doubts who she fucking belonged to.
You’re mine.
Condoms, he reminded himself. Condoms, virgin, really shitty night.
