Her Submission (8 page)

Finally they stopped moving. The engine went silent. Blind fear assaulted her, compelling her to thrash about. All she accomplished was to fall over, striking her elbow as she did. She wound up on her stomach, her trapped leg twisted under her, the chain against her cheek, and her weight resting on her arms. Her heart hammered. Maybe she was having a heart attack.

She heard the driver’s door open and close followed by the sound of shoes crunching on gravel. Much as she hated letting her captor see her like this she had no choice. One minute passed followed by another. She strained listening for a sound from him but heard only pine needles being shaken by the wind.

At length she tried to push herself back around but couldn’t because her fingers were against her body, or rather they were against the horrible leather restriction around her waist.

Time passed. The wind whispered and another time the sound would have comforted her. Instead she tried to imagine what he was doing. He’d gone inside whatever place he’d taken her to and was in no hurry to return for her. Did he live alone? If not was it possible whoever he shared his home with would insist he let her go?

Unless that person was the same devil’s spawn.

I don’t deserve this! After what I went through growing up—please, I just want to be left alone!

Her thoughts looped and looped until she couldn’t find a way out of them. Her captor had brought her here to torture and rape. In essence she’d dropped off the face of the earth. Her boss would conclude she’d walked out on the job maybe because she’d taken off with some man with a better car than her beater. Years from now someone would find her bones.

Self-pity had never been her style but it became part of the tangle in her mind. For the first time in her memory she wanted her parents.    

#

Kaci’s legs nearly went out from under her but not just because she’d been restrained for so long. Minutes ago, saying nothing about the condition he’d found her in, her captor had untangled her and hauled her out of his truck. The rope around her ankle trailed behind. She figured he’d left her for the better part of an hour. In sharp contrast to her stinking body, he smelled of soap and shampoo and had obviously just shaved. It wouldn’t surprise her if he’d eaten before bothering to come for her but maybe he’d simply wanted to enjoy his place before soiling it with her presence.

Given all the evergreens she’d seen before they stopped, she’d guessed he’d brought her to some isolated cabin, but she could hardly call the magnificent structure ahead of her. She’d taken a moment to take in the surroundings and had concluded there weren’t any neighbors. He had this incredible place to himself.

A great stone fireplace dominated the two story building’s left side. The other walls were finished with what she guessed were cedar shakes. At first glance she’d thought the roof was made from wood shingles. Then she realized it was a manmade product probably as defense against fire danger. The large, multi-paned windows were framed in red which made them stand out.

An expansive porch braced by logs sheltered the front door. Two- foot high stonework that marched around the entire structure had probably been designed to mask the foundation. Not that it mattered but she guessed the
cabin
have to be at least two thousand square feet.

“
Yours?” she finally got out. “You live—“

“
Yeah, it’s mine.”

She knew pride when she heard it, which was understandable. A handful of times she’d allowed herself to conjure up what her dream home would look like, but her imagination hadn’t been vivid enough to come up with something this beautiful. A red cinder footpath led from where he’d parked the truck to the front door. Other than that nature was in charge of the landscaping. Wild grasses covered the open areas and towering pines flanked the house.

“
I wanted you to see this before—“ He tightened his hold on the chain and lifted it until she was forced onto her toes. “Before we go inside.”

He wanted her to be in awe of what belonged to him and she was. No way could she hide her reaction from him.

“
Wait,” she begged and dug her toes into the cinder. “At least tell me if there’s someone inside.”

“
No.”

If he’d answered one question maybe she could she ask another but did she want to know what he intended to do to her? Still nothing else mattered.

“
I know what you’re thinking,” he told her and began leading her toward the ominous-looking log front door. “You’re convinced I’m an insane beast and you’re going to be killed, but that’s the last thing I’d do. You’re too—valuable alive.”

No matter how she tried, she couldn’t wrap her mind around what he’d just said. Maybe some of her incomprehension came from being lightheaded from hunger and fear plus being this close to a place beyond her wildest dreams. Instead of solid wood, there was a small window in the door at eye level. Four metal bars cross-hatched the window, reminding her of a prison cell. Terrified all over again, she kicked at him and tried to throw herself to the side.

“
Not going to happen!” His hand closed around the chain inches from her throat and he all but lifted her off her feet. “Believe me I know what I’m doing.”

 
Desperate for air, she twisted about as he opened the door. He stepped behind her and shoved, causing her to sprawl belly down on thick carpet. He slammed and locked the door, then stepped on the chain so she couldn’t lift her head.

“
This isn’t the introduction to my place I’d intended, but thanks for the reminder of our relationship.”

Try as she did, she couldn’t look up at him. Carpet fibers pressed against her mouth and eyes.

“
All right, let’s get something straight. We’re going to do things my way, my purpose.” He paused. “I’ve never brought a subject here so in that respect I’m in uncharted territory, but have no doubt, I know what I’m doing.”

Subject? What was he talking about?

She relaxed a little when he lifted his foot off the chain, but then he slid his hands under the belt at her back. He almost effortlessly lifted her onto her feet. Long as her hands had been tied to her middle, she should be used to it so why did her fingers keep clenching and unclenching?

“
This isn’t set up to be a training facility, but the possibilities and potential intrigue me. It’ll give me purpose.” Because he still had hold of the belt, she had no choice but to stand in place. She took note of horizontally placed logs that made up the walls and filtered light from the windows but was too overwhelmed to concentrate on what he’d said.

“
Training,” he muttered. “Yeah, I guess so.”

He seemed to be talking more to himself than her so she ignored him as best she could in large part because she feared his words would tip her back into insanity.

“
Possibilities, possibilities,” he continued. “Let me think. I didn’t expect…”

 
This man liked strawberry ice cream and lived in a place she could only dream of set in the middle of a beautiful wilderness. How could he be this—this monster?

The longer she waited for him to make a decision that might forever alter the course of her life, the more she became aware of her exhaustion and empty stomach. She was getting even more lightheaded.

“
To state what might be the obvious,” he said, “I don’t have neighbors. My property is on the west side of a small lake. There are a couple of cabins on the east side, but I own five acres and the others respect boundary lines. Electricity comes from a generator and I use wood heat. Fortunately there’s satellite so I’m able to keep in touch with…”

Fighting her weakness, she focused on her surroundings. A wide, wooden staircase let up to the second story. She could make out an open area at the top of the stairs and a couple of doors leading to what? The room they were in was expansive with a stone fireplace ahead of her, a large-screen TV to the left and a sitting area with a leather couch and recliner to the right. Man cave, she concluded. The kitchen was beyond where they were and there were a couple of other rooms she couldn’t see into.

The longer she surveyed her surroundings, the more they enveloped her. Lantern-like lighting hung from the maybe fifteen foot high ceiling and several sets of deer antlers were on the walls. She shuddered at the thought of her captor killing a buck and cutting the rack off the carcass.

Maybe, she told herself, he’d found the antlers while wandering around.

Wood dominated, and as she acknowledged the massive pillars and whole wood walls, the more intimidated she became. The trailer she’d inherited along with her summer job had been claustrophobic while this—this was masculine to the extreme.

“
I don’t understand.” She hated but couldn’t help her frightened tone. “What is this about?”

He stared at her but didn’t answer. For a moment she believed he didn’t know how to respond but that couldn’t be.

“
You’re mine,” he muttered. “You belong to me.”

“
No! Please, you can’t mean—look, you need help. I’ll—“

“
Shut up.”

Chapter six

His command was a drumbeat, a blow to her heart. Back when a juvenile detention officer had locked her inside a cell, the officer had told her she was being locked up because that’s how society dealt with those who broke the law. She been a law-abiding citizen since her release, damn it. Her debt to society, not that she really had a debt, had been paid, her lesson learned. What merciful god would do this to her?

A moan pushed past her lips.

“
Don’t do this!” He jerked down on the chain until she was staring at the carpet. “Damn it, I don’t need…”

He marched her bent over to where the stairs began, threaded the chain through a wooden railing, and clipped her in place.

She wanted to kill him, to stomp him and stomp him until he admitted that she was a human and not some animal. Instead, she stood where he’d placed her.

He ran his hands over her starting with her neck, moving over her immobile arms, down her sides, over her hips, along her thighs. To her disbelief, she relaxed a little.

“
There are going to be a lot of rules,” he told her. “Some I intend to spell out now. Others will come along later. To some extent how I treat you depends on how well you obey my commands, understand?”

“
Why?”

He clamped his fingers around her chin and forced her to look up at him. “Rule number one, you don’t ask questions. Why this is happening is no concern of yours, you simply need to learn. Obey. Become.”

Are you going to kill me? s
he longed to ask but he’d made it clear she wasn’t to ask questions. Maybe if she played into his sick game—

“
Rule number two, I call the shots. All of them. Whatever I tell you to do, you do it. When I decide to hurt you, it’ll happen.”

Hurt? More than he already had?

“
I’m stronger than you, not that I need to point that out. In addition, I know how to use my strength. How to intimidate and control. To mold.”

He’d massaged her thighs spelling out his crazy rules, his light touch standing in sharp contrast to his words. Having his fingers so close to her shorts’ hem was unnerving but anything was better than being tied to a truck bed. Maybe.

“
This isn’t a rule so much as a promise.” His fingers slipped under her shorts and started toward the gap between her legs. “You’re going to become something you never imagined was possible. Initially you’ll find the transformation both terrifying and painful, but even then there’ll be certain rewards. I’ll parcel those out when it pleases me to do so and they do the most good.”

His fingers were closing in on her panties’ crotch. How could he expect her to concentrate on anything else?

“
Your body will undergo a transformation. No matter what happens during the rest of your life, my lessons will remain imprinted on you. You’ll both love and hate your body. The
love
—for lack of a better term—will come from sexual pleasure, but you’ll hate a great deal about the process in large part because you’ll have no control over it.” He chuckled. “There’s also a not small matter of discomfort.”

She’d vowed not to look down at what his hands were doing but couldn’t stop herself. Expressionless, he faced her squarely while his fingers continued their relentless approach to her sex. Her legs throbbed with the desire to kick or knee him but if she did, he’d punish her. Teach her the true meaning of pain.

“
You have impressive self-control.” Something, his thumb maybe, swept over the bit of fabric between him and her pussy. She shivered. “Most subjects can’t hold it together, particularly at the beginning.”

“
How many—“ She clamped her teeth together. Had she stopped the question in time?

“
How many subjects have I done this to? I don’t remember.”

That couldn’t be! Could it?

“
I’m going to try something, a bit of a test.”

The way he’d framed his words, she was certain he intended to force his fingers into her so was unprepared when he abruptly withdrew and stepped back. His bulk blocked her view of the door she couldn’t escape through and her right shoulder pressed against the stair post. The only way she could decrease the pressure around her neck was by leaning toward the post but that would put her off-balance.  

“
How responsive are you?” he asked. “Does it take much to turn you on?”

No.
If she told him the truth, he’d use his knowledge against her. Shaking, she struggled to return his gaze.

“
Answer me!” He slapped her cheek, knocking her head to the side. A moment later, he grabbed her shorts’ waistband and yanked them down so they were around her knees. “Unless you want a repeat of that particular lesson, I strongly suggest you tell me the truth.”