Savage Chains: Scarred (#2) (11 page)

Uncertain what to do, she told Reyes what was happening.

“Just go with it,” he said. “There’s something here you’re meant to see.”

“Okay.”

She watched, panning backward, and found that the room was full of about thirty people, most of them drinking. One part of the crowd was clustered around a series of flat screens that each held stats of one kind or another, typical betting windows.

Now that she’d moved into the past, Angelica could hear the young woman moaning and words spoken in what sounded like Russian. She told Reyes.

He held her tight. “You can stop anytime.”

But she couldn’t. She felt it now, what she was meant to see.

Hearing a voice that sounded familiar, she panned to her left within the vision and kept turning until she reached the arched doorway to the large room. “Your former captor is there, Sweet Dove, the one with the red hair. She’s definitely a Starlin member. She’s standing in a doorway and a man is with her. He has his arm around her, but I can’t quite see him. I’ll have to pan just a little bit more.” She could almost see him. She shifted the vision slightly so that he came into view.

Engles.

She gasped, surprised all over again but not certain why she should be. If two people had ever been made for each other, it was Sweet Dove and her mentor.

“It’s Engles, isn’t it?”

“Yes. They’re enjoying the moment, each holding a drink and looking nonchalant, as though nothing especially significant is going on.”

“Typical slavers. Are they talking to each other?”

She nodded.

“See if you can hear what they’re saying.”

“Okay.”

Even though what she saw had already happened, she trembled as she drew close within the revisiting vision. Evil lived in these two people.

Sweet Dove tweaked Engles’s ear. “So you think Reyes will do it? Will he perform for Scorpion and for you? Because from everything you’ve told me, I don’t think he likes you very much.”

“I think he hates me, but that doesn’t matter. He’s been clamoring to get into Starlin for decades, and I saw how his eyes lit up when I mentioned the Board of Governors. You were right about him, my darling, and I confess you trained him well. He has more ambition than I’ve seen in a long time.

“But it was fun watching him jump through so many hoops, making him wait for over two decades, and it was absolute genius that you had me let him win the bid. He’s very possessive of Angelica, which means that taking her away from him is going to be a lot of fun. But are you sure you still want him back?”

“I owned him once, remember? I will always think of him as my property, to do with as I please. So, yes, I want him back. Only now that he’s embraced the lifestyle, and he’s become a slaver, we’ll have new territory to cover and it will be extraordinary.”

“He’s not the same man, not a youth to be seduced and trained.”

“But he’s not an Ancestral as I am, which means that I can handle him.” Sweet Dove pulled at one of her long red curls.

“But he has Ancestral potential.”

“And I’ll make sure he never uses it.”

“You are so beautifully corrupt, but when do I get my reward for doing your bidding?”

She held Engles’s gaze. “Just be patient and you’ll get your prize. I tested Angelica when she first arrived, so I happen to know just how much she can take, and yes, she’ll break every endurance record. We’ll both earn another small fortune through the gaming organization.”

Engles smiled, his eyelids low. “I can hardly wait. She has so much fire.” He then turned to Sweet Dove and nuzzled her neck, asking quietly, “But when do I get to meet Scorpion? Haven’t I proved my loyalty yet?”

“Ah, yes,
your
ambitions.” Sweet Dove turned and kissed him, then bit down hard so that he cried out.

Drawing away from her, Engles had blood pouring from a deep wound on his lower lip. He scowled at her. “What was that for?”

“For fun, of course, and to remind you that I won’t be hounded or manipulated by you or anyone. When Scorpion is ready he’ll bring you into our partnership, and not a moment sooner.”

Engles drew a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at his lip. “And will you be present tomorrow night when Reyes performs for Scorpion and me?”

She shook her head. “Scorpion won’t allow it.”

“Yet you’re partners.”

“Scorpion always has his reasons.”

But at that moment Sweet Dove got a funny look on her face and turned in Angelica’s direction, almost as though she could see her. “Engles, my darling, I don’t believe we’re alone. Someone is here, watching us.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a strange kind of spidery crawl up my spine.” She narrowed her gaze as though trying to see better.

Because Sweet Dove took a couple of steps in Angelica’s direction, Angelica knew it was time to shut the vision down. She had no idea whether it was actually possible for an Ancestral of Sweet Dove’s power to make contact over time and space, but she definitely didn’t want to find out.

As Angelica disengaged the process, the vision faded slowly, then disappeared.

Reyes stroked her arm. “Are you all right? You’re trembling.”

Angelica closed the laptop. “I’m fine.”

“You’re frowning. What did you see?”

She met his gaze. “So much that I hardly know where to start.” But she decided that the beginning was the best place and related the conversation point by point.

Reyes listened with hard blue eyes, then huffed a sigh. “My God. I had no idea. So, Sweet Dove is entrenched in Starlin and has some kind of partnership with Scorpion. But she also appears to rule Engles.”

“Yes, it looks as though the student now schools the master. More importantly, everything they’ve done has been to bring you under Sweet Dove’s control once more. Although it was clear to me that she fully believes you’re a slaver now. At least that part of the equation is intact. Reyes, you’ve got to be careful.”

He pulled Angelica tight against him and she leaned her head against his shoulder. “I never thought for a second that going after Starlin would lead me back to Sweet Dove.”

“Maybe this is a good thing, because it seems likely to me that when you take Starlin down to rubble there’s a strong chance you’ll be able to bury her for good at the same time. And right now I want nothing more than to see that job done.”

She felt absurdly safe held in his massive arms.

Reyes sighed heavily. “So Sweet Dove’s plans are in play to bring me back under her control and she’ll happily offer you up as Engles’s reward. Sounds like the woman I knew.”

Angelica frowned. “There’s just one thing I don’t understand. Engles said he still hadn’t met Scorpion, so how will he be present at our performance without Engles ever meeting him?”

“He’ll probably use a disguising shield. Some of the Ancestrals can create layered disguises that most vampires can’t pierce. If after all this time Engles hasn’t met him, that has probably been the process.”

Angelica shook her head. Disguising shields, revisiting visions, and sadistic perverts. How had this become her life?

But she knew how and he had his arms wrapped around her.

###

With Angelica pressed against him, Reyes processed the revisiting vision. When she had first mentioned Sweet Dove torturing Angelica early in her captivity, he’d thought that his former owner might have had a distant relationship with the Starlin Group, like the rights to look over newly acquired slaves or something.

Yet at each turn, and especially thanks to the ability that Angelica possessed of experiencing revisiting visions, it was becoming clear that Sweet Dove was a significant player in Starlin.

His heart sank like a stone.

For a long time, he’d wanted to face his captor, to confront her head-on, even to choke the life out of her. But he wasn’t alone anymore. He had Angelica to think of. He also had tens of thousands of slaves, present and future, whom he held as the beacon in his mind, the one idea that kept him on a steady course.

Now Sweet Dove appeared to be at Starlin’s center.

His only consolation was that neither Engles nor Sweet Dove suspected his subversion. Engles had spoken only of Reyes as an ambitious man, as wanting a seat on the board, with a powerful desire to rise within the organization. He could breathe easy because it was clear his cover held.

As for Sweet Dove, he thought he understood her, that the last thing she’d ever believe was that he’d want her destruction. She truly believed he was a slaver and that she’d had a hand in helping him along that path because she’d been his torturer. How wrong she was.

His sole relief in the current situation was in knowing that Sweet Dove wouldn’t be at the sex performance. He didn’t think he could hold his rage back if he knew his former captor was watching and enjoying herself at his expense.

Her presence would have been a deal breaker.

Angelica grew very quiet and he remained holding her in his arms for a long time. No doubt she was processing all that she’d witnessed, both in the woman’s death and in the subsequent vision.

Eventually, his thoughts turned to the difficult dilemma of managing the upcoming sex performance. He didn’t lack for experience. But technique and even theatrical quality was one thing. Making love to someone he cared about for the perverse pleasure of others was an entirely different hole to dig.

He’d already been told that Angelica would have to be tied down. Though he refused to consider using chains or ropes, he thought he could handle silk scarves. The truth was, if Engles insisted on anything else Reyes would refuse. He wouldn’t subject Angelica to the rigors of steel or iron bondage.

His phone dinged indicating a new text message, but his phone wasn’t handy. As though reading his mind, Angelica slipped off his lap. He rose and headed into the bedroom, where he’d left his phone on his nightstand on the far side of the bed.

Because Angelica hadn’t followed him, however, he didn’t get far when the blood-chain gave its tug. As he glanced back at her she seemed to awaken from her own lost-in-thought reverie, nodded, and moved with him. More and more they worked in tandem.

Once he retrieved his phone he read the text, then glanced at Angelica. “From Engles. I’m to wear dominance gear.”

She touched the chain at her neck. “You’re upset and you’re scowling. Why? Isn’t this what you expected?”

“It’s all leather and shit, no shirt, usually a flogger. It’s the idea of it I can’t stand.”

She shrugged. “It’s fine with me, Reyes. Because it’s you, I can handle it.”

“I’ve already decided that there are lines here I won’t cross with you. One of them is that though I’ll be tying you down, I won’t use chains or ropes, nothing like that.”

“But you’re okay with silk scarves, like we originally discussed?”

“Yes.”

She drew close and slid her arms around his waist. “Scarves actually sound kind of nice.”

His lips curved. “You’re trying to put a positive spin on something hideous.”

“Maybe. But I’ve been thinking. What if we practiced a little, set up some kind of overall rhythm to the event, something planned, more theater than actual lovemaking?”

He met and held her gaze; then he kissed her. “I think that’s a brilliant idea.”

The rest of the night was spent talking through what kind of order of sexual effort would most likely please a pair of sadists best. Which led, not surprisingly, to taking Angelica to bed for one last round, with gentle overtones and a series of climaxes that made him wonder how the hell he could ever let her go.

###

The next night Angelica flew with Reyes, her heart beating so hard she felt sure she couldn’t take much more. She wore only a thin lavender negligee and Reyes’s chest was completely bare, his tattoos on display. She thought maybe that during the upcoming ordeal she might be able to save her sanity by focusing on the collection of symbols and vines that curled around his shoulder and arm. Besides, she actually liked his snug black leather pants.

They’d talked for a long time about how to get through the experience, which moves he’d make and why, and especially what would be acceptable to each of them. Reyes, for one thing, would call a halt if Scorpion or Engles demanded anything extreme, like binding her with chains or inflicting any kind of torture.

The real problem was that neither she nor Reyes had any way of knowing how much Scorpion would be dictating what was about to happen. But Reyes assured her repeatedly that the moment any of their agreed-upon lines were crossed he’d shift to altered flight and get her the hell out of there.

When he touched down outside Engles’s mansion, where the after-auction party had been held, Angelica once more looked around in awe. Engles might be a bastard, but he had an artistic eye. He’d created great beauty in the external landscape of his property with the lake and waterfall, the stonework and the palm trees all lit up, a terrible dichotomy.

Ready for this?
Reyes’s words ramped up her heart rate yet again.

She had only one response.
Hell, no.

You say the word, and we’re outta here, no questions asked, no recriminations.

I know. I think it’s the only reason I can put one foot in front of the other right now.
She wouldn’t turn back, though, not with a seat on the Board of Governors at stake.

Engles met them in the foyer. He wore tailored slacks and a red silk shirt open at the collar. He held a familiar tumbler in his hand. His gaze skated over Angelica and the sheer negligee she wore. His eyes fell to half-mast and the bastard didn’t try to hide his arousal.

She kept her eyes lowered.

“Looks like we’re going to have some fun.”

Reyes didn’t say anything, but the chain at her neck vibrated heavily. He despised Engles anyway, but the man always seemed to be able to say the exact thing that would fill Reyes with rage.

Engles gestured for them to enter and Angelica almost took a step, but Reyes got in Engles’s face so fast that she gasped. “You don’t touch her. Have you got that, Engles? And I don’t give a fuck who you are in this organization. She’s mine to do with as I please. I’ll only share my slave when I’m good and ready and not a second earlier. Understood?”