A Guardians Passion (24 page)

Rayne doubted François’s words. If the vampiress had any intelligence at all, she would never have captured his Freya.

Chapter Fourteen

Freya sat next to Helena with only the bars to separate them. She took in details of the same three transporters ferrying females out of the cell. All of them had pale skin, yet there were slight variances in the hues beneath their flesh. While two had a yellowish cast, one had a pale-blue sheen. These were the underlings, all minions acting on the order of their prime. Two of the creatures were smaller than the one she had killed. Hopefully when it was her turn, she would get one of the runts.

“Whatever it is that you’re thinking, plotting, it is not worth it.” Helena sighed. “You are smarter than that.”

“You sound sure about that.”

“Do you know where they’re taking the girls? Do you know where they are keeping the cubs?”

Freya shrugged but couldn’t deny that the Sohon was right. Only fools rushed into battle without knowing what they were truly up against, and Freya assumed when one of the asprega materialized before her that she would soon get all the information she would need.

When the time came, it was one of the smaller ones that reached down for her.

Freya stood up, refusing the creature’s help. She closed her eyes as cold, clammy hands gripped her shoulders, and she felt herself being yanked from one location through one space to another.

When she opened her eyes, Freya discovered herself in an expansive hall that only looked medieval due to the amount of masonry. It was in the same building. Freya was certain. She could still smell Helena and the others who remained in the cell. Inside the hall, there were no restraints and no cages. The Asian vampiress was in the room along with the other two vampires Freya recalled seeing back at the Sohon complex.

Their leader stood before a semicircle of six extremely large monitors. Above each monitor was a circular webcam, undoubtedly feeding images to each of the voyeurs peering out from the screens.

Her lackeys were seated behind a large, modern desk several feet away from her, busily operating between the four computers set up there. Freya also noted the asprega prime looming in a corner of the softly lit room, sitting upon a thronelike chair just barely large enough to fit his girth.

Freya scowled, standing with fists clenched before her audience. She would not play the helpless victim to their observations.

A claw touched her shoulder, and she jumped, head immediately turning to face the asprega that had transported her.

“What?” she snapped. “What the fuck do you want?”

The creature laced a claw beneath the strap of her gown and easily sliced it in two, the fabric falling down to expose one of her breasts. Unable to stop herself, Freya lashed out with the heel of her foot and struck the asprega at the edge of his knee. The creature buckled but quickly rose with a snarl.

She couldn’t have cared less, transforming her arms into furred, lethal weapons. “Don’t touch me.”

The vampiress turned away from her monitors and webcams to frown at Freya. “You need to be stripped. The customers need to see the merchandise.”

More than just her arms bristled with growing fur and mass as it dawned on Freya that she was within an auction house. She could have laughed. She had been taken from one circus only to end up at another. “Are you serious?”

“You know, when I was a young girl, Genghis Khan was forging his empire. My clan possessed two wolves. They were noble, loyal guards who protected my family against the strongest of his soldiers. They were bred from pups to be fierce warriors, brave even, and I owe—”

Freya groaned, unable to hold her tongue. “You are not gonna try to justify this shit. What? Your kind is that fucking nostalgic?”

Di’Amanda scowled at Freya but did not bring up the earlier threat she had made.

Freya suspected now that Di’Amanda’s hollow words had to do with the value of captives not entirely belonging to the vampiress.

Di’Amanda frowned at Freya’s question before addressing the creature that stood all too ready to comply at her side. “Help her out of her clothes, please.”

Freya stepped away from the asprega, willing to execute the vampiress’s order. “I don’t need any fucking help for that,” she stated, snapping off the other strap and yanking the tatters of her dress away. She tossed the rags to the floor. She would be damned if she displayed any brand of humility, any weakness. Nude and defiant, she met the cold jade gaze of the contemptuous vamp. “Satisfied?”

The female wrinkled her nose before cutting her gaze away from Freya. “So. This specimen is extremely feral. A brown wolf with brown eyes, approximately six feet two, six to seven months pregnant,” she stated.

At first, Freya thought the female was speaking to herself, but then she noticed the Bluetooth device.

“While a physically impressive specimen, I would recommend her only to the brave among you. She would need a strong hand. Personally, I doubt chains would even deter her. She would undoubtedly gnaw her own hand off. The cub, however, could be potentially perfect for your needs. It could grow into a formidable bodyguard for the right buyer.”

Freya’s hand unconsciously moved to her belly as she scanned the images on the screens. She could hear discussions of her body, of her cub’s potential, and prices from the device in the Asian’s ear. Like meat at a damned auction. “You’ve got to be kidding me! You’re really trying to sell me?”

“But of course. I’ve sold several of you already.”

Freya thought of all the females who had been removed and wondered aloud, “Where are the others?”

The vampiress flashed her pearly white teeth. “Well, the ripest fruit has already been plucked, so on to the not so ripe, I suppose.” She winked at Freya.

Dire situation or no, Freya couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s hilarious coming from the fucking undead. You think fancy clothes and a little makeup can mask your zombie ass? It doesn’t. Humans may not be able to smell the grave stench, but everyone else can. You need bodyguards? Pets? Your punk asses can’t defend yourselves?”

The vampire female hissed, momentarily distracted from the cacophony of voices muttering in her earpiece. She took a step forward but then wisely considered the distance.

The vampiress raised her hand to bring them to a halt before cocking her head to peer at Freya. “You…you have a lot of mouth for someone in your predicament, dog. Do you not fear for your own life? The life of your cub? Or perhaps I overestimate the intelligence of a lesser race. And to think you managed to attain some level of civility and power. It is hilarious. I could have you killed.”

Freya had always felt there was a large difference between those who made threats and those who carried them through. Her mother had taught her at a very early age to note the difference between
“you’re going to get an ass whipping”
and
“get over here.”
She wasn’t afraid of threats in the least. “Someday, maybe even today, you might wish you had. If you
really
want to, try now, though,” Freya offered, eyes scanning around to assess the true threat standing in the corner of the room, grinning like the Cheshire cat. The alpha prime had his arms crossed over his enormous chest, his serpentine tongue worrying the corner of his mouth.

While she might have stood a chance against just the three vampires or just the one asprega beside her, bringing down the prime and his other minions would certainly be a problem. Dealing with all of them would pretty much be the end of her. Telling herself that she needed to be more careful, to at least feign cooperation, Freya felt as if her well of patience had already run dry. There were windows in the room, ornate stained glass and nearly fifteen feet up, but she figured she could make the leap. Perhaps if she could get free, she could get backup. She could get to her mates.

It was a long shot, considering she had no idea where she was being kept or how far she was away from Miami, and yet the risk still beat the hell out of being auctioned off as a slave.

“Right. This was a bad idea.” The female vampire sighed before pointing to the asprega that had transported Freya from the holding cell. “You. Destroy her!”

With her eyes on the window, Freya was prepared to bolt. No fucking way was Bun going to be anyone’s pet.

“No!” The large asprega prime’s command stopped the beast in its tracks, the word of its true master holding the greater sway. Showing fangs that easily put stiletto blades to shame, the master glared at Freya hungrily, all the while shaking a claw at his minion. “Don’t you dare touch her. She would destroy you, and I would enjoy the spectacle.” His eyes moved to the fuming vampiress. “No. That one is quite valuable, Di’Amanda. Quite. She has fire.”

“She’s dangerous is what she is,” scoffed the vamp, clearly disturbed by the negation of her decision. “I don’t like her.”

Freya drew back, caught between keeping an eye on the fiend closest to her and the one ogling her as if she were prime rib, licking his lips even. She had assumed the vampiress, Di’Amanda, had more control over her friends, but one glance at the prime, and she realized their union was a contingency at best. Prepared for any decision they made, Freya only knew that death had to be her last resort as Bun stretched within her womb.

“Of course she’s lethal. All true beasts are. If she could best one of mine, then she is more than worthy of my attention. Leave her be. She is mine.”

Di’Amanda’s eyes became serpentine slits as she hissed. “That was
not
part of the deal, Birathan.”

The beast chuckled heartily. “My kin want what you offer, not I. They will be disappointed, but they will obey should I tell them to abandon you.”

His words must have been a threat, as Di’Amanda rolled her gaze away from him. “Fine,” she huffed. “You take her then.” She turned before raising her fingers to the device at her ear to reactivate it. “Bring in the next one. No, Delacourte,” she said, responding to one of the many buyers. “You do not get a say. If I sold her to you, she’d be free by sunup. She is off-limits.”

Not sure exactly what Di’Amanda meant, Freya noted the smaller asprega moving closer to her. She anticipated it trying to corral her. What she didn’t expect was to see the prime vanish, to feel the cold, hard weight of metal being clamped around her throat. The prime had moved so quickly, Freya barely had the chance to react as he collared her.

She turned to face the beast behind her. She raised her hands to the restraint immediately, searching for the clasp and its release and finding neither. She growled into the face of the bat beast before her. “What the— You had better get this thing off—”

“Behave,” Birathan warned, his eyes like burning hot coals. He held up a length of thick, reinforced steel chain, the end of which led to her collar. “Unless you want to fight me. You may survive, but your cub surely would not. It would be fine. You and I could make another.”

His words sent a paralyzing chill throughout Freya’s body. The reality of taking on such an opponent was immediately made far clearer than before. In the pool room, she had fought because she had no choice. She had won because she had no fear. Against a prime and with a choice to protect her child, she could barely breathe.

She dropped her arms and rested her palms over the only thing she valued in that moment. She didn’t doubt that he would keep his promise, sooner rather than later, if she behaved like an idiot. No. Fenris and Rayne would come. She just had to wait…and pray like a son of a bitch on fire.

“Bring in the next one,” Di’Amanda ordered the other asprega as Birathan led Freya away from the monitor gallery with the tug of a chain.

He returned to his spot in the corner, tugging Freya behind him. He stopped before the chair and gestured to the open seat he had vacated. Grinning like a host accommodating a houseguest, he tugged the end of the chain. “Sit. Wolf.”

Freya locked her stance, refusing to budge. Her temperature simmering still from his threat, she was stunned by the indignity of her situation. “I can stand.”

“Have it your way.” He resumed his seat, coiling the length of her leash closer by wrapping the links around his hand.

Freya had no choice. She either moved closer or risked falling. With the slack that he left her, she had to stand beside his knees. Her heart pounded as she considered her nude state, felt the beast’s claws dancing like whispers behind her back. The fiend even dared to stroke her hip as if she were a damn shepherd dog!

Freya had been in situations before where she thought that she had no recourse, battles where she thought she might end up in pieces or an item on the menu, but being held as a prisoner was too much for her. Di’Amanda and the other asprega were busy manhandling another she wolf, one who did not wish to disrobe. Amid the sounds of the wolf’s screams and pleading, Freya felt madness encroaching.

As Birathan lowered his massive hand to cup one of her ass cheeks, Freya was to the point of hyperventilation, already in the midst of growing her tail for protection. While he could toy with the thickening nub and then the length, at least it did offer some protection for her exposed privates. “You punk,” she said in disgust, aiming her venom at the asprega prime.

He leaned forward, breath tickling the hairs upon her shoulder. “Eh? What was that, lovely?”

“Taking orders from a fucking vampire. That’s like a human taking orders from a chimpanzee.”

“Oh. I’m not taking orders.” He chuckled. “I’m just honoring a bargain.” Taking hold of the width of her full-grown tail, he stroked gently. “They get pets. We get something very precious in return.”

Freya wanted to scream, twisting against both the hold of the chain in his right hand and the touch of his left. A side glance provided another horror to stack with the others as she noted the sight of his cock stirring beneath the copious curtain of pubic hair.

“Wh-what could they possibly fucking have that you need?” she managed, her voice thick with true fear. Di’Amanda was rattling off prices, rising higher and higher as she stood next to the shuddering, pregnant female who was being auctioned off. Freya knew that not many remained in the holding cells and dreaded what would come once the auction was at an end. “I don’t get it,” she told the prime. “You get hungry, you can just eat one of ’em. They are as much your enemy as we. They taste better. This is wrong. This is inviting war.”