Falcon’s Captive (5 page)

H
elplessness spun through Jola in endless waves. Maybe she should be relieved now that he was no longer sitting on her, but reality was, it made no difference. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t turn over.

Freedom was no longer part of her world.

Tears thickened her throat, but she forced them back into whatever dark place they’d come from.

How had her day taken this turn? It had begun as a hard, healing run that had pushed grief from her heart. Then, thinking to cool down, she’d plunged into the lake, fully believing that nothing else bad could happen to her.

She’d been wrong.

“No more struggling,” her captor said and patted her buttocks. “I don’t want you injuring yourself.”

Let me go! You don’t know what I am.
“Is this what it takes for you to feel like a warrior?” she threw at him, unable to stop the words. “Ropes and greater strength. And something to weaken my body so I nearly drowned?”

He remained silent and remote, thinking thoughts she couldn’t access. He’d positioned himself near her waist, undoubtedly so he could reach every part of her. As a result, she had to crane her neck if she wanted to look at him, which she didn’t.

Those of her kind who’d gotten close to the newcomers had described them as ugly creatures with small eyes and short arms and legs, but her captor wasn’t ugly. She wanted him to be, but he wasn’t.

Most of all, she wanted to hate him as she’d never hated, but she couldn’t. Even the possibility that he’d been responsible for Raci’s death wasn’t enough to freeze her heart.

“I don’t understand what happened in the water,” he said, the words low and slow as if he was talking to himself. “You weren’t breathing when I found you, and you’d been under the water a long time. The way you recovered, so fast…”

To her surprise, she wanted him to know she was different from anyone he’d ever met, that the mystical qualities flowing through her and other Falcons gave them inhuman strength, but the large warrior had done nothing to deserve the truth.

“What do you want of me?” she demanded. Even as she spoke, she steeled herself for his answer.

“Whatever I want, when it pleases me.”

“Kill me?”

“What? If that had been my intention, you’d already be dead.”

Standing, he walked out of her line of sight. The last thing she’d wanted was to fall into the grasp of those who’d invaded Falcon Land, but it had happened. If she was going to survive, she needed to learn everything she could about her captor.

Him?

Where were the others?

As awareness of the hard ground under her and the bonds around her limbs grew, she acknowledged that only this man mattered.

Waiting for him to come back into view, she reminded herself that he couldn’t possibly know who and what she was. As a warrior, he’d probably captured other women or been presented with slaves. He probably believed she’d be so terrified that she’d meekly comply with whatever he required of her. As long as she pretended to be what he wanted, she was safe.

Maybe.

Surely he wouldn’t keep her out here for long because even a seasoned and successful warrior surrounded himself with his companions. She’d let him take her back to the enemy camp and wait for her chance to escape. In the meantime, she’d listen and learn and if she discovered who had killed Raci…

Careful not to look up at the sky so she wouldn’t risk giving anything away, she reassured herself with the knowledge that at least one Falcon knew what had happened to her. Whoever it was would take his knowledge to Raptor’s Craig and…

And what? The Falcons didn’t risk their lives unless they had no choice. For now, they’d study what was happening to her but wouldn’t try to rescue her unless they believed they had no choice.

A warning crawled up her spine. Holding her breath, she ordered herself to assess and appraise, to learn everything she could about this man while giving nothing away. Being robbed of the use of her arms and having a leg tightly tethered was something she had never expected to experience. Much as she wanted to tell herself that this temporary helplessness changed nothing, she knew better. He was right. He could do a great deal, maybe everything he wanted to, to her.

More important, as long as she was tied she couldn’t reach Raptor’s Craig.

As another warning slithered along her spine, she twisted as much as she could in an attempt to see behind her. Her captor appeared as a dark, strong shadow. She’d noted his bare chest earlier. Now it seemed to dominate not just his physique but her world. If she’d ever seen greater strength in a man she couldn’t remember. Trying to tell herself that it didn’t matter did nothing to lessen her nervousness, although if she was being honest with herself, nervousness, didn’t adequately describe what she was feeling.

She didn’t want to be this close to a man. Didn’t know how to handle the emotions crashing through her.

“What are you going to do?” she demanded, determined to bring herself back to reality.

“I haven’t decided yet,” he said and lowered himself onto his knees beside her. Although he’d been closer when he was sitting on her, this was different, more overwhelming. Maybe it was because for the first time she could study his expression. His dark eyes carried the smoldering heat Raci’s eyes had had as the two of them explored each other’s bodies.

It doesn’t take much for a man to get sexually excited,
Raci had told her. Even before their bodies joined for the first time, she’d been tempted to tell him that the same was true for women, at least for her, but something had held the words back.

Determined not to acknowledge her captor’s cock, she willed herself to wait him out. The long nights since Raci’s murder had threatened her sanity. Foremost had been grief and anger, but she’d also wondered if she was destined to spend her life alone, to never mate. Now whether she did or didn’t have sex had been taken out of her hands. She had no doubt what her captor wanted.

“You must feel superior,” she snapped.

“I do?”

“Of course. There’s little I can do to stop you. Right now you’re telling yourself that I belong to you. You are, aren’t you?”

She couldn’t be sure but thought he’d winced when she threw the last words at him. Maybe, if she kept on talking, she could change his mind about raping her. He might even let her go.

No, he wouldn’t.

Instead of responding, he positioned her on her side. Maybe he thought she’d be grateful because she no longer had to crane her neck, but with her tied leg closest to him and the other stretched out to help her balance herself, her crotch was within his reach.

Why had she taken off her dress earlier?

Because she’d needed wind-life on her skin.

“You aren’t what I expected,” he told her, his hands resting on his too-solid thighs. “Your courage—why aren’t you afraid of me?”

Because I’m not what you believe I am.

“You’re not going to answer, are you,” he said a few moments later. “My lord and shaman won’t know what to make of you, and getting you to tell them certain things will be more difficult than they believe.”

“Your lord? What’s that?”

For an instant she thought a Falcon was flying overhead. Then she realized that the shadow stealing across his features came from within him. His eyes narrowed, and his mouth seemed to soften a bit.

“Sakima. He has led the Ekewoko since I was a boy. More than that, he became a father to me after…”

Where was your father?
she nearly asked, but if he told her, she might hear something that made hating him difficult.

“Do you have a name?” he abruptly asked.

The way he’d posed his question…did he think her people were too primitive for names? About to respond that he couldn’t be more wrong, she held back. If he believed she was a simple creature, he might let down his guard around her.

“Answer me! What do they call you?”

“Nothing.”

A harsh breath warned that she’d pushed him too far. Before she could decide what to do, he closed a hand over the breast closest to him. His fingers pressed against her flesh, hurting and awakening it at the same time. Disconcerted, she divided her attention between his face and what he was doing. His grip was firm and secure. No matter how she might struggle, if he didn’t want her to be free, she wouldn’t be. Drawing in a ragged breath of her own, she vowed to wait him out. She’d give away nothing of what she was feeling.

“What is it?” he taunted. His hold tightened until she was certain he’d leave finger imprints on her breast. “You want me to think this is nothing to you? You don’t feel it here.” Using his other hand, he fingered her nipple. “But you do, my slave. Your body is giving you away.”

No!
she wanted to scream.
You’re wrong.
But her nipple had already hardened, as had the one on her other breast.

“There’s so much you don’t know about me,” he informed her. “You may think I’m only a warrior, but you’re wrong.”

He kept fingering her nipple, causing her to curl and uncurl her toes. She longed to thrash her head about, to run or, if necessary, crawl away from him. At the same time, a warmth that had nothing to do with the day licked over her body. He wasn’t hurting her; if he had been, she’d have concentrated on his cruelty and hated him.

Instead he was reminding her that she was a woman.

At least partly.

“I can do this all day and into the night if that’s what it takes.” That said, he bent low over her and licked her too-sensitive nipple.

“Ah,” she moaned. Shaken by the sound, she tried to dive back into silence only to moan again when he ran his teeth over her nub. “Stop, stop!”

“Why would I do that?” His breath washed over her breast. “In fact, I see no reason not to continue this—” He released her breast but only so he could suck much of it into his mouth.

Her head suddenly felt as if it was going to burst. Even more upsetting, the drawing sensation encompassed her entire body with too much heat settling between her legs. Every muscle tightened as she struggled to not let him know what he’d done to her. He’d lightly raked his teeth over her flesh while swallowing her breast, the promise of injury and pain teaching her a lesson about him she’d never forget. Within him lurked the capacity for savagery. Although he was now tonguing and sucking her, she didn’t dare move.

Caught in ways that threatened to shatter her mind, she again struggled to divorce herself from her system. Fought and failed.

Please, please, please.

If he heard her, he gave no indication. Either that or her trembling body had told him how close she was to falling apart, which was why he continued to hold her as she’d never been held. His ropes were nothing compared to his teeth on her skin.

Moments ago her muscles had protested the position he’d forced them into, but now nothing registered except for damp heat over and around her breast and an even greater heat in her pussy. The wonder.

She hated him, hated! Feared. But her emotions weren’t that simple. Much as she wanted him to do something to make a lie of her thoughts, she half believed he knew more about her than she did. He’d restrained her leg the way he had not simply so she couldn’t get away but because he had easy access to her sex.

Desperate for something, anything to think about, she tried to bring the sky into focus, but his form was in the way. If a Falcon was watching, she couldn’t see it.

Make him pay for this! Punish him!

Diving into the act accompanying her silent command, she imagined Falcon digging his talons into her captor’s back. Blood would leak around the long gashes, and he’d scream. Keep on screaming.

Instead, he suckled on her breast. Shocked and disbelieving, she twisted her wrists in a desperate attempt to get at the knots, but even as she strained to escape the inescapable, the drawing sensation grew stronger. He wasn’t hurting her. If he had, her loathing of him would be simple and clean. Instead, the chasm between the two of them was blurring almost as if they were becoming one.

No, that couldn’t be his intention. Could it?

“Stop it! Stop it!” She struggled to turn away only to have him plant a hand against her collarbone. Her breast was starting to throb, whether from discomfort or pleasure she couldn’t say. Most upsetting, she no longer understood what she was feeling. In many ways, her body had turned against her.

“Don’t!” Digging her free foot against the ground, she struggled to get out from under him. “You can’t—don’t!”

Using his tongue, he pushed her breast free, but before she fully comprehended what had happened, he’d rolled her about so he could cup a hand around the other breast and position it near his mouth.

“Attack! Kill him!”

At her outburst, he froze, his system hard and unmoving. Even as she struggled to comprehend what she’d said, she likened him to a predator—a cougar, maybe, or a wolf. Much as she loathed admitting it, the thought of him being ruled by instinct sent energy shooting through her. He could become an animal. More than human, like her.

Still holding her in place, he rocked back on his heels and looked all around. Because she couldn’t not, she studied him. Yes, this enemy warrior had become more animal than human.

“Who were you trying to command?” His voice was cold.

Careful.
“Do you think I’d tell you?”

“Maybe not now but you will, once I’ve taught you.”

Could he?
she pondered while he continued to study his surroundings. She couldn’t fathom him altering her from what she’d always been, but then until today she hadn’t believed a man would ever control her as he did.

Moving with a speed beyond her comprehension, he gripped her chin and forced her to look at him.

“There’s no one here. Nowhere for someone to hide.”

Someone? How little you know.
“Isn’t there?”

“No.” He cocked his head to the side, smiling faintly as he did. “But you want me to think differently. You want me to believe I’m about to be attacked so I’ll let you go, but that’s not going to happen. Think about this, Wilding. Maybe the time will come when I have no use for you. When and if that happens, I’ll discard you. But until that happens, you won’t know what freedom feels like.”