Hope Restrained (Estate Series) (6 page)

Her head felt fuzzy and she noticed when she woke up that
she was no longer vertical. Blinking her eyes rapidly, she attempted to bring
the room into focus. Her brain was wrapped in confusion and her movements were
lethargic and uncoordinated. Her heartbeat pounded in her head, slow and
labored, punctuating the white noise in her ears. She tried to lift her head,
but it was too heavy and she knew immediately that she’d been drugged.

“Fuck.” It was all she could mutter. Her throat was dry and
her voice barely escaped as a whisper. The exposed skin of her back was cold
from where she was laid on the floor and her hands were locked into a shackled
belt around her hips. Struggling to see, she blinked again and again, but she
couldn’t bring the room into focus.

“Good morning, Sunshine. I was wondering when you would
finally wake up.” His words echoed as if he were standing in a tunnel.

She let out an annoyed sigh.

“Are you thirsty?”

She nodded her head slowly, too disoriented to communicate
and too thirsty to refuse. She heard his steps as he approached her and felt
his hand come under her head, softly helping her into a seated position. The
rim of a glass met her mouth and ice-cold water rushed down her heated tongue
and throat. She choked trying to drink it too quickly. He pulled the glass
away.

“Let’s try that again when you’ve woken up a little more.” Grabbing
her sides, he turned her and positioned her so that she could lean up against
the wall. A shot of pain raced down her arm when she put too much weight on her
shoulder.

“We removed the bullet and stitched up your wound. You were
losing consciousness from the blood loss.”

“Should … have let me die. Would have saved us both … a
headache later on.”

Admiring her tenacity, he chuckled in response to her broken
words. “It’s a good sign that your sparkling personality has returned. Means we
can get back to business sooner rather than later.”

Her head still pounded with each beat of her heart and her
muscles tightened when she felt him sit against the wall next to her. “I hope
you don’t mind, but you’re not talking very loudly and it’s easier to understand
you from down here.” The side of his body brushed up against her. She pulled at
the shackles on the belt and groaned when she realized they wouldn’t budge.

“We need to give your shoulder time to heal, but can’t leave
you free to roam about either. Luckily, we have all sorts of useful toys with
which we can keep you restrained.” His words dripped with humor, but Hope wasn’t
amused.

Allowing her head to fall back against the wall, the sharp
crack of pain against her skull helped dull the irritation she had with Xander’s
company.

“Do you want to try and drink something again?”

She nodded. She fucking despised him, but she couldn’t allow
herself to weaken any further. She didn’t have to be in perfect condition to
escape, but she couldn’t allow herself to become crippled either.

He brought the glass to her lips, placing his hand at the
back of her head to steady it on her shoulders. When she’d finished the glass
he took it away.

After sitting quietly on the floor for several moments, she
could blink open her eyes. Her vision was still hazy, but she saw that sunlight
now flooded the room from the glass ceiling. Her heart sank to see it — to
know that her sister had spent another night with those men. The only thing
Hope could do was pray that Honor was still alive.

She didn’t want to acknowledge him, but she needed to know
how long it had been since her capture. “What time is it?”

“One in the afternoon. You’ve slept a long time since we
performed the surgery. I was starting to worry we gone overboard with the
drugs.”

It grew quiet again, the silence settling between them; nothing
more than the sounds of their breathing could be heard and Hope struggled to
regain complete consciousness. The glass clinked against the stone when Xander
grabbed it and moved to stand up.

“Give me some information, Hope. Let me make this easier on
you.” She heard the sound of the glass being placed on the table. “I can’t
express just how pathetic a woman like you looks bound and on the floor. Well
— pathetic for an assassin, not as pathetic for a woman. That image is
actually quite endearing.”

“Fuck you.” She forced the words out. Whatever they’d given
her must have been strong because the residual effects were almost crippling.

He was beside her suddenly, his hand rubbing along her cheek
and jawline until his thumb rested against her parted lips. He brought his
mouth down so that it brushed against her ear. His voice was a breathy whisper
when he admitted, “Have it your way; but you should know, I’m not exactly
opposed to the idea of
fucking
you any
longer.”

She didn’t react because, inside, Hope was already crushed. The
frustration of restraint started to affect her while images of her sister
chained and sitting at that bastard’s feet replayed in her head. Fury settled
along her spine, her heart rate picking up, her muscles tensing and flexing
— her mind regaining clarity and shedding the fog of whatever they’d
forced inside her body. She considered telling him, but knew he’d kill her and would
end up killing her sister as well when attacking the people who’d turned
against him in that house. Tears burned at the back of her eyes to realize that
even if she could escape, and even if Honor were still alive, she’d have to
kill every single person in that fucking house to save her, or to avenge her. Given
the number of men she’d seen, the odds were next to impossible. She realized
that her situation was futile — that death would best be served quickly.

She looked up, Xander’s outline finely becoming more sharp,
his features becoming clear. “Just fucking do whatever is you’re going to do
and get it over with. If you think I give a fuck about whoever is out to kill
Aaron and his little slut …”

His hand was around her neck in a second, his forehead
pressed against hers and the blue of his eyes glaring down at her. “I’d rethink
what you were about to say if I were you.”

Her angered boiled in her veins, the control she always had
slowly slipping with how helpless she’d become. Bound, injured and drugged
— a combination that rendered defeat. She had nothing to lose.

“I’ll make a deal with you.” Opening her eyes more, she saw
his brow furrow in interest and felt his hand loosen around her neck so that
she could speak easier. “I’m not going to willingly tell you what I know. I
realize that by doing so, I’m signing my own death warrant. You don’t want to
kill me without getting the information you need and your normal forms of
torture won’t work on me –at least the ones you are willing to do.” She
could tell already that he wasn’t as ruthless as the other men she’d known
— the men who’d trained her and broken her before any other man had the
chance.

Xander pulled away, his eyes still trained on her face.

“Unchain me and fight me for it. You win — I tell you
what you want to know before you kill me. I win — I kill you.”

The corner of his lip twitching made it obvious that he was
attempting to hold back a grin. “In your condition?”

Hope smiled. “It’ll make it an even fight. If I was at full
strength, you’d be dead before you could fight back.”

His finger came up to run along her jaw and she jerked her
head away from his touch. “By my recollection, I’ve already defeated you at
full strength; considering you are in chains and I am not.”

Rolling her eyes, she argued, “That was four against one.” She
glared up at him, anger snaking through her veins. “And as I recall, I had a
gun pressed up against your skull. If it wasn’t for your friends, you’d no
longer have a head.”

“Touché.” He winked.

When he stood up, she craned her neck to keep him within her
sight. He stared down at her for a minute before saying, “I won’t go easy on
you. It will be a fight to the death.”

Her eyes narrowed. “It’s good to know you understand the
rules.”

After staring at her for another quiet moment, he
acquiesced, “Fine. But I’m not fighting you in the condition that you’re in.”

Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Why?”

He smiled. “No offense, Sunshine, but you smell.”

“And what the fuck does that have to do with anything?”

His hoods lidded over his darkening gaze. “Because, if I
win, I’ll be taking more than information before you die.” He turned suddenly,
walking out of the room and allowing the door to slam shut behind him.

She stared at the door trying to decipher whether he’d been
serious or not. His threats didn’t concern her — he’d never win. But if
she could escape …”

When the door opened again an hour later, Xander stepped in;
a chained collar grasped in his fist and a mischievous grin plastered across
his face. “Bath time.”

Her gold eyes flicked up at him and he smiled to see her
scowl in reaction to the leash. Technically, it wasn’t necessary, she wouldn’t
be able to free herself of the belt, but he wanted nothing more than to break
her down physically and mentally. Sure, he’d fight the bitch — but not
before getting his fun out of it first. Holding up the leash, he smiled. “Can’t
be too careful. I wouldn’t want you to injure me before we have a chance to
work this out.”

She sneered. “You’re sick, you know that?”

He chuckled in response. “You have no idea.”

And she didn’t. Remembering back to when Maddy was first
brought to the mansion, Xander recalled how he’d been a little too excited to
see her chained. He would never admit it to Aaron or Maddy, and the situation
had certainly changed over the past two years … but he couldn’t deny that,
initially, the power and her submission had enticed him. However, Maddy didn’t
excite him as much as the woman on the floor before him. No. Hope was like a
wild animal, one so majestic and rare, that to possess her was a testament to the
owner’s power.

Stepping forward, he allowed his eyes to wander over Hope’s
body. Her hair hung down to her hips and framed her thin face. It was striking,
to say the least. But when she opened those eyes, when the gold color shone out
and contrasted against the dark color of her eyelashes and hair, that was when
he lost himself to her beauty. Her body called to him; the lean line of her
frame and the tone to the muscles that lined it. She wasn’t curvy, but
perfectly proportioned. It was a fighter’s body hidden within feminine skin. His
mouth watered to taste it — to taste her; and he felt himself slipping
into a dark chasm of longing and need.

She looked up at him when he approached and he smiled to see
the hatred written across her features. The fact that she so obviously loathed
him only made his goal of taming her stronger — a need so intense, that
he wasn’t sure he could resist taking it too far.

“Bend forward as much as you can. I want you facing the
floor when I place this on you.” His grin was wicked “Put your ass in the air
for me.”

Sneering, she responded, “You’re not seriously going to put
that fucking thing on me? Just let me out of these chains and let’s get this
over with.”

He spoke slowly and without emotion. “You stated your
conditions, I stated mine. It’s time to remove your stink.” The corner of his
lip twisted up in humor to see her eyes narrow further at his insult.

She didn’t bend forward as he’d requested and he grabbed her
by her hair and forced her to face down. Appreciating the docility forced on
her by the belt, he snapped the collar in place only to grab her hair again to
pull her back up. Before letting go, he wrapped his fingers tighter in her
thick hair, pulling it just so he could watch and appreciate the way her body
reacted to the small amount of pain it produced. He wanted to see more.

Quickly tugging on the chain, he ordered, “Stand up.”

Her gold eyes blinked slowly, her full mouth twisting in
indignation. Playfully, he gave the chain two more tugs. His amusement wasn’t
easily contained. When she didn’t budge, he looked down on her with an
expression of absolute boredom. “We’re never going to get to the end of this if
you don’t cooperate now.”

“I cannot fucking wait to rip your smug head from your body.”

He smiled and tugged again.

Pushing herself up on her knees, Xander kept his eyes
trained to her body. Even chained, she moved gracefully. He tossed his keys
down at her knees. “You’re welcome to unlock the shackles at your feet.”

She sighed and opened her hands to indicate how they were
bound to the belt. Her expression mocked him, her understanding finally
settling in that he was just toying with her. He bent down on one knee and
retrieved the keys from the floor. He swirled a hand in front of her. “Turn
around.” She complied almost immediately and an eyebrow cocked on his face to
see it. After unlatching the shackles at her ankles, he winced to see how they’d
cut into the skin. The air hit her wounds and he watched as her spine
straightened from the pain.

“We’ll have to be sure to clean those. I’d hate for them to
become infected.”

“Doesn’t really matter. You intend to kill me anyway.”

Standing above her, he tugged on the chain again to instruct
her to turn around and climb to her feet. “Yes. But, in case you win, I’d hate
to lose my life just for you to crawl off somewhere and die like a wounded dog.”

Her eyes shot to his. “Has anybody told you how fucking
aggravating you are?”

He thought of Maddy and grinned. “I’ve heard.”

One more tug and he led her out of the cell and down a side
hallway that led behind the ballroom and into the right wing. When he neared the
suite he’d made for himself after Joseph had been killed, he pulled a key from
his pocket and unlocked the large wooden doors. The suite wasn’t as large as
Aaron’s but Xander enjoyed having his own space in the mansion after so many
years of having nothing more than a small room inside Aaron’s.

“I apologize for the mess, but I haven’t had much time to
clean up since you’ve arrived.” He looked over his shoulder and watched Hope’s
head swivel to look around the room. Her eyes casually glanced over the books
and papers strewn about, but would stop every so often on something she found
that interested her. Leading her through the space, he turned right down a
hallway that led to the master bedroom and bath. Hope stopped in her tracks to
see it.

~
   
~
   
~

The walls were painted a blood red, the dark color broken up
by tapestries depicting mystical scenes and symbols. The furniture was a dark
wood with clean lines and the white linens added the only light color to the
room. The room was illuminated with candles. Sconces hung on the walls and some
floated in bowls set on the tables and chests around the room. She scoffed.

He looked back at her in response and continued leading her
through the room. When they entered the bathroom, her eyes found that the
bathtub took up the majority of the room, the water appearing to vanish over
the sides. The room was also dimly lit with flickering shadows and flame. He
stopped, locking her chain to a pipe that ran along the wall.

She stood still, the remnants of the drugs causing her to
sway where she stood. She was tired and hungry, her body weak from the lack of
food and her injuries. When he turned back to her, she noticed how his mouth
twisted and his eyes were dark and hooded. She took a step back, momentarily
forgetting to hide her reaction and his lips finally turned up into the grin he’d
been suppressing.

“The tub has steps down into it. Should make things easier
considering you don’t have use of your arms at the moment.” He reached up,
pushing the collar higher up her neck so he could untie the straps of fabric
that crossed over her chest. Lowering the straps, she shivered at being
exposed, but also because of the way his sapphire eyes burned into hers. His
face was set in some unreadable expression and Hope was angered by how her body
reacted to his stare. Her eyes dipped down to look at the movement of his mouth
when he spoke again.

“I’m afraid these clothes are going to need to be burned. Your
blood is all over them.”

Fury and scorn coursed through body, her skin prickling at
the way she been exposed. When he moved closer, still holding her stare, and
began to unbutton her pants, she forced her rage aside, desperate to regain
control over herself. She had to remain clearheaded to escape, and she couldn’t
allow herself to allow emotion to blanket her actions and decisions. He knelt
to rip the material down her legs and she considered breaking his nose with her
knee. Fighting, however, was not in her best interest as a result of the belt
in which he’d secured her.

He stood up, leaving her pants bunched around her ankles. Walking
behind her, she heard him pick up something and drag it across the floor. When
he approached her from behind, he stood close enough that the material of his
clothes tickled the exposed skin of her body and his lips brushed her ear when
he instructed, “Sit down.”

The back of the chair he held pushed into her legs and she
fell back into it. He stepped around, kneeling again to remove the material
from around her feet. When he looked back up at her shadow danced across the
violent beauty of his face and Hope attempted to blink away her attraction.

Breathe in … Breath
out …

Willing her body not to react, she felt disoriented by the
drugs, the flush across her skin a result of the wisps of euphoria that still
danced lightly across her mind. Her eyes opened and then widened to see the
intensity of his stare. His eyes were the color of a deep sea, churning with
violent, impassioned thoughts. Her lip parted slightly and her body tightened
in reaction to his gaze.

His hand ran up her leg, curving around her calf before
moving around to run along the top of her thigh. He traced his thumb along the
sensitive skin beneath, his fingernail scratching and teasing as it traveled. Her
body quivered at his touch, the hint of pain driving incessant pulses of
anticipation through a body she was having difficulty controlling.

He pushed up, standing above her casting a shadow over every
inch of her skin. He curled the chain around his hand, tugging gently until she
stood up on shaky legs. Reaching out, he balanced her, his eyes hooding further
to see her body sway. Slowly, so slowly, she breathed, an attempt to calm the rate
of her heart that pounded like thunder in her head. He stepped backwards, his
eyes still locked to hers. Light and shadow danced across his cheekbones, the dip
of his cheeks and over the cut of his square jaw. She closed her eyes again
— her body betraying her when she couldn’t afford to let herself fall. Her
sister was too precious, the only thing good and pure in Hope’s life. But even
when her mind fought violently against the hormones crashing across her brain,
and when thought battled against instinct, she knew was losing. She looked
down, desperate to hide from his eyes. She watched as her bare feet moved over
the stone floor, until he stopped. The water beside her circulated through the
tubs, the jets creating bubbles that broke at the surface, the sound competing
against the sound of rushing blood through her head.

“Watch your step, I’d hate for you to fall without a means
of catching yourself.” His voice was a deep timbre, vibrating against her skin
with each syllable that left his sculpted lips.

She looked up.

His eyes were shadowed as he stared at the belt around her
waist. He allowed his eyes to slowly turn up, to study and burn into memory
every feature of her body, until his arrogant look met the surprise in her
expression.

She couldn’t look at him long, choosing instead to rotate
her body. Looking down at the bath, she smelled gentle fragments of spiced
scent that wafted up from the water. Her toe dipped down into the steaming
liquid when she stepped down, burning along her skin as she pushed her foot
further. The entire length of her body bucked when her ankle met the heated
pool and a ringing sounded in her ears when the pleasurable jolt traveled up
her legs, wrapping around her torso to snake up the back of her neck. His
calloused hand reached out to steady her, the rough texture making it evident
he handled weapons often. Her own hands bore those patches of skin wore hard by
the handle of a blade or a gun.

With her body becoming immersed, the warmth of the water
seeped into her body, the ripples around her pink as it washed away the blood. She
dipped down allowing it to glide over her shoulder, hissing and biting her lip
as the crimson stain was erased from her skin. Her head fell back and her hair
became weighted, the strain to her neck only adding to the ecstasy she felt in
that moment. Allowing herself to sink beneath the surface, she contemplated
staying there, losing herself in oblivion, in numbness and an absence of
awareness. But she couldn’t leave Honor behind, couldn’t at least try to get to
her sister before they killed her. Hope’s head broke the surface of the water
and she pushed up, allowing it to fall in rivulets down her skin.

“Turn around.” She felt the collar pull and she turned
quickly, attempting to keep from being pulled completely back. The collar spun
on her neck, the part to which the chain connected stopping on that center of
her throat.

His grin was crooked and cruel. “God, you are a treasure. It’s
a shame we’re not better friends.”

She blinked the drops from her lashes.

The heat from the bath was making her light headed, the
steam stealing the oxygen from the air, leading her down a tunnel, making her
mind groggy and her body loose. He spoke again, the words disjointed and
distant, but the tug on the chain brought her forward, her legs cooperating
only to keep him from pulling her forward and into the water.

Her vision fogged over, the details of the room being lost
within a blanket of steam. The illumination of the flames fought against the
heated gossamer clouds. Reaching the stairs, she looked up into a perfectly
blank expression, Xander’s thoughts hidden behind eyes that flashed blue from
the light that was able to penetrate. Her head felt heavy and her knees buckled
beneath her weight. He reached out to grasp her arms, just as blackness overtook
her.