The Life of Anna, Part 1: Enslaved (28 page)

I half
-opened my eyes and I could see his mouth moving but his voice was fading into the distance. My eyes fluttered again as I felt my mind going blank.

I faintly heard Alex say,
“Stay with me, Anna.” My name sounded nice coming out of his mouth.

He looked anxious. Suddenly the same floating sensation flowed over my body and the overwhelming mind
-meeting sensation brought me fully awake and made me grunt.

He kissed my forehead and then moved to the foot of the table. I looked at him, eyes widening and fear filling me as I realized what he was going to do.

I shook my head mutely.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Devin turn around to see what was going on. In my mind
’s eye, I could see his face was first surprised, then shocked, then full of rage as he took steps towards Alex.

“Forgive me,
Schatzi.”
Alex’s voice caught my attention. A pained expression entered his eyes and then he gritted his teeth. “Forgive me,” he repeated.

In my
head I saw Devin lunge towards us just as I felt pain explode between my legs. It felt like I was being ripped apart.

I faintly heard Devin scream
“No!” over the internal scream in my head.

My body convulsed and shook. Alex held my hips down as he thrust in and out of me. Tears streamed down my face and I tried to pull away. Why was he doing this to me? I thought he felt bad for what Devin did to
me? Why is he doing the same thing?

I thrashed my head from side to side. Oh! The pain was unbearable. My body arched off the table and Alex moved one hand between my breasts, holding me down.

Oh, God. When will it end?
Pain shot through my body with every thrust. I knew my body wouldn’t shut down and remove the pain. The cream was designed to prevent that sort of relief. Devin had told me so himself the first time he used it on me.

Devin stood frozen to my left, horrified shock on his face.

I heard Alex groan. He gave one last thrust and then pulled out, chest heaving and head resting on my knee.

I hurt all over and I sobbed silently.
What is going on? Why did Alex do that to me?
I pulled weakly at my wrist and ankle restraints. I wanted to curl up into a ball but couldn’t move. My struggle seemed to bring Alex back to awareness.

He straightened and looked at me, tears in his eyes.
Tears? What are they for?

Alex looked at Devin and they stared at each other for a long minute. I could feel Devin
’s wrath radiating from him. Then he plastered a fake smile on his face and turned to face the rest of the room. “Enjoy the girls, my Brothers.” The lights came up and male and female voices rose and filled the room.

Alex pointed behind me.
“Get me a blanket,” he commanded. His voice was firm, not to be questioned.

Jack squeaked behind me.
“What?”

Alex gritted his teeth.
“Get me a fucking blanket for her or I’ll break your fucking neck.”

Shock
momentarily erased the pain in my body. No one talked to Jack that way. I looked at Alex in awe. What power did he possess to make Jack squeak?

Devin turned back around to face Alex with shock on his face. He blinked and I could sense him trying to figure out what had just happened.

Alex glared at Devin as he freed my ankles from the restraints. He pushed Devin out of the way as he moved up to my arms. He unfastened my wrists and brought my arms slowly down to my sides. I hissed in pain as my muscles cramped from the movement.

“I’m sorry,
Schatzi,”
he said quietly as he massaged my shoulders.

My body hurt all over, but where he touched me, the pain seemed to subside. He picked me up and sat on the floor behind the table, cradling me against his chest.

“Shhh,
Schatzi,”
he whispered. “It will be okay.”

His embrace felt wonderful. I was shaking and hurting, but being in his arms was somehow soothing.

“What the fuck did you just do?” Devin stood above Alex and glared down at him. His voice was deadly low, his rage just barely contained. The force of it threatened to suffocate me.

I felt as much anger radiating from Alex.
“I kept you from breaking a beautiful creature and sucking the life out of her.” Alex’s accented voice was equally low and deadly. “And more.”

“How dare you! You had no right—”

Wilhelm walked up at that moment interrupted him. “And what right did you have to perform that ritual? We do not treat them like this. They are not animals. They deserve our respect.”

Alex wrapped a soft blanket around me. His body radiated heat and the blanket captured it and held it next to my body. I hadn
’t realized how cold I was.

Devin snorted with derision.
“What do you know?”

“We know quite a bit,” Wilhelm said calmly.

I could feel a momentary flash of fear in Devin, then as quickly as it appeared, he pushed it away. “This was not your concern, Alex," he said arrogantly. “You shouldn’t have interfered.”

“Yes, it was my concern,” he growled.

Devin was silent for a moment. “I can undo it, you know.”

“I do, once she’s old enough. But I don’t plan on letting you.”

“What do you care? This isn’t your country.”

“Grandiose plans from men like you always involve more than you let on,” Wilhelm said in soft, but firm, voice.

“I will defeat him.” Devin glared at Wilhelm.

“Anything you do to me puts her in danger,” Alex said. “I hope you know that.”

There was a pause. I could sense Devin’s confusion.

“If you kill me, you will kill her.” Alex laughed bitterly. “I’m just as much bonded to her as you are. Of course, the same thing goes for me. If I kill you, I’ll kill her.” Alex paused. “That’s the only reason you’re still alive,” he growled.

Devin laughed, but not in amusement. It was more like a cackle. “You would dare kill an Elder, Elder-Son?”

“I would,” Alex said almost casually. "I’ve done it before.
Recently, as a matter of fact.”

Another flash of fear skidded through Devin
’s body and was pushed away. “That was you?”

“That was me,” Alex confirmed. “I only did as I was ordered.” I saw him lift his right hand to Devin. At first, I thought he was giving a rude gesture to Devin, but then I saw a gold
ring glint on his little finger.

My mind was going fuzzy again. Alex had saved me from whatever Devin tried to do to me. Maybe that's why I dreamed of him. Something inside me told me that Alex was safe. Was Devin?

I don’t want to think about that now.

I lay my head against Alex's hard, muscled shoulder, and he kissed the top of my head.
“Go to sleep,
Schatzi
. Everything will be okay.”

I closed my eyes and slept.

########

Keep going for an excerpt from

The Life of Anna, Part 2.

Marissa's story of Anna began with a dream about being kidnapped with Adam Savage from the Mythbusters (Yes, really). Over the next year and a half, it morphed into the story you just read. She has several other stories in progress, one of which is based on her kidnapped dream.

When she's not writing or editing, Marissa is taking care of two young boys, training to be an astronaut, running her household, wrestling with gorillas, playing around on Facebook, promoting whirled peas, and busting her
tush for her accounting degree. She enjoys chocolate, air conditioning in the desert's summer heat, really good strawberry margaritas, sleeping, and shopping.

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Deleted scenes coming soon to Marissa’s blog:
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Friday Night-Ale
x’
s Point of View

Alex sensed Anna the moment he walked into the Great Hall. He didn
’t understand why he could sense when she was around, but he was glad nonetheless. Sometimes it was stronger than others, like now. Sometimes it was nearly impossible for him to keep himself from pulling her into his arms and kissing her like there was no tomorrow.

He kept caught himself before he started tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair. It wouldn
’t do to appear bored or uninterested, even though the last thing he wanted to do right now was to listen to Devin babble on about whatever it was he thought was important. Devin's arrogance was grating. Alex was thankful that his hood sheltered his face from view, else he’d have to appear interested.

As it was, he relaxed his hand and turned his thoughts to the girl across the room. Anna
’s obvious, deep-seated fear confused Alex. An Elder-Mistress rarely showed any emotion at all. To see one so beat down and afraid struck him at his core. She should have be a beautiful, confident young woman that took the breath away of every man she came in contact with. Nothing about her was what Alex had expected.

Well, no, that wasn
’t entirely true. She was as beautiful as he’d expected, but her personality, while very sweet, was unlike any he’d seen in an Elder-Mistress before. Every time he saw the fear in her eyes, it stabbed his heart. It was his fault she was like this.

Alex looked towards the darkened corner of the room. A figure wrapped in white
could just barely be seen. His heart pounded as he realized that it was Anna.
His
Anna. Kurt might think that Anna was a fun toy to have around, but he would never be able to care for her the way Alex did. Alex’s heart had been tied to hers long ago by her own father.

Vati
elbowed Alex gently and Alex pulled his hood down and looked away. It wouldn’t do for his precautions to be undone now. He had to remain aloof or Devin would become suspicious. Neither he nor his father knew exactly what Devin had planned, but his gut told him it was nothing good, and they would be required to intercede before the night was over.

He composed his features to appear uninterested as Anna walked up the aisle to join Devin on the platform, but when Devin removed her cloak, Alex
’s breath caught in his throat. Kurt had spoken of the beauty of Anna’s naked body, but to see it first hand was a different experience. He shifted in his chair as his gaze moved down her body, from the sable-brown hair that hung down her back in waves, to her shapely calves.

Her neck was long and slender
, her breasts full and round. Her nipples were pink and taut and oh-so tempting. The lines of her torso, the swell of her hips.... Alex gripped the arms of his chair tightly. God, she was beautiful.

Alex growled slightly as Devin mauled her in front of the men. Devin may think that Anna belonged to him, but before the end of the night, Devin would know the truth: Anna belonged to Alex.

Devin pushed her to her knees and Alex frowned. What was Devin doing? A Deacon handed him...a piercing gun? Her kind weren’t supposed to be marked as....

Anna looked at him suddenly and he saw the fear in her eyes. He should just push Devin out of the way and take her from him now. Whatever Devin was planning couldn
’t be good. Not if he was going to mark her as a slave. Those ways were forbidden and had been for centuries!

She looked back at Devin and her eyes glazed over slightly.

“What did he do to her, Vati?” he whispered.

“I don’t know, Alex,” his father whispered back. “But I can’t believe he’s going to—“

There was a click and a sharp inhale of breath as Anna’s nipple was pierced.

“
Vati, you can’t let this happen,” Alex said in an urgent tone.

Why didn
’t she cry out? Tears were in her eyes and she was clearly in pain.

Vati
didn’t reply, but stared at Devin and Anna.

“
Vati?”

Devin pierced Anna
’s belly button.

“The piercings can be undone, Alex,”
Vati said quietly.

They both winced at the third and final piercing.

“Let him be. He’s not doing anything permanent. You can still take her afterwards.”