Page 20 of Slave

A quick war waged inside my head as I debated how to answer. Was this a test?

“Brianna?” I raised my head a little but didn’t meet his eyes. His free hand lifted my chin. “You have to have a favorite,” he said giving me that same crooked smile he did this morning.

“The lions,” I whispered and hoped it was the right answer.

Apparently it was. He dropped his hand from my chin and looked up at the big map. “Lions . . .” he mused to himself. “Ah. Here they are.” Then I felt a slight tug on my arm. “Let’s go.”

The lions were all the way on the other side of the zoo. We passed hippos, gorillas and even a reptile house on our way to our destination. I really hoped he wouldn’t want to go into the reptile house. I didn’t think I could handle it; I hated snakes. Just the thought of them sent shivers down my spine.

He noticed. “Are you cold?”

I shook my head no. He was very observant, of course; so was Ian.

Thankfully, our arrival at the lions’ cage cut off my trip down memory lane. There was a bridge running across the top of a platform. On one side was a male with a full mane and on the other three females. They were beautiful.

The first time my mom brought me to the zoo, I’d been drawn to them. Each step was confident, predatory, and yet elegant, especially the male. The movement was like a dance but with music only they could hear.

Quickly moving to the other side of the bridge, I focused on the three females. Two were lounging underneath a tree while the other one was clearly surveying her territory. She was beautiful; I was in awe.

Lost in my memory and my observations, I completely forgot about who I was with until I felt his hand come up to press against the small of my back. “You really do like them, don’t you?”

There was a hint of amusement in his voice, but I answered him honestly. “Yes.” I sighed.

After a few more minutes, he shifted his weight beside me. “Would you like to stay here a little longer or go see something else?”

I thought about it for a few moments. The zoo was a treat; I knew that. Why he was giving this to me, I had no idea, but I wanted to take advantage of it and see as much as he would allow. It felt odd to speak the words. “I’d like to see something else.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement and figured he must be nodding since he began to guide me back down the ramp. There really was so much to see. I hadn’t realized we’d also passed an aquarium full of fish tanks three times my height.

The room was dark, but there were lights inside the tanks. Fish of every shape and color swam by in different patterns. Some of them even came right up to the glass and bumped it, causing me to jump. My reaction made my Master chuckle.

We moved on from the fish to the gorillas. There was a mother gorilla and her new baby, sitting in a corner of the enclosure. It was very cute. I felt a pang of longing. Being eighteen, I wasn’t in a big hurry for children, but I had hoped to have some one day. And even though I knew that would never be possible now, I still couldn’t help the sudden sadness that filled me.

Needing to get away from there, I took the chance and just walked off. After only a few seconds’ delay, he was beside me again, his warm hand on my lower back guiding me as I willed the tears to go away.

It was for that reason I didn’t realize where we were going until it was too late. I remembered him opening a door and a blast of warm air hitting me.

And then everything else ceased to exist outside the mind-numbing fear that gripped me.

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Stephan

Coming to the zoo had been a good idea. I knew it the minute we got to the lions. For the first time since I’d known her, I saw the lines of Brianna’s face relax.

I was quite pleased with my choice of activity as we walked into the reptile house, my hand on her lower back guiding her. She was even moving around a little without me having to give her instructions to do so.

A gust of warm air hit us as we stepped inside the temperature-controlled building. I was quite neutral when it came to snakes. They weren’t my favorite creatures by any means, but I did find them interesting to look at from behind a glass wall.

Two steps inside and I felt Brianna’s muscles stiffen beneath my hand. Looking down, I noticed she’d lost all color in her face. Moving to stand in front of her, I tried to get her to look at me, to focus but she wouldn’t. Instead she crossed her arms, tightly hugging her torso, while her breathing became increasingly shallow.

An older couple walked around us with stares of obvious curiosity at the scene. I couldn’t care less. All I knew was that we needed to leave this place. I had no idea what was going on exactly, but something changed the minute we’d entered this building. My only hope was that leaving would correct the problem.

Putting my arm firmly around her waist and pulling her to my side, I practically carried her back out the door. Looking around, I spotted a bench across the way and headed for it.

Thankfully, it was still early enough in the season that there weren’t crowds of people. That didn’t mean we weren’t attracting attention. Several people, including one zoo worker, paused in their progress to assess the situation. I couldn’t spare them much attention, however.

As we both sat down on the bench, she continued to curl into herself and was now engaged in a sort of rocking motion. She was mumbling, but I couldn’t make out the words.

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