Page 19 of Marked for Redemption

Working gave me something to do. Kept me out of my head. Later, when he was home for the morning, I kneeled on the floor waiting for anything else he needed.

“Come and undress me.” His eyes were brighter and seemed drunk.

I removed his shoes and clothes, then helped him to the bed. I noticed the blood on the corner of his lips and jealousy pinged inside. Also, I’d seen it on his shirt. He wasn’t messy when he drank from a flask or cup.

“You drank from a human?” I asked before I could think twice.

“I did.” His voice held steady and his eyes were steely. “Problem with that?”

“No, Master. Is there something else that I can do for you?” I looked down at the floor, hoping to keep it together until I was in the other room. The quiver in my voice was obvious to even my ears.

“A massage. Start at my feet.” He grumbled.

“Yes, Master.”

I lifted his foot and massaged it with lots of pressure, the way I remembered he preferred it. I moved up to his calves, moving from one leg to the other as I worked upward. With heavy lids, he watched me but remained quiet. At his thighs, it was hard to ignore his erection. I worked around it and moved to his hips and waist.

“Would you like relief, Master?” I bit the side of my lip and then let my eyes find his.

“Not from you. Do you really think that I’d have a distrusting mouth on me? No, I don’t want you to relieve me. You’re done here. Go get some sleep.”

I flinched, quickly removed my hands from him, and disappeared back into the living room. I covered my mouth with the towel I’d balled up and let out the pain and anguish that had built up inside. His bedroom door slammed suddenly, and for the first time, I wondered if he should have left me there to die where he found me. I’d have been better off.

No sister, no family, and no signs of my husband. A slave to the man I love and a pawn that he could play. This wasn’t the life that I’d dreamed of with him. I wouldn’t have wished this on anyone. I curled into a ball, muffled my cries with the towel, and succumbed to thoughts so dark I lost all sense of who I once was.

COLTON

Damon tapped his foot impatiently as everybody speculated on what had happened or what would happen if we ran out of food supply. Humans were supposed to be here by nightfall yesterday, hoarded in by familiars. Today, there was no trace of them. I’d gathered a team and sent them looking for signs of life, hoping they were back before sunlight.

“Quiet!” He shouted. “Instead of mumbling and carrying on about what we don’t have, we need to think about what we do have. If we can’t find what we need soon, those of you lucky enough to have slaves will have to part with your precious toys. If I were you, I’d start making a plan that included blood. Understand?”

It was hard not to when I could feel how on edge everyone was, especially him. As we were leaving, Jund entered the room and went over to Damon. It wasn’t difficult to know what was being said since Jund was part of the team that went looking for humans. Damon’s face contorted in outrage. Furrowed eyebrows, twisted lips, and his nostrils flared.

I hurried from the room and went back to my home. As soon as Renee heard me enter, she kneeled on the floor, wiping snot from her nose. She’d been crying again.

“If you don’t wise up, you’ll have more than enough to cry about. There aren’t enough humans around here and when they remember that I have one, and the hunger sets in, where do you think they’ll come?”

“You could always turn me, Master.”

“What, so you can try to get inside my brain again? Not a chance. You were dangerous the first time around. What makes you think I’ll sign up for that shit again?”

“If you did, I’d disappear, not to burden you anymore.”

I walked over to where she kneeled, lifted her by her hair, and looked into her frightened eyes.

“Only I can say when I’m done with you being my burden. Since I can’t seem to get you out of my head, I don’t think that’ll be soon. Besides, I enjoy watching you squirm, slave.”

“Yes, Master.” She sighed.

I let her go, but I still had a fistful of hair.

“What’s this?” I looked from my hand to her eyes.

“Nothing…” She scrambled to remove all the hair from my hands, I caught and held her by her neck and looked into her eyes.

“Talk.”

“It’s been shedding since we got here. Sometimes from the scalp, other times breaking off from the middle. I can’t stop it, no matter what I do to it.”

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