Page 6 of Merciless & Mated

“Two of you, out,” my captor said.

“Me too?” I asked hopefully.

He chuckled. “No. You’re staying with me.”

One of the other men pulled the trembling women out of the far back, and pushed them briskly toward the bay, where two paramedics were already running toward them. He jumped back in, and the van took off before the door was even fully closed.

I closed my eyes, trying not to think about what fate might befall me while trapped in a van with five strange men. My heart was ready to beat out of my chest when the van finally stopped. The arm still draped around my shoulders held me tighter, his scent making me lightheaded…or maybe that was just the malnutrition and dehydration.

“Sure you can handle her?” one of them asked. “You got a pretty good black eye going.”

“Fuck off, Federico. I’ll call for pickup when we’re done.”

Before I could ask where we were going, he was pulling me out after him, scooping me straight into his arms before my bare feet could hit the concrete. I didn’t recognize where we were from the brief glimpses before we disappeared into the underbelly of a building. The cacophony of scents down here was making me dizzy, my stomach squirming, and my skin warming.

I dragged the filthy neckline of my shirt over my nose and mouth, trying to filter some of the air, stifling it with the grime on the fabric.

He stopped to talk to someone in front of a set of doors, spouting off in rapid Italian. I caught bits of the conversation. Something about a suite.

The next door we went through took us to another world entirely. It was like walking into a full-on porno. People were fucking everywhere. Omegas were tied down over leather benches, alphas taking their pleasure on their bodies, so many scents and sounds assailing me that I almost came right there in my captor’s arms. He walked me through the crowd and I could feel all their eyes on me. I ducked my head against him to avoid their gazes.

We stepped over a threshold and the door closed behind us, granting us a modicum of silence, the air not much clearer in here, but not quite as potent. He let go of me and I kneeled on the plush carpet.

“I can’t take you back to the compound until we’re bonded.”

I whipped my head up, staring at him, not fully comprehending what he’d just said. “Excuse me?”

“Your father sold you to Bianca if we could get you back, and Bianca is giving you to me. Neither of us are allowed home until it’s a done deal.”

I growled, digging my fingers into the carpet. “Don’t fucking touch me.”

“I wasn’t planning on it.” He sat down on the end of the bed. “Not until you beg me, at least.”

Swallowing hard, I looked around the space, taking in all the soft fabrics, saturated with too many scents to discern. A bed dominated the room, with a door to a bathroom in the corner. There was little else in the space, but then, given the activities outside the door, I could only assume people only came here for one purpose. “Where are we?”

“Heat club,” he replied shortly. “Catch your breath. Once you’ve showered and eaten, we’ll go back out there until your heat triggers.”

As much as I wanted to curl into myself and give in to despair, I knew that wouldn’t make things any better for me. If he wanted to claim me, I was going to make him work for it.

“Tell me your name,” I demanded.

“It’s Marco.” He gave me a wolfish smile. “Might as well let you get familiar with it so you’ll have something to scream later.”

It should have revolted me. It definitely shouldn’t have sent a spiral of desire through me. I had been kept under lock and key for so long, and while I wasn’t a virgin, it had been far too long for my taste since I had last been touched.

He didn’t deserve to be the one who had me, but he was the one who did. Already the coils of heat were teasing me. Omegas triggered heats in one another, and while I had heard of clubs like this existing, I had certainly never been to one. He was right that I would beg. Soon enough I wouldn’t even know who I was, but I would know that I needed someone to fuck me. And here he was, so fucking convenient.

I hated being a pawn, and yet I had been moved into place by people my entire goddamn life, except this time there was no getting out. This man had caught me in a checkmate, and before I ever saw home again, I was going to belong to him.

CHAPTER 4

MARCO

Gianna looked absolutely miserable kneeling on that carpet, with the grime from three days in a warehouse clinging to her. It did little to dim the fire in her eyes or the beauty beneath the dirt.

“Did they hurt you?” I asked, leaning comfortably with my forearms on my knees so I could watch her.

She shook her head. “They said they weren’t allowed because the buyer wanted us untouched.”

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