Page 15 of Bound By My Alpha Mate

Down at the cold room, I opened the heavy, metal door and froze mid-step at what I found inside.

The bungee cords and my t-shirt were lying on the bottom of the cage. A pale, thin girl was on her hands and knees, shiny silver hair hanging off her shoulders and framing her face. The ridges of her spine gleamed wet down her back, the delicate soles of her feet poised under her supple buttocks. Her thin eyebrows were the only dark things about her—those and the look she cast at me, violet eyes shaded in fury. “Get me out of this cage.”

“No,” I replied, stunned.

Kiara sat up, exposing the full, round breasts on her chest, pink nipples at attention, skin uneven with goosebumps. “If you care enough about me as your fated mate not to slaughter me, then you’ll care enough to let me go so I can rescue my mother.” There was no begging in her voice, no sweetness of manipulation—just cold, hard demand.

I didn’t want to go any closer for fear she’d see my excitement through my sweats. The mere image of her aroused me, notwithstanding the merciless tone in which she spoke to me. “I never said I cared.”

She frowned, and even that was beautiful. “What do you intend to do with me, then?”

“I’m not sure.” But I was starting to have ideas.

“Give me the water,” she said.

Without thinking, I stepped toward her, then silently scolded myself for obeying her command. Standing in front of the cage, I wondered how to pass the bottle to her without leaving too much of an opening for her to escape, but it wasn’t possible. I’d have to open the door, and I wasn’t about to give her a chance to bolt so soon after I’d finally gotten her in my grasp.

“Give it to me,” she urged.

I started to unscrew the cap. “Open your mouth.”

Kiara sneered and wrapped her fingers around the metal wire frame. “You already know what you want to do with me, don’t you?”

Could she read my mind? No, not yet, not until we were marked. More likely, she could feel the heat stirring in my groin.

Unwilling to admit anything, I set the bottle on top of the cage and walked around it, observing her from all angles. She watched me. I stopped beside the cage, meeting her eyes as I carefully reached my fingers inside, hooking the closest bungee cord and pulling it out. She didn’t stop me, even as I maneuvered it to grab onto the other ones until there were only two left. “Pass me those.”

“No.”

“They won’t be of any use to you.”

Kiara gathered the cords in her hand. “Open the door and give me the water. Then, I’ll hand them to you.”

I knew unlocking the cage would lead to an altercation, but the stalemate we had reached left me sizzling in my gut for something—anything—to happen. I wanted an excuse to touch her, imagining the fight we’d had in our Moondream.

If only for the opportunity of physicality, I rounded the cage and stood in front of it, clutching the cords I’d retrieved. I took out the key for the padlock and unlocked it. Grabbing the water bottle, I met her stare as I opened the door.

Chapter 11

Kiara

He had to have known that if he agreed to the deal, I would make my escape. I didn’t hide my intentions. My body was coiled, ready to spring, and yet he still opened the cage.

As soon as the door was unlatched, I lunged, pushing it open with my shoulder and barreling out to freedom.

Of course, he’d known. He’d anticipated it. That was why he dropped the water bottle and jumped back instead of letting me push him down. My knees scraped the concrete, and I tucked my feet underneath myself, immediately springing upward, only to be greeted by the wide arms of my captor. To my surprise, Colt ensnared me and pinned me close to him, gripping one bungee cord in both hands and stretching it around me. I shoved his chest away and turned, trying to get free, but he’d already bound my arms against my body and hooked the cord behind my back. My mistake had been turning around. Now, I couldn’t bend my arms backward to unhook the cord. “Shit,” I snarled.

A second bungee cord hanging out of Colt’s pocket was promptly wrapped around my wrists. I leaned forward and tried to stomp on his feet behind me but either missed or ground my heel into his toes, which he endured with a groan. Before I knew it, he had secured my wrists with the new cord, and I was robbed of the use of my hands. I turned around again, surprised that I was able to, and faced him.

Colt smugly peered down at me with a third bungee cord.

I looked past him at the door he’d left half open. All I had to do was get past him.

But I was too obvious in seeking my escape. As I pushed forward to run, he grabbed my arm and swung himself behind me, then looped the cord once around my neck. He secured it with the hook on one end and stretched the other hook down, attaching it to the cord on my wrists so that my throat was strangled and my head wrenched back. I was reduced to thrashing against him once more, scowling as he held my wrists with one hand, the other firmly on my throat. His fingers cradled my windpipe, squeezing under my jaw.

“Please,” Colt muttered in my ear. “I thought that would be harder.”

My desperation to flee must have made me sloppy. These past few days had been difficult. I was losing my touch—letting myself get captured, unable to fight my way free. With a grimace, I shut my eyes as I fell still, trying to think.

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