Page 29 of Savage Kingdom

“It won’t kill you to ask for some water,” he spat at me before he grabbed hold of my chin and squeezed so my lips would part. He put a towel soaked with water in my mouth. I sucked from it, relishing the way the coolness glided down my throat, how it moistened my lips. It should have been embarrassing how I sucked that towel dry—again, nothing I hadn’t been through before.

“I don’t have many things, not even my pride, but begging doesn’t get you anything,” I told him.

I was eight the last time I ever begged for mercy.

Never again.

I cocked my head,listening to Daphne, but didn’t engage in any more conversation. I went to the kitchen to grab another soaked towel to exchange it for the one she had.

My superiors were not pleased with how things had turned out, but they at least agreed with me that Daphne could be used for information.

People always let their guard down with those they assumed where non-important or weak, but this woman, I bet she had a lead on the person I was looking for. All I had to do was get her to open up and tell me. Which meant that I might have to stop being so hot and cold toward her if I wanted to form a bond and get her to trust me.

“Sleep,” I said, leaving her tied up on the bed.

The first thing I did was take a shower, and I guess I needed to let her have one as well. After that was done, I put on jeans and grabbed the pack of cigarettes I had left here yesterday and walked to the terrace. Smoke filled my lungs, making them burn the longer I dragged it out. I held it in for a second while in my mind, I started doing a play-by-play of today’s events.

Then I let the air go, releasing the tension from today with it. I could have died, but that had never been one of my worries.

My eyes landed on the mindless people walking down below. Ninety percent of them would never know the monsters like myself that walked this earth side by side, ready to wreak havoc at a moment’s notice.

This was just another assignment, but why didn’t it feel that way?

* * *

The next dayI decided that the only way Daphne would open up was if she felt like she knew everything.

I burst the door to her room open. She looked up from where she rested against the headboard. Her arms were still cuffed, but the rope was now discarded on the floor.

I was impressed.

“Yoro has always liked to keep me leashed for hours,” she explained before I could even ask. Her eyes were not on my face, but the tattoos on my chest. There was a dragon that wrapped around my torso, and the head rested on my abdomen. The scales all told a story. My sins were on my body for the world to see just as the sins of others were on Daphne’s marred skin.

I grabbed the chair and dragged it in front of the bed.

“I’m feeling merciful. How about we make a deal?” I told her.

She sat up a little straighter, and a coy smile turned up her lips. Fuck, she was gorgeous—unearthly beauty that was chained in hell.

“Let me guess. You want me to turn rat?”

This surprised me.

“You’re willing to protect Yorovich?”

“What’s your proposition?” she asked, ignoring my question.

I grinned at her. I pulled out the picture that I had printed earlier and showed it to her. “I’m looking for someone.” I got up and took the photo to her, gauging her reaction as she took it. Nothing—she gave nothing away. “Have you seen that man?”

“Why?”

Damn, she had one hell of a poker face.

“None of your concern. Have you seen him, yes or no?”

She looked at the picture again and then at my face. Her eyes traveled down my neck, lingering on my abs and the V cut.

“Do you want some dick, Petal?” I mocked. “I can arrange that for you.”

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