Page 38 of Medusa

The food placed in front of him had stopped tormenting him about two hours after he’d been left alone. Either it no longer had a scent or his stomach had gotten used to the idea of not getting fed. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know which.

Needless to say, he was awake when Typhon visited him in the morning. The tall lackey looked disappointed that he wouldn’t get to use the bucket of water he’d brought in.

Typhon grinned. “How did you find your accommodations last night? Up to your standards?”

“Five stars,” Jaden said sarcastically.

“Excellent.” Typhon took another syringe from the shorter lackey. “It would have been more comfortable for you to take your medicine if you’d still been asleep, but where’s the fun in that?”

Jaden tried not to react as the cool fluid was injected into the thick muscle of his neck and he felt the heightened sensations of everything all over again. His shoulders, which had stopped aching at some point during the night, started again, the pain almost unbearable.

Typhon squinted at him. “You look like you need to take a piss.”

He hadn’t really thought about it, but now that it was brought up, his bladder felt unbearably full.

“You tell me one thing about Ruby I don’t know, and I’ll see about letting you piss in a cup instead of your pants.” Typhon smirked.

“Geneva Convention says prisoners have to be treated humanely,” Jaden gasped.

“But you’re not human,” Typhon hissed. “And neither am I. Tell me where my Ruby lives.”

“You told me last night you knew where she lives,” Jaden replied. He’d spent most of his sleep-deprived night going over their conversation, trying to figure out a way out of this mess. “Even if I knew, you wouldn’t hold up your end of the bargain.”

Typhon roared and swung his right fist at Jaden’s face.

The shock of the impact felt like he’d been hit by a truck, but Jaden was relieved by one thing; Maddie was safe for now. They didn’t know where she lived; they couldn’t get to her. He intended on keeping it that way. They could do whatever they wanted to him, he wouldn’t tell them anything about her.

“You think you’re so smart,” Typhon growled. “You and your brothers. You three have cost me more money than all the other fighters combined.”

Jaden thought about that piece of information for a moment. “You’re gambling on the fights at Odin’s?”

“No. That’s illegal.” Typhon smirked. “I help other people gamble.”

“A bookie. Seriously?” Jaden rolled his eyes. “Could you get any more cliché?”

“How did Pollux beat you?” Typhon shouted an inch from Jaden’s face.

Ears ringing, Jaden raised an eyebrow. “He got the upper hand. I was having an off day.” He was prepared for the attack this time, a left hook into his ribs and then a right into the fleshy part of his stomach.

He worked his throat furiously to keep the contents of his stomach where they were. The stench of that mess would not be pleasant. “Here’s the only thing you’re going to get out of me,” Jaden spat. He felt better about making a conscious choice to let his bladder go, rather than letting Typhon use it as a weapon over him. It would wash out.

The release was almost orgasmic in his heightened state, which he found more than a little disturbing.

It took a moment for Typhon to realize what was happening, before the smell of ammonia hit. His nostrils flared and his eyes flashed in anger. “You’re going to wish you hadn’t done that.”

“Not a chance.”

Typhon signaled to his lackeys to leave the room and followed them out. At the door, he paused and said, “By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to wish you’d never been born.”

“Fuck you!” Jaden shouted just as the door closed with a thud, leaving him alone again.

He had no way of tracking time in that room, no concept of day or night.

How long had it been since he was taken?

Were his brothers worried about him?

Were they looking for him?

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