Page 91 of Stolen By the Alpha Hunter
I realize what he’s saying a second later and it makes my stomach roil.
When they talk about bait, they’re talking about people.
“Aren’t you hungry, Javier?” Gideon asks. “Eat…and make sure to throw some scraps under the table for Esther.”
They’re trying to get him riled up. I don’t know why.
But he’s more disciplined than that…and we’ve been playing this game ever since we joined forces to get off the Rig.
Javi picks up his fork and cuts a piece of fish, then brings it to his mouth. He chews like it’s the most disgusting thing he’s ever put in his mouth, then he picks up a piece of broccoli from the plate and looks down at me.
“Eat,” he says.
I lock eyes with him and take the food straight from his hand, letting my lips ghost over his knuckles on the way back.
We’re in this together,I say with a glance.
He seems to take strength from it, continuing to eat, even when we know the horrible truth. The fish they catch are feasting on corpses. On people they used to live beside. My stomach lurches, nausea climbing up my throat. I press my palms to my knees and will myself not to cry.
I can stay silent. Iwillstay silent. But I know they can scent how afraid I am.
“That’s right, Esther,” Gideon says. “We wanted you both to know what happens to girls who disobey our rules here on the Rig. I’ve tried to be nice, but if you keep sassin’ us?—”
“She’ll behave,” Javi cuts in, his voice hard and clipped. “I’ll make sure of it. No more disobeying, no more speaking out of turn. She’ll be the model of obedience…isn’t that right?”
It shocks me for a second.
I blink at him, stunned, my breath caught in my throat. The wordobedienceechoes in my ears, sharp and wrong. Obedience—what Gideon renamed my mother. Obedience, like a collar. Like a cage. Like they’re already stripping away what little of me is left.
I nod. Because I have to. Because they’re watching.
But my chest burns.
I tell myself Javi’s only playing a part, that this is still our game. But something ugly twists in my gut anyway—because my father is a master at this. He knows how to get in people’s heads. If he can’t bribe them, he breaks them. And Javi, for all his strength, has cracks in his armor too.
I trust him. Ido. But the longer we stay, the harder it is to tell what’s pretend and what’s becoming real. Javi…he doesn’t want to be here, but he’s not really a prisoner either, not like I am.
After all, I’m the one chained to the floor while he gets a seat at the table.
And I know for a fact that power has a way of getting to men…whether they like it or not.
We don’t talkas we head back to our room, Javi leading me with a hand around my collar. I’m itching to talk—to ask him what happened and to tell him about our impending rescue—bythe time we get inside, but Javi silences me with a finger to his lips, rage in his eyes. I can’t tell if it’s at me or someone else…and that scares me more than anything.
“We can’t keep acting like this,” he says as he shuts the door behind us.
I back up toward the bed. “I…”
“Shut up,” he snarls.
I shut my mouth, my chin trembling. No…they got to him…
“From now on, you keep the collar on at all times,” he says. “You wear dresses like a proper lady—and you don’t speak. Ever.”
I take a shuddering breath and a choked sob lodges itself in my throat. “Javi,” I whisper.
He lunges forward and pushes me against the bed, boxing me in. I struggle against him and let out a yelp, then his lips are at my ear, his breath hot against my neck.
“They’re always listening,” he whispers. “They know everything.”
