Page 23 of Seducing Scylla
He grins, showing a gold-capped tooth at the front of his smile. “You’re coming with me.” His hand darts out to grip me by the bicep.
“No!” I squirm under his firm hold, nostrils flaring as the stone blade bites into the soft skin at my neck.
“Uh, uh, uh, Sunshine. You struggle and I’ll slice the merchandise. The boss won’t be happy, of course, but I’m sure he’ll understand when I tell him you were trying to escape.”
“Your boss?” My bottom lip quivers, tears welling in my eyes. Not again. Please, for the love of god, this has to be a nightmare.
The man pulls me forward, half dragging me toward the entrance to Scylla’s home and back into the underground tunnels. I glance back at the pool, hoping like hell Scylla will pop her head out of the water any second and rescue me. But she doesn’t. I let out a whimper.
“When he comes back for me, he’ll reward me for keeping all the merch in one piece.” The man is only half talking to me, mostly to himself.
“When he comes back?”
He grunts, yanking me behind him through the dimly lit tunnels.
“When he rescues us off this fucking island. Now keep your mouth shut, or I’ll find a different way to shut you up.” He glances back at me, eyes menacing, his gold tooth glinting in the little light there is.
My imagination can only conjure up the worst scenarios, so I do as he says and keep my mouth shut.
23
Morgan
The man drags me down one of the tunnels that leads us to the beach. Darkness is falling, the sun being chased over the horizon and sinking behind the hills. A slight breeze runs off the water, causing a chill in the air. The ache in my chest gets worse the further away from Scylla’s cave we get. I don’t know if the mate bond is doing something weird and wacky again or if I’m about to go into a full-blown panic attack. I’d fling myself at the feet of the Fates and thank them for meddling if the bond somehow has its own built-in distress signal, but I also want Scylla to stay away. I can’t bear the thought of him capturing her and the things he might do. I breathe deeply through my nose and out through my mouth, mentally begging myself to stay calm because I don’t think I can afford to lose it with this man holding me hostage; fearing what he’ll do to me if I decide to fall apart now.
The man shoves me to the ground, quickly securing my arms behind my back with a piece of rope before I even have the chance to get up and attempt to run or fight. I take in his size, knowing that I wouldn’t succeed in either. I wince at his manhandling; an ache travels up my back as I slam to the ground. The mixture of sand and rock provides an uncomfortable landing. Stones bite into the bare skin at the back of my thighs where my dress has ridden up against the trunk of the tree as I fell. Already, a steady pressure mounts in my shoulders and wrists from being tied up. The effects of being bound in the shipping container for an unknown amount of time not entirely erased.
I keep quiet as the man begins to build a small fire. He seems to be under the impression that this boss of his is going to come and rescue him, which means he definitely doesn’t realize that this island isn’t going to be on any map his boss has. The irony that I’m kidnapped again after I decide to stay is not lost on me. I wonder what Scylla will think when she returns to find me missing. Will she think I left her? Will she even look for me? I’m torn between wanting her to come and wanting her to stay far, far away for her own safety.
“Now, we wait.” The man glances up at me and it’s now, with the flickering glow of the fire illuminating his face, that I notice the dark bags under his eyes and the hollow look to his cheeks. Perhaps this is what he looks like normally, but part of me thinks he hasn’t eaten in the couple of days we’ve been stranded here. I feel a tiny bit of smug satisfaction that the island hasn’t provided him with the things he needs like Scylla said it would. A cool breeze sends a quick shiver through me despite the fire.
“How do you know she’ll even come for me? She might think I’ve decided to leave.”
He snorts. “I saw that little kiss you two shared. She’ll come.”
Shock and disgust at this creep witnessing a moment that was meant for just Scylla and I flood me. How could he have possibly seen it when Scylla checked the cave?
As if he can see the cogs turning in my head, he smirks at me. “She didn’t check the hot pool.”
Hot pool? But we passed that way before we got back to Scylla’s cave.
“Y’know, if you help me capture her, I might even cut you in on the cash we’ll make whoring her out for sickfu—”
“You’re a monster.” I spit at him, the globule hissing as it misses and lands in the fire.
His deep gravelly laugh booms around us, his gold tooth glinting in the flickering light. He stands, leering at me above the flames as he slowly advances on where I sit trapped against the tree.
“Now, you’ve got a bit of fight in ya, Sunshine.”
My body shakes with each step that brings him closer.
He licks his lips. “Besides, you seem to like monsters.”
He’s nearly on me, his dark eyes glinting in the firelight. My rapid heartbeat drums in my ears, drowning out the sound of everything else around me. A large shadow looms behind him as he reaches out for me. As soon as his fingers brush the collar of my dress, thick purple tentacles shoot out from behind him, wrapping themselves around his arms, legs, and torso. His eyes flare wide as he’s jolted backward into the darkness beyond the fire, sickening crunching sounds echo in the night.
Darkness claims me before he even has a chance to scream.
24
