Page 42 of Rescued By the Convicts
Melina! Ivan jerked against his chains, unable to hide his reaction.
“Ah, now that is interesting,” the bastard with the knife resting against Jayce’s neck said. “She means something to you, Perilov.” He strode over to Melina as she lifted her head.
Naked, Melina lay on the floor. She didn’t have any bruises or other signs of injury, but the look on her face. . . sheer terror.
“Namir.” The word fell from her lips a second before the bastard fisted his hand in her hair, pulled her to her feet, and placed the knife at her throat.
“Leave her alone you asshole!” Ivan yelled, straining against the chain on his leg which was bolted to the floor leaving him helpless to do anything.
Namir backhanded Melina. She crashed against the cage and bounced off the metal bars, dazed and unable to defend herself when Namir grabbed her left hand and slapped it flat against the ground.
“You dare let another man ring you?” he said as he cut Reece’s leather ring from her thumb. “And not one, but three!” The man sliced quickly through Jayce’s and Ivan’s rings. “Answer me!”
“Yes! I needed protection on the prison planet.”
“I didn’t send you there to find men to screw. I sent you there to learn a lesson!”
“You sent me to Veenith?”
He slammed his knee into her back, knocking the air from her as he pinned her to the floor. Namir rested the tip of his knife against her back. “One for each ring you accepted,” he said as he cut a line diagonally across her lower back beside the many scars there.
“Leave her alone!” Ivan yelled. “You want to cut someone, then cut me!”
Namir ignored Ivan’s yelling as he cut a second and third line across her lower back. As the blood trickled down her back to the floor, tears streamed down Melina’s face. Her features twisted as she clenched her jaw to fight the pain. She never cried out. Not once. She refused to give in to the bastard.
“She’s mine, Perilov,” Namir said as a smile curved on his face. He yanked her hair to the side and pointed his knife to the tattoo at the back of her neck. “Mine to do with as I please.”
“Sadistic bastard! You don’t care about her. You sent her to Veenith, for fuck’s sake! How the hell did you expect her to survive with hundreds of prisoners there? She needed the protection.”
“Protection wasn’t the point,” Namir sneered. “Learning her place was.” Namir yanked Melina to her feet by her hair, with nothing more than a sneer for Ivan. “Open it,” he ordered the guard standing by the cage.
The guard removed the tarp from the top and opened the door. Ivan felt sick, not just at the sight of Melina bloody and naked being shoved into the metal crate, but at the gold plate at the top of the cage. In a fancy script, the plate read PROPERTY OF NAMIR.
The door slammed shut with a metallic clank. Melina curled in on herself inside the crate that didn’t give her enough room to stand or fully extend her legs. She tucked her face against her chest and faced the back wall of the ship, hiding the best she could.
“Melina,” Ivan called out to her as soon as Namir and his guards left. Anger and shock clouded his head. He needed to find a way to free her, to get her away from Namir, and yet all he could think about was Namir cutting her and the terror in her eyes.
“My Little—” He stopped himself from calling her hislittle bird. It no longer seemed appropriate after all he’d done, literally handing her over to Hawke. And the name was too close to Namir’s name for her.Little kuvak. Fuck! Ivan had never imagined Hawke had been after Melina to return her to Namir. He never would have gone through with this plan if he’d known Namir was involved.
Muffled sniffles broke the silence in the cabin, but Melina refused to look at or acknowledge him.
“I’ll get you out of here,” Ivan said with resolve. He didn’t know how he’d accomplish it, but he would.
Heavy footfalls pounded the corridor. Namir and one of his guards returned. The monster placed the heavy tarp over the cage, while his guard tied it in place to a series of rings on the floor.
“Sleep well, my little kuvak. We have a big day tomorrow. I want you well rested for a welcome home party I’m throwing for you. All my friends will be there to welcome you homepersonally.”
* * *
MELINA
Melina tried crawling awayfrom Namir and his knife, but he’d pinned her. As if him cutting her wasn’t painful enough, he ensured that Ivan and Jayce watched. She couldn’t bear to look at them, to see the pity in their faces. Ivan sounded like he cared, which only added to her confusion. He and Jayce—and Zev—had given her to Hawke. Why did he pretend to care now?
“I’ll get you out of here,” Ivan said from where he sat chained to the row of chairs along the wall.
She knew those chains well. She’d been restrained there enough times during long rides between planets when Namir went on business trips. In the back of the ship, he had a playroom designed for his pleasure, but usually, she remained in this compartment, in the chairs when she behaved. The cage when she didn’t.
Ivan sounded beyond mad. Somewhere inside of her, she wanted to go to him, or at least unfurl her body and twist to see him one last time. She didn’t know where Namir was taking them, but it wouldn’t be wherever she was going. Ivan and Jayce would be gone soon, and she had so many questions. She just didn’t know if she had the strength to ask them.
