Page 21 of The Captain's Bounty
With every ounce of will he possessed, he shoved off both her and the bed. His cock was so hard it hurt, but he still put the blindfold back on her.
“No, what–!” She twisted her head, yanking up her knee to wedge between them, trying to force him back before he could get the blindfold securely tied.
He gagged her too, for good measure.
“Whuh a ich!”
Turning, he made himself leave the room. He could guard her just as easily standing outside the door and with a hell of a lot less temptation than, apparently, he could when he was close enough to touch.
Apparently, he was more like Vullum than he wanted to admit.
CHAPTER FOUR
Lissa rubbedher cheek raw against the mattress before the blindfold finally worked loose enough for her to confirm what she already knew: the room was empty. He was gone.
That son of a bitch.
That handsy, kind of handsome son of a tree-bitch.
She’d never been so pissed to have orgasmed in her life. How could he do that to her? Put his hands on her like that, look at her the way he had—as if he’d wanted her, as if he couldn’t bear not to have her—make her come, and then just tie her up again and walk away?
You’re the one who won’t let me kill him, it reminded.
Shut up.
Scrubbing the blindfold all the way up off her head so she could see freely, she took stock of the room. Apart from the sparse decorations, the floor, walls and ceiling were metal. A plumbing pipe ran up the wall from floor to ceiling and the grill of an air duct was screwed high into the wall directly above her head. A set of drawers for clothing and personal effects were sealed into the far wall, and there were only two doors—one to the lavatory and the other leading out.
This was an awfully nice room, for a cell in a slaver’s brig. In fact, she was beginning to suspect it wasn’t a cell at all, but one of the crew quarters. Maybe even the captain’s own quarters. It sure reflected a lot of his personality—cold, hard, heartless.
Scrambling awkwardly off the bed, her hands still bound behind her back, she went to the bathroom, staring at the touch panel for a moment before pressing it with her cheek. She had a fifty-fifty chance that it was simply a pressure plate, but no. It was a palm print reader. The door did not open.
Damn it.
She looked up at the air duct again. She might fit through it if she could get the grate off, but she wasn’t going anywhere until she got out of these wrist cuffs.
The cuffs weren’t as tight as they could be, but they weren’t loose either. Not after her botched first attempt. She twisted, tucking her aching thumbs into her palms like the being had done, and tried to find the best way to pull at least one of her hands through.
It had a thumb print locking mechanism, double damn it. If she wanted free, then she needed a way to con Bruwes into unlocking the cuffs for her. Perhaps then, she could… what? Smack her forehead into his and hope she knocked him out? Bite his ear? Gnaw her way through his throat?
This was impossible.
Taking deep breaths, she twisted her wrist until she found the best angle. She was going to dislocate her thumb again or break it, both of which were going to hurt. There was no getting around that, but it was either do it or sit here placidly until they reached their destination and he handed her over to whoever put the price on her head. She couldn’t pretend that was anyone but Corporate. Damn Dex. And damn her for thinking even for a moment that he wouldn’t turn on her the moment it became profitable.
What would happen to her? Mere lifelong imprisonment was the best of her future options. Far more likely that she’d be held for study, reverse-engineered like any other piece of tech Corporate stumbled over, and made into their next war-winning advancement.
Finally! You begin to sense the seriousness of our situation! Pull when I tell you, the entity ordered.It’s going to hurt.
She was ready.
Or at least, she thought she was, right up until she felt her hands heating up. Then the wrist cuffs did, growing hotter than her skin could bear.
Shit! It was burning into her. She gritted her teeth. Any sound she made could bring Bruwes back to investigate, and she only had one chance at this. If she failed to escape a second time, she already knew he’d make it impossible for her to find a third.
Her skin sizzled. She felt it cooking, smelled the burning where she touched the cuffs.
Pull.
She yanked with all the power she had and the cuffs yielded, the metal just soft enough to let her rip her hand out. Her right wrist was badly burned, the left was still sizzling, blistering where the heated cuff wrapped her. It wasn’t cooling down anywhere near fast enough.
