Page 21 of The Dragon's Dream Mate (Savage Shifters Special Ops 3)

“Hey, that’s mine,” I protested.

“You won’t be needing it,” he said.

“You know, maybe we should test the merchandise,” Wayne said, looking me over closely. He reached out and grabbed my tit and then pinched my nipple.

“Stop that,” I whined. “That hurt.”

The other man said, “I would love to. But you know what happened when Jake did the same thing before. Jake disappeared.”

Wayne nodded. “True. There will be others we can take later.” The evil sound in his voice sent shivers up my spine.

He reached for me, and I shrank against the wall, pretending to be scared to death of him.

“Come on, Rachel. I’m not going to hurt you. Yet,” another disgusting laugh emitted from his nasty mouth, resulting in a coughing spell that made me wonder if he was going to hack up a lung.

The short man grabbed some keys and unlocked a hasp lock at the top of a bedroom door. Then, he shoved me inside. I saw four kids sitting on a bed, with their legs handcuffed to a large log chain that ran across the top of the bed.

Simone was sitting in the middle of the bed, holding a baby. She saw me but didn’t say anything to me.

“Can I have another diaper and another bottle for the baby, please?” she asked, calmly.

The man’s eyes narrowed for a minute. Then, he yelled, “Wayne, grab a diaper and a bottle.”

A few seconds later, Wayne came in with the bottle, a diaper, and some bottles of water for everyone else.

The short man handcuffed my leg to the chain and then left. I shivered as I heard him engage the lock on the door.

Simone opened her mouth to say something, but I shook my head and put my finger to my lips. I was pretty sure they were still listening outside.

Loudly, so they could hear, I said, “My name is Rachel. Who are you guys? What’s going on?”

“I’m Simone,” she said. “We were brought here by some other guys. The ones outside bring us some food and water sometimes. I don’t know how long we are going to be here, though.”

I nodded. The other four children introduced themselves. “I’m Kami, and I’m six.”

The girl next to her said, “My name is Corine. I’m ten.”

The little boy on the other side introduced himself as Eric, and he was also six. Next to him was Alex, who was eight.

“This is Bobby, and he is two,” Kami said. “Bobby’s my brother. Mom said that I was going to stay with a friend for a while. The guy gave her money, and we came here,” she said. I had never met him before.

I had the sudden urge to hunt down her mother and punch her in the throat. I was sure that the men on the other end of the radio felt precisely the same way.

“We don’t know the baby’s name,” Simone said. “We’ve been calling her Rainey after my favorite aunt.”

I made a face at her. I was her only aunt.

The kids looked exhausted. They all had bags under their eyes. I would guess that their fear was keeping them from getting any rest.

They were also pretty filthy. I guessed that someone would clean them up and doll them up before they reached their final destination. The thought sent chills down my spine.

My fingers clenched, and I wanted to break down the door and kill the men sitting outside.

Simone sensed how I was feeling. She rubbed my hand and told me it was okay. Everyone would be fine since I was there to save them.

I nodded and tried to control my anger. This wasn’t the first time that I had to remind myself that getting my emotions involved would only make the situation harder.

Swallowing my anger, I smiled at the kids lined up on the bed, looking at me as though I was their last hope in the universe.

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