Page 28 of The Dancer and the Masks (Their Obsession 1)

“May I brush your hair?” she asks suddenly, clearly wanting to change the subject. She reaches for the antique brush resting on the vanity, hesitating when I stiffen under her touch. “It hurts, doesn’t it?”

I nod. “The skin has long since healed on my back, and the doctors tell me I shouldn’t feel sensation given the damage to all the nerves, and yet I do.”

“I’m sorry,” she says, handing me the brush so that I can pull my long hair over my shoulder and brush it myself.

“Why?”

“You’ve suffered. Just like them…”

“The Numbers?”

She opens her mouth to respond, but the sound of a door opening and closing, and footsteps entering the room beyond the bedroom, stops her. Her eyes widen and she swallows. “They’re here.”

“You’re afraid of them…”

“Nala!’ Konrad calls, making us both jump. “Bring Zero out.”

Nala bites her lip again, then holds out her hand. “It’s time.”

I take her hand, having no other choice but to do his bidding and follow Nala into a sitting area that’s decorated similarly as the bedroom. I would’ve been impressed by the high ceilings and all the natural light coming through two huge windows to my right if I hadn’t been so utterly terrified by the three men standing before me.

“Leave us,” Konrad says, jerking his chin towards the door.

“Yes, Sir,” Nala replies, her eyes downcast. With one last squeeze of my hand, she scurries out of the room leaving me alone with my three masked kidnappers.

“Sit,” one of the men demands. If memory serves me right it’s Leon, though I can’t be certain given the mask he’s wearing covers every inch of his face. “I said,sit,” he bites out, immediately getting my back up.

“If you treat me like a dog, then I’ll behave like one,” I snap back, baring my teeth.

Konrad scoffs, removing his mask. “I told you she was argumentative, Leon.”

Leon. So I was correct.

“And if you behave like a dog then we’ll treat you like one. Maybe she should be collared and put on a leash?” Leon suggests. He looks over at the third Mask, Jakub, waiting for his command.

Jakub nods, jerking his chin at Konrad. “Do it,” he rumbles, his accent thick, dark. It sends shivers down my spine.

“Collar and leash?” I question, my gaze flicking between the three men. “You can’t be serious?”

“Deadly serious,” Konrad retorts, winking at me before turning on his heel and leaving the room.

“No—”

“The sooner you learn that we always follow through on a threat, the better,” Leon warns, cutting me off as he removes his mask, revealing the man hidden beneath.

I inhale deeply, my chest filling with air as he fixes his gaze on me. He’s beautiful,perfectbut like most alluring things, there’s a catch. He might have a jaw sharp enough to cut, dark eyebrows that frame stunning green eyes, full lips, a flop of ebony hair that falls perfectly around his handsome face, and a dimple in his chin that most women would want to lick, but that doesn’t hide the truth of who he is.

It can’t hide the fact that this man issoulless.

My skin prickles as he cocks his head to the side and slides his gaze over me in one slow sweeping motion. Straightening my spine, I raise my chin. “I am not someone you could put on a leash. Iwillbite.”

“Oh, I’m counting on it,” he retorts with a sharp grin as he sits down in the centre of the large roll arm sofa and spreads out his arms along the back. My fingers curl into fists as his gaze focuses on my bare breasts beneath the cotton nightgown I’m wearing. I’m acutely aware that my nipples are hard, not because I’m turned on, but because I’m suddenly cold. It’s as though The Masks have sucked all the warmth from the room and shrouded it in darkness.

“What do you think, Brother?” he asks, turning his attention to Jakub. “Will she keep us entertained or will that perfect mouth of hers seal her fate far too early?”

I settle my gaze on Jakub, focusing on the quietly controlled man in the corner of the room. His stature is slimmer than his brothers, more lean athlete but with broad shoulders. He’s tall and holds himself with an air of confidence that is neither cocky nor vain, just absolute.

“I think she’s trouble,” he observes, his accented voice taut with tension. “I think she doesn’t understand what we’re capable of. I think she believes that she is stronger than we are.”

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