Page 37 of The Enchanted Land

“Gonna enjoy this night.” Joe motioned toward Morgan. “Sure am gonna have a good time.”

Morgan, still on her horse, her head drooping with exhaustion, felt someone near her. “Get down,” Cat Man’s voice was low. Obediently, she moved one painfully aching leg across the saddle and slid to the ground. She saw a bedroll spread out by the small fire. Cat Man’s long finger extended in a gesture toward the blankets. Morgan stumbled toward the skimpy covers, dropped to her knees, and then lay down, so very grateful to be able to stretch out. She was asleep instantly.

Voices woke her and she heard them through a haze, as if they were a long way off.

“I seen her first! She’s mine!”

“It don’t matter who seen her first. She’s mine, ’cause I got the gun out.” Morgan heard a click.

“You ain’t gonna shoot me, ’cause I’m gonna shoot you first.”

“You and who else?”

“Stop it!” This was the cat voice that Morgan had grown to hate. “Nobody’s gonna have her. Now make something to eat.” His voice was calm and assured. Morgan had her eyes closed, but Cat Man must have walked out of the camp, because she heard the crackle of underbrush and rocks.

There was silence around her, and she began to drift back into sleep. Then the whispering seemed louder than the arguing of a few moments ago.

“It’ll take him a while out in the woods. If we’re quick, we can both get it done before he gets back, and he’ll never even know.”

“What if she tells him?”

“She won’t. We’ll just tell her she better not.”

“I’m with ya. Who goes first?”

“Let’s flip for it.”

Morgan heard a low chuckle and then, “Damn!”

“You hold her and I’ll stick her.” The voices were very near.

Morgan turned over quickly to look into the two leering faces. She managed a gasp, before a hand closed over her mouth and then another held her two hands. She began to kick as she felt other hands on her ankles, then sliding up her legs to her thighs.

“Skinny little thing, ain’t she?” Both men chuckled greedily.

Then, just as her skirts were tossed over her head, her legs were released and she felt something heavy fall across her right leg, below the knees.

“You didn’t have no call to hurt Ben,” whined one of the men. “We was just gonna have a little fun. We wasn’t hurtin’ nobody.”

“Let her go.”

Morgan was humiliated to her soul. Why was she lying here, pinned to the ground, her body exposed to men she hated?

When Joe released her, she immediately pulled her skirts from her face and covered her legs.

Joe grabbed Ben and dragged him away from her. As Ben began to recover his senses, Cat Man jerked both of them in front of him by the fire. Although Cat Man was very slim, he had a great deal of power in his spare frame.

“Now listen to me, you two, and listen good. This woman is a present to Boss, and Boss doesn’t want leavings. I want her untouched and I want her treated with respect. If I leave her here for you to guard, that’s what I expect you to do. Is that clear to you two thickheads?”

“Yes, Cat Man.” Their voices were contrite. “We didn’t know she was a present. You didn’t tell us.”

Cat Man’s lithe body relaxed, and he smiled that strange, malignant smile of his. “Well, boys, now that you know, don’t forget it. Now get me somethin’ to eat.”

“Yes, Cat Man, yes.” They stumbled against one another in their attempts to obey.

Cat Man walked to Morgan. “They won’t bother you now.”

Morgan was beside herself with rage. “What gives you the right to give me as a ‘present’ to anyone? I’m not something you can own.” She kept her teeth clenched, trying to control her anger.

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