Page 60 of Rescued

Until an Empath Kindred found her mate, she was able to sustain herself with her own positive experiences and memories. But once she started the Claiming Period with her fated mate, she became more open to him and more reliant on and affected by his emotions and memories. The closer they got to Bonding, the more she needed his positive feelings to fill her reservoir—but he could easily empty it as well with negative emotions.

Lan’ara knew there was a deep, dark well of turmoil and horror buried in Nate’s psyche and that if he became triggered, all that negative energy would impact her intensely and drain her reservoir of good feelings quickly. But she couldn’t help herself—she was already in love with the big human. And she still felt that if only she was given the time, she could heal him.

Slowly, she could replace the bad feelings with good ones and help him work through and move past the horrible memories of his personal hell—fighting against the Scourge and being fed on by the AllFather. It would take love and a lot of patience but it could be done—he could be healed—and she wanted desperately to be the one to heal him.

And I will be, she swore to herself. I’ll be there for him every step of the way—we’ll get through the darkness together, as the Goddess is my witness!

They finally reached the hut they were staying in and had a delicious Midday meal of fresh seafood with herbed brio butter and ting’gy fruit for dessert. After a short nap in the darkened hut, they decided to go for a swim in the caverns where the waters flowed out to feed the Outermost Lake.

Lan’ara loved the caverns. With their rocky ceilings covered in glow blossom vines which cast a soft golden light on the milky blue waters, they seemed full of mystery and peace at the same time. She showed Nate her favorite areas—especially the short waterfall where the turbulent water churned the pale blue water into bubbles below.

“If you stand under it, it massages your shoulders for you,” she explained, going to show him. “The pounding of the water feels amazing on tired muscles!”

Nate came to stand with her under the pouring water and at first she felt only pleasure from him. But then, suddenly, something happened. Lan’ara couldn’t tell what it was—a sight or a sound or maybe even a smell that triggered him and brought back some dark horror from his past. But suddenly panic and pain were rushing through him even faster than the water coming down on their heads.

“Nate? What is it? What’s wrong?” she shouted, but they were right under the fall and she couldn’t make herself heard over the pounding water.

Quickly, she made her way out from under the waterfall, but then she couldn’t find him. The big human had disappeared somewhere and though she looked everywhere, Lan’ara couldn’t see him.

“Oh Goddess, help me find him!” she whispered to herself as she began wading through the complex of caverns, looking for her fated mate. He might be anywhere—and from the emotions she could still feel—he was completely trapped in his past. Something had set him off and now he was caught in a negative vortex.

Lan’ara knew she had to find him quickly—just feeling his negative emotions was depleting her. She needed to get to him and try to heal him by sharing his burden before he completely drained her reservoir. But how could she do that if she couldn’t find him? How—

Suddenly a muscular arm slid around her throat.

“Got you now, you Scourge fucker!” a familiar voice rasped in her ear.

And then the arm began to squeeze.

THIRTY-ONE

SONYA

“Please…please don’t hurt me!” Sonya begged, backing away from the huge Trollox.

“Who said anything about hurting you, girly?” the middle head snarled. “Just want you to get naked and spread your legs. Then old Grox will give you a surprise.” It grinned, showing stained yellow and brown teeth in a lipless mouth that wafted the disgusting odor of decay.

“You…you can’t do that to me!” Sonya protested. “You’re too big! You’ll rip me in half!” Her eyes were glued to the enormous bulge in his brown trousers. The one that looked as big as a good-sized baby. There was no way that was going inside her—not without literally splitting her in two!

“Who said Grox was going to breed you tonight?” the Trollox snarled. “We knows you’re not stretched yet. But tonight you starts your stretching.”

Reaching into a pocket of the brown trousers, the creature pulled out something that looked like the most enormous dildo Sonya had ever seen. It was made of some kind of metal—stainless steel maybe? Anyway, it was a dull silver and it was definitely larger than anything she’d ever had inside her before.

“What’s that?” she demanded. “You can’t put that inside me!”

“Oh yes, we can! Got approval from your owner, Oozle,” Grox claimed. “He said it was all right to start your stretching now, on account of how you’re going to be ours at the end of the week. That way it won’t take too long before you can take our shaft and we can plant our heir in you!”

“What?” Sonya felt like she might be sick. “Are you talking about me having your baby? That’s crazy! Oozle will never allow it!”

“He already agreed to our price, girly.” The Trollox smirked at her, all three heads giving her smug looks. “You’re with that fuckin’ Kindred for the rest of the week, but after that you belongs to Grox and we’re going to plant our heir in your belly.” He held up the enormous dull silver dildo again. “Now are you going to put your first stretcher in yourself or should Grox do it for you?” He leered at her. “Or would you rather spend the night in The Box?”

Sonya felt sick. To think that this horrible monster—this nightmare come to life—would try to impregnate her with its spawn was worse than any night terror she’d ever had. But was he telling the truth? Had Oozle really already sold her? Was there no way out of this horrible situation?

Well, for the next two hours, it seemed there wasn’t. She was stuck in her room with the enormous Trollox and there was nowhere she could run. If she tried to escape, the guards would catch her and send her right back to her room and then report her attempted escape to Oozle. Then she’d have to deal with whatever Grox dished out and spend the night being tortured in The Box.

Just do it, she told herself, feeling sick. There’s no way out of this—you have to go through it to get to the other side, Sonya.

“All right,” she whispered, feeling her gorge rise. “All right, give it to me—I‘ll…I’ll put it in myself. Just don’t touch me.”

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