binds in a laughable attempt to snap the far too thick rope.
“It’s the Virgin who survived?” The woman’s voice is white noise against the rage-spiked blood pulsing in my ear.
“Yes. Had to put the whore down. Got bit.”
“And you’re certain she’s a virgin.”
“Priest didn’t even get his dick in her.”
“All right, then. I’ll consider the full trade. But I want to see her first.”
No. No, no, no. I try to saw through the rope with the chain, but it’s no use. The truck dips as Sam hops onto the bed of it behind me, and I kick out at him on all fours.
“You lying piece of shit!” With one swift, backward kick, I manage to hit him square in his nose, and he stumbles back on a curse.
“You’re lucky you’re worth more than an ass beating right now.”
“Fuck you.” I reattempt the same maneuver, but he dodges my kick and leaps onto my back, knocking the wind out of me. “Let me go! Let me fucking go!”
“Listen to me!” His arms wrap tight around me. “I don’t want to do this, but I have to. We need weapons. And supplies.”
“I don’t give a damn what you need, you piece of shit!”
“Madame Beaumont isn’t bad. Better than the convent you wanted me to take you to.”
“Madame? She runs a fucking brothel!” I squirm and kick, using the bed of the truck for leverage. Hot metal scrapes over my knees, mocking my effort with a cold sting of pain.
“You’re too valuable as a virgin. She isn’t going to whore you out.”
“What the hell ... else … does she want with me?” My words, broken by struggle, fail to convey the absolute fury blazing inside of me.
“She’ll probably keep you as her personal servant.”
“Or sell me … to some disgusting pig ... who has a thing for virgins! Asshole!”
“Look at her. Does she look like she needs anything? You’ll be well fed. Well cared for. Better than the nuns, who’ll keep you locked away in some convent. I could’ve sold you off to marauders, but I’m trying to do the Christian thing here.”
“Christian thing? What the hell church did you go to?” I spit back, still wriggling to get loose.
“One more merciful than yours, apparently.”
“This is why … you didn’t ask … my name.”
“What?”
Realizing my fight is futile, I still beneath him. “Back at the cave. I found it odd that you introduced yourself, but didn’t bother to ask my name. I figured you didn’t want to know, for some reason. But you already knew, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Who is your contact at Szolen?”
“I’m not telling you that.”
“Why? So you can keep the business of selling women? Tell me!”
“Doesn’t matter. She’s dead.”
Dead? “Who? Who’s dead?” I turn my head to the side, unable to see his face from this angle.
“Gwen.”
Pieces of two completely different puzzles float around inside my head as I try to make the connection between him and the woman I traveled with. “Did you plan to sell her off, too?”
“Not important. Why’d the Rager sniff you?”
He saw that? “You presume I know what the hell a Rager is thinking before it decides to rape me?”
“It wasn’t gonna rape you.”
“How would you know?”
“Only time they do that is if something’s wrong with you.”
Wrong with me. What the hell could be so wrong with me that a Rager would cast me aside as unworthy? It’s a question that has me laughing on the inside, in spite of my urge to cry right now. “You watched it. You waited to see if it would?”
“Was curious, is all.”
“You really are a piece of shit.”
“All the more reason to rid yourself of me, don’t you think?”
My body jerks, as he pushes off me and hops over the edge of the truck, before tugging the rope hard enough to yank me toward him. Once close enough, he lifts me out of the bed of the truck and sets me down.
“You try anything tricky, and I’ll put a bullet in your back.”
“Thought I was worth more than that.”
“As long as you’re alive.” He cuts the rope and takes hold of the small stretch of chain between my shackles, jerking me behind him.
“Oh, my. Oh, my!” The woman lifts her dark sunglasses and rests her palms against her cheeks, her eyes appraising me. “She is a vision!” Her face hardens, eyes narrowing on the men surrounding me. “You didn’t lay one finger on her, I hope.”
“Not a one, ma’am. She’s untouched. You have my word.”
Brows winged up in sympathy, she