hiding in the darkness, waiting and listening the only way she could. Thankfully, there was no vibration at her feet.
Before you save the day, X said, you’ll need to steal Solo some clothing. He’s currently naked.
“All right.”
You’ll need a few other things, too.
As if she would argue with him about anything ever again. “Just tell me what to get, and I’ll make it happen.”
He rattled off a list of what seemed to be ridiculous items, and she swallowed another groan.
“All right,” she repeated. Heart hammering, she raced forward.
Twenty-three
For you have girded me with strength for battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
—PSALM 18:39
SOLO HAD LOST TRACK of time. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been bound to this wheel. He only knew his arms and legs were numb, tied as they were to the board, and that people had eventually stopped coming into the tent. Staring at him. Stroking his flesh as if he were a tame little house cat. Rousing the beast inside him to a fever pitch.
The otherworlders around him were quiet. Not because they were muzzled—they weren’t—but because they were in shock, still utterly humiliated, still reeling about all that had happened, about how vulnerable they’d been.
He couldn’t do this again. He would rather die.
Even now, his fingers were curled into fists, his claws slicing into his palms. His blood was hot, so hot, tongues of fire licking through his veins. Something even hotter had been pooling in both of his bound wrists, but now, in the face of his burgeoning resentment, that heat spread. The cuffs had just sped into another level.
No matter what you have to do, stay in control. He would tolerate nothing less. He just had to . . . what? Since the death of his parents, he’d had no luck with his temper. Not until Vika, who would have teased him and—
Vika. Where was she?
He pictured her, his sweet, kind Vika, and his fingers actually uncurled. He pictured her peering up at him, her lips swollen and glistening from his kisses, her eyes wide with bafflement and need, and his muscles relaxed.
To be with her, he could do this again. He could do anything.
I will have that woman. One day. Soon. Often.
And when that “one day” came, he would make her forget her aversion to the words.
“You deserve this, you know,” said Dr. E.
Right on time to try and revive Solo’s anger.
“No, you deserve what’s about to happen. Rescue.”
And there was X, here to build him up.
“Where were you guys while I was in the Nolands?” he demanded quietly, the words muffled by the muzzle across his mouth. “Wait. Rescue?”
A moment later, Vika raced into the tent. She was dressed in a glorious red dress, and he forgot his questions. Her arms were covered by a thick black coat, but the material was split in the middle and he could see that the top of her gown scooped low enough to reveal a hint of cleavage. The bottom was so long it swept across the floor, curling around her feet as if it were enchanted mist. The material clung to her every curve, and her body . . . it was a work of art. Small and lush, with hips that flared into a heart.
Her. She’s mine, he thought. He didn’t need X’s help anymore, not for this. He’d already realized that, yeah, but now the knowledge swirled where instinct beat with a heart of its own. Never again would he allow her to walk away from him.
She reached him, dropped the bag she was holding. Expression pale and pinched despite the bright makeup she wore, she immediately tried to undo the metal bars draped over his cuffs, pulling and tugging.
“We’re leaving tonight,” she said. “Now. No matter what we have to do.” But no matter how valiantly she struggled, she couldn’t remove the obstacles. “Argh! What should I do?”
He opened his mouth to answer, not sure she would be able to understand him, but she stiffened.
“Shh!” She raced behind the wheel, out of sight.
It was then that he heard the oncoming footsteps. “Your bag,” he whispered fiercely. She’d left the thing at his feet. But she couldn’t hear him, he reminded himself, and she had no idea she’d left evidence behind.
Three of Jecis’s guards suddenly entered the tent, each drinking from a half-empty bottle of booze. The trio stumbled toward Criss’s wheel, two of them arguing over who would get to have her first, and the