But my instincts flared wildly as I detected energy where it shouldn’t be. And then my target rose from where he’d been lying on the mat before the fire.
He was just entering adolescence, his muscular body awkward above long, powerful legs.
He met my gaze without fear. I raised my crossbow. From this range, I couldn’t miss.
Integrity is the only thing that stands against the chaos. I’d written that once, long ago. And I’d believed it.
But that was before I’d truly understood that, as a slave, I had only one choice. His life. Or my own.
My other hits had been underworld slime, nothing that gave me the slightest qualm. But this one was different. This one I couldn’t justify with my slightly tarnished code of ethics.
This one would demolish it altogether.
It was him, or me. Deep in the palace, my brethren would not hesitate. His family was likely already dead.
My finger tightened on the trigger—
An acrid odor burned through my sinuses, and my eyes snapped open. Xumi stood only inches away from me, a vial of smelling salts held beneath my nose. I sneezed, and her murky-green eyes glowed. The smile on her lips warped on its passage to her eyes—I gazed into them, and shivered at the cold, oily darkness in their depths. Her taloned fingers closed on the knife she’d thrust into my shoulder. She’d been twisting and sawing it. At one time, I would have been able to grit my teeth and bear it. But I was weaker than I had been, and this time, it had caused me to black out.
Now, with a single yank, she removed it. The blood ran down my shoulder. It hurt like hell, but not as bad as the twisting had. I gasped as the pain fed the lust. Then she reached over my head and poured the contents of another vial over my face.
Not smelling salts this time, and my reaction was immediate. My brain insisted it was driven by the pheromones, but that was of no consequence. Because my beast vibrated withneed.
Shards, I wanted her. And yet, I hated her. Twisted was the only word for it.
Within seconds, I was close, and she knew it. This game we played had rules, and the first and most important was that she always won.
For me, it was about resisting for as long as I possibly could.
A scuffle at the entrance announced the arrival of two Dragons in an unusual shade of bronze. Xumi’s twin sons—my stomach clenched. At best, it meant my session would be prolonged. At worst, they’d join us.
But they hadn’t come alone. Their chosen victim today was another Dragon. He hung limp between them, unresponsive, and he left a trail of blood behind him. I had no idea what he’d done to land on their radar, but it had come with gruesome consequences.
They dragged him to an apparatus and strapped him in. Intended for accessibility rather than comfort, it bent the victim at awkward angles, and he awoke to struggle against the restraints. But the metal was designed to hold those such as him.
It wasn’t until they turned him that I got a good look at his back. Shock vibrated through me.
They’d cut off his wings.
There was no worse sentence for a Dragon. We could heal most things, but if our wings were removed, they were gone for good.
Licking her lips, Xumi left me to come up behind them. Her hand reached to stroke her son’s buttock in a manner distinctly lacking in maternal vibes. And instead of flinching away, he leaned into it.
Her children shared a ruthless and twisted outlook on life for a reason.
As her sons took turns with their victim, Xumi’s eyes gleamed. Her hands alternately roamed their bodies, and her own—pinching her nipples, then sliding between her legs.
She’d work herself into a lather, but save the actual culmination for me. My gut twisted as I tried not to watch. By her thrusting hips and lips pulling back from lengthening canines, Xumi wouldn’t last much longer. Sure enough, her gaze turned to me, and she grabbed one bronze Dragon’s arm.
“I want him naked,” she growled. “Now.”
Both sons left their now semiconscious victim and came with her when she approached. She pulled another vial of pheromone, and poured it over me. Then she reached for a scale on my inner thigh and stared directly into my eyes as she ripped it free.
I gritted my teeth and held my breath until she plucked one from my balls. My involuntary gasp inhaled the rich aroma of the pheromones. They raced through my body, and my beast writhed within me.
Grinning, both sons took turns selecting and removing scales in the most delicate of places. Having an enhanced ability to heal only inspired my torturers to greater lengths. In moments, I was covered in blood.
I could release the scales, but the entire point was toresistbeing stripped naked. My automatic, stubborn response to whatever life threw at me caused no end of grief.
