Elyse spent the night and most of the next day in Saxon’s arms. It was difficult to think about the possibility more Savages could be coming for her when he was touching her, teasing her, and taking her over and over again. They only parted long enough to eat and sleep.
She’d never known it could be like this with a man, and though she was eager to flee this cabin, she didn’t want it to end. For the first time since coming to the cabin, nightmares didn’t plague her sleep. She was probably too exhausted for the nightmares to creep in; she was definitely too exhausted to do anything other than sleep by the time he finished with her.
When she woke the following day to discover Saxon standing by the window, staring out at the snow, she knew her brief reprieve was over and reality had returned. Neither of them bothered to dress yesterday, but he was back in sweatpants and a sweatshirt.
The sweatpants rode high above his ankles, and he had to hike up his wool socks to cover his skin; they looked ridiculous on him, but somehow, he was still sexy. The stitching of his shirt looked about to burst across his shoulders.
“Saxon?”
He turned toward her and smiled, but she saw the strain in the lines around his eyes and the pinched set of his mouth. She pulled the blanket higher and clasped it beneath her chin.
“I heard the plows go by about an hour ago. We should go soon,” he said.
“Of course.”
She kept the blanket around her as she shifted off the couch. He’d already seen and touched every inch of her, but she tried not to let him see her now. For some reason, she felt more vulnerable now than before.
She hadn’t believed their couple days of passion would amount to anything more once they were free of this place, but she’d hoped for…
For what? For something more? You’re an idiot.
He was a vampire; she was a mortal. If that weren’t enough of an obstacle, he’d freely admitted he went through more women than she went through underwear, and that he needed those women to help keep him from going over the edge. She was the only woman here, and she’d been more than willing to welcome him into her body.
But that was over now; it was time to go. Once they were free of here, he would find someone else, and she would find her father. She hoped he’d still help her find her dad, but if he didn’t, she would find him. She couldn’t think about what the Savages would do to him once they discovered her gone; she wouldn’t leave here if she did, and staying meant certain death for both of them.
Besides, she didn’t think Saxon would let her stay. He may not know why the Savages imprisoned her, but he wouldn’t let them keep her.
Rising, she gathered her clothes from the floor and went to the bathroom. She did everything she had to do before dressing and returning to the living room. A clattering in the kitchen drew her to it; she discovered Saxon pulling the tops off some of the cans and setting them on the counter.
“Don’t!” she cried when she realized he’d opened five cans. She’d have to put them in the snow to keep them from going bad. “I can’t eat all that now, and I can’t waste it!”
“You’re never going to have to eat this shit again. This is your last meal in this place, so consider it your feast.”
She swayed at his words. Her last meal meant no more canned food. She’d known they were leaving, but as it fully sank in, she was almost giddy, and it took all she had not to dance around the kitchen singing “I’m free” at the top of her lungs.
The singing was probably best saved for a time when she was actually free of this place and when Saxon couldn’t hear her. She was aware her voice sounded like a cat coughing up a hairball whenever she tried to get lyrical. Their relationship may be coming to an end, but she wouldn’t destroy his eardrums before then.
Pulling the blanket closer around her shoulders, she staggered toward the table and sank onto a chair. Her breath plumed before her as she pulled a can of baked beans toward her.
“Freedom,” she murmured as she sank her spoon into the can.
“And better food,” he assured her.
“Hopefully, it will be reliable food.”
She had no idea what to do once she located her dad, how she would get him free, or where they would go after, but she couldn’t think about that now. One thing at a time, and the first thing was finding him. She could do it, but she didn’t know how to get him free of the monsters holding him.
As uncertain as her life had been while here, it was probably going to get worse soon.
“Reliable food?” he asked.
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before speaking. “My captors were vampires; sometimes, they forgot I required food to survive.”
Saxon’s hand clenched around the can opener. “They forgot to feed you?”
“A few times. I tried to monitor my rations, but even when I’d tell them I was getting low, I could sometimes go a day or two without food.”
Saxon set the can opener on the counter before he crushed it. “Why didn’t they turn you and make you one of them?”
She paused with the spoon halfway to her mouth. “You know the answer to that.”
He studied her as he contemplated this. “Because they planned to kill you eventually.”
“Yep.”
Which meant… “You’re valuable to them, but whatever you can do also frightens them. They don’t want you out there as a mortal or a Savage who could be caught and used against them. They kept you mortal because you’d be easier to control and kill when they finished with you.”
“Yes.”
Elyse stared at the can of beans as she stuck the spoon in it; she suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore.
“Did they ever compel you to do what they commanded you to do?” he asked.
“Compel me?”
“Vampires can control the minds of their prey to make them do what they ask or to make them forget things.”
Goose bumps broke out on her skin as he revealed this distressing little tidbit; vampires could control minds! She swallowed the bile rising in her throat as she tried not to lose her breakfast. “Can you do that?”
“Yes. We can also cloak our presence from another and change what a person is seeing.”
Uncertain of how to respond, she sat and blinked at him before she finally formed words again. “Then why haven’t you made me tell you why I’m here?”
“You’re going to tell me because you trust me and not because I made you.”
“Oh,” she breathed.
Tell him! She opened her mouth to reveal everything, but the words froze in her throat. This had been an act of kindness on his part, but would he be so kind if he knew the truth? Elyse tried not to scream in frustration as she tried to sort through this mess. It was all so damn unfair.
“No, the Savages never compelled me, or at least I don’t think they did,” she said to distract herself from his revelation. “In the beginning, I refused to help the bastards. Then they dragged my father in here, held him down, and cut off the top part of his index finger in front of me.”
She could still hear her screams mixing with her father’s wails as they dragged him out of the room. She’d been openly sobbing as she tried to break free of the vamps holding her so she could get to her father, but they wouldn’t let her go. Joseph waved the fingertip in her face and commanded her to do as he asked, or he’d bring her more parts of her father. At the same time, her father’s sobs went eerily silent as her heart thundered in her ears.
With apprehension churning in her belly, she’d promised to do anything Joseph asked.
“Good girl,” Joseph said and shoved the fingertip into her shirt pocket.
Elyse had screamed and thrashed against the vamps still holding her. When they released her arms, she’d torn the shirt off and flung it on the floor. Their cruel laughter followed them from the room. She’d run after them in the hopes of seeing her father, but the other vamps were already shoving him into a car and taking him away; that was the last time she saw him.
“I stopped fighting them after that,” she said to Saxon and pushed the can away. “If they could control my mind, why didn’t they compel me to do what they wanted? Why did they have to hurt him?”
“Because using your father against you was a lot more fun for them.”
She held back the tears burning her eyes. “My poor dad. They’ll kill him when they discover I’m gone.”
Saxon walked around the table and rested his hand on her shoulder. “I’m going to make them pay for this, Elyse. I promise they won’t get away with it.”
She didn’t respond as she bowed her head to stare at her fingers. He didn’t like pressing her on this, but he had to know more. “So the parts of your father that were on the mantle, they gave them to you whenever you tried to resist them?”
“No. I wish I could say I was strong enough to stand up to them, but after seeing what they did to him, I couldn’t disobey them. I’ll never forget my dad’s face. His blood….” She shuddered as she lifted a hand to her cheek. “It was so warm when it splattered my face.”
That was probably why she hated blood so much, Saxon realized. Who could blame her after witnessing that?
“I always did what they asked afterward, but sometimes, I wasn’t capable of doing it, or I would lose—” Elyse broke off before she revealed too much about her ability. “When those times happened, a new body part arrived. They never brought my dad back here, but they did bring his pieces to me.”
Saxon’s breath hissed in, and when her head bowed, he caught the scent of her tears. Kneeling beside her, he brushed back her hair to wipe away the tears streaking her cheeks. The broken look in her blue eyes tore at his heart, and for the first time, he realized he was coming to care for this beautiful, tormented woman.
“And sometimes, they would bring me a piece of him for no reason,” she whispered. “Sometimes, I would open the front or back door and discover a jar sitting there. They were like cats bringing me a present, and it got so I hated opening the doors because I was terrified of what I would find.”
The amount of psychological torture they’d put her through would have broken so many others, but Elyse’s spirit had somehow survived it. He wiped away more of her tears as he kissed the tip of her nose; this strong, broken woman was his, and he would spend the rest of his days making sure she was protected.
“When was the last time you walked outside this cabin?” he asked.
“The night you arrived.”
“Before then?”
“It had been a few months, maybe longer. I stopped opening the doors, but when one of the Savages came in at night, they would bring the jar in and make sure I saw it before placing it on the mantle.”
That’s why she was so pale, he realized; she hadn’t seen the sunlight in months.
“I’m going to make them pay, Elyse. I promise you, no matter what happens, I will make them suffer for what they’ve done to you.”
“Saxon….” Her breath caught when he lifted his head, and she saw the red in his gaze as well as the anguish. That anguish was for her. “Saxon.”
He leaned up and, cupping her cheek, kissed her with a tenderness that left her more shaken than the numerous orgasms he’d given her over the past couple of days. Her fingers encircled his thick wrists as she lost herself to him. She’d learned the taste of his lips well over the past couple of days, but she’d never get enough of it.
She didn’t realize she was still crying until he pulled away and wiped the tears from her face.
“They’re going to pay,” he vowed.
She opened her mouth to tell him everything, to blurt it out and get it over with, but even as the words were forming on the tip of her tongue, they died there. Yes, she’d spent two days having sex with this man, but they didn’t know each other.
What if she told him everything and he decided it would be better to kill her? Or worse, what if he decided they could use her too and she exchanged one prison for another?
Except, if Saxon imprisoned her, she wouldn’t survive it. She’d somehow managed to get through her time here, but if he turned on her, it would devastate her. She’d tried to keep her heart protected from this man, but somehow he’d wiggled his way in, and she couldn’t deny she cared for him.
“I think it’s time to go,” she said before she found herself blurting out everything.
Saxon wanted to try to get her to open up more, but she was right, they couldn’t stay here any longer. “You should put layers of clothes on before we leave. It’s cold out there.”