Amy

AMY

The Volek wrapped his hands around the bars, but I was rather dubious that he would be able to get me free. The small discipline cage had been designed to hold far stronger beings than me.

"What's your name, gorgeous?" he asked.

"Amelia." I took a deep breath. There was no reason to get my hopes up. He wasn't going to get me out, and even if he did, would it be any better than being sold to another stranger? "And I know I should probably wait until after you bust me out to tell you this, but I'm not really into Voleks."

"Good thing for me, I'm not a Volek."

His beautiful, bright teal eyes flashed down to the floor of my cage and narrowed dangerously.

"There's a lot of blood down here," he said. "Is it yours?"

"Yes."

"What did they do to you?"

"Ocah whipped me to show the other women what would happen if they tried to escape."

"You tried to escape?"

"Me and Mera, yeah. That's how the killing I mentioned happened. Look, no offense, but that's an alloy stronger than titanium--"

With a grunt and a herculean wrench, the not-Volek bent the bars apart then reached inside and fiddled with the hinge mechanism until it clicked.

I was still chained up by the wrists, though.

"It should be a crime to streak such exquisite skin," he said, sliding his hand along my shoulder. I shivered, my body breaking out in goosebumps. It occurred to me, I was quite helpless and he could do whatever he wanted to me…not to mention I was buck naked.

As a dancer, I'd been used to being leered at while unclothed. This was different. For some reason, my main concern was that this wasn't the best position for me to be displayed in. Stupid, I know.

The other concern I had was how damn good it felt to have him touch me. His fingers caressed my arms all the way up until they reached the manacles.

"These are too strong to be broken without injuring you, but I can disable the lock."

He stepped up close to me, pressing his body against my own as he worked on the locks. My breaths came in heavy pants as he picked the manacles.

"Um," I said, feeling quite awkward but also pretty damn excited. He smelled good, not like a Volek at all. "What's your name?"

"That's not important right now."

The manacles came free, and I dropped from the ceiling but he caught me easily in his arms before I hit the ground. My arms were completely numb as I cried out, the pins and needles of the returning sensation starting up.

"Are you all right? Are your arms broken?"

"No, but I can't move them yet," I said. "They're asleep."

"They are what? Human limbs slumber? I didn't know you had multiple brains."

I fought back a totally inappropriate giggle.

"We don't, it's a figure of speech." I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of it all. "Well, Mr. Not Important, right now, what are you going to do with me? Because if you're going to rescue me, you should probably get going. I hear someone coming."

He seemed to notice the sound of approaching footsteps for the first time. He set me down gently on a bench built into the wall then went to the end of the hallway.

An Ewani walked around the corner, then staggered, falling to his knees, holding his throat while blood seeped between his furry fingers.

"What the hell--"

"Amelia."

I yelped when I realized my rescuer was standing right next to me.

"How did you move that fast? I've only ever seen one man move like that before, and he was a Vinduthi."

A smile spread over his face, and I shuddered.

"Oh, was he now?"

He slipped off his coat, wrapping it around me until I was covered to the knees, swathed in fabric, before lifting me up, cradling me to his chest.

"What are you doing? Put me down."

"No time. We have to go."

"What did you do to that Ewani?" I asked as we passed the corpse on the floor.

"I tore his throat out."

I realized my legs were sticky, and now I understood why. His hand was covered with blood. Just what kind of beast had come to my rescue?

And what was he planning to do to me?