Chapter 15
Nix was going to kill Frazier if he touched her one more time. Her hands were raw from struggling against the bindings, but she almost had one hand free. She couldn’t wait to finally free them both so that she could make a run for it. Frazier had one of his men loosen the bindings on her feet just enough so that she could walk, but not enough to run without tripping and falling. She needed to wait for the perfect moment to escape, pretending in the meantime to be cowed by the human males. They seemed to have fallen for her act because they weren’t walking as close to her as they had at the beginning. They felt confident that with her bindings on her feet and hands and the rope tied around her neck that she wasn’t going to be going anywhere.
The whole time she listened, storing every ounce of information from names to locations in her memory. Frazier walked next to her, holding the rope tied around her neck and pulling her like a pet. Every few minutes, he would reach out to touch her in some small way. It might be her elbow, her back and he seemed to really like running her hair between his fingers, admiring its softness. She had been tolerating those touches because when he was paying attention to her, he had a tendency to talk—a lot.
He told her how he had taken on the identity of Frazier to protect his true identity. She played along by asking him questions about himself and he seemed pleased by her interest in him, answering her freely. Of course, this also meant that Frazier wasn’t afraid of telling her stuff because he wasn’t planning on letting her go. She couldn’t dwell on that thought, though; she needed to get information and then find a way to escape.
“Why the name Frazier?” she asked him.
“Happy accident, I guess you could say. I first took the identity from one of the dome soldiers. I was able to come and go freely in the dome and learned how things were run, and then I made my way through the tunnels or aboveground, going from dome to dome. I used the name Frazier but sometimes changed it up if I thought people were becoming suspicious.”
“No one recognized you?”
“I would grow my hair long, cut it, even shave it bald like Gerald’s from time to time. No one noticed me and I kept my distance. I’m good at blending in.”
“What’s your real name?”
Frazier waved his finger at her. “Now that, my dear, is way too much personal information. I might be willing to share more if you give me something in return, though.” He rubbed the bulge in the front of his pants suggestively.
Nix stiffened at the implication. “I would rather die.”
He stopped walking and jerked on the rope around her neck, forcing her to stop as well. “Don’t think for one second I won’t take what I want. I was just giving you the opportunity to freely offer out of the kindness of my heart. You know if you show your willingness to do as I say to please me I would be more leniant toward you.” Pulling the rope in slowly as he moved closer, he leaned down right in her face. “Honestly, though, I like it when women try to fight me. It makes it so much more exciting and rewarding when I break them.”
She felt shivers race down her spine at his tone and the intensity in his eyes. “You act like you’re so much better than Drastans, but our people would never abuse females.”
He snorted in disbelief, “Your people have traitors in their midst, just like us. They lie, steal, manipulate, and are responsible for deaths just as much as my people are. My goal is to eventually become the leader of my world. Once I force the Drastans to depart, my people will celebrate and recongize me as a true patriot. Your people are traitors who want to destroy your world and everything it stands for through their own treachery and betrayal of your ideals. If I was your commander, I would seek out those traitors and execute them. The fact that Estro hasn’t done jack shit shows him to be a weak leader. He deserves to be removed from his position.”
Nix tried to hit him, but he jerked the rope on her neck again, causing it to tighten and cut off her air supply. When she stopped struggling, he released her and she coughed as air slowly refilled her lungs. “Don’t talk about the commander like that! He’s a better male than you will ever be.”
Frasier frowned. “What is the commander to you? He’s too old to be a lover. Or is he?”
Glaring at him she answered, “He’s been like a father to me.”
“What I don’t understand is how this supposedly great leader thought it would be a good idea to send out a woman to do a man’s job. If he cares for you like a daughter than he’s a shitty father figure.”
“I’m a warrior. I don’t need balls to do the job, Commander Estro believes in my abilities as a warrior. I don’t have to threaten or beat someone to prove my worth. I’m better than that.” Her tone made it clear that she felt that she was better than him and he easily picked up on that and grew red in the face with anger.
He slapped her across the face—hard. It happened so fast she didn’t have time to protect herself. It infuriated her. If her bindings were off, she would kick his crazy ass.
“You will speak to me with respect or I will shut your mouth, maybe permanently,” Frazier yelled at her. He hit her face again and she felt like she was going to throw up. Fear raced down her spine as she realized for the first time she might not make it out of there alive. She said nothing, using her sleeve to wipe the blood from her face. Frazier ignored her and took a moment to speak with his men.
Nix was grateful for the reprieve, ready to take full advantage of their temporary separation. She pulled out the sharp rock she had found and used it to cut her thumb. The small rock fit in the palm of her hand and she could hide it in her pocket. Leaning against the side of the underground corridor, she wiped her blood on the wall. She had started out just rubbing her body on every wall, seat, or corner, hoping to leave her heat signature, but a blood trail would be even better. She knew her people would be looking for her. Corey would be looking for her. That was one thing she absolutely knew about Corey: if he cared for someone, he would never give up on looking for them. He would find her, she just had to stay alive.
She remembered those words he said to her at their first meeting. “Lieutenant Saber, I am all yours.” Those words had haunted her ever since. What she hadn’t realized at that time was that she would be his as well. She belonged to Warrior Corey Nash from Earth; body, heart and soul. She loved him and wanted nothing more than to be in his arms again, preferably telling him how she felt about him while naked in a bed.
She jerked away from the wall when Frazier yanked on the rope he held. Her eyes narrowed as she thought of what she would like to do to him and that damn rope. Oh...so many possibilities. All of them ending with Frazier begging for his life.
“Come on, pet, we have places to go, people to see, and things to do.”
The way he said that last bit gave her the creeps. Yeah, she could just imagine what things he wanted to do to her and they weren’t pleasant. She would rather die than let him touch her. She had never been treated this way before. Nothing had prepared her for this experience. Then she remembered overhearing Maggie talking to her friend Lily about something that happened to her when she was much younger. Lily had asked Maggie how she got through it and Maggie’s response had stayed with her.
“I wanted to live. I refused to give up, so I did what I had to and survived.”
Those were wise words from a person who had been so young when she was attacked. Nix wanted to live, too. She hardened her resolve. She refused to just give up and let death take her, not when she had so much to live for. She was no longer going through the motions for a father who never wanted her, or even for her career as a trainer for the warriors. Corey was her inspiration; she would live for Corey. A family had been the last thing on her mind growing up because she never had one she could call as her own, but Corey made her think about having a family of her own, a family with him. It appealed to her.
She followed the human males as they took a ladder to an upper level, into what she thought would be another subway tunnel. Surprise flashed across her face as she saw them heading toward a subway exit stairwell. They were going topside.