It occurred to Jaya, as she fought to swim back through the currents of her fuzzy mind toward wakefulness, that she’d never in her life been unconscious until she met Ivan. She’d never needed surgery, never been knocked out or hit in the head. Her luck had definitely taken a turn for the worse when she met the evil arms dealer with a penchant for drugging her and placing her in extreme situations. Perhaps, she would mention this when the shitstorm of his inevitable anger came down upon her head.

His was the first voice she recognized as she began to wake up. His deep baritone was a sharp reprimand that she couldn’t escape, though she didn’t think she was the recipient of his displeasure this time. She tried to lift her lashes, tried to move her limbs as she waded toward the low murmur of voices, but couldn’t seem to get her own body to respond to her commands. As though he knew she was surfacing, Ivan’s voice drifted closer, his lips brushing against the edge of her ear, his voice taking on a quieter tone, though she still heard the dark promise within, the need to deliver pain as he spoke. “Take it slow, Jaya. You lost a lot of blood.”

She tried to speak, but no sound emerged. She sucked her lips in, wetted them, and tried again. “Ndari…” she whispered.

Jaya could sense Ivan’s disappointment. His hand fell on her body, ran down from her shoulder, where his thumb briefly caressed her collar bone before falling to her arm and wrapping around it possessively as if to remind her to whom she belonged, of her current fragility. That she shouldn’t be asking for someone else while at his mercy. She wanted to explain her desperate need to make sure that the other woman still lived, that he hadn’t punished her while Jaya was asleep. She didn’t trust him. But she was too weak to do more than murmur for her companion and pray that he would comply.

He shifted on the mattress next to her and turned to say sharply to someone, “Get the princess.”

“Yes sir.” The voice belonged to Keane. She heard a door shut. Jaya let out a sigh, happy her friend was still alive.

As the seconds ticked by, silence weighed heavily in the room. Ivan’s hands felt like chains, pinning her to the bed beneath her back, though his hold wasn’t hard. Somehow the intent within his heart bled through his veins, making the air around them stormy and sinister. Though the last thing Jaya wanted to do was face him, she forced her eyes open and turned her head. What she saw chilled everything within her. His face was like granite, much the same as when she’d first met him. Except for his eyes; his eyes were on fire. They held possession, love, anger and punishment. He didn’t even attempt to hide his truth from her. He wanted her to know everything he felt.

She shivered and looked away, glancing around the room. She was back in the bedroom she shared with Ivan, tucked carefully beneath the covers. She looked down at her arm, resting on top of a pillow. It was wrapped in a thick bandage from wrist to elbow. She asked in a tentative voice, “How bad?”

“Sixteen stitches,” he said coolly. “You didn’t need a blood transfusion, though it was close. I had the best plastic surgeon in the city brought in to make sure the stitching was flawless.”

She nodded and flexed her fingers then curled them as though about to type on a keyboard. Pain shot through her arm. She winced and relaxed the muscles, allowing her arm to drop back onto the pillow. Ivan watched dispassionately. “I-is there any permanent damage?” she asked hesitantly.

He didn’t answer for a moment. She glanced back at him, studying his face. She knew exactly what he was thinking; the same thing as she. He was replaying each moment of her escape up to and including the moment she got hurt and then every minute after until he recaptured her. His face darkened as their eyes met and his hand fell on her good wrist, tightening while he thought about how close he came to losing her.

“No permanent damage,” he growled.

She stared up at him helplessly and watched the storm brewing within. She knew something awful was coming but didn’t know what. He’d admitted to loving her. But he was not a good man. So what did being loved by a man like Ivan Vogel mean? She suspected she was about to find out.

“You betrayed me,” he said, ice and fury clashing in his voice. She could feel the barely leashed vibrations running through him.

He was well and truly pissed at her. “I’ve betrayed you before, run away before, remember?” she said. She twisted her wrist in an attempt to pull it from his hold. He tightened his grip, pressing the metal of her bracelet into her flesh.

“Not like this,” he said coldly, his grey eyes flickering down her body outlined beneath the covers. “I’ve given you every chance to settle down. I’ve given you more chances than I would have given any other person. You knew better and yet you did it anyway.”

She sighed and lifted her injured hand, wincing as she did, and pushed a swath of hair from her forehead before letting her arm drop again. He made an annoyed sound and lifted her wrist back onto the pillow, elevating it. “I had to… had to get to Father,” she said quietly. “I don’t belong here anymore.”

He took her chin in a hard grip and forced her to look at him. “You aren’t going anywhere, ever,” he said. His words were said with such quiet decisiveness that she had no choice but to believe him. “If you make any more attempts to leave I will kill someone you love. Starting with the princess, then your precious cat, then your American friend, Katie Pullman.”

Tears filled her eyes and she shook her head. “I-I don’t believe you.” She tried to call his bluff, though every part of her screamed that he wasn’t lying. She knew what this man was capable of.

He stood and leaned over her, placing his hands on either side of her body and caging her in with his tall body. He blocked out the bright Indonesian sunlight and any comfort she might have found in the open balcony doors with the hangings thrown wide, allowing a breeze to flow through.

“You know the dreams that I have, the night terrors?” When she nodded, he continued. “They aren’t about my family, not really. In them I’m reliving what I did to the families of the men that mowed down my village. How I stalked and hunted them. How I maimed and murdered, not just men, but women and children… elderly… everyone. I killed them all, and Jaya, I enjoyed every moment of it. If I could go back, I would. Just so I could relive those moments, spill the blood that runs through the veins of my enemies. Only this time, I would utilize the patience I’ve learned over the years. If I could go back, I would prologue their suffering, explain to them why they were dying with such bloody brutality.”

“Stop!” she gasped, trying to wrench her chin from his grasp. The horrors of what he was describing were playing out vividly in her mind. He refused to let her go.

“Never.” He leaned closer, until his lips brushed against hers in a soft parody of gentleness while his words hit her like bullets. His icy grey eyes pinned her to the bed with maniacal fervor. “I will never let you go, Jaya. And you will never again underestimate me or I will make you regret it.”

She shivered helplessly, pressing back against the pillows. “How can you want to keep me this way? Doesn’t it matter to you that you’ll never know my love?” Her words came out in a plea.

He shook his head. “It would seem we are past the point where I can force your love. Now I will have to keep you any way I can have you.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers again. As always there was a jolt between them as currents of attraction passed from one to the other. He leaned back far enough to whisper, “Remember, I will kill the things you love if you betray me again.”

She nodded, a tear leaking from the corner of her eye and spilling across her cheek to drip from her chin. She gulped back the sobs that threatened to burst from her lips. He released her and stood back, watching her coolly as she struggled to collect herself. When she finally had her emotions under control, she looked up at him and said, “What now? Will you put me back in a cage?”

He shook his head. “No, I think you understand how serious I am. I’m hoping I won’t have to make an example out of any of your friends. If you agree to my terms then I can allow you the freedom of my property and limited excursions into the city with the appropriate permissions and an armed escort.”

“If I agree to your terms?” she repeated with a bitter laugh and pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed. He reached out to help her. She wanted to shove him away but held herself stiffly in the circle of his arms while he fluffed the pillows against her back and settled her once more. She closed her eyes and tried to enjoy the strength in his arms and the clean, masculine scent that lingered in the air around him. “You haven’t given me any choice. Of course I agree that you shouldn’t kill any of the people I love.”

He nodded and gestured toward the door. “Then you’ll have the freedom to move around at will.”

She stared up at him angrily, chewing on her lips for a moment, before finally snapping, “I always fucking knew you were going to use Haty against me. I wish you’d never given her to me, you bastard!”

He lifted a shoulder in response, his gaze never leaving her. “That was never my intention when I made her a gift. But your safety is more important than anything else and I will use any and every method at my disposal to get you to settle down and accept your situation. If that means using your cat against you, then so be it.”

Jaya opened her mouth to shoot back another furious response, but a short knock cut her off. Ivan strode to the door and allowed Ndari entrance. Keane stood at Ndari’s back, his gaze unfocused and unfriendly. He didn’t step into the room with the princess. Ndari glanced hesitantly at her boss, who stood tall and imposing by the door, before walking to Jaya’s beside with Haty clutched in her arms. She dropped the kitten on the bed and sat gingerly beside Jaya. She refused to look at Jaya though, tears filling her eyes. Jaya understood. She’d used Ndari to escape and nearly gotten her killed in the process. She probably wouldn’t be so forgiving either. Still, Jaya wrapped her good arm around her friend and finally allowed the tears to fall freely. It was with a great deal of relief that Jaya heard the door close and saw, when she glanced up, that Ivan had left the women alone in the room.

After a moment, Ndari loosened up and hugged Jaya back. They cried together for a few minutes, the intensity of their shared experience making words difficult to find. When they finally separated and made eye contact Jaya was the first to speak, bursting into an anguished apology, “I’m so sorry, Ndari, so fucking sorry. You nearly died, and it was all my fault!”

“No, I’m sorry!” Ndari exclaimed, choking on the words. “I should’ve been a better friend. I should’ve been more serious, should’ve found a way to help you leave. I r-really thought he was going to kill me. Then when he got hold of you I thought he was going to kill you too. Jaya, I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

Haty, who had been sniffing the sterilized bandage on Jaya’s arm became disturbed by the intense emotion swirling around her. She meowed loudly, ran up Jaya’s chest and burrowed under her hair. Both women laughed, releasing some of the tension. The kitten had grown bigger. Now her grey and white striped butt poked out from beneath Jaya’s chin when she tried to hide.

“You don’t have to worry that Ivan’ll hurt either one of us again,” Jaya said sadly, reaching up to stroke Haty soothingly. “I’m not going anywhere. He’s convinced me never to try another escape attempt again.”

Ndari’s face, already drawn and serious, became even more so. She nodded slightly, staring down at the bed for a long time, a faraway look in her eyes. Finally, she said, “I have always fought for the concept of free will and when I couldn’t have free will, I insisted on free thought. The man that professes to love you, my friend Jaya, nearly took my free will, my free thought and my life from me today.” Angry tears filled her eyes. The dark orbs focused and moved to Jaya’s face. “My brother is a powerful man. If and when we decide we want to leave, there is not a soul on this planet that will stop us.”