“I own her! I’ll damn well take her! Stand aside!”

I wake to a brutal male voice outside the bedroom door. I don’t know how I got here. Mattias must have put me down to sleep. The blankets are tucked in around me, a small display of care I don’t believe in.

“Sir, she’s exhausted. She fainted earlier.” I hear Mattias trying to stop the intruder, but he is unsuccessful.

“She doesn’t need to do anything but lie back and take it.”

With that stomach-churning comment, the door opens, and the sheriff walks in.

“Hello, pretty,” he leers. “You earned me a lot of money today.”

I shrink down below the blankets. This man scares me. He is powerful and thoroughly corrupt. He did save me from the mob of men in the market, but that wasn’t because he cared about me. That was because he saw value going to waste.

He is no longer in his suit of armor, and I can see him more clearly now. He is in his fifties, old for post-Event America. His hair is salt and pepper, his features are rugged, and his shoulders are broad. It makes sense that he is in good shape. Nobody weak rules these wastelands.

A small part of me—a very, very small part—responds to his presence. He has a raw, brutal masculinity that calls to the ancient female parts of me, but I am terrified of him in every other sense. He just sold me. To seven other men. He is not like Mattias and Elias. He doesn’t take care of me. He will use me as he wishes, and he will pass me on for others to do the same.

I cower in the bed, a soft whimpering escaping my lips. I wish I had my clothes on right now. I wish I had my gun. I’d put a bullet right in his smirking head.

He has eyes that glint with gray steel, and an expression I can only describe as being one of pure conquest. He reaches down, grasps the blanket, and yanks it off me.

I squeal and try to cover myself, but there’s no covering all the parts of me. I have never been seen like this before. I have never been looked at like this before. His eyes rake up and down my body, and even though I put my hand between my thighs and try to turn away, I know he’s already seen everything.

“What’s wrong with her, Mattias?”

Mattias steps up beside him. “She’s afraid of you, sir. As are many.”

The sheriff laughs. “No need to fear me, pretty. What I intend to do with you will make you feel better than you ever have.”

Somehow, I doubt that.

“She has only been with us a day. She needs much more preparation,” Mattias explains. “She’s very, very wild, sir.”

“I own that cunt. I’m going to take it.”

He looks me in the eye. I see wickedness. I see harsh male lust. I see the desire to be inside me. I see my undoing.

“Spread your legs, girl. Show me what I own.”

I grab a pillow and cover myself for good measure.

The sheriff cuts a look at Mattias. “She’s disobedient.”

“She’s wild, sir.”

“We better whip that wildness out of her.”

“We want to break her in, not break her completely,” Mattias says. He has a calm way of speaking to the sheriff that is not as deferential as it might be. “Your clients will not be pleased if she is damaged.”

“Clients?” The sheriff shakes his head. “Girl made me forget about them. She’s a real beauty. Damn.”

“Let me show you, sir.”

Mattias comes to the side of the bed. He takes the pillow from me.

“Be a good girl,” he murmurs, his eyes meeting mine. I feel a small amount of reassurance as his large hands push my shoulders back on the bed before running down the sides of my body to my thighs. He parts them with a gentle, but firm motion, and slides my hand away from my sex.

He makes it easy, and when he is done, I am lying there with my pussy on display to the sheriff who caught me, my arms held gently, but firmly by my side.

“Damn,” the sheriff curses to himself. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one this beautiful before.”

“She is a treasure,” Mattias agrees. “But very, very innocent.”

“Let me see the hole.”

The request is crude, and the execution is shameful. Mattias moves his hands over my bare body, his fingers finding my sex. I don’t know what he’s planning to do, but I feel a little tingle as the heel of his hand brushes over my clit.

And then he is spreading my lower lips apart. Not too wide, just wide enough to show the sheriff what lies inside them.

“That’s a tight little hole,” the sheriff says.

I feel myself blush with pure shame. Here I am lying naked, letting these men look at my pussy and comment on it. I am glad it is Mattias who is touching me. He has a gentle, sure, calming touch that makes this bearable. I am sure the sheriff would be much rougher with me.

“Does she like being touched?”

“She’s shown promise, sir,” Mattias says, rubbing his hand back and forth over my slit gently. It’s a soothing, possessive stroking, which has an undeniable effect on my body.

“Oh, yeah, there she goes. Those hips are dancing,” the sheriff rumbles. “She’ll do that so nicely on a cock.”

More embarrassment floods my system.

“She will,” Mattias says, patting just above my clit. “She’s quite responsive, when she’s not terrified. Feisty too. She’s going to need a lot of handling and a lot of discipline.”

“Is that right? She seems pretty quiet right now.”

“You’re more intimidating than I am.”

“I sure fucking hope so,” the sheriff laughs.

It seems like a jab at Mattias, and I don’t like that.

“Parking warden,” I curse under my breath.

“What did she just say?”

Mattias’ hand stops, clasping my pussy lightly. “Parking warden,” he says. “She’s been led to believe it’s a curse, I believe.”

“Income tax!” I growl at him. I don’t like being made fun of.

The sheriff snorts.

My father taught me all the worst words in the world. Income tax was a phrase he almost never used, only at the very worst of times. I expected it to have more effect.

“Damn if I don’t want to be inside that cunt,” he says, his eyes darkening again as Mattias rubs me between my legs. “She needs to be broken in before she starts being bred.”

I start to squirm. The way he speaks. The way they both speak, it is as if I have no rights. I am a thing to be used, for the sheriff’s pleasure, and then his profit.

“You know why I give you the girls,” he says. “I don’t usually have patience for the virgins. But I want this one. I want this one now.”

“She is yours.”

I look at Mattias with wide eyes. What is he doing?

“She is. You get on out of here. I want to spend some time with her.”

“No!” I don’t want Mattias to leave, but he follows orders and does as he’s told. I know he doesn’t have a choice. I know there are a thousand men waiting to kill on the sheriff’s command, but I cling to him as he gets up to leave.

“Be a good girl,” he murmurs to me.

The sheriff is taking off his shirt as Mattias walks out the door. Oh, god. Oh, my fucking god. His body looks hard as iron, the musculature of his stomach is rippled and he has black curling hair across his chest.

I feel that little tingle between my legs as he crouches down over the bed like a predator and crawls up toward me.

“Easy,” he growls, as I try to squirm away. He captures me by the wrist and keeps me in place as he covers my body with his own, lowering his face to mine.

His rough stubble prickles my face as he kisses me, his masculine lips finding mine with an insistence that will not allow resistance. My mouth opens beneath his, and his tongue snakes in. It is a strange sensation, to be kissed by this ruthless man, to have his mouth locked on mine, to have his rough denim-clad leg between my thighs.

The sheriff takes his time with the kiss, lets me sink into it, lets my body respond. His tongue laps against mine, his lips caressing my mouth. He is skilled at this and slowly I begin to lose myself in it.

“There you go,” he rumbles, glancing down to where my pussy is pressed against his thigh. I am rubbing myself against him, even though he is cruel. Even though his plans for me are unthinkably vile.

He looks down into my eyes, his fingers stroking lightly through the hair at the front of my scalp.

“What do you think, princess? Are you ready to be bred?”

“Nossir,” I whisper back to him. My nipples are being tickled and stimulated by the dark mat of chest hair above them.

“Are you ready to be fucked?”

“Nossir.”

“What are you ready for?”

I don’t know the answer to that. While I try to think of one, he lowers his salt and pepper head and his mouth finds my left nipple, sucking it into his mouth.

The sensation shoots straight down to my pussy, making my hips jolt.

“I think you are ready to be fucked and bred,” he growls softly. “I think you’re ready to take my cock.”

I’m not ready. Not in any way. But he is the one in control, and he rears up onto his knees, his hands going to his belt to free an erection that makes me gasp.

It is at least ten inches long, and thick in proportion. It is huge. It is a hard monster, and I know there is no way that it will ever fit inside me.

“Sir...” I gasp, my eyes filling with tears.

He leans down and lets it rest on my belly. I have never felt one of these before, never known how very hard and hot they are. Then he draws back, and lets the length of it slide down between my thighs. His cock is much longer than my pussy. I can see the big head of it rubbing back and forth, and I can feel it as it catches my clit.

He drops his hips back further, and I feel it pressing at the little hole at the entrance of my body. It is too big. When he urges forward, nothing happens. He may as well be trying to push a cow through a keyhole.

“You are such a tight girl,” he rumbles, one hand stroking my hair, the other at my breast. He is being more gentle than I thought he would, but the fact remains my pussy can’t take him.

He keeps his cock there anyway, rubbing and caressing my body with his rough hands.

“This fuck hole is going to spread for me,” he tells me in a throaty mutter. “You’re going to wrap that tight little cunt around me.”

His words are brutal and scary, but I can feel them doing something to me. The tingling in my clit is growing, the warm sensation between my thighs is growing. And his cock is sliding between my lips again, back and forth, the head bumping against the little bud over and over again.

“I hate you,” I whisper as his lips descend on mine again, his kiss claiming my mouth.

“I know,” he growls against my lips. “You’re a wild thing. You don’t know what it is you need. You don’t know what you were made for. But this pussy was made to take cocks, and this belly was made to swell with seed and bring new life. That’s what you’re for, wild girl.”

It seems to me that his cock is getting slippery. Do cocks do that? His dick is definitely gliding back and forth much more easily now. He arches back, the head finds my hole again, and this time it pushes in just a little.

“Oh, my!”

I cling to his arms as he chuckles darkly. “That’s right, wild girl. Your pussy is opening up for me. You’re wet.”

“I’m not wet. You are.”

He smirks and draws back, leaving me without the touch of his cock. Kneeling between my legs, he swipes his fingers up the seam of my lips, then pushes those same fingers into my mouth.

“Taste yourself,” he orders. “Those are your fuck juices. That’s what you taste like when you want to be taken.”

I bite down. My teeth catch his fingers sharply. He curses and the other big hand comes down between my thighs with a swift slap right to my pussy.

“Ow!” I scream and cry out, but there’s no respite now. The hand that was in my mouth wraps around my throat. The other continues to whip my pussy, his fingers slapping my slit over and over again, making me buck and wail.

“Don’t you ever show signs of aggression,” he snarls. “I can hurt you far more than you could ever hurt me.”

I shriek and cry out as he whips my sex with his fingers. The sharp pain in my most sensitive spot is far crueler than what I inflicted on him, but what else should I expect?

Mattias enters the room. “Is everything alright?”

“Little bitch bit me,” the sheriff says. “I’m teaching her a lesson.”

He gives me another slap, and pinches my sore clit. I yowl, my hips bucking as he squeezes that sensitive spot.

“I should hold you down and fuck you until you cry,” he snarls at me. “Be glad you’re still worth more to me than that.”

“Apologize, Trissa.” Mattias says, his arms folded over his chest.

“Owwww! I’m sorrry!” I’ll say anything to make the spanking stop.

As soon as I say the word, it does. The sheriff’s hand stops slapping my pussy, and instead a finger pushes inside it.

“Look at that,” he growls as he pulls it free. “The wild girl has a taste for pain.”

He holds his finger up, and we all see that it’s gleaming with my juices.

“Now lick these off nicely, and thank me.”

He pushes his finger back into my mouth, those slate gray eyes daring me to bite again. This time, I let my tongue lap at his finger. The taste isn’t unpleasant. It’s mild and unlike anything I have ever tasted before. But the shame of knowing it is my own juices being smeared over my tongue, and the knowledge that this is the least of the perverted things he intends to do to me makes me blush with fresh humiliation.

“Good girl,” he says more gently, pushing the finger back inside me. I like the way it feels. I like how my sore, spanked clit responds.

“I will hurt you if you disobey me,” he says. “And I will probably hurt you even if you don’t, because this pussy is wetter than it was through all those nice kisses and caresses, isn’t it.”

I look over his shoulder, at Mattias. I don’t know what I’m looking for. Help? A cue?

Mattias gives me a brief nod and the hint of a smile. I get the feeling I might be okay. Maybe. I don’t know. I am so confused by this treatment, and by the way I am reacting to it. What the sheriff did to me hurt. My pussy still aches. And yet, I am aroused. More aroused than I have ever been.

Do I want him?

Do I maybe even need him?

Is this what a man does to a woman?

“Almost a pity I sold you,” he murmurs again. “But contracts are contracts, aren’t they, girl?”

I don’t know how to answer him, so I stare mutely as he pushes his thick finger in and out of me. Sensation is building; the same sensation that made me feel so very good when Mattias touched me, except now it is heightened, even more intense, because I do not like this man.

I do not like him at all, but I am going to come for him.

His fingers are working me toward an orgasm I don’t understand, but can’t resist. When his thumb taps the button of my clit, the same sore little place he spanked when I bit him, I explode into climax. My head falls back, my thighs shake, my senses whirl as I close my eyes and escape into pleasure.

When I open my eyes again, he is standing at the end of the bed. His hands are on his hips, his tall body casting a shadow over my quivering form.

“She comes nicely,” the sheriff drawls to Mattias. “She won’t have any problems with the others.”

He looks down at me. Those silvery eyes that hold so much potential cruelty are pleased, for the moment. “You’re going to take them eagerly, I reckon. They’ll have you wet whether you like it or not.”

I don’t know what to say, or what to do with myself. I am at this beast’s mercy. He owns me. He has sold me. More men will be coming to take me. And I will have no choice in it.

As the orgasm fades, panic starts to set in. This is not the life my mother or my father wanted for me. They gave me the gift of freedom and now I have squandered it. It is only a matter of time before that fragile piece of skin hiding up inside me is torn from me by a man I do not know, a man who wishes me to bear a child who will likewise never be free.

Pleasure means nothing in this moment, as I lie there under the gaze of a creature so foul he is barely human. Orgasm leaves me defiant. He can make me come, but he will not claim my soul. He will not win. And not a single one of the men he has sold me to will ever so much as lay a finger on me.