Fine.

I would obey. Purely because I wanted out of this place as soon as possible.

“That bottle with the cream label.” He arched his chin at the tray. “Apply that to your skin.”

I cringed at the thought of putting on a show for him. Of dropping my arms from my breasts and revealing everything. I also shivered with the similarities between the horror movie of a psychopath who made women rub lotion into their skin to make a suit out of their stripped carcasses.

Sully was a man with murky morals, but surely, he wasn’t a psychopath.

Keeping my eyes from his, I bowed into obedience, regardless of my thoughts.

Needs versus embarrassment.

I chose the need for freedom. Just as I had with the kayak and potential death.

Ducking, I collected the bottle he’d mentioned. The label held scientific mumbo jumbo. A recipe or ingredient list, rather than some fancy stickers of cosmetics. The only thing I recognised was the SSG logo on the bottom corner. A logo that I’d seen on stationery in his office.

I didn’t know what it stood for, but I popped the lid and squirted a generous amount of clear looking serum onto my palm.

Not looking at Sully, I liberally applied the ointment. My belly, legs, arms, and face. Every inch covered with odourless, colourless salve. Almost immediately, a cooling sensation overtook my tingling sunburn, actively removing the heat, and soothing my skin from the outside in.

My eyebrows rose at the seemingly impossible magic.

“A human tested after sun cream.” He narrowed his gaze, drinking me in. His trousers had tented, revealing he’d grown hard watching me apply it. “Proven to reduce the longevity and pain of sunburn.”

I swallowed back the stupid wash of desire knowing he was hard. Knowing I’d made him hard. Even in this damn cage, I was still being an idiot with lust.

I almost wished he’d poured elixir down my throat…then I had a scapegoat for the tiny trickle of wetness that’d gathered.

“Tomorrow night, you’ll be touched by a man. At least now your skin won’t smart when he puts his hands on you.” His voice had turned black. His face brooded with hate. Hate at me or the guest he’d sold me to?

Pointing at the tray, he growled, “The tube. Apply the contents to your hands.”

Doing my best to keep from revealing too much of my nakedness, I deposited the bottle and collected the tube. Again, the packaging wasn’t pretty or marketed with bright labels designed to allure shoppers with a miracle cure. Bare and basic, but if Sully’s scientists had created these products, I had no doubt they were the best available.

The contents of the tube were thick and gluttonous, refusing to squeeze out until I applied pressure. The small blob sat in my palm as I returned the ointment to the tray and rubbed it thoroughly into the backs of my hands, fingers, and palms. The open sores and still oozing blisters stung a little, but just like the sunburn cream, relief followed almost instantly.

I looked up, expecting him to tell me how he’d created such things, but he only stared back with fierceness.

I held his stare even though it cost me. “You knew about my hands.”

He scowled as if I’d offended him. “Of course. I noticed the second I found you.”

“And you gave me something to heal them?”

His throat worked as he swallowed. “You’re not worth much when you’re bleeding.” His tone thickened, making my ears twitch and heart trip. “Roy Slater found you…alluring. He’s paid above and beyond what I usually charge for a night with a goddess. Just as I charged Markus Grammer. I intend to deliver a quality product.”

I stiffened. “Will you tell me how much I’m worth to them?”

He crossed his arms, not trying to hide the tightness and impressive bulge in his trousers. “Why? Does it make you feel wanted?”

I shrugged. “I suppose. In a strange, awful way.”

He froze, his jaw clenching.

I threw bravery to the wind. “What would you pay…to fuck me?” My question started strong but faded into a whisper. I shivered as his entire body seemed to grow in stature, command, and threat.

“I could fuck you for free.”

“You technically already paid for me.” I gulped. “So…I’m not free.”

“You’re right.” His head cocked, sending a scattering of bronze-tipped dark hair over his forehead. “But you’re still worth more to my bank balance than my own selfish desires.”

My fingertips had the insane urge to swipe his hair away. To touch him. To beg him to let me out of this nightmare and try to find somewhere we could co-exist.

In his bed, perhaps?

The thought came and went. A flash of fantasy of him between my legs instead of a total stranger. How would he feel inside me? Would he be strict or sensual? Rough or worshipping?

Once again, chemistry crackled between us as he cleared his throat and commanded, “The vitamins are to be taken tonight and tomorrow morning. They’ll replace whatever you’ve lost in your seemingly delicate system. And the food and water will ensure you don’t starve tonight.”

A silver-covered lid hid the plate of food he mentioned and the pill bottle that I’d become familiar with since my last fainting episode waited next to a large bottle of water.

Worry crashed over me with icy slush. “You’re…leaving me here?”

“I am.”

“But…this cage isn’t big enough to lie down.”

He clasped his hands together between his spread thighs. His knuckles turned white with ferocity. “No, it’s not.” He pierced me with a stare, daring me to argue again.

I looked around at the painful metal wire and then down at my naked skin.

He’d promised punishment.

He’d delivered it.

I tried a different tactic. It wasn’t just about me. These cages hadn’t been designed for human use. Some were mouse size, other rabbit, most big enough for a dog.

Animals had been trapped inside.

Animals who now resided on Serigala?

The truth struck me square in the chest, demanding I suck in a shaky breath. “These cages…they came from your labs…didn’t they?”

He bared his teeth, taking his time to reply. “Do you know what I am?”

I wrinkled my nose, doing my best to form conclusions. I’d heard him mention his scientists, his company. I’d experienced his elixir and other medicines. He seemed revered by those who thought he was a genius. I spoke my educated guess. “You’re a scientist.”

He chuckled once, endlessly dark and threateningly bleak. “I’m much more than just a scientist.”

“You own the company? You rule many scientists?”

His brow fell sternly over his blazing eyes. “Clever.” He looked perplexed but also pained. “You keep surprising me. I don’t care for it.”

More goosebumps peppered my bare flesh. “Don’t like that I’m piecing together your past?”

He laughed coldly. “Believe me, if you’d figured out my past you would not be conversing with me so easily.” He leaned toward my cage. “You would not let me touch you so willingly. You would not kiss me back.”

My chest rose and fell as I sipped shallow breaths. “Why?”