Royally Claimed

  We went still, all connected like that and just panting as the storm slowly lifted.

  I whimpered as the guys slowly withdrew, picking me up and laying me down across the sofa in a grinning, sweaty, heap.

  “Holy fuck,” Gareth groaned, dropping his head back and stroking my thigh. “Cass, that was… shit.”

  “Yeah what?” Zane mumbled, shoving his fingers through his hair as he grinned at me.

  Suddenly, the loudspeaker kicked on. “Thank you, gentlemen. Bidding is now closed as we have a winner.

  My heart sunk. “Wait, what does that mean?”

  I looked up in time to see the three of them go still. Foster swore under his breath as Zane turned to me.

  “It means someone fucking bought her.”

  My eyes went wide. “But, what about her guys?”

  Zane shook his head and my stomach knotted. “They can’t do that! Mitch can’t do that!”

  “He just did,” Gareth growled, his fists bunching. Out on the main floor, the two men were unclipping the red-haired woman from the harness and covering her with a silk robe. “In a couple days, they’ll pack her off to wherever, and that’s that.”

  “I’m gonna kill him,” Foster said softly, shaking his head. “He can’t do this.”

  “The plan, Foster,” Zane muttered, clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder. “Stay level, man.”

  I whirled back to them. “Plan?”

  Zane turned and grinned. “I told you we weren’t going to let this happen to you, gorgeous.”

  “Well? What’s the plan?”

  There was a sudden knock at the door to the room, and the guys scrambled.

  “Yo!” A voice called. “Boss wants her back in her cell pronto.”

  “Yep!” Gareth called back as the three of them yanked clothes back on. Foster helped me up and helped me get the lingerie back on.

  “Look, you’ve gotta sit tight, okay?”

  I bit my lip, looking up at him. “What do you mean?”

  “Just, trust us, alright? We need to bring you back before Mitch gets sniffing around.”

  “Back to my cell?”

  Foster pulled me close, kissing me and wrapping his arms around me. “There’s no auction tomorrow, so we’ll just lay low. Tomorrow night, we’re busting out of this fucking hell-hole. All of us,” he said pointedly, looking me in the eye.

  “But what about…” I turned to Zane, a pained look on my face. “What about the people Mitch is watching? The ones close to you?”

  Zane’s jaw tightened, but he shook his head. “We’ve got something in motion. Tomorrow’s the only window though.”

  “We gotta move,” Gareth muttered, checking his watch.

  Zane nodded and brought the cuffs back out. “Sorry, gorgeous,” he whispered, putting them back on my wrists. “Let’s get you back. Lay low, and tomorrow? We’re getting you the hell out of here.”

  Chapter 16

  I slept fitfully that night, and I think it was for a couple of reasons.

  The first and foremost was that I’d just had my world rocked. I’d just had the single hottest, most mind-blowing sexual experience of my life, at the hands of three incredible men. I felt…liberated somehow. I felt changed, like we’d all passed through something together back there in that room.

  I felt stronger, and closer, and like…well it was dumb, but I felt like I was part of something bigger than just me.

  And it felt amazing

  But the second reasons was just worry. And there was a lot to worry about. I thought of my mother and how she must’ve been worried half to death about me. I thought of friends back home, coworkers, and the life I used to lead. Hell, I even thought of Frank.

  I wondered if Mitch had sent them demands yet, or hell, how much he was demanding. Mom had money, that I knew. Except it’d been days and I was still in that cell.

  All of that life from before was gone, all of it ripped away when I’d been taken. Taken, I might add, by the very same three men who were now somehow deep inside of me. Three men who’d gone from wild unhinged vacation sex flings to…well, more.

  A lot more.

  So much more that it scared me.

  Yes, they’d been the ones to take me from my bed that night, but I knew that it was nothing they’d ever willingly want to do. They were as much prisoners of Mitch as I was, forced into this for reasons outside of their control.

  I thought of the red-haired woman and her two men and shook my head in the dark. First of all, she was with them both. That in and of itself was pretty crazy. My guys had seemed casual about mentioning that, that she was with both of them. At first the prudish side of me scoffed at the idea, but the more I thought about it, and the more I related it to what I’d been going through with feelings for all three of my guys, the more it actually just made sense.

  Everyone always said that love and feeling and all that were for two people to have together. And I’d used to believe that, before I met Foster, Gareth, and Zane.

  I wasn’t so sure anymore.

  I wasn’t sure what I thought anymore. I had feelings for them — all three of them. There was no denying it at that point anymore. I wasn’t sure what those feelings were or where they might lead, but they were there, deep in my heart.

  My thoughts trailed again to the red-haired girl and her guys, and how horrible her situation must have been. To be torn away from the men you loved, and then for them to find you to help you, only for you to be ripped away from them again? It broke my heart, thinking about how Mitch had so casually sold her to some mysterious bastard behind a two-way mirror.

  I shivered as I realized I might be in that room next.

  But no. I shook my head, huddling under the blankets. I wouldn’t be. The plan was for tomorrow night. I didn’t know what they were planning, or how they thought we were all going to get out of there, but I could hold out for one more day.

  One more day in this place, and I’d be free..

  And then I could figure out what the feelings I was having for three men at the same time meant.

  Except, you know what they say about the best laid plans…

  Chapter 17

  I waited the next day, just sitting in that cell. I was cold, and tired, and lonely.

  And I missed them.

  I missed Gareth’s gruffness, like a fierce protective bear. Zane’s humor and charm, his ability to make me smile. And I missed the cool, shoot-from-the-hip confidence of Foster.

  I missed being with them. I knew by the end of the day, they’d be springing their plan and coming to take me away, but as the hours dragged on, I got more and more anxious.

  I just wanted this all to be over.

  Well, not all of it, I thought with a blush. I wanted being here, under lock and key to be over, but I didn’t want whatever I’d found with my guys to be over. That part I wanted to stay and stick when we left. I didn’t know how, or what it’d mean, or how we’d explain to people that, yes, there were four of us.

  Hell, I didn’t even know if they were on the same page as me. I was pretty sure, at least. I mean, I wasn’t some silly girl who thought sex meant any more than just sex. But that’s not why I was feeling the way I was. Yes, the sex was mind-blowing, and incredible, and out-of-this-world amazing, but it was what happened between us all between all the hot sex.

  It was lingering looks, or the way Foster’s hand brushed across the small of my back. It was Zane, coming to my cell late that first night here and sitting with me, telling me his story when he never had to. And it was Gareth, stepping between me and anything remotely resembling danger or a threat.

  There was something there, and when we left this place, I need to make sure that left with us.

  The hours ticked by, and still no word from them. Unfamiliar guards brought me food twice over the hours, but I barely picked at it as I sat there wiling the time away, waiting until I could be free of that place.

  Finally, there was the sound of footsteps coming down the
hallway. I stood quickly, feeling my heart jump up into my throat in anticipation. The footsteps stopped, the lock clicked. But suddenly, the door went slamming open, and there, standing in the doorway, was Mitch.

  My heart dropped into my stomach at the furious sneer on his face.

  “Hello there, princess,” he snarled, his face a mask of anger as he stormed into the room towards me. I screamed, jerking away from him, but it was too late. I gasped as I felt him grab me by the hair, yanking me to the floor. Stars danced in front of my eyes as my head connected with the floor, and the wind knocked out of me as he grabbed me by the arms and started to yank me out the door.

  I screamed, twisting and kicking, but it was useless to his strength as he yanked me down the hallway of the building. He stopped in front of what looked like freight elevator doors, jabbing a button until they opened. He tossed me inside the metal box, looming over me with his teeth bared as I shivered on the floor.

  “What do you—”

  “Shut the fuck up,” he muttered, turning to punch one of the buttons. The doors closed, and we started to rise.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Up, bitch,” Mitch sneered.

  “Why?”

  He whirled back to me. “You know, this is your problem. You need to ask questions all the fucking time! You need to know things you shouldn’t.”

  The doors opened, and I blinked at the blinding sunlight suddenly flooding the elevator.

  “Your problem is, you to get close to people you really shouldn’t get close to.”

  I swallowed thickly, a horrible sensation slowly burning inside of me. Mitch grabbed me again, yanking me out into the sunlight. I squinted, blinded after days indoors. We were on a rooftop of what looked like an abandoned factory of some kind. We were surrounded by old forest and scrublands, with the only other piece of civilization besides the crumbling building a small airfield cut into the trees.

  Mitch yanked me by the arm, quickly striding right for the edge of the roof. I gasped as we got closer, his grip tight on my arm before he suddenly threw me down, right by the edge.

  “Wait! Please! What—”

  My words froze as I felt the sudden chill of a blade at my throat.

  Mitch’s eyes narrowed as he leaned in close, his breath hot against my cheek and his terrifying gaze burning into me. “I should just slit you open right here,” he said, a chilling calmness in his voice.

  “A pain in my ass is what you are.”

  “Please—”

  “But I can’t. Because you know what I want more than kicking your body over this edge?” His lips curled into a wicked smile.

  “Money.”

  I froze at the voice coming from behind Mitch. Slowly, like in a dream, my eyes moved past him and focused on the speaker, all the while telling myself this couldn’t be real.

  Frank.

  Standing there behind Mitch, grinning at me, was my stepfather.

  Mitch grinned as the horror spread over my face. “Surprise, princess,” he chuckled.

  He dragged me up, yanking me to my feet and shoving me forward. There was Frank, and next to him, the creepy man with the scar I’d seen when I’d walked into my mother’s cabana that day back at the resort.

  “Frank?!” I gasped, my eyes going wide in disbelief.

  He smiled thinly.

  “Are— are you here with the ransom?”

  All three of them started laughing.

  All of them, even Frank.

  “Ransom?” He laughed as he walked over, shaking his head. Before I could even register it, his hand came up with a snap, slapping me sharply across the face.

  “No, you little bitch,” he snarled. “There is no ransom.”

  I blinked stars, stumbling back from the hit. “What?”

  “But there is a sale to be made.” He grinned at me. “Sheik Abdul El Hassien Mukrahan, actually. The son of a nephew of, oh, fuck it, it doesn’t matter.”

  Frank chuckled.

  “Point is, it’s a win-win.” He leaned close. “You’re off my hands and away from your mother and her bank account, and I split the profits of this little transaction with Mitch here.”

  My jaw dropped, almost unable to make words. I couldn’t believe it. Frank and I had never gotten along, but this? This was so much past that.

  He was literally going to sell me into slavery to get to my mother’s money.

  “Frank, please.”

  “Nah, no deal.” He sneered. “I’ve made my deal already.” He nodded past me at Mitch. “Take her back to the cell. The Sheik will be arriving tomorrow for the auction.”

  I was numb, like in a dream as they carried me back to the elevator. I felt nothing as they shoved me back down the hallway and back into my cell.

  My only thought as the door to the cell was yanked open and I was pushed in was one word: Survival. I had to survive until that night, when Foster and Gareth and Zane would come—

  “Uh-uh, no.”

  Mitch leered at me from the doorway, chuckling and shaking his head. “I know what you’re thinking, princess.”

  “No you don’t,” I said quietly, my eyes full of hate as I narrowed them at him.

  “Trust me, I do. You’re thinking about those fucking clowns coming to break you out of here tonight.”

  I froze, and he grinned wider.

  “Remember what I said about getting close to people you shouldn’t?” He chuckled. “Trust me, princess. No one’s coming to rescue you.”

  Chapter 18

  Mitch was right.

  No one came that night.

  No Zane, no Gareth, and no Foster.

  Instead, I spent the night awake, trying to hold back the tears and the crushing feeling of losing.

  I was still numb the next morning as two guards came to grab me. They pulled me to my feet and led me out of the cell and down the hallway, until we got to the bathing room.

  This time, mercifully, a woman helped me. The guards even actually turned away as she helped me out of my clothes and into the tub, getting my hair and my back.

  After the scrub, she had me dress in black lingerie similar to what I’d worn before the previous day. Another woman came in as well, helping the first as they did my hair and makeup in front of a mirror they’d wheeled in.

  I looked stunning, but the thought made me sick.

  I looked stunning so that I would sell for a higher price to some sick bastard who thought women were purchasable commodities.

  They left abruptly when they were finished, and the two guards returned to take me down the long walk to the auction room.

  Still numb. Still cold.

  And with every step, I knew with more and more certainty that there was no rescue coming. There was no dramatic and heroic crashing of my heroes through a door to save me.

  This was it. There was no light at the end of this tunnel.

  The doors to the auction room opened silently, and I shivered as I was led in. They moved me to the center, bending to secure my ankles to the loops in the floor. There was no harness this time, but there I was, tethered like a slave for sale.

  Because I was.

  The lights dimmed, and I could feel eyes on me. I glanced over to see Frank, the creepy guy, and Mitch leering from a dark corner of the room. Mitch blew me a sickening kiss as he reached for what had to be a microphone.

  “Good evening, gentleman,” his voice came across the loudspeakers, and I knew each of those mirror-walled rooms had his voice in them as well.

  “Tonight, we have this lovely for sale. Cassandra is her name, but you may call her whatever you choose.”

  I shivered, looking at the floor.

  “Shall we start the bidding at—”

  A light suddenly went on above one of the mirrors with a small chime. Two others followed immediately.

  I turned to see Mitch grinning eagerly. “Excellent, we begin at two-hundred-thousand, and now we move to two-fifty.”

  The first light and chime went on
, quickly followed by the same other two again.”

  Frank rubbed his hands together.

  “Three-hund—”

  The same light and chime came through again before he could even finish his sentence, and my heart sank. I knew this was the Sheik bidding, and the grins on Mitch and Frank’s faces said I was right.

  “Do I hear four-hundred?”

  Four lights and bells went on.

  “Five-hundred?”

  The sheik’s light went on, and none followed this time.

  Mitch whistled lowly. “Final offer. Five-hundred-thousand for this feisty item.”

  No more lights went on, and the whole place went silent until I heard the word that sank like a knife into my heart.

  “Sold.”

  Sold.

  I was sold.

  I felt like I was going to pass out as the two guards came over again and unlocked me. I turned, my eyes searching my stepfather’s face.

  “Frank, please.”

  But he only shook his head. “Nice knowing you, Cass. I'll tell your mother the car crash you died in was quick.”

  The tears I’d been desperately holding back fell then, streaming down my face. Two men in dark suits, middle-eastern head-coverings, and sunglasses grabbed my arms and hustled me out of the room, down the hall, out a set of doors. A limo was waiting for us, and they quickly threw me in, one sliding in after me and the other going for the driver’s door.

  I froze.

  The sheik himself was in there with his face and head covered with a scarf and sunglasses.

  Just staring at me.

  “Please,” I whispered pitifully, but he raised a hand and shook his head.

  We drove for a few minutes in silence, before I heard a plane engine.

  The airfield.

  I was pulled from the car as we stopped, gasping as I glanced up at the private jet already waiting and ready on the runway.

  Oh God, this was it. This was my fate.

  They started to pull me towards the staircase, and suddenly, something snapped in me.