Sedrak grunted again. “When I take a woman, to humiliate a man, I make her turn around and show my men what I will get from this negotiation,” he said. His voice was low and calm. Leola was panting lightly, cold, tears rolling down her cheeks, spilling into her hair, freezing in the night air. She waited, her stomach dropping, fearing his next command.
Her bottom was facing away from the crowd now, and her humiliation knew no greater depths. But if he made her turn… she sobbed lightly.
“Stand up,” Sedrak said unexpectedly.
She hesitated, but then, shaking and wobbly at the knees, she did as he commanded. A boo circulated through the crowd. Leola hugged herself.
“The night grows cold and my bounty shall get damaged!” Sedrak said loudly at the men. “Take my word for it, I am getting what I paid for!” He pointed his sword at Ryken’s shriveled figure. Ryken could not return his gaze, nor look at Leola. “I am getting far more than the value of this coward, I assure you.”
The men laughed, but Leola could hear some disgruntlement in their feral laughter. Another call for Sedrak to show them her cunny bellowed from the throng.
“Who commands this army?” Sedrak shot back, his voice suddenly sharp and full of menace. The crowd fell silent instantly. Sedrak stared into the men, who shifted a group in discomfort and then became still, as if the glare from Sedrak’s eyes gripped each of them with as much fear as Leola herself felt.
“A frozen cunny is no good to me, comrades, maybe some of you who lay with livestock do not know!” Sedrak bellowed, just as suddenly, and the crowd whooped in relieved laughter.
He had already turned to face Leola. “Pick up your garment, and your fur.”
Shaking, she obeyed him, struggling to figure out how she might put the shredded material over her body so that it resembled clothing. She could not, and she could hear men laughing as they watched her.
Sedrak called something to the men nearest the gates, and they acted quickly, bringing something made of leather in their hands, exchanging comments and laughter. For a moment Leola felt sure she would be whipped again, and she hugged herself tightly against the cold outside and within her.
That vanished quickly when Sedrak took the item in his hands and she could see what it was: a collar. She had to steel herself from jumping backward when he stepped toward her, placing the collar around her neck. The leather was thick and heavy, cold to her already chilled skin, and the sensation of it being clasped around her delivered the same foreign, sinful thrill that his firm hand had delivered upon spanking her. The weight of the leather and its implications traveled over the front of her body as an electric pulse, all the way to between her legs. He attached a leash to the collar, and the sound of it clasping traveled as a chill down her spine.
Without warning, he turned and gave the leash a light tug.
She had to grab it and stumble after him to keep her balance. Her fur fell from her arms, and her shredded shift slipped from her shoulders. She was painfully aware of the eyes of all of Sedrak’s men upon her, watching her, seeing her dragged forward like a dog on a leash.
They reached a covered carriage, two of the large beasts harnessed to it. He tossed a flap of heavy leather as easily as though he had turned the page of a book. Leola strained to see what was inside in the dim light.
It was a cage.
“In,” Sedrak said.
A cage. Leola gave a quick glance in the direction of Sedrak’s eyes, perhaps because she wanted confirmation of his request, for surely he couldn’t mean that she should be treated as an animal to this degree. But when she met his eyes, his look was elsewhere, and cold as stone. She averted her gaze quickly. Sedrak tugged harshly, though not viciously at the leash, and it was all the reminder she needed: she had sold herself to this fate.
She stepped up onto the platform, and cringed in humiliation as she had to get on her hands and knees to crawl inside. The grate clanged shut behind her. She huddled in the corner. At the very least, it was warm beneath the heavy leather that covered the cage. She shifted in her nightdress, trying to make the material cover her, but it did not.
When she looked up, Sedrak was watching her through the bars. “Get her fur,” he said to no one in particular. She heard the shuffle of footsteps as men immediately obeyed his command, but did not dare meet his eyes, lest she see in them his dark desires, or whatever cruel intentions resided in his thoughts.
Her fur appeared a moment later, along with two more, and Sedrak tossed them into the cage. At least she wouldn’t freeze to death.
Sedrak was still watching her, and she met his eyes after piling the furs on her body.
“Soon you will learn your place,” he said. “I’ve been wanting of a plaything lately.”
He threw the flap over the cage and she was shrouded in darkness again.
Chapter 2
Her dreams were feverish. A tableau of shame. She awoke in a sweat each time the memory of Sedrak bending her over and insisting she bare herself to his clan formed in her mind. The only solace she felt was when she remembered the words she’d heard through the thick tapestry that covered the cage.
Return to your people, Ryken. And may you never blemish my sight again.
He had let Ryken live. Presumably, he had also freed the other men.
She wanted to believe her courage had helped. But she knew her actions had been driven by fear of what Sedrak might do if she disobeyed. And in her darkest
