STORY EXCERPT

After she ate something and drank some water, she tried to shift, just in case he’d been lying about that, but it was no use. She knew within two seconds that it wasn’t going to work. She heard movement outside and peered through the front windows to find a teen boy sitting next to the door, whittling on a piece of bark. At least they’d kept their word and sent someone to watch the cabin, but she hardly imagined a boy of no more than fifteen or sixteen could protect her against her uncle or his associates if she was found.

What was she going to do? And why had this happened? Saffron crawled onto the bed and curled up on her side, already hating the sound the chains made as they dragged across the hooks in the ceiling. She was no better than an animal in a zoo. She missed Topaz so much right now that the pain was almost unbearable. If only she could talk to her. Topaz would at least have words of comfort, hidden in the guise of a story.

She’d always done that. Whenever Saffron felt afraid, Topaz would sit with her and tell her a story. It hadn’t taken Saffron long to realize that the stories had a second purpose. They were filled with tales of bravery in the face of adversity, or determination to reach a lofty goal, but they were also meant to give hope to a frightened girl who found herself in an untenable situation.

Once Saffron’s true nature had begun to emerge, Topaz almost never left her side, as if the danger had increased for both and the older woman had known it. Saffron had asked her more than once why the two of them couldn’t simply run away, but Topaz had merely shaken her head, her green eyes filled with sadness and regret. “There is no place to go, child. We belong here, with our own kind.”

Saffron wondered what Topaz would think of her now? She’d not only run away from her own kind, but she’d allowed herself to be captured by a cougar shifter and a human. Perhaps it was just as well that Topaz couldn’t see her right now. She’d be so disappointed.

As Saffron lay in bed and listened to the sounds of birds and insects outside, her thoughts drifted from Topaz toward her two captors. Nevada was obviously an alpha. She recognized them immediately among her own kind, and she didn’t imagine a cougar was any different. He couldn’t be much older than she, if his looks were anything accurate by which to judge, but his aura projected a maturity and wisdom beyond his years. What kind of a life did he lead up here in the mountains? And why was he so aligned with a human who worked as a line technician for Notus?

And what about Landon? Was he a shifter? She didn’t think so, and Nevada hadn’t treated him as though he were, but there was something not quite human about him. How had he become such an ally and friend to these cougar shifters? Mancie had talked to him as though she’d known him all her life. Everyone she’d glimpsed outside in the village had seemed to know him equally well. Who and what was he?

She turned onto her right side so that she wasn’t lying on the chains and closed her eyes, picturing both men. They were so handsome and charismatic, but what did that matter? They didn’t believe a word she’d said. She was their enemy, and she didn’t even understand why. They’d mistaken her for someone the Rosens had sent, but why? What business had they with the Rosens, and how did they know of them?

They’d never actually said they didn’t know them. When she’d tried to ask if they were in league with them or with the people her uncle knew, they’d accused her of stalling. Hot fear raced through Saffron as she realized they could be in league with either, and they were now on their way to find her uncle. Then again, it didn’t seem as though they knew him. But what if they did, and they simply hadn’t told her that? Even if she couldn’t shift yet, Nevada could. He might be on his way right now to reveal her hiding place.

She was dead. Trapped, chained, and waiting to die.

Saffron struggled to keep breathing as she rose and walked around the cabin again, trying both doors and each window a second time. She opened the small closet and cupboards in the kitchen, searching for hidden panels or trapdoors, but there were none. She had nothing to do but wait. Wait until Nevada or Landon returned with either her uncle, the Rosens, or worse.

And when they took her back to her village, she’d have no choice but to mate with Marc and Jake. They wouldn’t kill her. The rarity of her bloodline was why they wanted her. And if she refused to willingly give her body to the two brothers, they’d simply take her by force. They were stronger, and there were two of them. She was no match for them.

Saffron returned to the bed and curled up into a ball, unable to stop yet more tears from coursing down her cheeks. Her life as she’d known it was over.

ADULT EXCERPT

Nevada uncuffed her and glanced around. He pulled a large, thick afghan off the back of the sofa and spread it out on the floor in front of the fire, but not too close. “Lie on your back, Saffron, and grasp your ankles.” Then he addressed Landon. “I believe there’s another set of cuffs you brought down. We’ll need them, and you may as well bring the oil and the condoms over here.”

“It’s party time,” said Landon, strolling over to where he’d left the rest of the toys.

Saffron giggled as she lay on her back with her hands behind her head. When Nevada saw her, he gave her a look of incredulity. “Didn’t I tell you to grasp your ankles?”

“Oops. I guess you did.” She reached for them, intending to carry out his orders, but he brought her legs together and grasped both ankles in one strong hand, while he delivered five stinging blows to each ass cheek with an open palm.

Saffron cried out more from surprise than pain. Her pussy was soaked, and surely he could see that. The fact that he’d know how much this excited her increased her arousal all over again.

He let go of her legs and gave her a stern look, but his eyes gave him away. He was enjoying this and wasn’t even close to being angry with her for real. “Now, do what I told you to do.”

She spread her legs and grasped her ankles, and Nevada told her to spread them wider. They placed a cuff around each of her wrists and ankles, and then secured the cuffs together on each side, so she was spread-eagled on the afghan.

“That might get uncomfortable after a few moments,” said Landon, grabbing a sofa cushion. He placed it in the small of her back and then he placed another one under her head. Both men stepped back as if admiring their handiwork, and Saffron was ready to scream with excitement.

“Are you comfortable?” asked Nevada, his grin firmly in place.

She gave him a wicked smile. “I will be as soon as your mouth or your hands on are on me.”

“She’s getting bolder every hour,” he said, glancing at Landon. “I think she needs to be taught a lesson tonight.”

“I agree.” His voice was gruff and thick as he walked out of her line of vision. When he returned, he held the flogger. Saffron moaned in anticipation and tried to squirm, but she didn’t have much wiggle room. This was the most bound she’d ever been in front of them, and she loved it. She loved the feeling of total surrender, and that they were both in control. There was no fear. They wouldn’t hurt her, and she had a safeword to use if she needed it.

As Landon began to lazily brush the tails of the flogger across her pussy and breasts, Nevada moved out of her sight. When he returned, he knelt next to her on the floor and turned on the vibrator. “Now we’ll see how smart your mouth becomes.”

He rubbed it first over the sides of her breasts while Landon’s strikes with the flogger grew more forceful across her pussy. Saffron whimpered and moaned, turning her face to the side and closing her eyes as her climax began to build. When Nevada moved the vibrator to her nipples, alternating it against them, she almost asked him to stop. The sensation was so intense that it felt like tiny electric sparks were zinging from them straight to her clit.

Landon was throwing the flogger in a way now that landed the tails not only on her pussy, but her asshole as well. They stung like crazy, but they also sent such waves of pleasure through her that she floated above the scene once more as she’d done the day before, lost in the haze of pain and pleasure combined. Nothing her imagination had ever conjured up was close to this delicious, wanton joy.

“She is so fucking wet,” said Landon.

Saffron glanced at his crotch and was certain his dick was going to burst right out of his pants. If it did, she’d beg him to let her taste it again, and then she’d beg him to fuck her until she couldn’t breathe anymore.

“She’s so fucking beautiful,” said Nevada. “Saffron, we’re going to do something very special when we’re done playing with these toys.” She glanced into his face and her breath caught in her throat at the look of lust and pure delight in his eyes. They were enjoying this as much as she was. It wasn’t just them doing things to her. They wanted to please her, because it aroused them just as much. That thought struck home in a way it hadn’t done so before, and Saffron had to blink back tears of happiness.

Nevada glanced at the flogger. “My turn. Let’s switch toys.”

Landon made a satisfied noise in the back of his throat as he took the vibrator from Nevada and handed him the flogger. “I know where this is going first.” Saffron cried out as Landon passed the vibrator across her clit, then over her pussy lips, and then finally along her ass crack. He kept that up, never quite letting her orgasm crest, and when he followed that with long, slow strokes of his tongue, Saffron simply closed her eyes and let go.

Nevada slapped the flogger across her nipples, and Saffron barely felt the sharp sting. She was lost in sensations that consumed her, imprinting their eyes, their faces, their scents, and their touch on her heart and soul.

She’d stay in this cozy home for the rest of her life and submit to these two. The rest of the world—human or shifter—could scatter to the four winds and she wouldn’t care. She’d hardly know it.