Captured By The Dragon
Episode 75

Patara

We barely had the time to get dressed before Erik came back with Ethan, but Erik looked pleased that we had made up in some fashion. The conversation wasn’t over, but we weren’t so tense anymore. At the least, I could start to believe that Dylan didn’t think of me as a piece of property even if he sometimes treated me that way.

There was hope that he would change the way he treated me. Erik and Dylan stepped into another room to talk for a long time, leaving Ethan and me alone. I got him cleaned up and changed into clean clothes for lunch, happy to sit with him and try to get him to talk to me.

He’d come a long way. He seemed to be more aware of when I was speaking to him and recognized a few words. I didn’t know how much longer it would be before he spoke to us or could really understand what was going on around him, but I hoped it was soon.

After lunch, another shifter came to the house, calling for Dylan. He hurried into the other room with Erik and Dylan. A few minutes later, they came back out and Dylan looked upset.

“Is everything okay?”

“I have to leave again,” Dylan said crossing the room.

“How long will you be gone?”

He smirked, “Long enough for you to get some rest.”

My face burned and I was thankful that Ethan didn’t seem to understand what he was really saying.

He kneeled beside Ethan and placed a hand on Ethan’s head, looking into his eyes.

“You’ll be good for your mom, won’t you, Ethan? Look after her until your dad gets back, okay?”

Ethan blinked at him, but Dylan smiled, stroking his hair. He pressed a k**s to his head before striking my cheek and leaving with the other shifter.

Erik grinned at us, “Looks like things are looking up around here finally.”

I spent the afternoon with Ethan, trying to teach him things, and making sure he got enough to eat before getting him ready for bed. Night fell soon and I took Ethan to our room to tuck him in and sleep when I heard something from downstairs. My heart lurched remembering the attack on Dylan’s old house.

I pulled Ethan close as something snarled and growled downstairs. Something broke.

“We should kill him.”

“Leave him. Find the girl.”

I swallowed and looked down at Ethan. I pressed my finger to my lips to signal him to be quiet as he trembled. Slowly, I slipped from the bed and looked around for somewhere to hide him. I lowered him to the ground, nudged him under the bed, and pulled the sheets down so he wouldn’t be easily seen.

I could only hope that they wouldn’t try to burn the house down. Would he be fireproof as a baby dragon? I had no idea, but I didn’t want to chance it. I walked out of the room and down the hall towards Dylan’s room, I’d just closed the door when I heard them coming up the stairs.

There was still a fight going on downstairs. Something crashed and the loud bang of a shifter weapon went off. I heard a g***n and a thump of a body. Someone laughed.

“These things are pretty high quality, aren’t they?”

Shifter weapons? Here? Was it Malcolm again? How would he have found me this time?

The door exploded open and the last thing I remember was a loud snarl as I threw myself to the ground.

When I woke up, I was alone. My hands were tied roughly above my head and I was strung up, my feet barely scraping the ground. My shoulders ached and my head pounded. There was something in my mouth, gagging me and held in place. How long had I been hanging like this? Where was Erik? Where was Ethan? Had they taken him too?

Where was I? I looked around hoping for some sort of clue, but the room didn’t even have a window.

Pain slashed across my back as a loud crack filled the air. I cried out in agony. Another blow came, making me dizzy with pain. Was I bleeding, I turned with the force of the blow. Another fell on me across my side. The next was on my side. I screamed and cried, trying to pull away from the blows and avoid them, but I couldn’t control the way I swung or turned.

Another landed on my back. Then, it seemed that I was going to be left alone though I kept braced for the next blow.

“I see you’re awake, human.”

I trembled, barely lifting my head. I saw the tiger princess’ face before she struck me in the face. I felt like my jaw was broken as my face throbbed.

“Don’t you ever look at me! Know your place, human.” She sneered, “I can see that Dylan has been too busy feeding his l**t to train you properly. Maybe if he’d been a better owner, I might have allowed you to live.”

I g*****d, tears welling up in my eyes. How had this happened? Was there never going to be a moment’s peace so long as I was with Dylan? It seemed that from the very beginning of my interactions with shifters, there had been nothing but trouble.

Where was Dylan?

The tiger princess stepped closer, stroking the cane. There were red smears on its length and I knew I was bleeding. How much more did she plan to make me bleed?

“When it comes to my father’s playthings, I don’t tend to get involved, but you are different.” She grabbed me by my face, forcing me to meet her gaze. Her claws dug into my cheeks painfully. “You are going to pay for your offense against me.”

Her eyes were wild and crazy staring at me as if I was the bane of her existence. I had only met her the one time and she already hated me. Was it normal for shifter women to hate human women? I couldn’t even ask why she hated me so much. I got that she wanted Dylan, but wasn’t she taking this a bit too far?

“I’m going to make you suffer. Kill you slowly, but only after Dylan is around to pay for the insult of wanting a filthy little human like you.”

She shoved me away, “You’ll die screaming and begging for death like all the others.”

I grunted as I continued to swing, trying to stop the movement with the tips of my toes until they were rubbed raw on the stone floor. If I wasn’t careful, I’d be walking on bloody feet out of here.

She turned and left the room, slamming the door shut behind her. I looked up at my binds wondering if it was possible for me to get out of them somehow. They’d already rubbed my wrists raw. It was possible that I’d be bleeding soon, but maybe, just maybe, the b***d would help make it easier to slip out.

I pulled at the ropes, but my strength failed me. The agony made it hard to even breathe.

Where was Dylan? Would he replace me? Would he replace me before she killed me? She said she planned to kill me in front of him, but what did she know about all the things that could kill a human? Had she hit me hard enough to do serious damage already? Maybe the wounds would get infected?

Fear settled in my gut. I had to get out of here. I had to get free somehow.

The door rattled and opened.

“What an interesting hobby my daughter has.”

The door opened and fear filled me as a man stepped into the door.