From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(120)

“I’ll pack for Sarah and take it over,” Case explained. “I want to talk to her anyway. I don’t know that she’ll feel safe in her house again. I’ve talked to some of her friends and they’re willing to put her up until she’s ready to make a decision. We’re all here for her.”

She might not have had a knife to her throat, but she’d still been a little traumatized. “You know I was there, too.”

“Ah, but your Master will handle you, sweet thing,” Case said with a wink. “Go on now. You don’t want to piss that one off more than you already have. I think you’ll find Sanctum is closed for the night, so you’ll have the place all to yourself.”

She stared at the building she knew so well. “I thought I was safe here.”

“You were. You are. You’re as safe as you can be, but Kori, nothing’s truly safe. That’s an illusion. I tell myself that every day. When I get pissed and angry because Theo died on an op, I tell myself he could have died while driving. He could have died when it didn’t matter. Instead he died trying to help take down something horrible. It was a good death. Nothing is guaranteed, Kori. I know that now.”

Kai could die tomorrow. He could have died earlier today. Jared had taken a step back and put a wall between himself and what he wanted. Shouldn’t she be brave if Kai was?

She placed her purse on her shoulder and slid out of the cab of the truck, her heart starting to beat. What was waiting for her in there? Would Kai have rethought everything after what happened earlier today? “Maybe you should take me home and let me get my own car. I’ll come back. I swear.”

Case reached across the cab and pulled the door shut. He drove off with a squeal of his tires.

“Well, you could have just said no.” Kori turned back to the doors that led to the lobby.

Luckily Case had given her his key card. He was a giver. She strode to the door because she wasn’t going to be the coward who ran away again. There was a note taped there.

Welcome, Kori. I’m waiting for you in the conference room. Please join me.

So they were going to be civil. Her heart sank a little. It was all right. It was better this way. They could talk and figure out how this was going to work from now on because she knew one thing. She wasn’t leaving again. She was going to help Serena with her script and she was going to find her place here. She wasn’t leaving this crazy family now that she’d found it. She pulled the note off the door and slid her key card across the reader.

There was the sound of a click as the door opened. Kori walked inside, the door closing behind her.

It was so quiet. She never came to Sanctum by herself. Even when the music wasn’t going, there was always the sound of people laughing and the bar being restocked or one of the dungeon monitors checking the equipment.

Not today. Today it was utterly silent. And a little dark.

She took a deep breath, telling herself everything was fine. Kai was here somewhere. “Hello?”

She took another step inside, turning toward the hall that led to the conference room. It was used for staff meetings and sometimes the MT crew met here. She’d never been inside before.

“Kai? What’s up with the silent treatment?” She was starting to get nervous.

Which was probably exactly what the bastard wanted.

Mind games. He was playing mind games with her. She strode to the conference room and opened it. Nothing. It was completely dark and there was no sign anyone had been there at all.

“You know I was almost brutally murdered today, you massive ass,” she said as the door closed. “So what’s with the horror movie treatment?”

She was beginning to have a suspicion.

“You know I am a sadist, my love.” His deep voice made her shriek. It seemed to come from behind, but when she turned he wasn’t there.

That was when she felt it. She felt something drop overhead and then her whole body constricted as the rope was pulled tight.

He’d lassoed her? She stumbled back as he tugged on the rope and before she knew it, she was being turned to face him.

Kai was staring her way like he was going to eat her alive. “I wasn’t really trying to scare you. I thought if you saw me with a lasso in hand you might have run. It’s been a while since I roped a sub. I wanted to make sure I did it right.”

“Are you treating me like a cow?” She didn’t think so, but she wanted to push him a little, too.

He tugged on the rope, drawing her closer. “No, you’re a pretty filly I want to ride. And now I’ve roped you and you’re mine. I have to make sure you’re ready for that first ride. I think you’ll like that. Won’t you, baby? By the time I’m done roping and wrangling you, you’ll spread those pretty legs for your Master and beg for a cock.”

“What the hell is going on, Kai?” She struggled a bit as she realized things weren’t going according to plan.

“You ran from me,” he said, his tone a harsh growl. He wound the rope around her torso, tying her tight. “I’m going to make certain that doesn’t happen again. You can spew any filth you want out of that pretty mouth of yours. I mean it, Kori. You can call me every name in the book and receive no punishment at all, but you can’t run. We have to work this out.”

“Normal people talk, Kai.” Talking was exactly what she planned to do with him. They needed to work things out before they even thought about getting physical again. It was the only logical thing to do.