Jonas (Darkness #7)(9)

“It won’t.” His gaze was on her again. “I’m not afraid of pain. I’m used to it. What questions do you need answers to?”

Emmy’s eyebrows furled. In response, he smirked and said, “I don’t have any great secrets. I’m sure Sasha, my mage, is trying to find me right now. She’s probably getting with her white mage teacher and coming up with some nasty spells that will tear this place apart. All they have to do is find this place. And she will, eventually. Or the Boss will. Or those mongrels will. Or all those strange humans will. It’s only a matter of time. As long as you have me, dead or alive, they’ll come for me. You’re on the wrong side, sweet cheeks. You sound American, mostly, and you almost look human with your stature—you don’t need to be hanging around with no group of Europeans. They haven’t gotten with the times.”

“Sasha is the human?” Emmy asked with a firm voice. “She’s allowed to be mage?”

The man’s eyes burned into hers. “They don’t treat you great here, huh? You’re human, then?”

She raised her chin, not quite sure how he could read her so easily. “Half. My father. I was mostly raised in America. That’s why I have this accent.”

“We just got a halvsie. More useful, straddling that line. Didn’t much like him at first, and I used to hate humans. But they grow on you when you get to know ‘em. Kind of a gentler species until they get riled up. Humans, that is. Not the halvsie. He’s a nut.”

Emmy couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She turned away to hide it. “What’s your name?”

“Jonas. I guard the mage. Don’t bother asking me any questions about her. I won’t answer. But you can know whatever you like about me.”

“All on your terms, huh?” she asked, facing him again once her features were schooled.

He shrugged his large shoulders. “You’re trying. This is out of your hands. Like I said—I’m used to pain. I’ll take it right to the grave. Almost have many times. And you’re great with that whip. Too bad you’re so stuck up or I—“

His mouth snapped shut before he finished his thought. His gaze once again hit that back wall.

Unable to help her curiosity, she said, “Finish.”

He smirked. “That’s just it. I’d like to finish. With you. But that shit makes you uncomfortable.”

Anxiety rolled through Emmy’s insides. Before she’d made the conscious thought, she was walking toward the door. Before she’d left, she heard, “See?”

He was right. It did. Her only experience had been years and years of being forced. There’d been nothing she could do. No one she could appeal to for help. No rights, and no way to fight back. She’d just as soon never be touched by a man ever again.

But she had the stranger talking. Jonas, his name was. She had him talking, and she had some information for Nathanial. Nothing too substantial yet, but as long as something was coming, they’d think she was doing her job.

Now she just had to figure out how to build him up in her image. To make him want to give her everything. About the mage and whatever else Nathanial wanted to know. She had to appeal to Jonas’ soft side—because she knew he had one. Helping her, studying her, inquiring about her wounds—yes, he had one. He was a hard man with a soft core. She had to appeal to that softness. But how?

And then she knew. There was one woman who would charm any man. She’d worked her way into this compound by batting her eyes and swinging her hips. She’d taken blood from all the top members—men and women who rarely gave anyone a taste. She was now one of Nathanial’s favorites and often shared his bed.

Emmy walked to the back of the first floor and took the stairs up two flights. There she turned right and walked until the end. She knocked softly at the door. A moment later it opened with a swirl of air and perfume. The beautiful woman stood framed by the door, one hip jutted to the side and her perfect breasts pushed forward. Her flowing red dress was shimmery and see-through.

“Oh, it’s you. What do you want?” the woman asked.

“Hi Darla. I wondered if you had a moment?”

Chapter Four

Jonas heard the door open slowly behind him. His stomach filled with butterflies. Something about that beautiful little female had him anticipating seeing her again. There was something in her eyes. A strange sort of vulnerability that had him wanting to protect her. He’d never experienced this before and he had no idea what to make of it.

Maybe it was because she held him captive. This room, his numb legs, the treatment—that was probably it. He was most likely responding to her as a captive would.

Whatever. He kind of liked this. He just wished she wasn’t so shy of males.

A flash of anger had him balling his fists remembering the scared and disgusted look in her eyes when he’d mentioned sex. Someone had screwed her up. That was pretty clear. Someone in this place. Probably the same * who punished her instead of worked with her. Hell, when they were trying to get information out of that shifter, the Boss never held Toa responsible for his failed attempts. Instead, he’d worked with the blond-headed idiot. Tried to come up with something that could bring the captive around.

“Jonas.”

The word was like honey poured across his body. She came around him slowly dressed in a shimmery red dress that was all but see-through. The usual graceful sway of her hips and assurance in her step was absent, though. Instead, her hands were held rigidly at her sides. Jarring movements and uncomfortable shifting dried up all the sex in the room.