Sinful [malexmale]

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

While my sleep may have been soft and comforting, waking up was a completely different story.

I woke up feeling heavy and drowsy. My head throbbed as if Thor were in my skull beating at it with his hammer. I felt the ache straight through to my bones. It was almost like someone had dumped me off the side of the cliff and threw some boulders down on top of me as an added measure. I felt cuts oozing blood near my shoulders. It confused me. Usually a short nap would heal my wounds, but they still felt fresh and sore.

I regained my feeling back first, shifting my arms, only to find them shackled out in front of me now. The shackles were ice cold and heavy. I felt the same heaviness clasped tightly around my left ankle when I shifted my legs. It took me a moment to realize I was laying down on my side. The next sensation was cold hard ground beneath me, pressing against my bare skin, each little grain imprinting itself on my skin. I sucked my breath in sharply as chills spread over me, goosebumps prickling my skin at the realization that I was completely naked. I drew my knees up close to my chest, curling up into a ball to try and escape the cold that nipped at my bare skin.

Next, my sense of hearing came back very slowly. The muffled sounds of men talking, some sort of spicy food sizzling on a stove, papers fluttering, and a crow cawing eerily in the distance, signifying that I was in a room. A tent maybe? Judging from the cool breeze and the faint sound of a thick material flapping backed my suspicions. I swallowed at the harsh dryness of my throat, my lips so chapped that it was like they were sealed together.

Unfortunately, something coarse and black was tied tightly over my eyes, preventing me from seeing anything beyond it. I saw maybe a faint glow of light from a small slit beneath the blindfold, but that was it. And through that tiny slit, I saw that the glowing came from gold shackles on my wrists. They were chained together by only a foot of links. I tilted my head, trying to see if there was anything else I could make out, but the slit was just too small.

I tilted my head back, sniffing deep to take in the scents around me. The cold hard dirt beneath me confirming my suspicions of this being a tent. The smell of smoke and spices, blood and body odor. I smelled wood and water from somewhere, and something that smelled like a heated mechanical device. That distinct odor you'd get if you sniffed the underside of your laptop, or the fan of your video game console.

I listened to the sound of footsteps nearing the tent and held my breath, ice cold terror spreading up inside me as I suddenly remembered what happened.

The dream. The vehicle. Jaques, Dev, Anza, and Thorn. Had that really happened?

I remained absolutely still as I heard the sound of a flap being opened and heavy booted footsteps thump inside the tent. A man's weary sigh came. I could hear weapons clinking and jingling from a weapon's holster. The rich scent of leather and alcohol combined with something akin to sulfur. I held my breath, listening to the footsteps move past me, further away, maybe six feet away or so. I heard papers rustling, a desk drawer open, then slam shut. A desk made of wood, and if I could guess by the scent, maybe mahogany.

"Don't pretend to be asleep," A man's thick Greek accent chuckled, "I can hear that pretty pitter-patter heartbeat of yours." I recognized Julius's voice and anger coiled hot in my stomach. I wanted to find the asshole and sink my fingers into his throat and rip it open, to bathe in his blood and sever his head. The bloodlust was so potent that I almost gagged on it. Even worse, my throat and lips were so dry that I couldn't speak.

"Oh, right," Julius mused and I listened to his footsteps move closer, but not close enough to be beside me just yet, "You're probably thirsty." I heard him pick something up that crinkled under his grip, and it sounded like a plastic water bottle. I frowned in confusion, then gasped sharply as cold water rained down on my head like ice bullets. But I savored the feel of it gliding across my lips, unsticking them and I parted them to take the water into my mouth, desperate to ease the dry sting in my throat.