Enslaved (Brides of the Kindred Book 14) Read Online Free PDF Page A

he was still half asleep and
he was trying to say something. I think…” She frowned. “I think it was ‘Master.’”
    “Great.”
Sidna put a hand on her hip. “So you’re saying he had a nightmare about his last
master and his response was to try and choke him? What does that say about what
kind of slave he is, Trin? Why do you think he was being sold in the first
place?”
    “I
don’t know,” Trin said stubbornly. “But I still don’t think he meant to hurt me.”
    “Well,
whether he meant to or not, he nearly killed you. You’re going to have some
serious bruises there.” Sidna examined her neck critically. “Will you please move him into the brig now?”
    “How?”
Trin demanded. “He’s out cold and he’s huge, as you pointed out. The whole crew
together isn’t strong enough to move his mass from here to the brig.”
    “Well,
you have to at least restrain him,” Sidna said. “I mean it, Trin—it’s not safe
to let him stay loose. The whole crew is in danger this way.”
    “I
guess you’re right,” Trin said reluctantly. “Do we still have the manacles we
used on the Gox?”
    “We
do. Want me to bring them up?”
    “I
guess you’d better.” For some reason, Trin still felt reluctant to shackle the
big Havoc. She honestly didn’t think his attack on her had been on purpose. But
she could tell that Sidna wouldn’t feel safe otherwise and that probably went
double for the rest of the crew.
    “We’ll
chain him to the cot for now,” the medic said. “But if he wakes up in a
belligerent mood, I still think we should move him to the brig. We can hold a
blaster on him and force him to move there under his own power if we have to.”
    “All
right.” Trin sighed. “Go get the manacles.”
    After
Sidna left, she stared down at the huge Havoc who was still out cold. Who had
he been seeing when he tried to choke the life out of her? And what had
happened to him to provoke such a murderous reaction?
    She
wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.

Chapter Four

 
    Thrace woke
for the second time, gasping like a male whose head has finally broken the surface
of a pounding sea. In his case, a sea of nightmares. Memories he’d carefully
suppressed for years were crowding into his mind, flowing in like cold, slimy
sewage trying to drown him.
    Gods, where am I? He
looked around the small room he was in. It was dimly lit with bare metal walls.
A cell of some kind? He tried to sit up but his body wouldn’t obey. Then he
heard a metallic clinking and felt the manacles around his wrists. A surge of
panic hit him and a low growl began to build in his chest.
    The Master! He’s chained me up again! That
means it’s only a matter of time before he comes in and—
    “So
you’re finally awake. Again.”
    The
unfamiliar voice made him jerk his head—the only part of him which was able to
move freely. A familiar face came into view—a female with creamy, light brown
skin and long black hair. She was lovely, with big, dark eyes and delicate
features. Her full lips were the color of ripe berries.
    And
there were finger-shaped bruises in a ring around her slender neck.
    Thrace had a
vague memory of throttling her and felt a surge of shame. I did that to her. Me—I did it. But why?
    He
seemed to remember bad dreams, memories coming back of things he’d buried years
before. The Master, he thought
uneasily. I thought she was the Master…
    But
why was he thinking of that bastard now? What had unearthed the bad memories of
the past?
    As
he stared at the female’s face, it all began coming back to him. The seedy
portside bar on Padge where he and Solar had gone to drink while The Empress was repaired. Being captured
by the slavers…sold on the auction block at the Flesh Bazaar…. Sold,
apparently, to this female here. The one who had been eyeing him before that
bastard of a slaver used the fucking pain collar on him.
    He
opened his mouth to talk—to demand that she untie him—but nothing came out but
a