Predilection

KALEB–

I ached at the sight of her. I had her back, back in my arms yet I wasn’t happy to see her like this. A part of me had hoped that she did actually get away, that she did save herself from me and found her way back home but I knew better. I knew even if I had let her go she wouldn’t make it out alive. We weren’t in the city I had taken her from, she was never going to find her way back home. My eyes took in her appearance, her broken appearance as I stared at her for the longest time. Her face was bruised and swollen, in fact, her entire body was bruised and swollen. My blood boiled at the thought of Mustafa’s hands that were on her. My blood lurched into my veins as I remembered him on top of her, touching her. I had killed him. I wasn’t sorry about it, I’d do it all over again. I’d do it for her. I couldn’t control the anger that grew inside me every time I thought about him putting his hands on her. I never trusted that dog and now he had proven why. Viktor wasn’t happy that I’d killed one of his men. In fact he wasn’t happy at all that I’d done it for a girl, a slave. A slave who had disobeyed me. Ran from me, yet I couldn’t find it in me to be angry with her right now. I couldn’t find it in me to punish her as I stared at her broken sleeping form, she was hurt. I couldn’t find it in me to add onto her pain. I ran my fingers alongside her face. Her skin was cool to the touch, she felt like ice beneath my fingertips. I wrapped the blanket further around her small body and took a step back, putting space between us, I didn’t know what to do or think. The monster that lurked inside my bones wanted to punish her, do bad things to her, but the nagging voice in my head prevented me from doing so.

Her body shuddered with fear as her eyes slid open and I came into view. Panic had already settled beneath her skin while her bones trembled with alarm. ‘No no no’ she gasped, her voice not doing a good job as her chants came out unclear and unsteady.

‘Shhh’ I went to stroke her hair but she inched back into the pillow. She was in shock.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

‘I’m not going to hurt you.’ I tried to be gentle, tried to be soft as she shook her head, her body shaking with terror. She kept chanting the word ‘no’. She’d completely lost it this time. Holding her delicate body in my arms, being careful not to put too much pressure onto her, I rocked her back and forth, whispering soothing things into her ear. That didn’t stop her trembling, she was fighting me. She was scared of me. ‘Stop it Eva! Let me take care of you!’ I shook her, trying to bring her back to life, her body stopped trembling in my arms, her movements slowing down as she grabbed a fistful of my shirt. She squeezed it in her tiny hands. I could hear her breathing against me, she had calmed down at the sound of her name. She had found her way back to me. I eased off my grip on her as her body relaxed in my hold. She rested her head against my chest, I knew she could hear my pounding heartbeat. Hell, I could hear it too. I was filled with venom, filled with need, filled with all of the things I had stayed away from for so long. All emotions had been cut off the day I decided that I’d become this monster, I felt no sympathy towards the women I’d ruined, I’d felt no remorse so why was I here tripping over this one girl? This one pawn.

‘I’m sorry Master’ her voice was hushed by the pressure of my chest against her lips. I could feel her tears dampen my shirt. I ran my fingers through her hair. I knew I was playing with fire. Viktor was going to be here soon and I had no time to play games with myself. I broke our intimacy and stood away from her. Her eyes followed my movement, she gazed into my soul, the soul I had long gone traded off to the devil. I had accepted who I was, never ashamed of the monster I’d become, now here she was, looking, searching for the human in me, searching for the one thing I’d swore I’d never take back, my humanity.

‘What are you going to do with me?’ Her question lingered on her tongue, her words shattered into my ears. What was I going to do with her? I fisted my hands and closed my eyes for a brief moment, when I opened them, I could see her desperation in the tears that she so carefully held back. I had to tell her, I had to let her know her fate. The least I could do for her was to allow her to prepare for her nearing painful future.

‘I’m going to sell you, pet.’ I let the monster in me talk, I couldn’t play soft with her anymore. She was just another girl, another female in my world that I’d disposed of. Her eyes shot wide open, a lump in her throat as she swallowed down the information I just fed her.

‘Whaatt..’ it sounded like a question more to herself than to me. I clenched my jaw, breathing in the fumes of her pain. I could see the betrayal that ran through her brown orbs. I had no loyalty to her for she was just a slave and I was her Master.

‘I’m not sure how long we have together until I’m to take you to an auction and sell you to someone very important. I’m going to need you to be prepared, on your best behaviour. I won’t tolerate disobedience from you, pet. Take this warning as a nice gesture from me, I should be breaking you in half for what you did but I’m willing to give you the chance to repent, and you are going to do that by surrendering everything within your willpower to me. I want it all, every single bit of it.’ I took a deep breath, I had to be harsh, I had to be what I have been for the past decade of my life, a monster. Satan itself.

‘Make love to me.’ Her request caught me off guard. I frowned as I looked down at her, waiting for her to say it was a joke or to laugh hysterically for she had lost her mind. I could sense her numbness as her eyes bored into mine, there was nothing behind her stare, just an empty shell.

‘If we only have a short limited time together then I want you to make love to me. I don’t want to lose myself to another man, please, please make love to me master.’ Her skin had paled out, her lips cracked. I knew she had lost her mind. I had broke her, maybe that is exactly what she needed.

‘I don’t make love to slaves, and if I did, I’d still need you to be a virgin for this. I suggest you pull yourself together and adjust to the new information, you don’t have time to sit around and be sad, pet.’ The hurt in her face was more than visible as my words connected with her broken hope. I needed her to understand that she was nothing more than just a pet and something told me, she had understood that now, for her face fell at my words. I stood there staring into her eyes, shame had found its way to her once again, I knew she shunned herself for giving into me, I knew she was ashamed that she had became everything that I’d desired, a slave to the beast that defined me.