Bliss stared at Chal with helpless eyes. She had no hope that he would be able to save her, not twice, not with a man as evil and powerful as Garret. The man had placed offers with her previous Master. He'd been allowed her company and she shuddered in terror at the thought of being with him now.
But Chal was strong and he took care of his own. For some reason-- a reason she just couldn't understand-- he had made her his.
"It's okay, C-Chal." She tried to sound strong but a sobbing hitch to her breathing betrayed her. "I'm all right.
Garret shook her. "Shut up! If I wanted you to speak, I'd tell you what to say!" He pressed the knife so that its sharp blade indented the flesh of her neck. A single drop of blood dripped from that blade. With a gleam in his eyes, he ran his hand from her waist to her breasts, caressing her nipple through the gown. "She likes this," he jeered, as if trying to provoke Chal's temper. He pulled at the gown and ripped it further until her nipple was exposed and he tweaked at it, causing her to jerk away from his groping hands. He yanked her back again and thrust his hips against the softness of her buttocks. "Tell him how much you like it, bitch. Tell him how much you want me. Tell him that you want to stay with me and be mine."
A flush of shame suffused her face as her nipple grew hard under the onslaught of his fingers. In a clearly awful exchange, he moved one hand down to her naked pussy. She tried to jerk away then but he wouldn't allow it. It might have been that last lash of his fingers or the name he called her, a name she absolutely loathed, or maybe just Chal's presence, but she turned her head, ignoring the knife at her throat and glared up at Garret. "I've been dragged around and beaten, sold and abused, raped and tortured, and if you think you can do anything to me with that knife that I'm not ready for, you are sadly mistaken. So use the..." she turned her head back and stared straight ahead, hatred in her eyes. "...fucking knife or let me go!"
Garret stared down at her in surpriise. Those had been the last words he'd expected her to say and they flabbergasted him. Gabby had promised that the bitch had been cowed by her previous owner. "Shut up, slut! You will do what I say without question or I'll rip your fucking head off with this knife and then fuck your bloody throat."
"Try it bastard." Bliss looked at Chal, her eyes speaking things she'd hadn't said in the few days she'd known him. Her eyes were saying good-bye. "I don't think you have it in you, Garret. I don't think you have the...the stones to kill me. You know if I wasn't here, Chal would have ripped
your
head off. He might have drained you dry as well though that would definitely be an unsavory meal."
Chal stood ready to intercede if Bliss pushed Garret too far. A sardonic twist of his lips greeted Garret's eyes. He nodded his approval at her choices of words and gave her a smile that set her soul to quiver. Then he cocked his head questionably. "I guess the lady has had enough of your company, Garret. So...what do you say, let her go and I won't let her hurt you. Otherwise I might actually enjoy watching her take you down a peg or two." Bliss grinned at his words. There seemed such acceptance in his tone and she basked in his approval.
As long as Chal was with her, she could do so many things that had seemed too beyond her. It was like having a door open in front of her, just waiting for her to decide her next step. "So Garret, what's your answer? Let me walk now or...You're beginning to look hungry, Chal." She cocked her head to the side and gave him a slightly coy smile.
His hand touched his stomach. "I could eat." He was amazed by her strength and her will.
Garret's hand was shaking and not quite so steady with the knife against her throat.
It was now or nothing.
A second later, he dropped the knife and a high pitch squeal came from his mouth. He fell to the floor and clutched at his favorite appendage. He rolled on the hard, cement floor, spluttering and moaning. Bliss stood over him for a moment then stepped between his legs. "You'll think again before you do this to another woman." She drew her leg back and kicked him once more, a kick so hard that a sharp, undulating squeal came from his mouth. She held out a hand to Chal, the other held the edges of her torn gown. "Can we go home?"
Chal ran the back of his fingers over her soft cheek then took her hand. "We certainly can."
"I'm so sorry about the gown, Chal. It was so beautiful." She glanced up at him from behind thick lashes. She opened her mouth to say something else but Chal stopped her.
"Don't you dare tell me you're sorry. That is completely not your fault. If Garret wasn't on the ground already, I'd knock him down a couple of times for just making you worry." He smiled down at her as she tentatively touched him. His arms went around her to tenderly hold her close.
He was moving slowly, too slowly. She just couldn't feel fear from his touch. Instead she wanted him to sweep her up and embrace her, to lay to her down and do things in the big bed in her room that would make her blush. With this, with him all of this seemed like a nightmare, quickly forgotten. She wanted his passion and she wanted his touch. She needed his touch more than she needed to breathe.
"I missed you." His voice was low and intimate.
Bliss felt her heart swell. "You were gone and I couldn't find you. Garret said that he had killed you and I wanted to die too." Her words were quiet but she knew that he heard her. He swept her up in his strong arms, carefully keeping his movement slow and gentle. He had taken care of the two men that had been stationed at the top of the basement stairs. Garret had hired men to patrol his grounds with huge dogs, Chal had taken care of all of them. There were more of Garret's men in the guard shack at the end of his drive.
Cuddling her close, he tried to keep her from seeing the dead guards that were there and on the outside of Garret's front door as well as the shack. His step was sure and her weight seemed like nothing. He walked down the walkway to the driveway, than started down the long drive. The gate was open and as he reached the road, he was running and then he blurred out of sight.
She couldn't lift her head. He ran so fast and so easily that she felt as if they were flying. It was an exhilarating and terrifying sensation and she couldn't keep her eyes open to watch. Instead, she buried her face against his neck, wrapped her arms around him, and inhaled his spicy, male scent. She laid a tender kiss against his skin just under his ear and felt him shudder. "You can't," he growled. "You have to