"Death Row 03 - The Avenger" - читать интересную книгу автора (Black Jaid)

Yes, yes of course he had killed her. Sinead had died at their husband’s hands. That much Nicoletta was certain of. Nellie would never have lied over something of such great import as that. And because Nellie had seen the deed done with her own child’s eyes, forgiveness for Sinead’s death was not a possibility. Laying the blame at another’s feet was not a possibility. The only possibility that existed was hating Abdul Kan for the black deed he had committed.

Nellie…ah my sweet bella, where are you?

Abdul’s hand reached under the table, food bits in his palm. Nicoletta absently fed from his hand, feeling like the naked, exotic pet she no doubt looked like. But then that was probably why Abdul had purchased her to begin with…because she was a flawlessly beautiful Italian doll with large doe-like eyes and creamy porcelain skin. The perfect naked female pet.

But Abdul’s second wife was no man’s willing chattel. A fact her husband had a kong of a time trying to change—but never did. Nicoletta smiled to herself as she thought of how many times over the years she had been caged for her feistiness. More than all of the other wives combined and then some.

He would never break her. Never.

“Go to our rooms and await Me there.”

Nicoletta’s head shot up. She had been so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t even realized she’d finished eating. Her chin notched up as she locked eyes with her husband. “I should like to take my place above table as is my right.”

His eyebrows rose. “A right I am denying. Go, Nica,” Abdul murmured. “For once let Me handle matters without your interruption.”

She frowned. He sighed. A gesture of weakness he rarely made, so one that left her feeling confused.

“I will find My daughter. Go to our rooms. Now.” His eyelids grew heavy-lidded. “Be lying on the bed, naked and spread wide for Me, when I join you.”

His words aroused her and she hated him for it. “Cage me, Abdul,” she hissed, her nostrils flaring as she stood up from her kneeling position at his feet. “I will never come to You willing.”

A vow she had made long ago and well he knew it.

A vow she would keep to her dying day.

Nicoletta could feel his intense stare on her naked, branded backside as she walked away, but she refused to look back.

* * * * *

Kerick’s eyes widened slightly when indeed the boulder moved just as his wife had predicted it would. The vacuum-sealed airlock made a hissing sound as it opened and revealed the portal to an Underground society no man—biosphere-bred or Outsider—had known existed. His gaze momentarily flicked toward Xavier. “This airlock was not fashioned by an Outsider uneducated in engineering,” he muttered.

Xavier distractedly nodded as his hand ran over the faux boulder. “Shall we continue onward?”

Kerick nodded toward the portal. “You take the lead. Nellie, you follow behind him. I’ll take up the rear.”

Nellie frowned at him from over her shoulder when she sensed he was staring at her rear. She threw him a look as if to say, Now is not the time for that. Kerick possessively stared at the branding on her ass cheek before glancing away.

The trio walked down a long corridor for what amounted to approximately ten minutes. Nellie realized that the female scientists of the Xibalba had to be aware of their presence. They would have met with resistance at the portal were they not meant to pass through it. Her heart rate picked up as she wondered to herself what that meant. Whatever was about to happen she understood that Kerick and Xavier felt it too. Both men seemed to tense up as they held tightly to their weapons.

The long earthen corridor grew darker and colder. Nellie shivered as she retrieved a torch from a nearby wall sconce. The frigid temperature made her nipples so hard they ached.

“There’s a door,” Kerick murmured to Xavier. “Do you see it?”

Xavier nodded as he prepared to open it. His jaw tensed as he studied the stone and wood mechanism. “Watch my back,” he muttered.

Nellie’s teeth sank into her lower lip as she waited with wide eyes to see what would happen next. She blew out a breath of relief when, a moment later, the door was forced open and nothing untoward occurred.

“Go through it,” Kerick ordered.