Damaged Queen (Darkness Within Duet 2)

He’d changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt. The jacket he wore looked the most inviting of all of his outfit. He placed a finger against the metal. “You think you’re the first woman to try these bars?”

“You keep a lot of women here?”

“Surprisingly, no. This is new for Draven. My father loved these cells. They put women in their place. Most of the women serving Draven here are happy. The women we buy, he has places for them that are not in his home.”

“You’re a pig.”

“I’m a pig? Is that all you’ve got? I’ve not been here in over five years, maybe even longer, and you think I’m a pig. I’ve seen what these cells do to a woman.” He touched his back. “I got a whipping because of trying to help them.”

“What?”

“My dad, he traded in blood, guns, drugs, and pussy. All kinds of pussy in all ranges. You know what I’m saying.”

“He traded kids?”

“You got it, princess. He didn’t mind at all. You see, Harper, there are a lot of sick people in the world. The kids, a few slaps got in line. Some women had a lot of spine, teenagers too, and he’d send them here. As you know, it’s freezing cold in the winter, and in the summer, wow, you are losing water in sweating. One day, I couldn’t stand to hear the cries anymore. I was having to train. My dad, he wanted a good, strong son. A fighter. Someone to rival Draven.” Axel chuckled. “So I trained. I fought. This one day, their begging got too much. I couldn’t stand the noise, so I went inside, grabbed some bottled water and some food, and brought it out.”

She knew this wasn’t going to be the end of the story.

“Anyway, my trainer was loyal to my father, so, he did no more than alert him to what I was doing. I got caught. I was dragged to the whipping post.”

“The whipping post?”

“Oh, yes, my father loved these cells. Then we’ve got the whipping post, and then he’s got an entire dungeon of tricks to train the women to take a cock, a beating, whatever he wanted to give.”

She felt her stomach turn as she looked at him.

“I was locked into place, and he gave me ten whips. They cut my back, and because of my insolence and kind heart, he kept me on that post for three days until I was close to death, then he finally let me down. After that, I never came in here again. Until today. There you go, princess, I’m breaking my own rules for you.”

“I had no idea you went through that,” she said.

“Not a lot of people do. They see the big house and assume that we’re privileged, and living the best life imaginable. They don’t know what is expected of us. What they want from us. Draven’s the same. We’re all the same.”

“What about Buck and Jett?” she asked.

“Don’t you say their fucking names.”

“Axel?”

“Don’t. You have no right to say them. You speak them, and I’ll have you up on the whipping post, praying for death.” He slammed his hand against the cage, and she gasped, stepping back.

The violence of it scared her.

“You better hope Draven just lets you freeze to death. It would be a kindness you don’t deserve.”

He turned on his heel and walked out of the cells. She watched him go.

Gripping the bars that contained her, she wondered if it was at all possible to get out. If after years of women tugging at them, was there any way they were weakened or would she be wasting her time? Her breath? Her everything.

Wrapping her fingers around the bars, she tried to give them a tug and failed.

“Come on.”

They didn’t give. They were held in place, designed to stay there.

Stepping away from the bars, she sat down on the mattress and drew her feet up to her chin, holding her legs close to her, watching, waiting. Even as she heard men and women laughing, she didn’t go and look out the window.

Time passed, and then she heard someone rushing inside the cells. Getting to her feet, she was surprised to see her father on the other side.

“Harper, honey.”

She got off the bed and stepped up to the bars. “Hey, Ian.”

“No, what the fuck? Why are you doing this?” Ian turned his head, and Harper saw Draven was there, a key in his finger, twirling it around as if he was a madman.

“Be careful there, Ian. You know I don’t like any attitude.”

“You’re going to have her freeze to death.”

“I’m teaching her a lesson. If you want, I could have beaten her last night. I wouldn’t have stopped at one hit either. I’d have probably sold her to Lucas, and you know what he likes to do to women.”