Kaitlyn O'Connor by Enslaved III: The Gladiators Page A

‟ t think she would ‟ ve obeyed quite as quickly.
    Despite her effort to preserve her scalp by lifting her hair out of the way, he managed to pluck enough hairs taking the collar off that her eyes stung and filled with tears, blinding her.
    She didn ‟ t know he was simply replacing the damned thing with his own until she felt the cold metal settle heavily around her throat. She grabbed at it instinctively when she felt a choking sensation but he ‟ d already fastened it by then.
    She spent most of that day focused on fighting off panic and trying to breathe. It wasn ‟ t that the collar was too tight to allow her to swallow or to breathe properly. It was the weight of it that gave her the sensation of choking but fortunately she ‟ d pretty much grown accustomed to that by her third day.
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    She hated it with a passion, but she managed to put it out of her mind for stretches of time.
    She was still focused enough on it, however, that when the Hirachi arrived that evening she was ready to risk angering them by demanding to know what they knew about them even though she ‟ d already seen that they were very touchy on the subject of their enslavement.
    Even so, she almost dismissed it when Kael had pulled her close to cuddle her. It was so comforting that she hated to spoil it—especially with Kael. She didn ‟ t know why him in particular unless it was because he was prone to be far more taciturn than the other two and seemed inclined to hold far more back than he allowed her to see.
    She felt a need to know about the collar, though. The purpose of the first had been to control her to get her to auction, she knew, and she supposed it was left either because nobody bothered to take it off or, more likely, as a symbol of slavery since she ‟ d noticed right off that all the slaves seemed to wear them.
    She sensed there was significance beyond the symbolism, though, and finally leaned away from Kael enough to actually study the one he wore for the first time. He stiffened when she touched it and she met his gaze. “Why do they put these on?”
    His lips tightened and he allowed his hands to drop to his sides. “We are slaves,” he said tightly.
    Loren frowned at him, but his face was completely closed and she saw he didn ‟ t mean to discuss it. She glanced at Dakaar and Balen and saw that they were as angry as Kael, although she was pretty sure they weren ‟ t actually angry with her. “It ‟ s just…so that anybody will know if they look that we ‟ re slaves, then?”
    “It is for control,” Dakaar said flatly.
    Confusion flickered through her. “It doesn ‟ t have a loop for a chain. How do they use it for control?”
    “Blow head off wid it,” Balen said succinctly.
    Loren recoiled in horror, lifting her hand toward her own and then halting before she touched it. She glanced from Balen to Dakaar and then Kael. “Really? I mean, you know this? Or they said that?”
    “Old gladiator told. He see it.”
    Loren felt nausea well in her throat. She swallowed sickly. “It ‟ s an electronic device, then.
    Does it track, too? Or is it just set to alert them if you move beyond range?”
    They frowned at her, but this time with less anger than curiosity—and even a little suspicion. “You know „bout deez tings?” Kael asked harshly.
    She could see immediately that they thought she had some familiarity with slavery and they didn ‟ t think highly of her for it. She shook her head. “On my world, they have something sort of like this that they use to keep pets—dogs and cats—from wandering away from home. If they get beyond a certain range, it…uh…stings, nothing harmful to them, just enough to scare them, but they only work if you train the pet. If they get very far away, it doesn ‟ t do anything at all and once they learn that they don ‟ t pay it any attention.”
    They still looked skeptical and anger surged through her. “It ‟ s a barbaric practice! It wasn ‟ t uncommon for people