Lily: Captive to the Dark by Alaska Angelini

completely. Oh, what a beautiful torturous dream that would be.
    “You still can’t have me,” I barely managed.
    His touch left and I’d never felt colder. It took every ounce of strength I possessed not to wheel around and pull him into me.
    “Before we start, I want you to call your brother. Tell him you need time to cool off and you’ll be home as soon as you calm down.”
    I blinked, battling over whether I should alert my brother or truly spend the last night I’d ever get with my Master. I didn’t want to leave him even though I knew I had to. One night…what could happen in such a short span of time?
    “You know the consequence if you even hint that something isn’t right. I’ll take you for good and we’ll disappear. I promise you that.”
    I spun around to see him walking back toward me, a phone in hand.
    “He’ll be able to trace that. Probably even be able to pick up my location.”
    Zain laughed, shaking his head. “No, he won’t. He was able to get through on my last phone, but this is my spare. Our location will be impossible to track. The most he’ll be able to do is call it back. I don’t think even he can do that with this one.”
    “Before?”
    “That’s not something you need to worry about right now. Call him.”
    My stomach twisted. “Won’t it look suspicious, me calling from a phone that’s not traceable?”
    “No, it’ll read that you’re calling from a random address somewhere in the city. Mostly motels and businesses. By the time he gets there, he’ll have no idea if you were there or not.”
    I blindly nodded, still staring at the phone. Hesitantly, I reached for it and punched in my brother’s number. As I turned and the ring sounded, I watched Slade scramble for his cell, clearly panicked. My heart sank.
    “Hello? Lily?”
    Swallowing was almost impossible at the lie I was about to tell. “I just wanted to let you know I’m okay and I’m not coming home until I cool off.”
    In a swift motion, he ran his fingers through his hair. “Let me come get you. We can talk about this. I’ll back off some. Just…come home.”
    Tears filled my eyes. “I can’t. It has to be this way. I’ll be home soon. I love you.” I disconnected, watching his phone bounce on the bed and then over the other side as he lost his temper with frustration. Zain’s arms wrapped around me from behind as my brother collapsed to the mattress, putting his head down, and supporting it with his hands. I’d never seen Slade so upset. Was this how he’d been when I’d been taken the first time? It had to be, but worse. He’d kidnapped Mary to get me back. To hurt him now…
    “You did very well. Now, we begin.”
    I tried to shrug off his embrace but it only tightened. “Uh-uh, baby. Shh. Just let me hold you. Take it in while you can.”
    “No.” I knew what he was implying and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. “We’re not going to be doing much talking, are we?”
    One of his arms moved to cover my breasts while the other settled over my cheek, bringing my face to rest against his.
    “We’ll be doing a lot of talking. For instance, do you remember the first day we met?” He laughed under his breath. “You were so scared, yet you didn’t back down from me. I spanked your ass and what did you do not two hours later?”
    My lids lowered while his fingers caressed down my neck, right over my pulse. “I disobeyed you.” The past came barreling back and I let it. Darkness encompassed me. In Zain’s arms, standing here, in his dark penthouse, I could almost believe we were back in his room.
    “You need to take a bath, Lily. Follow me.”
    I pushed deeper into the corner of the wall, pulling the blankets up to my chin. All I could do was shake my head. A sigh left his mouth as his hand darted out and pulled me from the safety I had only just begun to feel. A cloth was wrapped around my head and half of my face. I almost pulled it off, but didn’t at his look.
    “What did I