.

to tie her ankles together, but now he wasn’t sure how he’d accomplish that without risking a punishing heel in his face.

      She’d stopped trying to yank her leg free, which gave him an idea. The trick was to keep her knee bent. He couldn’t hold onto the rope indefinitely, but if it was secured to the rope around her waist…

      “Battle over,” he informed her as he scooted back, not stopping until he could see her waist. Settling onto her back, he was careful to keep most of his weight off her.

      Sliding the ankle rope under her waist near her tethered hands took a couple of tries because she kept trying to jerk her leg free, but at length he had her. She was his.

      5

      Helplessness spun through Jola in endless waves. Maybe she should be relieved now that he was no longer sitting on her, but reality was, it made no difference. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t turn over.

      Freedom was no longer part of her world.

      Tears thickened her throat, but she forced them back into whatever dark place they’d come from.

      How had her day taken this turn? It had begun as a hard, healing run that had pushed grief from her heart. Then, thinking to cool down, she’d plunged into the lake, fully believing that nothing else bad could happen to her.

      She’d been wrong.

      “No more struggling,” her captor said and patted her buttocks. “I don’t want you injuring yourself.”

      Let me go! You don’t know what I am. “Is this what it takes for you to feel like a warrior?” she threw at him, unable to stop the words. “Ropes and greater strength. And something to weaken my body so I nearly drowned?”

      He remained silent and remote, thinking thoughts she couldn’t access. He’d positioned himself near her waist, undoubtedly so he could reach every part of her. As a result, she had to crane her neck if she wanted to look at him, which she didn’t.

      Those of her kind who’d gotten close to the newcomers had described them as ugly creatures with small eyes and short arms and legs, but her captor wasn’t ugly. She wanted him to be, but he wasn’t.

      Most of all, she wanted to hate him as she’d never hated, but she couldn’t. Even the possibility that he’d been responsible for Raci’s death wasn’t enough to freeze her heart.

      “I don’t understand what happened in the water,” he said, the words low and slow as if he was talking to himself. “You weren’t breathing when I found you, and you’d been under the water a long time. The way you recovered, so fast…”

      To her surprise, she wanted him to know she was different from anyone he’d ever met, that the mystical qualities flowing through her and other Falcons gave them inhuman strength, but the large warrior had done nothing to deserve the truth.

      “What do you want of me?” she demanded. Even as she spoke, she steeled herself for his answer.

      “Whatever I want, when it pleases me.”

      “Kill me?”

      “What? If that had been my intention, you’d already be dead.”

      Standing, he walked out of her line of sight. The last thing she’d wanted was to fall into the grasp of those who’d invaded Falcon Land, but it had happened. If she was going to survive, she needed to learn everything she could about her captor.

      Him?

      Where were the others?

      As awareness of the hard ground under her and the bonds around her limbs grew, she acknowledged that only this man mattered.

      Waiting for him to come back into view, she reminded herself that he couldn’t possibly know who and what she was. As a warrior, he’d probably captured other women or been presented with slaves. He probably believed she’d be so terrified that she’d meekly comply with whatever he required of her. As long as she pretended to be what he wanted, she was safe.

      Maybe.

      Surely he wouldn’t keep her out here for long because even a seasoned and successful warrior surrounded himself with his companions. She’d let him take her back to the enemy camp and wait for her chance to escape. In the meantime, she’d listen and learn and if she discovered who had killed Raci…

      Careful not to look up at the sky so she wouldn’t risk giving anything away, she reassured herself with the knowledge that at least one Falcon knew what had happened to her. Whoever it was would take his knowledge to Raptor’s Craig and…

      And what? The Falcons didn’t risk their lives unless they had no choice. For now, they’d study what was happening to her but wouldn’t try to rescue her unless they believed they had no choice.

      A warning crawled up her spine. Holding her breath, she ordered herself to assess and appraise, to learn everything she could about this man while giving nothing away. Being robbed of the use of her arms and having a leg tightly tethered was something she had never expected to experience. Much as she wanted to tell herself that this temporary helplessness changed nothing, she knew better. He was right. He could do a great deal, maybe everything he wanted to, to her.

      More important, as long as she was tied she couldn’t reach Raptor’s Craig.

      As another warning slithered along her spine, she twisted as much as she could in an attempt to see behind her. Her captor appeared as a dark, strong shadow. She’d noted his bare chest earlier. Now it seemed to dominate not just his physique but her world. If she’d ever seen greater strength in a man she couldn’t remember. Trying to tell herself that it didn’t matter did nothing to lessen her nervousness, although if she was being honest with herself, nervousness, didn’t adequately describe what she was feeling.

      She didn’t want to be this close to a man. Didn’t know how to handle the emotions crashing through her.

      “What are you going to do?” she demanded, determined to bring herself back to reality.

      “I haven’t decided yet,” he said and lowered himself onto his knees beside her. Although he’d been closer when he was sitting on her, this was different, more overwhelming. Maybe it was because for the first time she could study his expression. His dark eyes carried the smoldering heat Raci’s eyes had had as the two of them explored each other’s bodies.

      It doesn’t take much for a man to get sexually excited, Raci had told her. Even before their bodies joined for the first time, she’d been tempted to tell him that the same was true for women, at least for her, but something had held the words back.

      Determined not to acknowledge her captor’s cock, she willed herself to wait him out. The long nights since Raci’s murder had threatened her sanity. Foremost had been grief and anger, but she’d also wondered if she was destined to spend her life alone, to never mate. Now whether she did or didn’t have sex had been taken out of her hands. She had no doubt what her captor wanted.

      “You must feel superior,” she snapped.

      “I do?”

      “Of course. There’s little I can do to stop you. Right now you’re telling yourself that I belong to you. You are, aren’t you?”

      She couldn’t be sure but thought he’d winced when she threw the last words at him. Maybe, if she kept on talking, she could change his mind about raping her. He might even let her go.

      No, he wouldn’t.

      Instead of responding, he positioned her on her side. Maybe he thought she’d be grateful because she no longer had to crane her neck, but with her tied leg closest to him and the other stretched out to help her balance herself, her crotch was within his reach.

      Why had she taken off her dress earlier?

      Because she’d needed wind-life on her skin.

      “You aren’t what I expected,” he told her, his hands resting