Page 103 of Code Name: Scorpio

She kept her eyes on the receipt. In through your nose. Let him talk.

“Everybody in that house watched you kneel for him.” His voice didn’t change at all. “I wanted to find out what all that kneeling and pet business was about. For myself.”

Her stomach turned over. Fear was a cheap currency, so she let it flood her face. Hiding it took energy she didn’t have. Besides, giving him exactly what he wanted bought her time.

“Then Sutton comes out of the rafters tonight. Motherfucker is some sort of cop. I got the hell out of there while all that shit was going down.” He shook his head. “I’m on my way out to my truck and get a notification on my phone that my transmitter is nearby.”

When he turned to look at her for the first time since leaving the city limits, his gaze went absolutely dead. “You’re a fucking cop too. And my brother was zip-tied on a concrete floor because of you two.”

“I’m not a cop.” That, at least, was the truth.

“Then what are you?”

“I fix computers. That’s all.” Her voice shook, bleeding real panic into the tight cab. “Please, I’m not part of all this. Where are we going?”

“Back where we met.”

“The lodge?” The word fractured on the way out of her throat.

“Not for long, don’t worry. We’ll have to find somewhere else to do most of our playing.” Heath chuckled, a dry, grating sound that clawed straight down her spine. “But I’m definitely going to get a taste tonight. I don’t know if what you and Sutton did was real, but it’ll be real for me.”

Cassandra tried to swallow her panic. Heath obviously didn’t understand the safe, sane, consensual premises of BDSM, and it wasn’t as if she was going to try to explain it to him.

She had to keep talking about the lodge in hopes that someone was listening or would start listening back at headquarters. But the chances of that happening were small. If they didn’t pay attention in the van, they might miss that the audio channel was active altogether.

“Why the lodge?” She made it sound like a plea.

“Because it’s empty.” His eyes went to the mirror again. “And nobody will hear you out there.”

Ice water flooded her veins. She had to fight not to let panic overwhelm her. She tried to focus on what Ryder would tell her to do. Read the person. Give them what they want. Get what you need.

Heath wanted to feel powerful. He wanted a scared little pet who kept her eyes on the floor and did what she was told. She would give him what he wanted if it meant staying alive.

“Is anybody still at the lodge?” she whispered. The more times she could say the word, the better.

“Not anymore.” His hands tightened on the wheel until the leather creaked. “Guess it’s just us. I’ve got a lot of frustrations to work out until we leave tomorrow. Or maybe by then you’ll just be dead weight.”

“I don’t want to go to the lodge. I don’t want to go to the lodge.” She repeated it over and over, curling up into herself in a move that both made her look scared like Heath wanted and hopefully got the transmitter close enough that her words could be understood.

Heath didn’t stop her. He was feeding off her fear.

She just wished that fear weren’t real.

She was still muttering it every few minutes when they arrived at the lodge an hour later. Heath thumbed a remote clipped to his visor, and the gate swung open.

The truck crawled forward, tires crunching over loose stone. Ahead, the lodge loomed out of the dark, standing as a dead mass of timber and rock without a single light showing.

The engine died. He dragged a heavy flashlight from the door panel, walked the perimeter, and pulled her door open. Instead of grabbing her, he just waited. That was somehow worse.

She dropped to the pavement unprompted, fixing her gaze on the dirt and keeping her head down.

She had to figure this out because she was running out of time.

Heath outmatched her completely in size and raw strength. Not to mention he had a freaking gun and knew this property much better than she did. Bolting now would get her nowhere. With him standing three feet away, he would tackle her before she even cleared the truck bed.

He wouldn’t shoot her. That was the only saving grace, although the reasons for that didn’t make her feel one bit better. She was no use to him dead.

Yet.