Bound to Seduction (16 page)

It was the fire opal that drew her
attention, reflecting an orange-red glow into the room, like flames
from a fire. She’d seen it in the arena. It was all the talk
amongst the females who followed the fights. Why did he wear it?
Where had it come from? And why had his master not yet removed
it?

Questions swirled in her mind as she looked
from the opal to the wounds on his flesh, still oozing with blood,
then finally, to his face.

A square jaw covered in dark stubble, lips
set in a hard line, a nose slightly crooked as if it had been
broken more than once. With the jagged red scar across his right
cheek, and the bruises marring his forehead, he was far from
handsome. He looked hulking, feral, menacing. And his eyes…her gaze
locked on his black as night eyes. His eyes were dead pools of
obsidian staring straight at her.

She gasped, stumbled backward, hit Zayd’s
chest. Instead of shoving her forward like he’d done before, both
of his hands closed around her upper arms, steadying her against
him.

“
My
jarriah
does not
like what she sees?” A smile wound through Zayd’s words. “That
pleases me. Greatly.”

This is not my life. This is not my life
! Tremors Kavin couldn’t stop raced down
her spine.

Zayd
gripped her arms, pushed her forward with him. Her feet scuffed
along the floor, and her eyes grew even wider as he forced her
toward the monster with the strength of his body tight against her
back. “Take a good, long look,
jarriah
. See and smell what will soon be using you.”

Tears burned Kavin’s eyes. A sob caught in
her throat. Though she leaned hard against Zayd, she knew not to
fight him or turn her head away. Knew if she did, he’d only
lengthen the time she’d be sent to this hell with the monster.

The scent of death wafted in the air around
her. That and the bitter bite of blood and sweat. She kept her
focus on the opal, tried to breathe through her mouth and not her
nose so she wouldn’t get sick, but she knew Zayd was waiting. He
wanted to feel her fear. Wanted to make her writhe because he was a
sick son of a bitch who got off on that kind of thing. Her skin
grew tighter, her legs weaker as she fought from giving him what he
wanted. But he wasn’t letting go. And knowing it was the only way
he’d release her, she finally chanced a look up.

The monster’s gaze was fixed on the wall
over her shoulder, not on her. But this close she could feel the
heat rolling off him in waves, see the muscles flex beneath his
skin with coiled restraint. He wanted to hurt her. She saw it in
the way his jaw clenched, in the way his hands curled into fists at
his sides. He hated her simply because she was Ghul and he was
Marid. Because her race had enslaved him here in these pits. Before
she could stop it, a memory flashed in her mind. The way he’d
beheaded the Shaitan in the arena. How he’d so easily decapitated
the djinn without a thought.

Her adrenaline surged all over again, and
her whole body shook. She turned her head away, slammed her eyes
shut. Tried to curl into Zayd at her back.

This is not my life
!

A menacing chuckle echoed through Zayd’s
chest. Then his hands softened at her arms and he took a step back,
tugging her gently with him until, finally, there was space between
her and the monster. “Guard!”

Metal clanked metal, followed by a whoosh of
air spilling into the room as the door was yanked open. A burst of
light rushed into the dark space, blinding Kavin, but she didn’t
care. All she could focus on was the blessed air filling her lungs
and the fact she was safe.

For now.

Zayd gripped her hand and pulled her toward
the light. Relief spiraled through her veins. To the guard, he
said, “Contact me when the slave has been prepared.”

And just like that, with one simple
sentence, the relief she’d felt fled. Until all that was left was a
rolling sickness in her belly over what she’d find waiting when her
master forced her to return.

To learn more about SLAVE TO PASSION and the rest of the
Elisabeth’s books, visit
www.ElisabethNaughton.com

A former junior high science teacher,
Elisabeth Naughton traded in her red pen and test tube set for a
laptop and research books. She now writes sexy romantic adventure
and paranormal novels full time from her home in western Oregon
where she lives with her husband and three children. Her work has
been nominated for numerous awards including the prestigious RITA®
awards by Romance Writers of America, the Australian Romance Reader
Awards, The Golden Leaf and the Golden Heart. When not writing,
Elisabeth can be found running, hanging out at the ballpark or
dreaming up new and exciting adventures.

Visit her on the web at

www.ElisabethNaughton.com
.