Caught By the Dragon: Maiden to the Dragon, Book 1 by - (summer books txt) 📖

“Let me out! God damn fucks! Let me out!”

My dark world was slowly receding, and that was my introduction back into the real one. I forced my eyes open and was presented with a barren sight.

I was in the back of a metal truck. The floor and walls were plates of steel, but the ceiling was made of canvas. The rear of the truck was also canvas and tied so tightly not a single bit of light could be seen behind us. I heard the tires crunch on gravel and the up-and-down motion of the truck told me we were driving over short hills.

On either side were long wooden benches, and it was on one of these that I sat, but I wasn’t alone. Beside and opposite me were four other women, all roughly around my age. They all had their hands bound behind their back and their ankles were captured in chains. I shifted and chains rattled on my own feet.

The one who pounded against the side of the truck was a woman with a scowling face. Tears had ran her makeup down her face and given her an undead look. She slammed her shoulder into the wall and winced, but her furious expression didn’t abate.

“Let me out, you stupid fucks!” she screamed.

“Will you stop that?” one of the women to my left snapped. “You’ve been trying that for fifteen minutes and whoever’s driving the truck hasn’t even slowed down. They don’t give a damn.”

Mascara-face sneered at her. “You idiots can just sit there, but I’m not going to give up. Maybe somebody else will hear me.’ She took a deep breath and opened her big mouth wide. “Heellppppp!”

The truck slowed down. Mascara-face sat up and grinned. “See? I get results.”

Everyone quieted as the truck stopped. A door opened and heavy boots hit the gravel. They walked along the side of the truck to the rear where the canvas was untied. The cloth was shoved aside and revealed Blake in all his piggy glory. Behind him stretched a vast forest of thick trees. The shroud of night hung over the forest. The gravel road wound through it, and up and over the short hills. Distant lights spoke of a small town, but nothing like the city I knew.

He sneered at all of us. “What the hell’s going on here?”

Mascara-face gathered what few wits she had and glared at him. “I-I want you to release me.”

Blake snorted. The noise even sounded piggish. “Like hell we will. You just shut up, will you? We can’t hear ourselves think up there.”

“What do you want with us?” the woman beside me questioned him.

Blake chuckled. “You’ll see. We should be there in a little bit, and then you’d better keep your mouths shut. The lords don’t like loud women unless they’re bedding them.”

He dropped the canvas and tied it back. A terrible hush fell over us as he marched back to the front. The truck started forward down the gravel road.

A few sniffles broke the silence.

“Will you guys shut up already?” the irate woman snapped. She glanced in my direction. “What are you looking at?”

I frowned and looked to my right. A girl of maybe twenty sat beside me. Her shoulders shook and soft sobs escaped her lips.

I leaned my shoulder against her. She looked up at me. “You okay?”

The girl shook her head. She wiped her face and swallowed. “W-where are they taking us? Why did they take us?”

I pursed my lips and shook my head. “I don’t know. What do you last remember?”

“We’ve all got the same story,” the irate one spoke up. She swept her eyes over our little group and sneered at them. “Everybody was grabbed out of their homes or off the streets by those creeps and drugged. We all woke up in this truck, nobody knows what’s going on, and that little brat’s been crying since she woke up.”

I glared at her. “You don’t have to be an asshole. We’re all going through this together, so we should stick together.”

“You’re dreaming,” she snapped back as she nodded her head in the direction we’d traveled. “Did you see all those trees? I’m not going to be dragging a brat with me. She’ll only slow me down.”

“It’s the only way we’re going to be able to get away from those pig boys,” I shot back.

She sneered at me. “It’s everybody for themselves. Besides, I didn’t see anybody helping me make noise.”

“That’s enough, you two. We’re not getting anywhere with this arguing,” the fifth woman spoke up.

“Yeah, I guess I am wasting my time here,” the irate woman retorted.

The second woman glared at her, but turned to me. “Some of us introduced ourselves before you two woke up. Mind telling us your names?”

“Miriam,” I told her.

“My name’s Alexandra, but you can call me Alex,” she introduced herself. She nodded at my younger charge and the other quieter woman. “That’s Stephanie and Cindy.”

“What’s the point of telling each other about ourselves?” the other one spoke up.

Alex rolled her eyes and jerked her head towards our less-amiable companion. “That’s Olivia.”

“You’re just wasting your time getting to know each other. For all we know they’re going to sell us to sex slavers and we’re never going to see anybody again,” Olivia scolded her.

“It’ll help if some of us get out of here and tell police who we met,” Alex argued.

Someone pounded a fist against the back of the cab. “Shut up back there!” Blake called through the thin plate.

I shifted in my chains. They wouldn’t budge. There was a thin hole in one of my feet bracelets. “Anybody know how to pick a lock?”

“If one of us did we’d be out of here,” Olivia pointed out.

We grew quiet again. There was only the sound of the wheels as they ground against the gravel. The truck swayed more heavily from side-to-side, and in a few minutes we slowed to a stop.

The engine shut off, and two doors were opened and slammed shut. Three sets of feet walked along the sides of the truck, and the