The woman on the other side of the harem door is another matter. She was born to lead. Unfortunately, she was also born in the wrong time. Had she been born seventy years ago, she would've ruled the world. Now, her potential is crippled by a world descended into Primitive brutality. I've decided to change that. I'll start with this city and see where I can go from here. Give her a place to rule, to shine, to become the leader she’s meant to be.
I stop next to the guards at the harem door. "Any problems?"
They both stand straighter, chins up, shoulders back. I don't have time to develop relationships with my people, so I rule through a combination of fear, fairness and sheer brute strength. I work alongside my people, proving my worth, but I also elevate myself above. There must be separation between the Warlord and his citizens, in order for him to make an effective leader. I am different, and I don't want them for one moment to forget. I would as soon kill these men as talk to them.
The one nearest to me, Denny Torrance, speaks first. "She tried to escape a few times. Once through a window and once by tricking us. Neither worked."
Of course, neither attempt would work. The harem is located on the second to top floor of the palace, thirty floors above the ground. Even if she manages to make it through a window, most of which are sealed shut, she has nowhere to go but down. As for tricking my security team, Skye is smart and determined, and given time she might be capable of such a feat. But for now, my men are alert to any tricks.
"Open the door." I give them enough room to unlock and open the portal to the harem. Not a regular door, but closer to the door one might find on the safe of an old bank. Steel, reinforced, blast proof. As I step through into the harem, I say, “Bring the food when it arrives."
Skye is standing by one of the windows, her legs spread, her arms crossed, her back to me. Her spine is so straight it looks like there might be a steel bar trapped in her back. Her ass, the finest ass I've ever seen, is encased in a pair of supple leather pants, so tight that they mold to her thighs and ass, showcasing every detail. She's wearing a loose beige shirt. A man's shirt. I wonder where she got it from. It'll be the first item of her wardrobe to go. I can't have my woman wearing another man's shirt.
She has a veritable artillery strapped to her thighs and waist. When she was brought into Sanctuary, I made an unspoken statement to her by allowing her to keep them, I want you to feel safe within these walls. Now she's making a statement to me by wearing them, I will fuck you up at the first opportunity.
She doesn't need weaponry in the harem. This room is the safest in the city. But the fact that she wears them makes me want her even more.
"How are you settling in?" I'm not a man of words, never have been. But I want her to talk, need to hear her voice, and the only way that'll happen is if I get her talking.
She turns her head to the side but doesn't turn around or look at me. Her long dark brown hair with its reddish tint spills down her back in soft waves, ending in an arrow just above her waist. It's grown several inches since I last saw her. It's ragged, wild and beautiful. Just like her.
"I'm trying not to settle in since I'll be leaving soon," she says scornfully.
I bite back a smile. She doesn't need to see my amusement or know that I think her resistance is both stimulating and cute. Something tells me if she knew of my sentiment, she would become murderous. As much as I would love a tussle with her, now is not the time. I need sleep before I engage in physical combat with this woman.
"The quicker you settle in, the more freedoms I can give you. Starting with a tour of the city." I can tell by the tilt of her head and the stiffening of her shoulders that she’s interested. I knew she would be.
When she first arrived in Santa Fe seven years ago, she fought against her new role, fought against her new Warlord husband. She wanted nothing to do with him. But Silas had been nothing if not patient. He'd waited her out, wooed her, showed her how important she was becoming to him. I'd stood by and watched the entire romance unfold. After her first year in the city, she'd become involved in the inner workings. Involved in things like education, food supply, medicine, everything. She was the perfect companion to the Warlord. Graceful, intelligent and compassionate. Though she was impetuous and sometimes emotional, they were character traits that helped her rule at her husband’s side efficiently and effectively.
That was the closest I'd ever come to murdering Warlord Silas and taking his place. Jealousy had eaten at me, but I’d decided to wait, to bide my time. The woman I had fallen in love with would never have accepted the man who killed her husband. Now, my time has arrived.
"I have no desire to settle or to see the city," she says tartly, turning to look at me, her beautiful grey eyes narrowed in anger. "You'll have to kill me or keep me locked up forever. I won’t stay here."
I step toward her, incapable of resisting her lure. She’s so fucking beautiful in her warrior clothes with her weapons and bad attitude. I want to lay her out on the table and show her how much I worship her. But she can't know yet how much she has come to mean to me. That her attitude, who she is, is the only thing in this world that keeps me breathing, working, living. I don't know when the transition happened, but one day I was a dead man breathing, the next I was living for her.
I raise my hand and she flinches. I pause and then slowly brush my fingertips down the side of her silky cheek. I tell myself to go slow, not to frighten her, but I've ached for her for so long it's hard not to just reach out and take what's mine.
"Neither option works for me. Alive and with me is your only option." Before she can reply, there's a brief knock at the door.
"Come," I call.
The door opens and two men walk in with platters filled with food. Though the palace kitchen is run by women, I decided not to let them in the harem just yet. Skye is fully capable of taking down a grown man; a few women would be nothing to her. For now, the only people allowed in the harem besides Hannah and the doctor are my soldiers. And even then, I'll only send in the best. Skye is sneaky, aggressive and capable. I don't want her attacking my people just yet.
"Oh good, the food’s here," Skye says, snark clearly evident in her tone. "You can leave now. I'm going to eat."
I can feel my lips tugging upward, despite my best intentions. This woman and her sass speak right to my dick.
"I'm staying."
"Then I'm leaving." She strides past me toward the door, as though I would actually allow her to leave.
I don't bother to stop her. She knows she's not getting out of the harem. My guys locked the door behind them, slamming the bolts home in an echo of her imprisonment. This isn't how I want to keep her, but she's proving as stubborn as I expected. She needs time, and the harem is the safest place for her to stay as she settles into her new life.
She whirls around and gives me a glare, looking at me as though I'm lower than a Primitive. "I'm not eating with you." She crosses her arms stubbornly over her chest.
I shrug. "Then you'll watch me eat."
I stride past her to the table, jerking a chair out and sitting down. The damn chairs in the harem are too delicate for a guy like me. I feel like I'm going to crush the fragile wood beneath my heavy body. I shift gingerly on the chair as I reach for the nearest platter, piling a plate full of meat, vegetables and bread.