Taken by the Enemy Read Free Page A

that!”
    He laughed, a low and surprising sound. “Stop fighting then and tell me what I should call you.”
    “Fuck off.”
    “That’s an odd name.” He wrenched her arm higher onto her back, and tears burned her eyes as she whimpered. “Tell me your name, little bird.”
    “Go to hell.” Emmie pressed her forehead into the leaves, and then she felt his breath against the back of her neck.
    “You’re going to learn that it’s much easier when you obey me, little bird , and that there are consequences for disrespect.” Lucian’s voice had a hard edge to it, and she yelped as he twisted her other wrist up behind her back. The rough texture of rope winding over her skin made her struggle anew, but his weight dropped on her, and it was impossible to breathe. She wanted to curse him, to call him every name she had ever learned – she just didn’t have enough air to do it.
    When he finally lifted his knee from her, she choked in dirt with her first gasp, and he hauled her off the ground by one of her arms. Emmie tried to kick at his ankle, but he was prepared now and avoided it, tightening his other hand in her hair to bend her head back painfully as he shoved her forward.
    “That’s not going to work anymore, little bird, I know you’re not as harmless as you look.” Lucian’s voice was calm even as he manhandled her through the branches, letting them scrape her arms and stomach where her shirt had lifted in her struggles. Panic filled her as he pushed her farther and farther from her pack.
    “My bag!” It was the first thing she’d managed to choke out since she’d been able to breathe, but he didn’t slow.
    “I know where it is, but you need to learn a lesson first. Kneel.” The toe of his shoe pressed into the back of her knee making her leg buckle under her, and his hand in her hair forced her the rest of the way to her knees.
    “I’ll never kneel for you!” Emmie shouted, stumbling clumsily back to her feet without the use of her hands. Their eyes met, and the dark heather gray of his seemed to grow darker as he towered over her.
    “That’s where you’re wrong, little bird.” His hand moved faster than she could react, not like she could have defended herself with her hands bound, but she quickly found herself draped over the huge log in front of her. Her dark hair dangled towards the earth on the other side, her toes seeking purchase on the ground, and then his hand landed on the middle of her back, effectively pinning her to the ancient, downed tree as his other hand slid under her to the button of her pants.
    “No!” she screamed, but he ignored her. His knuckles had to be scraped raw from the bark by the time the button was free, yet he was undeterred as he yanked her pants down her legs until they gathered like bolos around her ankles. “Don’t touch me, you bastard son of a—”
    The first strike of his palm across her ass silenced her, it stung and she tried her best to arch off the log, but he pressed her back down. He didn’t stop with one, his strong hand landed again and again, turning her skin to fire with each new spank he laid. When he finally paused, her own breath hitched from humiliation and anger, and she was stunned to feel his fingers kneading the soft, warm flesh. “Apologize.”
    “What?” she asked, and his hand answered with another sharp strike, lighting up her skin anew. “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Emmie screamed as loud as she could, jerking at the ropes around her wrists until she felt them rubbing raw.
    A rapid series of hard spanks was her initial answer, they landed one after another, a new fiery pain each time his palm struck her tender skin, and he continued until she was whimpering and limp against the log. Then he paused again, his fingers brushing the hot skin. “I want you to apologize. For hitting me, for being disrespectful, and for being ungrateful that I saved you.”
    “You call this saving me?” Twisting at the waist, she looked up at him