Valentino runs the knife, making a small cut along my arm. I gasp at the shock and sting of it, but I do not scream. I smile a little to myself at his confused and disappointed look. I guess he was expecting a little girl, one that will break quickly and easily, but I can stand more pain than most girls and I don't intend to give him the satisfaction of hearing me scream. At the sight of my slight smile, he tightens his hand around my throat a little, making it harder to breathe.He then makes another cut, but he starts this one from my left shoulder and goes down at an angle, stopping once he gets to the middle of my chest between my breasts. When I didn't make a sound other than the gasp as he first started the cut, he passes the knife back to the other beast and moves real close to me, whispering once more, "What are you to him? What is his weakness?" I struggle to answer him as he tightens his hand a little more around my throat. 

I drift in and out. I feel like I am trapped in water. I fight my way to the surface but can't seem to stay there as something pulls me back down into the darkness again. I fight my way to the surface again and this time I can hear voices. I can't make out what they are saying but at least one of them sounds familiar.I then get pulled back into that darkness again, the next time I fight to the surface I wait to be pulled back but I seem to stay this time, I then wait for the cold and pain that would run through my body after each session with Valentino but that wasn't there either. I start to wonder if I am dreaming as I am laying on something soft, I am covered and I am warm instead of cold. I then panic a little as a warm arm moves over my side and the hand stops laying flat on my abdomen.I flinch a little in pain as he hits a recent slash from the whip and I then shiver in fear, thinking, did he finally do it? Did Valentino take me out of my torture cell and take

With the help of Jade, Raphael, and Zachariah, I slowly make a reasonable recovery. Jade helped me to get my attitude and confidence back. As we built on our friendship, Raphael became my personal trainer and helped me trust a guy other than Zachariah. We started with some light stuff in the bedroom. Raphael then moved us to a small section on the training field, away from everyone else.Then once I was stronger, Raphael moved our training to the wildflower field so we could do more with my private training against their kind, getting me back to where I was before Valentino got his hands on me. Raphael would even get Zaire to join us occasionally to help with not only fighting one or two of their kind, but to also expand on who I trust. Now, Zachariah, he was much more personal. He would wake me the same way every morning. To start with, I would flinch and struggle until he could convince me that it was him and not Valentino. He started slowly, holding me tight a

Once back at the mansion, Zaire carries my bags up to Zachariah's room while Jade heads to the kitchen for something to eat. Zaire repeats what he asked outside the hairdressers."You never answered me. Is that how you are treated here?" I sigh and hang my dress for later on the door of the closet. "Yes, even the ones inside the mansion..." "Why haven't you said anything?" "And what would telling anyone really have done?" He looks at me but doesn't say anything else, putting a couple of shopping bags onto the table by the window. He surprises me by moving and standing in front of me. He then gets down on one knee, lowers his head, and says, "Luna Yasmine, I pledge my loyalty to you, and I will protect you with my life." I lift my hand and put it softly on his shoulder. "Zaire, your loyalty is to Zachariah, not me!" Zaire lifts his head and looks at me with a smile on his face. "My loyal

I melt into him as he deepens the kiss. I don't realize that we are back until Zachariah starts to move, getting out of the car, still holding me in his lap, and then carrying me bridal style into the mansion. He doesn't break the kiss as he makes his way through the mansion and up to his room.He opens the door and steps inside, shutting the door behind him with his foot. He then moves further into the room and slowly lowers my legs, placing my feet carefully on the floor, but still holding me tight up against him. He then slides his hands up my back to my shoulders and then down my arms, hooking his fingers into the short sleeves of my dress and taking it with them. Once his hands reach mine, he lets go of my dress and it falls the rest of the way to the floor. I hesitantly lift my shaky hands to his chest and slowly start to undo the buttons on his shirt.Once I have undone all the buttons, I slide my hands under the material going up his chest and over his shoulder