Page 26 of Master B-0361
“Come on, baby, wake up. You’re okay. You’re…God, I can’t find a pulse. Talk to me. Move.Do something.Margaret!”
But I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t communicate when he was looking everywhere but my face. If he did look at me, it wasn’t long enough for him to realize I wasn’t dead.
“God dammit.”
He got up, leaving before rushing back. I blinked rapidly, but he was running his bloody hands down his face, spinning before lowering back down to examine the wounds on my body again.
“Yes, this is Master Three-sixty-one, I need the High Leader and Main Master in here immediately for an investigation.Fucking now!There’s been an attack on my slave. I-I need a doctor. I think. I can’t. I mean.” A roar left him as the phone shattered on the wall and he lowered.
“You’re not dead. Wake up, Margaret. He grabbed my shoulders, shaking me viciously. “Wake up!”
For the first time his eyes met mine and he froze. Sebastian’s lips parted and he sucked in a shaky breath, growing even paler.
“You’re not dead.”
I blinked as fast as I could, screaming so loud in my head that it was all I could hear. I couldn’t stop. I’d never stop. My Master’s head shook, and I watched a monster appear as a veil of pure rage slid down his face.
“No fucking way. No. Fucking. Way.Maggie-Lynn.”
Master B-0361
The screams were immediate. They filled my apartment as I pulled Margaret into my arms, more restraining than holding her. Her body was convulsively shaking, and she kept gagging between random screams. Blood was everywhere, smeared from her neck down. It was lightly pooled on the floor where her ass had been. It was even beginning to soak through my jeans as I kept her locked down on my lap, on the sofa.
“Shhh. I got you. You’re okay, now. Shhh. Just hold on to me. Try to breathe.”
But she wasn’t focusing on breathing. She was coughing and screaming and heaving.
Fingers dug into my back, clawing through the black, fitted t-shirt I wore. With each breath I took, every scream she made, I sunk deeper into the me I’d only just started to embrace. This me was dangerous. He was all wrath, and where it had been focused all on Maggie, it had a new direction now. The invisible cord that attached me and Margaret was now thicker. Growing by the second. Joining us together by violence.
I thought she had been dead. I thought I lost her for good. Another Maggie. Gone, and not from me. But she wasn’t Maggie, and I realized that as I watched her come back to life. She wasmy slave, Margaret. Just Margaret. Not Maggie. But she was still mine.
“Shhh. That’s right. I got you. Can you tell me who did this to you?” My tone deepened. “I really want to know who did this.”
Sobs. Her face was buried in my neck, and it was like she was trying to get closer to me, but she was already glued to my body.
“A m-man. D-dark hair.” She gagged again, becoming sick right across her lap. “Stomach hurts. My stomach.”
“I know, baby, they’re coming. A little longer. Tell me more about this dark-haired man.”
“I-I don’t know. I’ve never seen him b-before. C-city. He saw me in the city. Ashley’s Boutique. But I didn’t come back, so he came to get me.”
The cries took back over as I closed my eyes. More anger. More fury. The city? It could have been anyone.
“He said I should have been his. H-He.”
“Breathe and hold to me. He won’t hurt you again. I can promise you that. Keep talking.”
“I don’t know. I…” Minutes passed as she cried. Knocking sounded but ended just as fast as the door flew open. Elec burst through the room, his High Leader not a step behind him.
“What happened?”
“That’s what I’d like to fucking know.” At my tone, Margaret jumped, clawing more into me. “She was shut down when I found her, Elec. Someone has my code word and they used it against her. I never told a soul.Who the fuck could do that but you?”
“Don’t move, it hurts.Master.”
Margaret was squeezing, trying to climb and hold around me at the same time.
“I know, sweetie. Hold on. We’re going to get you help.” My glare cut up. “Elec, who the fuck got into your system? Who did this?”