Flaxseed’s eyes sparked the moment heard the woman. He snapped his gaze toward a distant earthen ridge. Behind that crumbling slope, several silhouettes wrestled, sand trickling down the ragged face.
“Jared, listen… Someone’s in trouble!” shouted, already lunging forward before any reply could form. The wind staggered him, yet desire and adrenaline drove his feet.
It had been far too long since Flaxseed had tasted female company. A rescue might earn more than gratitude, perhaps grateful arms would soothe the ache that tightened inside him. For a man accustomed to nightly dalliance, this drought had become its own torment, one only fully understood.
“Flaxseed, slow down!” Jared called after him, yet the older man kept marching through the dunes. Jared sighed, shook his head, and finally trailed along.
The last thing Jared wanted was a fresh problem. Out on this wind, scoured wasteland, still hadn’t straightened out his own mess, much less anyone else’s.
But Flaxseed was already barreling toward trouble, and Jared could not, in good conscience, let go alone. If something ugly hit, Jared would have to wade in anyway.
Besides, Flaxseed lost every shred of restraint the moment a woman entered the picture. Jared had once seen leave two women unable to walk for an entire night, hardly the rescue this wilderness maiden deserved.
Minutes later, Jared crested a sandy rise. Below, two burly cultivators in tight black fighting gear clamped their fists around a young woman’s arms, dragging across the dust. Her white dress flared like a fallen petal against endless ocher dunes, so bright it hurt the eye.
She was striking, brows slender as willow leaves, eyes bright as winter stars. Now those eyes blazed with terror and fury while twisted against iron grips.
The men loomed over her, faces twisted, pupils glimmering with something unclean that seemed to sour the very air.
“Let me go! Do you even know who I am? My master will hunt you to the ends of the earth!” the woman shouted. Her voice quavered from fear yet rode a fierce undercurrent of steel, as though refused to let panic drown her.
The black-clad captors didn’t flinch. Their smiles only grew more vicious.
“Who are you people? Why are you abducting me?!” She fought so hard that slippers carved frantic half-moons into the sand.
“You’ve been spreading filthy rumors, telling the world our Celestial Palace’s Sixth Hall steals souls under the cover of our rituals. Lies like that earn only one reward, death!” said one of the black-clad cultivators.
“The Sixth Hall?” She froze, disbelief flooding features. “You… You work for the Celestial Palace?”
“Precisely!” The first captor nodded with chilling pride. “We’ll deliver you straight to Mr. Drystan Hexford. He’ll decide how you beg for mercy.”
The second brute licked his lips. “Shame to hand over such a pretty toy too soon. We should have some fun with you first before sending you back.”
“Exactly! We should have some fun first, still looks untouched.”
He reached to caress cheek. She recoiled. horror widening eyes.
From behind a cracked boulder, Flaxseed’s face darkened, but instead of charging in, crouched and watched, pupils gleaming with a perverse calculation.
Jared caught up, baffled. “Mr. Flaxseed, weren’t you itching to play hero? Why are you hiding?”
“You don’t get it,” Flaxseed whispered, eyes never leaving the struggling woman. “They’re about to strip her. If I rush in now, she’ll still have clothes on. Rescue naked, now that’s a reward. Nothing like gratitude from a lady with nothing left to cover.”
He gave a giggling, lecherous snort, utterly oblivious to Jared’s spreading look of disgust.
