Captured Miracle (3 page)

Calix’s large hand closed over my wrist, holding me tightly, painfully. Before I knew it, I felt tears wet my eyes, burning. It was too late for me to coax them back into hiding. I whispered through trembling lips, “I’m sorry,”

“You will never, ever, do that again.” He tightened his hold and I winced. “Do you understand me?”

I nodded. I couldn’t lift my eyes to meet his. I was afraid of him. I was afraid of the punishment I would see in his eyes.

Yes, I was a coward.

Calix growled low in his throat, “Answer me.”

“Yes,” my voice was shaky. “I understand, Calix.”

“Good.” He released my wrist and I rubbed it quickly with my other hand, the pads of my fingers soothing the raw skin. His eyes watched my movements and he scowled. Without warning, I felt his hands span over my waist and my body was moving closer to his.

I tensed, feeling my side press against his chest. A warm hand gathered my long mess of chocolate hair, pushing it off to one shoulder, exposing the skin of my throat to him. His breath was warm against the bare skin of my neck and I fought the need to shiver against him. I closed my eyes, imagining that I was anywhere but here. A beach, the Alps, sinking into the dark abyss of the ocean...

“Tell me about yourself, Nova.” Calix’s command brought me back from my moment of reprieve.

“I’ll tell you about myself if you release me.” I bargained hopefully.

He sighed. “You’ll tell me about yourself because I’ve asked. And I told you once that I like holding you. I will not release you until
I
want to.”

I was beginning to think hope was the devils preferred tool to break a soul. One might think it is the tiny flickering light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel, but I don’t see it that way. Hope is the perfect brand of self-destruction. And this man had found a way to employ it over and over again until his victim was weak and broken. I hated him.

Slowly, I spoke. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

“Why?”

“Because you will be my wife in a matter of weeks.” I gasped and he continued. “I will be the one asking the questions from here, Nova.”

Weeks?
I would be his wife in a matter of weeks? No. No, I couldn’t handle this. As though sensing my panic, Calix tightened his hold on me, pulling me tighter against his hard chest. I was too close to him now. My side was meshed to his and I could smell the heady scent of his skin. If I tilted my head just so, I could bite down on the tender flesh of his neck. I bet I could hurt him or piss him off - and then he would punish me. I shook the thought from my mind, tensely leaning my head against his shoulder. There was nowhere else for me to go, I may as well get as comfortable as possible.

“Good girl,” I could hear the smugness of his smile and I wanted to wallop him over the head for finding amusement in my distress. Thankfully, I was able to clench my fists and restrain myself. “Now, tell me what I want to know.”

“I think ‘everything’ is a little vague. Why don’t you ask a question,” I sighed, wanting to cry again. “And I’ll try to answer.”

“You will answer.” He corrected. “What was your favorite subject in school?”

Oh, that was an easy one. “English.”

“You read?” The way he asked, made it sound like he already knew the answer to my question. That unnerved me.

“I do.”

“What do you read?”

This was personal for me, but I had a feeling he knew a few personal things about me. And I had an inkling that lying would get me nowhere with him. “I read everything and anything romance.”

“Hmm,” I felt him nod. “So you really are a bleeding heart.”

I pulled away to look into his face and my breath caught. His blue eyes were piercing as they regarded me intently. I blushed, hating my reaction to him. “I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“Never mind.” He spoke sternly, pushing my head back down onto his shoulder. “Tell me, why do you like romance.”

“Probably because I have an X chromosome.” I replied sarcastically.

He chuckled, and to my surprise, the sound did something to me. It tickled a place deep inside of me, stirring something unfamiliar. I bit my lip and told myself over and over again that I hated him.

I hate him. I hate him. I hate him.

“Not every woman likes romance.”

“The ones who grow up with my mother do.” I replied quietly and at the mention of my mother, my heart ached. It felt as though it’s fragile shell had been cracked against hard granite, leaving the frail interior exposed to damaging weathering. It was a consuming kind of pain that bordered on desperation.

“Do you want to tell me about her? Do you want to tell me about growing up?” His words were quiet and gentle.

What the hell was he playing at? He was the one who’d taken me from my home and the very family he was now inquiring after. And so gently! As though he was trying to console me. I just didn’t understand.

“Are you trying to hurt me?” I asked quietly and he tensed beneath me. “Is this your objective? To get me talking about the things I love only to remind me that I’ve lost them forever? If you’re trying to hurt me, I’d prefer you do it physically.

Chapter 3

Calix didn’t say anything in response. I half expected his arms to drop from where they were positioned around me, and again, I felt a glimmer of hope. Yet again, as expected, that hope was crushed when Calix’s fingertips started working gentle circles into my back. The motion brought tears to my eyes. It reminded me of my sister, Jaylah. She was the middle child, only two years younger than me. We were close. She was my best friend and Calix was not only reminding me of her, but he had taken me from her.

Jaylah and I would spend our summer nights lying on a heap of blankets on the living room floor, watching sappy romantic movies until the sunrise painted the sky, tickling each other’s backs as we dreamed up our prince charming’s. Calix was everything my prince charming wasn’t. Calix was rough and I longed for soft. Calix took and I yearned to be wooed. I dreamed of butterfly kisses and deep conversations in the crisp morning air, locked in strong, capable arms. I wanted to dance and laugh and tease and tickle - I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with Calix, my captive. My heart ached for the prince charming I’d concocted before Calix, and I could only hope that one day my fairytale would find a way to bloom. Until then, all I had was hope. The very thing I felt was working against me.

Calix’s voice was deep and husky. The sound made my skin pebble with unwelcome goosebumps. “I know you don’t believe me, but I don’t wish to hurt you. I simply need you to obey me.”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything. To my surprise, I didn’t even flinch when I felt the warmth of his fingers dip beneath the fabric of my nightshirt to caress my skin. I’d never been so tense in my entire life, but I didn’t know if that was because I had never been touched, like this, by a man. Or if it was because he wasn’t just a man touching me, he was my captor. He was the man who had taken everything from me and would continue to do so for the rest of my life.

I finally found my voice, “Calix,”

“Hmm?”

“Please, I’m begging you now.” I whispered. “Stop touching me.”

Yes, I had allowed myself to stoop so low as to beg. But in reality, holding onto my pride would do nothing for me. Calix had stripped me of everything. Why not take my dignity too?

Calix stopped his caressing movements, his hand pressed flat against my tense back. For a long moment there were no words or strokes. And then he sighed, heavily. The sound was one of defeat. “I’m trying to make this easier for you, Nova.”

“Maybe I don’t want this to be easy.”

He smirked and I lifted my head from his shoulder to look into his eyes. They were an icy blue that made me feel exposed down to the deepest, most protected layer of my soul. “You don’t want this to be easier on you, Nova, because you’re afraid of what I might make you feel. You’re afraid of what I might make you want.” I felt my lips part to argue with him before I even knew what I would say, but he continued. “You’re attracted to me. And that’s a good thing, because I’m attracted to you. I’ve wanted you since I decided you were the one. There’s no going back, Nova. What’s done is done. You need to let go of your past so you can move on with your future.”

I couldn’t believe the words that sounded from his lips. He was absolutely unbelievable. And I was absolutely terrified of him. Slowly, I pulled in a ragged breath and somehow found courage. “I have no future, Calix. You stole it from me when you took away everything I loved.”

He shook his head, irritation lighting the depths of his eyes. “You’re going to need a bit more time than I first anticipated.” He lifted me from his lap to set me on the seat beside him before catching my chin in his tight grip. “But the end result will be the same, Nova. I will make you mine. And once you’re mine, you will never belong to another.”

It took everything in me not to shake Calix’s hand from my face. Instead, I stared straight into his brilliant blue eyes with what I hoped was defiance. When he cracked a grin, I knew I’d failed. The man would never see me as anything to be feared. In his eyes, I was weak.

And in reality, I was.

I couldn’t fight Calix and what he wanted from me. My fighting would be the blade of the guillotine hanging over my family’s necks. And I couldn’t do that to them. So, if it was my love for them that made me the weak girl who would forevermore submit to Calix’s whims, then so be it.

Calix dropped my chin, settling back into the seat beside me. “Share your thoughts with me, love.”

I felt like hissing. “Stop calling me love.”

“Never,” he grinned. “I suggest you talk, Nova. Because if you don’t, I will be tempted to pull you into my arms again.”

My mouth dropped. “I don’t know what to talk about.”

“What is your favorite color?”

I shrugged. I wanted to say blue, because blue had always been my favorite color. But I knew that for the rest of my pitiful existence, blue would remind me of his eyes. I wanted to loathe everything about him. I replied, “Green.”

He smiled. “Why green?”

I rolled my eyes and his jaw clenched. I spoke quickly, eager to quell his sudden anger. “I like nature. Green makes me think of being outside with the quiet peace of nature.”

His eyes softened and his jaw unclenched. I quickly made a mental note never to roll my eyes again. Or maybe I should. Maybe I should do everything that irritates him so that I might be able to show him he doesn’t really want me as a wife. Maybe he’ll let me go.

“Do you have a treat you can’t live without?”

I blushed, “Maybe.”

He grinned. When he spoke, his voice was deep and gravelly. I felt the vibrations of his words deep in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t want to feel him there. He persisted, “Tell me.”

“Macaroons.” I shrugged. “I know it’s odd. But I love them.”

“Interesting.” He mused, his eyes taking me in. For the first time in hours, I remembered that I was nearly naked and my heart lurched. Suddenly uncomfortable, I stretched my shirt over my knees.

“What about you?” I asked. I seriously needed to take the attention off of me. “What’s your favorite color?”

“I’d have to say red.” He answered. “And before you ask, I don’t have a treat I can’t live without.”

“Then why did you ask?” I frowned. “That’s not exactly a common ‘get to know a person’ question.”

“Most of the women I know have a treat they can’t live without. I figured you would as well. And being that you will soon become my wife, I figured I should know how to sweeten you up.”

I suddenly regretted the question - and my answer. I truly loved macaroons and I didn’t want them to be used as a tool to manipulate forgiveness. “Oh.”

“That’s an awful way to reply, Nova.” He scowled. “I would appreciate it if you made a conscious effort to respond properly.”

Seriously? My mind was spinning. How could manners mean so much to this brute of a man when he’d had the audacity to kidnap me? What a loon! I chomped down on my lower lip, glaring at him.

Calix lifted his hand to my mouth and I flinched back into the seat as the pad of his thumb tugged my lip from between my teeth. Slowly, he rubbed his thumb over the assaulted flesh of my lip. It throbbed in reminiscence of the pressure of my teeth. “When you do that, it makes me want to kiss you.”

My breath caught and I returned his words to him smartly. “Then I’ll make a
conscious effort
to stop.”

I watched Calix’s lips curve at the corners. I could feel his eyes burning my face, but for the life of me, I couldn’t bring my eyes to meet his. “I will kiss you, Nova. I will kiss every inch of your body and you will revel in every moment.”

I hissed in a breath, flinching away from him in abhorrence. “I won’t.”

“You will.” He stated without an ounce of doubt. His confidence made me feel insecure and I cursed him for it. “I promise you, Nova, you will.”

“I hate you.” I folded my arms indignantly over my chest and stared out the window. I gritted my teeth, feeling like a petulant child.

Beside me Calix laughed, completely oblivious to the tears welling in my eyes. He really didn’t know what he was doing to me. Or maybe he did know. Maybe it was just me who had no clue what was going on in my mind, in my heart. There was no doubt I loathed my captor. Every fiber of my being repelled his nearness. But despite the hatred I held for him, for obvious reasons, I couldn’t help but teeter on the fence. On one side, I could do what Calix wanted of me and accept him and the life he had planned. I could maybe find some semblance of acceptance for the hand I’d been dealt. While the other side left me helpless and depressed. I had a feeling that no matter how long I fought him, I could only do so behind closed doors. He had my family in the cross hairs, their lives relying on my compliance. I wasn’t naive enough to believe that the man who’d had me taken from my home in the dead of the night was above murder. He had told me that he wouldn’t hesitate to stoop so low, and I believed him.

Before I knew it, I felt tears rolling down my cheeks. I wondered if I was going through some sort of hyperactive stages of being a kidnapped victim. My situation wasn’t the usual. I had a feeling that most girls who were taken, weren’t taken by some enigmatic, possessive male with steel blue eyes. And for marriage!