Killing Time Read Online Free

to give in, I dug my knees and elbows against the floor, heaving myself onward with sheer cussedness. The bindings tingled back to life, but the sensation now was one of soothing warmth, creating a comforting cocoon all around my body. The urge to lie down and be still swamped my awareness. My own weight became too much for me, as if gravity had suddenly quadrupled and I lacked the strength to combat its implacable downward pull. My muscles no longer had the ability to comply with my panicked commands. Even my miniscule progress forward halted and I lay boneless on the floor.
    Kneeling a few inches from my face, Koda cocked his head as if I’d surprised him. There was a brief glimmer of something like horror in his ebony eyes before he masked it. “A coyote will chew off its own leg to escape a trap. I believe you would too, given the chance.”
    I glared my helpless rage at him as I lay, gathering the last shred of energy for a final, obstinate effort.
    His expression hardened. “Your reality has changed and things will go more easily for you the sooner you accept it. I will not release you, not until I am certain you pose no threat to James or his people.”
    Feeling like I was trying to move the planet, I got my hands under me and pushed, slowly, agonizingly to my knees. The woven bindings at my wrists and throat pressed back all the harder, but nothing would keep me prone and helpless. Not even if resisting killed me.
    Getting my head up and all but hyperventilating from the struggle, I met Koda’s astonished gaze and rasped, “Fuck…you.”
    “Stop fighting me, dammit! I can sense how this is weakening you. You’re killing yourself!”
    Ignoring him, I battled to my feet and stood, swaying, as the last of my energy plummeted to lethal levels. I was beyond words now as the world swooped and swirled around me. A high-pitched ringing filled my ears and my heart beat so fast, it was like one continuous thud in my chest.
    I heard Koda mutter, “Do you have any survival instinct whatsoever? Damnation, woman, do you even possess an off button?”
    I was beyond his control too, now. Only freedom mattered.
    Uncertain where the door was, I struggled to get my body moving—not with any hope that I’d get there but because I’d rather die in the act of defiance than standing meekly as my body shut down.
    I doubt I made it even a foot before the world went black.
     
    I awoke with the taste of sugar on my tongue. I was leaning back against a broad, hard chest and a warm hand framed my left cheek as a container was held to my lips.
    “Dammit,” Koda’s voice resonated beneath my head as he tipped more sweet liquid into my mouth. “You have absolutely no common sense. None.”
    I wanted to cuss him out, but the sugar water tasted too good to stop drinking. Lifting shaking hands, I grabbed at the plastic bottle he held, trying to gulp its contents.
    He made an angry sound. “Not too fast.”
    “More,” I demanded in a rough whisper.
    A long moment passed as I drank each of the swallows he allowed, reveling in the sensation of energy returning to my body, like systems coming back online. The bottle emptied long before I was satisfied, but it was enough to revive me.
    “You got the sugar from my backpack,” I grumbled when I was able.
    “If I hadn’t, you’d be dead.”
    Against my will, I nodded.
    “You’re welcome,” he commented wryly.
    The sudden realization slammed through my sluggish brain that Koda was holding me rather intimately. I could feel his heart, the steady rise and fall of his breathing against my back, and the sensations were oddly soothing. His strong arms supporting me, knowing his face was so close to mine and feeling his soft, warm breath on my cheek set my pulse hammering.
    It figured that my perverse libido was taking such keen interest in a man who gave every indication he loathed me. One who’d bound me against my will and whose stubbornness was preventing me from fulfilling my