This time when I surfaced I felt like I had gone ten rounds with a heavy weight boxer. Every muscle ached. There was an intravenous drip which I assumed was for the dehydration. I groaned softly as I shifted painfully on the bed. The sight of the glass of water beside me was the only thing I wanted. I reached for it and tried to take a sip but my hand shook too much, spilling water.

“Here,” Maverick seemed to appear out of nowhere to help me lift myself up to take a few sips before he set it down again on the table.

I should have said thanks but my stubbornness refused to allow me to thank a man who had effectively kidnapped me. If he hadn’t put me into this situation I wouldn’t have been forced to try and escape into the wilderness I was ill equipped for. After everything, I was back where I had started.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. His tone not quite sympathetic more controlled. I refused to answer.

He had saved me but he was the reason it had happened in the first place.

“Not so feisty now?” he raised an eyebrow which immediately made me frown and I glared at him. “And she’s back…”

I averted my gaze from his, refusing to allow him to goad me into talking to him. I knew who the enemy was, there was no confusion about that.

The sound of the door opening and someone entering the room caught our attention. The woman was dressed in a doctor’s jacket and I assumed it was the same person who had checked me over when Maverick had first brought me in.

“You’re awake,” she murmured, standing at the foot of the bed.

She wore glasses and her auburn hair was neatly tied in a pony tail. Her smile was welcoming but I was always distrustful of people, strangers or not. It made no difference to me. Some of the worst things had been done to me by people I had known.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, looking through some notes on a clip board.

I pressed my lips firmly together. I wasn’t going to play nice, they were holding me against my will even if they were currently trying to help, it didn’t matter.

She shared a look with Maverick, before he nodded.

I frowned as I watched them. The more time I spent around them, the weirder things got. I had to get out of there but first I had to build up my strength again. I was far too weak to attempt another escape.

The doctor left and I stared my hands. I could feel the heat of Maverick’s gaze on me but I refused to look at him. I wasn’t going to play nice. He might have saved me but I argued I wouldn’t have needed saving if he hadn’t kidnaped me in the first place. I blamed him for everything.

It wasn’t only the fact that I was effectively a prisoner. There was something about the way he made me feel that I didn’t like one bit. After everything he had done to me how could I have trusted him in a time of weakness when he had saved me out in the wilderness. I had betrayed myself in a way I couldn’t explain. I tried to put it down to the desperation of the situation but even I knew it was something more than that.

It was his touch on my hand that finally made me look at him. And then I felt the cold hard handcuff lock around my wrist. My first instinct was to escape. I pulled against the hold on my arm but I was no match as he locked the other cuff to the bed.

“That’s to make sure you don’t wander off again.”

“You’re…you...” I was so mad I wanted to explode. I glared at him wishing he would come closer so I could take my frustration out on him.

He shook his head at me. “You are in a lot of trouble. Coming into a territory you do not belong to is a serious offense.”

He wasn’t making any sense.

“Just let me go. I don’t want to be here,” I tried one last to plead with him. I even used my big fluttering eyes to try and sway him.

“You should have thought about that before you came here. We take these offenses very seriously. If you are found guilty, there will be serious consequences.” His features were tight and serious.

“What?” I spluttered. “I haven’t done anything wrong.” I pulled at the restraint on my wrist even though my sore muscles protested the small action.

Honestly, I was only passing through this hell hole. There had been no intention on my part to stay longer than I had to. If I’d had my way I’d already been long gone, not handcuffed to the bed by a stranger who wasn’t making much sense.

He crossed his arms and studied me as I struggled to get free.

“You know the rules and you broke them. You will be punished. As soon as you have recovered we will move you back to the cell where you belong.” He was making sure that I knew my place. I was the degenerate, lawbreaking, prisoner.

I pulled at the handcuffs. The cuff pressed against my skin as I yanked as hard as I could. I would draw blood if I had to. The fear that I wouldn’t be able to escape nearly brought me into a full blown panic attack but it was the presence of the asshole that kept me from tipping over the edge. I funneled all the negative emotion into figuring a way out.

There had to be a way to get away. I just hadn’t figured it out yet, but I would. I was determined. This arrogant asshole had no idea what I had been through and I wouldn’t let a bunch of weirdos get the best of me. No matter what.

“All you’re going to do is hurt yourself. If you don’t calm down I’m going to have to get Sandra to sedate you again.”

Again? Then I remembered how unsteady I had felt the last time I had woken up and it all made sense. They had sedated me.

“You sedated me the last time?” I echoed, trying to piece things together.

He nodded. “You were in a lot of pain and Sandra thought it was the best way to allow you to get some rest while the medication for the bad reaction did its thing.”

The lack of control was unsettling, even to the point that scared me. I had lived my whole life at the mercy of others and I had worked to claw back control of my life. To have it taken away so easily sparked my temper while I glared at my warden, the man who kept me a prisoner.

He wasn’t affected by my obvious disdain for him because he walked out leaving me seeing red. I could feel my anger burn through me through me. It was times like this when it completely took over leaving no room for anything else. It was all consuming.

The handcuff clanked but no matter how much I tried I couldn’t get loose. The red welts on my wrists from tugging were starting to bleed.

“Uggh,” I exhaled, resigned to the fact I could not break free and darted a look the door.

I don’t know what was going on and nothing Maverick was threatening me with made any sense.

Feeling hopeless, my shoulders sagged and I drew a trembling breath.

It felt more and more like I had landed myself in a situation I had no idea, how to get myself out of it. Or if there was even a way out of it.

When I continued to struggle to get myself free, Sandra entered the room.

She shook her heard disapprovingly at me before disappearing from the room only to return a few minutes later with a syringe with some clear liquid. Despite my resistance she injected the solution into my intravenous drip. When I tried to pull it out she called for help and another man entered the room. They held me down until my eyelids became heavier and it was impossible to move my limbs as the sedative took effect.