"You're...you're a virgin?" A strange look of pride washed over his face. His tone had begun inquisitive and became awestruck. He'd no doubt considered himself lucky to have caught an innocent woman.

She'd cringed when he stated the obvious, now in the wrong tense. She wanted to yell at him that she had been a virgin. And now, because of him, she wasn't.

Once he'd had his way with her, he left her alone with a smug look on his face, as if he’d accomplished something. He hadn't even said anything else, not that she wanted to speak to him in the first place.

Not only did she struggle with having a part of her taken away without any kind of consent, but she felt used and even dirtier than she'd felt before. He'd gotten what he wanted and left.

She lay on the bed, still exposed, blood drying on her unclean body. Tears obscured her vision as she focused her eyes on one of the beams, her head swimming.

He violated me. He raped me.

She kept repeating those words in her head, wondering how long it would take to go crazy. But all she felt was an intense fury build up from her belly and rise into her chest. It infuriated her that she couldn't even do anything about any of this. She was strapped to the stupid bed in such a helpless position.

Her adult life, even part of her teenage years, she'd thought about the day she'd give a man that part of her innocence. It was always on her wedding night in the bed she'd share with the love of her life. She'd never imagined that it would go with force to some man she didn't even know. Some crazy man that kept claiming she was his.

She found herself hoping he'd never come back into that cellar, that she'd just starve and thirst to death. But her hopes weren't high. He'd been so...happy to find out that he'd taken her innocence for himself. She was sure he'd come back and "teach" her the art of sex. Besides, there was that gentle and caring part of him, so she knew he'd be back for some reason that he deemed was helpful to her.

It was hard to lay there and not dwell on what he'd done to her. It was hard to think of anything else. Her heart ached at what she'd lost, at the knowledge that things weren't over. She began to think that he had other desires that involved more types of bondage. The possibility of whipping and spanking were in the back of her mind as well.

For a moment, she imagined that she was the dominant and he the submissive. She would make him wish he'd never met her. But that thought went away as she realized he might enjoy it.

Her mind continued to wander when Carter made his appearance.

She glared at him, not bothering to move away since there was no point. He carried a bucket and wore a caring expression that didn't delude her for a second. He placed the bucket on the floor and gave her a soft smile before he sat on the edge of the bed.

Their eyes were locked, Sloane sure he was oblivious as to why she gave him the death stare. Her nostrils flared as her lips pressed together into thin lines. This, Carter noticed.

"Why are you making that face?" He leaned down to the bucket and lifted a washcloth, ringing it out before turning back to her.

"Are you really asking me why I'm furious with you?" She spat the words at him, sure she'd end up getting punched again.

"Well, yeah." He shrugged and reached the washcloth out to her legs.

She tensed, preferring to stay bloody rather than have him touch her. He went about wiping at her inner thighs first before returning to the bucket to rinse and ring.

"You...you..." Her voice shuddered, betraying her anger.

"I what?" His tone shifted, as if he were challenging her.

"You raped me."

There was a brief silence that seemed to last forever as her whispered words hung in the air.

"I did not." He had the audacity to look offended as he went back to cleaning her.

She winced, not from pain, as his hand brushed over her raw and sore center. Struggling to control her breathing, she bit her lower lip.

"Yes you did. I didn't ask you to do anything you've done. I didn't say yes to any of it." She had trouble speaking as he continued to clean her. She made herself focus on the anger. "I screamed for you not to do it. I yelled. I cried."

He went back to the bucket, swishing the washcloth around.

"What part of any of that made you think you had my permission to moleste me and then rape me?"

He whipped his head to face her, anger clear across his face. "You're mine! I didn't take or do anything I'm not allowed to do."

"I AM NOT YOURS!"

Shock flickered across his face for a second before his features softened. "Why would you say that?"

"Because it's the truth. Just because I fell into one of your traps and got hurt, doesn't mean I'm your property. You kidnapped me and sexually abused me."

He shook his head as he lowered it, looking down at his hands. "You just don't get it."

"Obviously you're the one that doesn't get it."

"Why are you acting like the others?"

Sloane almost didn't hear him, but his words shocked her. She'd almost forgotten that she wasn't the first woman he'd abducted. She still didn't know what had happened to them except that he'd hunted them. She could only imagine how that had ended things for those women.

"I...I'm..." She gulped, not sure how she should respond.

"You've been so good. I just don't understand why you've started behaving like this."

Sloane was focused on the idea that he thought she was acting like the women before her. She couldn't let him think she was the same as them. She couldn't let him decide that she would be fun to hunt.

"I'm sorry. I just...I never thought I'd lose my virginity that way." It was the only thing she could think of to say and she hoped it was enough to make him change his mind. Before she could stop herself, she told him about how she’d always envisioned the most intimate moment of her life going.

It seemed to work. He rubbed a hand over hers and he gave her a soft smile. "I'm just honored you allowed me the pleasure."

She bit back her sharp response and tried to smile back.

They were silent as Carter finished washing the blood away. He leaned down and kissed her forehead before leaving her alone again.

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