Bo and the Beast (Book #1) (Completed)

19. The Sky Room

Bo woke up to the Beast opening her cell door. Fog still cluttered her brain, and she couldn't even remember when she'd fallen asleep the day before. She'd remembered sitting in the cell, bored to tears, as the sun rose and the shadows in the dungeon had disappeared. She'd meant to stay up all night as well, possibly finding a way out of the cell and escaping while they expected her to be locked away, but apparently that plan had failed without her even realizing. Now, she wiped a hand over her eyes and scrambled to her feet as the Beast stepped back from the door as if in invitation for her to exit.

"Oh, I've been remembered?" Bo asked, still hanging toward the back of her cell. Her throat was still sore and she wasn't sure she trusted the Beast not to strangle her even more in frustration.

The Beast didn't rise to her bait, but instead his lips pressed together and his eyebrows furrowed slightly. He took a step forward, his hand extending and gently brushing her neck. She pulled back from his touch, her breath coming fast. His gaze moved from her throat to her eyes.

"You're badly bruised," he explained.

Bo subconsciously ran a hand along her neck, even though she couldn't feel the bruises he claimed were there. "That's not surprising, seeing as how one of your Service-Matons nearly throttled me to death."

The Beast breathed out through his nose. "They have old programming from the war days that tells them to use extreme force when someone tries to escape," he said. "I didn't realize. I deleted that coding last night."

Before she could reply, he jumped in with a stern look. "But they're still programmed to keep you here. Don't think they won't use force if they need to."

Bo pouted, but knew she wouldn't have been able to escape even if they'd been coded to be as docile as a baby. The fog boundary was still in place, and she wasn't going to be able to just scale that like she would a wall back home.

She took a step forward, hoping to show the Beast that she was no longer scared of him. He might have been imposing the other night, but now in the sunlight he looked like just another alien. She could handle him. "So am I free to go now?" she asked. "Or am I still scrubbing your floors even though I was strangled a day ago?"

The Beast chewed on the inside of his cheek, as squirmy looking as one of the men in her camp when they knew they had done something wrong. The only difference here was this was a ruthless alien keeping her against her will. She had no idea why he was acting like he was.

"I'll give you the free day, as I can see that making you clean will be more of a pain for me than you."

Bo grinned, triumphant. Finally, he was starting to see she was going to be too much trouble for him. Maybe he might even kick her out, and she wouldn't have to worry about escape at all.

"Before I give you the day, I want to show you something," he said. "You'll have to follow me. If you think you can."

Bo rolled her eyes. "It's a bruised neck, not a broken leg," she said. Although she did feel as if the metal clamp was still pressed tight against her windpipe and that she couldn't quite get a lungful of air. But she wasn't about to let him know that.

In response, the Beast swept his arm in front of him, signaling that she should come out of the cell. She kept a small distance from him as he turned to walk toward the door and the steps back up the mansion. No matter what he said or did, she wasn't going to trust him to be out of her sight.

The Beast took out into the entrance hall and then up the stairs to the second floor and the gallery. For a moment, Bo thought he was taking her back to her room and felt a surge of disappointment that her day was going back to the interminable grind from before. But then he turned away from the side where the bedrooms were and headed down to the part of the second floor Bo had never seen.