Notes: Thanks for the continued support! This chapter and the next is Rated M with a trigger warning for attempted rape. It gets a little dark, but never too dark.

————Begin————

Jack jerked awake suddenly, years of military training helping him become instantly alert. Touching his scalp, he felt some dried blood against his fingers from the blow he took to the head. That would definitely leave a bump.

Glancing around, he noticed he was in a windowless room. Trying the door, he was amazed it was unlocked. Apparently, his captors thought they'd killed him and had just dumped his body. No such luck assholes, he thought, I've got a harder head then that.

But something was off as he didn't feel right; he wasn't complete, something was missing—Sam! The loss of Sam from his mind slammed into him. Mentally, Jack reached out for her but found nothing.

Fear consumed him as a cold emptiness began to replace the warmth he'd felt since their bonding. Sam! He mentally called to her. Dammit Carter, answer me!

Silence. Pushing all of his emotions down, Jack forced himself to think like a military officer instead of a worried spouse. Now wasn't the time to be Sam's Jack, no he needed to be the Colonel who protected his subordinates by keeping a clear head.

Slipping out the door he hugged the walls. Zabar had said Sam would make a good addition to the auction, but where would he take her. Suddenly remembering his walkie-talkie he pulled it out of his pocket. "Daniel, Teal'c, we've got a problem."

Static was the only response.

"Daniel, answer me!" Jack cursed. Either his walkie wasn't working or something had happened to Daniel and Teal'c. Regardless, he was on his own for now.

As he continued his creep along the hallway, male voices came from his the right. Following the sound, he discovered a group of men gathered in a large room with a stage in the center. His mind flashed back to the slave auction. This setup was almost exactly the same, except for being more elaborate. Sneaking around the door, he took the stairs, hoping for a spot to watch from without being seen. If this was the location of the auction, it was his best chance to find Sam.

A loud chirp came from his pocket. Pulling the walkie out he pressed the button and fiercely whispered, "Dammit Daniel, that had better be you!"

"It's us," Daniel's voice was like a lifeline.

"Where the hell were you?" Jack hissed.

"We got into a bit of an altercation," Daniel explained. "Both our walkies were damaged. We had to return to the ship for another one. Jack, there's a lot of people in the palace."

"You think!" Jack barked. Pressing his forehead against the cool stone of the wall he tried to quiet his temper. This wasn't Daniel's fault. The odds of both walkie-talkies being damaged must be astronomical. They had no way of predicting it would happen.

"Zabar has Carter," Jack told them.

"Shit," Daniel cursed as Teal'c said something in his own language, but Jack was sure it mirrored Daniel's comment.

"He's planning to sell her off at some sort of elite auction," Jack grit his teeth. "I can't believe I'm making her go through this again!"

"You aren't making her do anything, O'Neill," Teal'c said. "Do not let misplaced blame cloud your mind. Major Carter needs you."

"You always gotta be the voice of reason?" Jack bit out, but was thankful for his friend's reminder. He needed to work on his compartmentalizing. "That's not all, I can't feel her in my mind anymore. She's gone."

"Jack—" Daniel started, his voice soothing.

"She's not dead," Jack said a little too loudly. "She can't be dead. I just don't know why I can't feel her right now."

"Perhaps Major Carter has been rendered unconscious," Teal'c said.

Jack grabbed onto the idea. That had to be the reason he couldn't sense her. He knew she had passed out, but with that brief hope another fear crashed down. "If she is unconscious, then she can't be sold at the auction because I'm watching it start right now. She isn't among the women in stage."

"So if Zabar lied about auctioning her off, where would he have taken her?" Daniel asked.

And more importantly, Jack thought, what was the sick bastard doing to her?

———POV———

Sam groaned as she slowly regained consciousness; her head throbbing from hitting the floor after being knocked out by the pain stick. Trying to feel the back of her head, she realized she couldn't move her arm. She tried to sit up, only to find she was anchored down. Her mind snapped fully awake as she realized she was tied to a large bed.

"Welcome back," Zabar sneered at her. Turning toward the sound, the blood drained from her face as saw Zabar sitting bare chested a few feet away. "I told you I'd tie you to my bed and teach you a lesson," his smile was sinister. "Don't worry," he continued, "I haven't touched you, yet. I prefer my slaves to be awake when I make them scream."

"I've bonded with Jack," she growled in anger.

"I know," he sighed dramatically. "Fortunately for me, your master is now dead," he sneered. "I'm claiming you as my own, your weak bond be damned."

"Jack is not dead!" Even as she said the words, she knew something was wrong. Jack wasn't in her mind anymore. Instead of his constant warmth, she felt loneliness and cold. Tears filled her eyes as she struggled to find some indication that he was still alive.

Zabar stood up and slowly crossed the room, pulling Sam out of her own thoughts. Jack wasn't here, but that didn't mean she was defenseless. He'd want her to fight.

"Who are you?" Sam demanded. "Are you a serving a Goa'uld?" Keep him talking, her brain insisted, and find a way to escape.

"My symbiote's name was Yue-Lao," he told her proudly, "the god of lust and sexual bondage."

"Was?" Her mind reeled at this information.

"Yue-Lao only possessed my body for a short period, but it was enough for me to gain access to all his wondrous knowledge. You see, Creetions who have bonded cannot be possessed by a symbiote because their minds are already bound to another." Zabar tapped his head as he chuckled. "It's why most Goa'uld avoid this planet."

"Yue-Lao forced me to reveal why he couldn't completely access my mind. When he found out, he made me kill my mate in an attempt to sever our bond." Zabar stepped out of sight, above her head. Sam heard metal against metal as he continued. "Despite my beloved's death, our bond remained intact, thwarting Yue-Lao attempts to fully control me. He was angry because Creetion bonds last even after death; therefore, his possession would never be completed. As my body fought against Yue-Lao, treating him like some sort of infection, he made me suffer unimaginable pain. It took weeks, but he eventually died."

"But if you beat the Goa'uld controlling you, why are you doing this to your own people? Why commit blasphemy against your own beliefs?" Sam couldn't believe a man, no matter how sick and twisted, could convince thousands of people to turn their backs on their own wives and daughters. He had to have altered their minds somehow.

"Yue-Lao showed me how the women of this world were taking advantage of the men. How my own mate had made me subservient to her. They needed to be punished," he stepped into her sight again, holding a sharp dagger.

"He twisted your mind," Sam reasoned. "Turned the love for your mate against you."

"No," Zabar hissed, "he showed me the truth and turned me into a god!"

"You're not a god," Sam spat at him. "Your just a deranged psycho who let a parasite twist his mind."

Zabar laughed, "men at their core are primitive cavemen. They don't truly desire a bond, it's just the only way society would permit them to obtain the sex they craved. I simply offered them sex and obedience from their women without the bonding. They willingly accepted what I offered." He reached down and ran his fingers over her cheek that he had struck earlier. "Such a shame you don't obey." Shaking himself out of whatever thought he'd had, Zabar continued.

"You can't imagine how easy it was to alter the Goa'uld bonding cuffs. With Yue-Lao's knowledge, I converted the controller cuffs to block a true bond from forming in the men. Their minds were safe, but women's minds were forced into submission by the lopsided bond. By the time anyone with the power to stop me realized what was happening, it was too late," he shook his head, smiling. "You would have been appalled at how quickly the men who had embraced the ideas of subservience and punishment lost any type of morals thanks to my cuff alterations. Those that resisted, well, let's just say I didn't let them live long enough to put up a fight."

"You're wrong," she told him. "I've met the resistance and I watched them destroy your slave auction. There a men, good men, who will stop you."

"Mighty powerful words seeing as you're at my mercy," he roughly patted her cheek, making Sam wince. "Now, enough distractions," he grinned sadistically.

Slipping the dagger into the bodice of her thin dress, he ripped it open, spilling her breasts out as she struggled against the bonds. "Absolutely perfect," he said reaching out to touch one with the tips of his fingers. Sam tried to jerk away from his touch.

"I see you need to learn some manners," he once again moved to above her head. He wasn't out of view more than a moment before he returned with a large bamboo-looking stick. The end of it had been cut into several long thin pieces. Bringing it down across her thighs, Zabar struck her through the fabric of her dress.

Sam bit her lip to keep from crying out at the sharp sting. She wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction.

"Playing brave," he said lashing her legs again, but Sam refused to make a sound. "That's good, your silence will only make your eventual screams more sweet. And I promise you, I will make you scream."

———POV———

It took no time at all for Daniel and Teal'c to reach Jack. Once the auction started, the guards had left their posts; presumably to catch glimpses of the women being auctioned.

"Where do we go?" Daniel asked. "Any clue where he took Sam?"

"No," Jack ran his hands through his hair.

"O'Neill, maybe you should try contacting her again," Teal'c suggested.

"Couldn't hurt to try," Daniel urged. "We don't know how this bond thing works, maybe you need to re-establish it or something."

Jack closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. He'd always hated failed at meditation, but it was worth a try. He imagined the door to her mind that the elders had formed on their wedding day. Grasping the doorknob he tried to turn it, but it was locked. Resting his forehead against the door, he tried to whisper to her. Sam it's me, it's Jack. But he didn't receive an answer. As he began to retreat from the dead end he heard her voice from far away.

Sam! He called again running back to the door, but it was still locked. Let me in.

He could feel her on the other side of the door, but she wouldn't or couldn't respond. Gathering his resolve, he ordered, I am your bonded mate; you surrendered yourself to me. Now open the damn door.

As the door sprang open pure terror washed over him; her terror. An intense pain radiating across his legs tore him out of their sacred place.

Opening his eyes, he grabbed for the wall as the pain almost brought him to his knees. His eyes widened in realization and horror that he was feeling Sam's pain.

"Jack!" Daniel yelled, grabbing for him.

A vision slammed into Jack's mind of Zabar standing over Sam as she was tied down. The bastard held a dagger in his hands.

"Next time, maybe you won't jerk away from my touch," he sneered at her before lowering the blade into her dress. "Let's see if your body is worth all the frustration you've caused me." With that, Zabar used the dagger to rip the front of her gown open.

Sam! He called to her in his thoughts and out loud, but couldn't break through the fear flooding her mind. I'm coming, Sam, he willed her to hear him.

"Jack," Daniel shook him. "What's wrong."

"The sick bastard has her tied down! He's going to rape her!" Jack took off at a dead run. Now that their bond was back, he could feel her as if their souls were two magnets pulling them together. He registered, in the back of his mind, the sound of zats firing as he drew the attention of multiple guards. Not stopping, he trusted Daniel and Teal'c to continue watching his six as he raced to Sam.

His stride stumbled as her scream tore into his brain. He could feel Zabar roughly squeezing Sam's breasts. Bile started to rise into his throat. Sam! Jack screamed to her again, the emotions he felt from her threatening to destroy him as he helplessly watched Zabar's attack through her eyes. Images of being with her on the Goa'uld ship flashed through his mind. The pain he had felt when she was trapped on the other side of the force shield paled in comparison to what he felt now. NO! SAM!

Jack? He heard her whimper as her conscious mind finally acknowledged him.

Sam! I'm here! He prayed she would hear him.

Jack, no you can't be here for this, she cried and tried to push him away.

I'm not going anywhere, he told her firmly. I'm almost there, just hang on.

"I'm going to enjoy breaking you," Jack heard Zabar through their connection.

Son of a bitch! Jack cursed as he felt Sam's mind closing off, folding in on itself. He recognized the feeling; he'd done the same thing while Ba'al had tortured him. It was a form a mental disassociation, a way to separate yourself from your body.

Don't you dare give up! he shouted. Fight, that's an order!