"Donc, vous n'êtes pas différent alors." The silver-eyed man woke to these words being said softly and with a tinge of fear. He opened his eyes and looked at the girl, whose face was turned to him. She pulled against the restraints and said, "You're no different at all."

The man rose and crossed the room. He felt a shift in the girl's emotions and registered that they went from mild fear to complete terror. His increasing proximity was causing her fear to rise. The air conditioning kicked in and blew the scent of fear and something else into the man's face. He paused for a moment before smirking. He leaned over the girl and slid his hand down her stomach. The fear and the other scent increased as his hand slid still lower. He hooked his fingers into the waistband of her jeans and leaned down into her neck before murmuring, "This turns you on."

He left as a statement and not a question because he knew he was right. The girl was exuding fear and arousal all at once. The combined scent spoke to a carnal urge in the silver-eyed man and he growled lowly before standing up and leaving the room. The air had become hard to breathe in and he wasn't about to let his guard down just to satisfy himself. He glanced back at the helpless girl bound to the bed and said, "I'd break you." Before closing the door behind him and going out for a walk.

When the man returned to the apartment and went into the bedroom, he found the girl asleep. The room still smelled of fear and lust, but it was just a faint trace of what it had been earlier. He'd gotten a call from his employer and was told to hold onto the girl until a place could be arranged for drop-off. In exchange for babysitting the girl, he was going to be paid weekly to care for her. Apparently there had been a coup d'état in the system where she was originally supposed to be taken and the civil unrest would only help her escape again. He looked down at the girl once more and was surprised to find a pair of hazel eyes staring back at him.

"I dreamt of you." She said with a sultry tone.

"Oh?" He replied without showing emotion. The air was steadily becoming thick with lust again.

"Yes. I dreamt that I slit your throat while you fucked me on this bed."

The man looked down at the girl and found a coy smile on her face. She wasn't joking and suddenly the tension in the room was thick and heavy.

"Not going to happen, Arielle." The man said flatly. Controlling himself was becoming unusually difficult around this girl and he swallowed his lust before opening the window to clear his head.

"You sure about that?" Arielle asked before slipping from her restraints and sliding off of the bed. The silver-eyed man turned just in time to avoid a shiv to the back and catch Arielle's wrist. He grabbed her neck and slammed her into the wall out of reflex before pinning her there and disarming her. She started to chuckle and the man threw her back onto the bed.

"You think you're slick? You think you're funny?" He growled angrily while throwing her back into the restraints and tightening them until the skin around the bindings turned white with pressure. Arielle thrashed around until she was immobilized by another backhand to the face. She lay there with a shocked look on her face and suddenly the room filled with the smell of her fear. The silver-eyed man dipped his head into her neck and inhaled deeply. When he exhaled, it came out as a growl. The girl had a moment to register that the air in the room had changed before she felt the cool air across her torso and cold steel against her naval.

"Arrêtez l'alarme!" Arielle shrieked. Her screams became muffled when the man covered her mouth with his large tanned hand. He stared into her hazel eyes with his liquid silver ones and the fear in the room hung heavier in the air. "Stop it! Stop!" Arielle screamed from behind the man's hand. She twisted her head rapidly to the side and broke away long enough to issue a short scream before the man had her by the throat and was cutting off her air. She gasped frantically as she tried to breathe.

The silver-eyed man felt his muscles tighten and he fished under the bed, with his foot, for the bag that had held the restraints. He found it and brought it up. He dropped the bag on Arielle's stomach and pulled a horse-bit gag from within. The bag was tossed aside and the man shoved the bit into the girl's mouth before releasing her throat and securing the gag behind her head. She screamed once again, but it did nothing but arouse the man. Something within him warned him not to do what his animal side wanted. The only thing that was left of his human side told him that raping this girl wasn't the answer. But she smelled so good and the scent of her fear mixed with his arousal and it was overpowering. Just as he was about to cut Arielle's jeans off, his phone rang. Tempted as he was to ignore it, he knew it could be another mark. Another mark meant more money. Another mark meant getting away from that wretched girl and her bullshit. He growled and slid away from Arielle while fishing the phone out of his pocket. He stepped outside the door and closed it almost all the way before flipping the phone open.

"Go."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice said from the other end.

"And what is it you wouldn't do if you were me?" The man asked. The voice was almost familiar, but he couldn't place it.

"Don't hurt that girl anymore."

The man stopped. Who was this that knew what was happening? Who knew his personal number and knew about the girl?

"Who is this?"

"That's not important. What is important is that you do not harm that girl anymore than you already have…Riddick."

The phone clicked and went dead before Riddick could respond. He shut his phone with an angry snap and threw the door to his bedroom open. Arielle lay there with tears streaming down her cheeks and her arms and legs were losing circulation. Riddick looked at what he'd done to the girl and felt a twinge of guilt. It was smothered out before it could grow and Riddick entered the room and shut the door firmly behind him.

"Someone just saved your life." He told her.

Arielle did nothing but fall silent. The tears still fell from her eyes, but she no longer screamed or begged. Riddick crossed the room and grabbed her by the hair. He yanked her head up and removed the gag with one hand. When he dropped her head back, she closed her mouth and whimpered softly. Riddick glanced at her restraints and said,

"If you try that shit again, I'm not going to stop. I'm going to do what I want. Understood?"

Arielle nodded and stayed silent. Riddick reached over and loosened the restraints enough that the girl could get out of them. Arielle wiggled out and curled into a ball at the head of the bed. She nursed her bruised wrists and looked up at Riddick through a curtain of hair. When he turned his back on her, she didn't make a move. In fact, Arielle didn't move for two hours afterward. When Riddick returned to the room, it was only to make sure she hadn't slipped out the window. When he saw her staring blankly at the closet, he grabbed her up by the arms and dragged her out into the kitchen. He dropped her into a chair and set a plate of leftover chicken and pasta on the table in front of her. She picked up the fork beside the plate and ate in silence. Halfway through the meal, they both looked up at one another and Riddick saw the bruising on her face from where the bit had been. Arielle looked like she had been beaten, which he reminded himself, she kind of had.