Diego (Blood and Thunder 3)

By Susan Stephens

Author’s note: The stories in the Blood and Thunder series are super-hot and have language some may object to. This book was previously entitled SPANIARD UNTAMED

With these chains...
Celina Petrovka expects to die in the cellar where she has been chained to the wall by slavers as a punishment for trying to escape. Death would be a better fate than being sold on the dark web Celina believes when the gang boss promises, “I will sell you. You will be used until you're broken and then you will die."

What Diego wants Diego gets...

Diego Vidal, Duke of Fuente-Caliente, tech billionaire, connoisseur of women and life, is a merciless vigilante who hunts down evil. Star player for the Black and Thunder polo team, Diego does not expect the girl he freed from chains in a filthy cellar to prove such an asset for his business or such a pleasure in his bed.

But have things come too easily for Diego? Is the renowned seducer just another tick box on the bucket list of a desperate girl? When Celina returns home to Eastern Europe Diego begins a fiery sensual onslaught to melt away her resistance and have her begging to return to his bed!

Susan Stephens has written more than 85 books in contemporary romance and non-fiction, and is a USA TODAY best-selling author with sales in excess of 10 million books. These are translated into 26 languages across 109 countries.

Blood and Thunder series
ALEXEI 1#
DANTE 2#
DIEGO 3#
CESAR 4#
CONOR 5# Coming soon

Hot Hex series
WARRIOR WITCH 1#
ROYAL WITCH 2#
CHRISTMAS WITCH 3#
More in this series coming soon

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Stephens
• Release date: Mar 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781910604304

Susan Stephens

Romance with heart, heat and red-hot men, written by author addicted to all of the above.Latest release for Harlequin... UNTOUCHED UNTIL THE GREEK’S RETURNBLOOD AND THUNDER SERIES Dangerous women. Hard men. Ferocious passion.ALEXEI. https://books2read.com/u/m2leOdDANTE. https://books2read.com/u/38dejVDIEGO https://books2read.com/u/me9XezCESAR https://books2read.com/u/mB25GACONOR https://books2read.com/u/baDBNQBooks 1-4 BLOOD AND THUNDER available as box set https://books2read.com/u/mYGQ7YHOT HEX seriesWARRIOR WITCH https://books2read.com/u/3Gw5yPROYAL WITCH. https://books2read.com/u/4Xr6qNCHRISTMAS WITCH https://books2read.com/u/49nXRwFIRE WITCH. https://books2read.com/u/3n2eB8USA TODAY best-selling author Susan Stephens has global sales of over 10 million books. Translated into 26 languages across 109 countries, Susan's 75th book recently hit the shelves.A professional singer before meeting her husband on the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta, in true romance style they met on Monday, became engaged on Friday and were married three months later.Susan's menagerie consists of dogs, cats, horses, a donkey, several guinea pigs, a husband and three terrific children.Sue enjoys entertaining, travel, and going to the theatre. To relax she reads, cooks and plays the piano, and when she's had enough of relaxing she throws herself off mountains on skis, or gallops through the countryside singing loudly.But most of all, she loves hearing from you, her readers, and keeping in touch via regular newsletters.FREE story for new subscribers.Newsletter Sign-up:https://subscribepage.com/f9n2j5

Book preview

Prologue

The school she loved was on fire. The village she called home was being ransacked. Celina and the girl she was lying across to protect as best she could jumped in terror each time the gunfire came closer. Smoke was creeping under the door of the schoolroom where they were hiding. Flames lapped at the windows. Celina didn’t see how they could escape. If they opened the door, the fire would consume them. If they climbed out the window, they’d either burn to death or the slavers would shoot them. No one wanted damaged goods, and they were sure to be burned if they tried to escape that way.

Life isn’t fair, is it? Marissa whispered.

We’ll get out of here somehow, Celina promised. Dead or alive crossed her mind. But Marissa was right. It was unfair. Her young friend was supposed to enjoy the same chances Celina had been given. They’d both grown up in the stark surroundings of an orphanage governed by cruelty and deprivation in a small village in the Tatra Mountains of Eastern Europe. Their childhood had been beyond the imagination of most people. She’d realized by the age of ten that when visitors came to visit the poor children, the food would suddenly improve, as would the manner of the matron-in-charge, whose spite was demonstrated regularly with physical violence, as well as the whip of her tongue. When the matron was unobserved, that was.

Cautiously, Marissa moved her head so she could look into Celina’s eyes. Do you really think we’ll get out of here?

The only answer Celina could give was a tight hug. Marissa was just eighteen, and Celina five years older. Thanks to the generosity of an American philanthropist who’d taken over the orphanage five years before to ensure the children had the best start in life, Marissa had been due to follow Celina to university. The slavers’ raid had put an end to that hope. Escaping with their lives was all that mattered now.

Both girls gasped as the door burst open.

Slavers!

There’s valuable stock in here, one of them snarled. Let’s get them out.

Marissa screamed piteously as the two girls were dragged to their feet and torn from each other.

Let me go to her, Celina yelled as her captor seized her hair. I can calm her, she pleaded.

Giving Celina’s hair a vicious twist, the thug forced her outside and bundled her into the back of a van.

This one won’t stop screaming, his fellow slaver complained as he shoved a petrified Marissa in front of him.

Put a bullet in her mouth. She’ll soon shut up!

No! Celina launched herself at the van doors as they were slammed shut, but the vehicle lurched off, and she was thrown to the floor.

Chapter One

It was hard to believe the underbelly of a glamorous city could be such a filthy, stinking contrast to the sheen of perfection only yards above her head. Desperate, hungry, and chained to a wall, Celina had been transported in the back of a van from Eastern Europe to the glittering principality of Monaco, tucked between the southern borders of France and Italy. She and the other women with her had been dumped in the basement of some unknown building before being informed with relish that they were to be sold off to perverts who took pleasure buying slaves on the dark web.

Ready to beg for my forgiveness? a sneering gang member asked as he passed by, kicking Celina’s foot with the toe of his boot.

Lifting her chin, she blazed a look of pure hatred into his eyes. This was the same man who had suggested silencing Marissa with a bullet in her mouth. Her reward for this small rebellion was a stinging slap that banged her head against the wall.

Leave her! the gang boss yelled as Celina yelped with pain. And you can wipe that look off your face, bitch. You’ve got three things to look forward to, and that’s death, slavery, and pain.

Presumably, not in that order, Celina muttered under her breath.

You won’t be talking back soon, the gang boss predicted. Be thankful you’re worth more to me unblemished.

Closing off her thoughts, Celina didn’t reply. The experience of growing up in a starkly regimented orphanage helped her do this. The matron at the home regularly accused Celina of mute insolence because she would never cry. The woman’s complete lack of sensitivity hadn’t allowed her to figure out that Celina was too frightened to cry.

She had to find a way out of this so she could one day return to discover if Marissa had survived the brutality of the slavers. If she showed how frightened she was, the gang members would only torment her more. They were armed to the teeth and wouldn’t hesitate to use their weapons. Men without conscience, whose only thought was profit, they had driven their human cargo across Europe for three days straight. Crushed in the back of a van, the women had been given one bottle of water to share between them in all that time, with the gang only stopping to allow them to use the facilities at various gas stations.

It wouldn’t hurt her to give me a blow job, Celina overheard the first tormentor comment to his boss.

Suck your filthy cock? The gang boss barked a laugh. That won’t encourage the bitch to behave well at auction. Don’t worry, he added with chilling certainty as he turned back to Celina. You’ll get your chance to suck dick. As soon as you’re sold, you can suck mine.

Determined not to be provoked, Celina lowered her eyes. She’d tried to escape to find food but had been recaptured along with another girl called Amber. She had no intention of putting her fellow captives in more danger by losing her cool.

Get over here! the gang boss instructed his goons. We’ll take inventory, then we’ll move this stock.

Those vigilantes still on our tail?

The man who had tormented Celina asked the question, and it provoked a furious look from his boss. He’d said too much, Celina guessed. Her heart soared at the thought of rescue. She would survive this. Closing her eyes, she rested back to conserve her strength for whatever came next. She should have expected that to be the slaver who had taunted her, returning for a second shot.

You’ll be perfect for one of our regulars, he said, bringing his face so close, his stinking breath made her want to gag. He loves young girls like you. He’s as rich as Croesus and as fat as a pig. He buys all our best young girls to rape before he beats them to death.

It was harder to force her expression to remain neutral when she was shaking with terror inside, but she had no intention of giving this scum the satisfaction of seeing how frightened she was. She’d face the fat-man hurdle if and when she had to. For now, it was enough to be alive.

Hours passed and nothing changed. As time dragged on and hope of a rescue faded, she remembered getting through bad times at the orphanage by thinking herself somewhere else. She always retreated to the same place, a lush green forest where birdsong soothed her and she felt safe and warm. A clear stream ran through the forest. Gurgling over the rocks, it fed a pond where she could clean herself and swim. She was deep in this dreamscape when the door suddenly crashed open. Shrinking back against the wall, she was deafened by screams from the women imprisoned with her as a team of men in black combat gear hurtled down the steps. The slavers scattered. Using the women as shields, one of them pointed a gun at Celina’s head. Let us walk out of here, or she dies, he threatened calmly.

Helpless to do anything, she could only freeze and wait.

Everything happened so fast after that; she had no idea how the balance of power could change so quickly. A member of the team took out the gang boss while a giant of a man came to kneel at her side. She cowered away from him, having no idea if he was any better than the rest. For all she knew, this was a rival gang of slavers come to steal valuable stock. A balaclava covered much of his face, but now she took a closer look at him, something about his manner reassured her. Unlike the slavers, he smelled clean and looked professional, but it was his eyes that held her interest. Clear, bright, and almost black, they were backlit by keen intelligence. She would judge him on his actions, she decided, awarding him his first brownie point when he produced bolt cutters and set to work on her chains. His physical presence was brutally masculine, and she tingled with awareness as the chains fell away. Instead of fear when he helped her to her feet, she felt shockingly attracted.

He stared at her intently. Are you okay?

His smooth baritone intrigued her even more. His voice was lightly accented. He was Spanish, she guessed, though English was their common language. A bit stiff, she admitted tensely. When he released her to go and help the other women, she rested her hand on her arm where he’d held her. She could still feel his touch like a brand.

Join the other women, he urged, swinging around to face her.

She tore her gaze away from him to see those of her companions who were able to walk filing up the steps, hopefully to safety.

He confirmed this, assuring her with a nod of encouragement. You’ll be safe.

She resisted the temptation to run out of that terrible cellar. Filled with the stink of death and cruelty, it was truly an outpost of hell. But she had work to do. I’ll stay and help those who’ve been injured, she insisted. I can translate for the women. I can calm them. I won’t leave until they’re all safely out of here.

That would help us, the man agreed curtly. Thank you.

Her interested gaze followed him as he went to help with the evacuation, and her heart thundered like crazy when he turned around to give her one last assessing stare.

Strong. Angry. Passionate. With eyes that tore at his soul, reminding him why he did this work. The girl he’d just tended to was in need of more care and attention, but she had decided to stay and help. That impressed him. She impressed him. Small and filthy, but still defiant, and clever enough to be wary, even with him, there had been an immediate connection between them, a connection of body and mind. Maybe because she was tiny and he was anything but, the urge to carry her out of here, whatever she said, and take her somewhere quiet, wash her, talk to her, find out more about her, was nagging at him. And at his body, he conceded. That connection between them was crackling like electricity. They only needed to be close to each other for it to fire up. Her voice strummed through his senses, reminding him of all the softer things in life he’d had to put on hold for this.

Which was exactly what he didn’t need. Not now. Not when there were still slavers on the loose.

Their stares met briefly as he crossed the room to help another woman. The girl was busily employed, but her glance kept flicking back to him. He felt