“She’s a bit willful, Elijah. I tried my best with her, but she’s still a bit headstrong,” Sarah warned. “Her name is Debra.”

 

“I don’t really give a shit, Sarah.” Elijah’s boots were already clacking across the wood dining room floor as he headed towards the room. One of the men following was uncoiling a rope he had been holding.

 

Henry rose and closed the kitchen door while Clara poured them each another cup of coffee. Henry added a liberal amount of whiskey to each cup and the two couples sat at the table in silence. The enforcers would be riding down by the end of the week for Tom, and the place would be happier with the brooding teenager gone. It would be nice to have Sarah and the kids moving back to the farmhouse.

 

Elijah opened the bedroom door and expected her to sit up, blinking in confusion at the unexpected light. The girl was hidden under the blankets, and the four men surrounded the bed without her so much as moving. She should have heard our boots, Elijah thought, and he wondered if he would find stacked pillows under the quilt. The thought of wasting time chasing her down if she had run pissed him off. They still had two more girls to pick up and he wanted to be headed back up the mountain by dawn.

 

Debra sensed people around her, even through the loud music. Her fingers curled around the edge of the quilt and slowly drew it down. A man with shining black eyes was staring at her, and Debra had a fleeting thought that he was the devil. Her mouth dropped open and she stared at the other three cowboys standing around him. Sleep. I’m asleep, and this is some crazy nightmare from being out on this stupid farm.

 

When a rough hand reached out and grabbed the back of her head, she opened her mouth to scream. He shoved spongy ball into her mouth and strapped it to the back of her head while the other two men each grabbed a fisted hand and locked leather cuffs onto her wrists. Before she could try to remove them, which she would discover was useless with their keyed latches, she was rolled onto her stomach. Her long legs got twisted in the quilt and she tried to kick and free them while her wrists were hooked together behind her. She shrieked muffled outrage and fear into the gag.

 

What’s happening? Oh god. Debra was screaming behind the gag, but with Ryker still wailing in her ears she had no idea how smothered the sound was. Her arms were stretched, and she yanked in panicked terror at the thick cuffs and pressed her tongue against the expanded foam in her mouth, trying to push it out. She was being kidnapped, and her only thought was of her own survival. It never crossed her mind to consider what these men might have done to the rest of her family.

 

Hands pulled the blanket free and lifted her out of the bed. The earplugs popped out and she stared at them on the pillow, with their tinny music continuing to blare. She looked up at the tall man, the devil, and frantically shook her head while tears slipped down her cheeks. Someone was wrapping a thick leather collar around her throat, and she tried to twist away from him. The big devil man gripped through her hair and held her head still until the collar was latched, and then a man with a rope clicked a hook through the metal ring on the front of it.

 

“Carry her out, Joseph. There’s no sense having her knock any of Clara’s things over,” Elijah said. He turned to leave, and Debra’s eyes widened when an even bigger man… not taller, but definitely more muscular… grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder. Her braid slapped against his leather chaps at the back of his knee, and Debra stared down at the wooden floor while she bounced on the shoulder digging into her ribcage.

 

They walked out the door onto the porch and she grunted as he lurched down the wide steps. The big man’s knees bent and he lowered her to the ground behind the line of five tethered horses. There was another girl about her age, bound as she was and tied to the back of one of the animals with another cowboy standing next to her. The girl had been crying. There were muddy streaks down her cheeks, but now she was staring with wide-eyed fright at Debra.

 

Suzy’s sleeping tee shirt was already dusty from the ride over to Henry and Clara’s farm. She had been woken much as Debra had, though she had been dreaming about leaving to go to the expensive college in the fall. After spending the past year with barely passing grades, she had lost her chance at the scholarship that would have saved her dad another year of overtime at work. There were a lot of parties and social events for high school seniors, and Suzy had justified the grades that were falling as fast as the extra dollars her dad would have to earn, by pacifying herself that she would only be a senior once in her life.

 

Suzy had spent the past fifteen minutes riding in the saddle in front of one of the terrifying men. She looked at the new girl’s tank and shorts, and she was grateful that at least her own nightshirt was not so tight and revealing. Unfortunately, she was only wearing her pink thong panties underneath it.

 

“Samuel, this one can ride with you. We’ll cut across the west cornfield to Chris and Thelma’s place,” Elijah’s deep voice stated. “Remember what Sarah said: the girl might be a handful.”

 

                          

Amazon

 

5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting dark fantasy December 12, 2011

By Critical Mass

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This story follows a group of families whose ancestors are beholden to a clan that lives in a secret settlement located in an isolated mountain valley. The location and time period are never explicitly stated, and really don't matter for purposes of this very dark fantasy. Periodically, these flatland families must give up a number of their young women and allow them to be taken to live with the people of the mountain clan. The narrative follows the fate of several young women "collected" from these several families for use by couples of the mountain clan. These women are referred to as 'tithes'. Needless to say their duties comprise a whole lot more than sweeping floors...

 

I read this several weeks ago and needed to take some time to think about how to review this story. First, for those that are looking for a traditional HEA or HFN, you may be disappointed. They really can't be found here. Second, this is a rather dark erotic fantasy. There is dubious consent, rape, corporal punishment, M/F, F/F, slavery, and sado-masochism just to name some of the things you will encounter in this book. I do not use the term BDSM here because its meaning has been watered down to the point that it can mean almost anything. Those readers that enjoy capture/non-consent will be very happy with this story; those that do not should steer clear. This was my first exposure to the capture sub-genre and it was a rather eye-opening experience for this reader.

 

While the prologue leaves the reader quite confused, it quickly starts to come together as the story gathers steam (in more ways than one). The story could have used a Dramatis Personae in order to keep the characters and families straight, but this is a minor quibble, really. The only other area that could have been improved was the ending. The story was rather neatly tied up, almost summarized in a way that was a small let-down. I think the writer did this for the purposes of not allowing the story to become too dark. If so, it's at least understandable, but those readers who want to see everything, to the bitter end, might feel just a trifle cheated.

 

I have to commend Ms. Smith for some of the very controversial themes she tackles here (dubious consent being just one of them). She is a courageous author indeed for writing explicitly about these fantasies while other authors only dance around the edges of this subject matter. This is unflinching, thought-provoking, at times disturbing and above all very, very hot. There is enough here that Ms. Smith could easily write one or two sequels to this story (and I sincerely hopes she does).

 

I highly recommend this story to readers of boundary-pushing fantasy erotica. Even if you think this sounds like it might be too much for you, you should at least try this story. After all this is just fantasy. Bravo Ms. Smith!