Chapter 3. Kidnapped

Cybele opened her eyes, felt a twinge of pain in her head, and sat up quickly after her last memory came into her mind.

There was a young man, with the same physical features as the other men who had captured her, sitting in an old wooden chair, staring at her with his mouth in a severe scowl. Cybele found him attractive, and that was unusual.

She realized that she was sitting on an old steel bed with a dirty mattress, which was the only furniture in the place. A bed and a chair.

"Who are you?" she asked the young man, noticing that he was sweating prosperity. She couldn't help wondering what a man like him could possibly want with her.

"I don't think it matters." He replied after a while of evaluating her.

"It really doesn't. So let's get straight to the point. Why was I kidnapped? I have no money, and no rich family to pay ransom for me. I have some money from my savings in the bank..." Cybele said looking for her purse in vain.

"Cybele... When you look at me, what do you feel?"

Cybele looked back at him. He was really curious.

"I don't know what kind of perversion you have, but I can tell you that I'm a black belt in karate and it won't be easy to force me."

He smiled amusedly and Cybele couldn't help noticing that his teeth were extremely white and perfect, which was a contrast to his dark skin.

"You look a lot like your mother..." He said.

Cybele felt her heart freeze. Ella had found her.

"How much do you want to set me free?"

"But didn't you just say you didn't have any money?" he asked with an increasingly amused smile.

"Maybe... Maybe I can raise the amount you need."

Cybele blinked and he was already in front of her like magic and pulling her off the bed, forcing her to stand inches from his body and his manhood, and Cybele found it hard to look away from his mouth.

"Why are you allowing me to touch you, Cybele? Use what you know and defend yourself against me!"

Cybele then put her hands on his chest to push him away, but strangely she couldn't do it. She kept her hands still, feeling the warmth and the beat of his heart. It felt good and she couldn't detach herself from him. He pulled her to him and held her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She liked that contact.

He released her after Cybele had closed her eyes, surrendered to what she was feeling, and returned to his chair. He picked her up and dragged her close to Cybele, and as soon as she complied with his gesture asking her to sit back down on the bed, he sat down in the chair.

"You looked different when I mentioned your mother... What do you remember about her?"

"Did she pay you to come after me?" Cybele asked, thinking that perhaps Ella had finally landed a rich husband.

The boy closed his eyes and then turned to face Cybele with an anger that she could now see was not against her, but against some memory.

"What do you remember about your mother?"

"She doesn't look like me." Cybele said, remembering Ella's brown hair and eyes.

"What are you talking about? You're the image and likeness of Aurora!"

Cybele stared at him, trying to contain her joy. She had learned very quickly not to show emotions.

"You've got the wrong person. My mother's name is Ella." She said relieved.

He looked at her curiously, then took a cell phone out of his pocket, and with a few taps on the screen showed Cybele the image of an older woman with a sad smile. That woman looked just like her, and now she understood the confusion of the boy in front of her and calmed down.

"She does look like me... But it's not me. Notice that she's older and... It's just a coincidence, our resemblance." Cybele said and stood up, her eyes scanning the room in search of the door. "I'm very sorry that your search didn't come to an end."

"Did the person who stole you make you believe he was your mother?" he asked, ignoring Cybele's surprise as she turned to him after hearing his last words.

"I wasn't robbed. I already told you that you took the wrong person... Now, I don't even know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Cybele, you were kidnapped when you were only eleven months old."

Cybele sat back down, feeling the impact of those words like a punch in the stomach.

"No. Ella... My mother... She wouldn't be that vile..."

"Wouldn't she? Tell me about your childhood?"

Cybele lowered her eyes. Her childhood? She couldn't remember anything, apart from the housework she was forced to do. She never played, never had any friends... She stared at that boy again.

"You're not native to this country. Your accent is different. Where are you from?"

"We're not from here, Cybele. We're from an island near Norway, but much bigger and more modern than this country. We've come to fraternize with... Other tribes."

Cybele stared at him uncomprehendingly.

"Okay. Can I go now?" Cybele asked as she met the door's gaze.

The boy followed the direction she was looking in, and turned to her again with that amused smile on his face.

"Do you want to try and find out if you're faster than me?" He asked, challenging her.

Cybele stood up quickly, but before she could think of reaching the door, the boy was already leaning against it with his back and arms crossed, staring at her amused with his perplexed gaze.

"How did you do that? The first time you moved at that speed I thought I was seeing something, but now..."

"Yes, Cybele. Tell me more about yourself... How are your visions of what will happen in the future, every time someone touches you? I promise that afterwards we can have a race so that you know your limitations."

Cybele sat down again. How could that boy know about her visions and how she had them, when she had never dared to talk about it with anyone? Everything was beginning to fit together as if her life were a huge jigsaw puzzle. Ella had kidnapped her, that's why Cybele didn't look like any of her siblings... That's why she never received a mother's love... That's why she decided that her destiny had to be prostitution. When she looked up again, she wasn't surprised to see that boy sitting in front of her as if he hadn't left his chair at any time.

"Is Aurora my real mother's name?"

"Yes." The boy said and held out his fist to Cybele. "Touch me and see my memories of her."

Cybele looked at the outstretched fist and then looked him in the eye.

"I can't." Cybele said and controlled the tears that threatened to wet her face.

He lowered his hand.

"Don't you want to know anything about your mother? Was your kidnapper that good to you?"

"No. I don't want to know my real mother and my kidnapper wasn't nice to me. In fact, she made me a slave. I worked for her and her children until I was thirteen, when I ran away because she wanted to turn me into a prostitute." Cybele said and her eyes turned cold and sharp like steel. "That's the summary of my life. I hope you're satisfied and will let me go now."

"If it was that bad, it would be natural for you to be happy to know that you have a family and that you had..."

"Please stop!" Cybele asked, raising her hand. "No memory you show me is going to improve my life. In fact, it won't make any difference. If I go beyond what you've already told me, you'll only show me what I've lost by not growing up among my people. I'm insignificant. Go back and live the rest of your life peacefully. I've noticed that you love the woman in the photo. I hope you'll be happy together."

"Do you really think I'd be here if I could just ignore your existence?" He asked angrily. "Do I look like a person who has no other occupation than chasing lost girls?"

Cybele looked at his clothes. After some time working to serve the rich, she could tell when someone was dressed well and the young man in front of her wore fine, expensive clothes with the naturalness of someone who had grown up in a prosperous environment.

"What do you want from me, then?"

"If you don't touch me to meet your mother now, you'll never get that chance again, because I'll sweep away all memories of her. Understand that I have no choice. I can already feel everything I feel for her draining away."

"Thanks for the warning. But I still don't want to."

He stood up.

"You're just as stubborn as she is."

"She doesn't respond to your love?" Cybele asked, knowing she was being scathing.

He stared at her.

"No woman in our tribe is capable of saying no to me, Cybele. Not even you. And it was because I loved Aurora too much that I walked away. I couldn't do that to her, I knew that my attraction to her was due to her giving birth to you."

"That's not arrogant at all." Cybele replied ironically, knowing it was true. She couldn't get rid of the feeling of desire that he was able to provoke in her, just with his presence.

"You need to know your origins. I'll take you back to the tribe."

"No. I'm not going with you. If you want to do something with me, you'll have to do it here. After I walk out of that door, you'll never see me again."

"Are you offering? Because you're so much like your mother that I'm tempted to accept..." He said and there was no amusement in his countenance this time.

Cybele also stood up to reduce the size difference between them.

"Yes. I'm offering." Cybele didn't understand why she was so attracted to him. Her purity was no longer so important and only two men had ever aroused that desire in her. Kevin, she would probably never see again, but she had to take advantage of the opportunity that was presenting itself to her for the second and last time.

He stared at her and smiled at her gesture of defiance.

"I can smell your virginity, Cybele. I intend to keep it that way until our wedding day."

"Our wedding?" Cybele was beginning to enjoy herself. "Your self-centeredness is quite inconvenient... Can you smell my virginity? Poor mortals who circulate around you without knowing the mythical powers that accompany you. If you're not willing to do what your eyes promise me, let me go and don't waste my time with your ideas. I... I'm not a virgin anymore." Cybele lied so that he felt the need to find out if it was true.

When Cybele had finished speaking, he flashed a smile so confident that it startled her.

"I want you too, Cybele. It's something much bigger than me, but the wait will be even more... More delicious, knowing that you can hardly stop yourself from taking off my clothes and possessing you. You're a female who finds the perfect match and immediately goes into heat. I've never found that in any other woman."

Cybele felt her face burn with shame and she wanted to slap him across the face, but she held back, because he was telling the truth.

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