She was twenty-eight years old, still single. Life abroad and her heavy workload left her with no energy to think about relationships, which her family had pressured her about. However, the best thing about being single was freedom.

This Saturday, if she had not run out of some essential supplies in her apartment, nor the supermarket hadn't been only a five-minute walk from her home, Rain McConnell would have stayed home to sleep instead of buying groceries.

She wished that she could have had a pair of claws in the supermarket, sweeping the long and pathetic queue away. Maybe wings could be handy as well, so she could have flown back home with her groceries after checkout.

 After staying ten minutes in the queue, she finally reached the cashier. Rain difficultly lifted the shopping basket to the checkout counter. However, all of a sudden, a dull loud sound hit the supermarket.

All the giant floor-to-ceiling glass windows in front of the counters exploded like in an action movie, and numerous tiny glass fragments poured down as if there had been a rainstorm, instantly taking over the third floor of the supermarket.

Rain stood still dumbfounded, and she could feel the violent force. The fierce and malicious wind slapped her face while countless crushed ice-like broken glass attacked her.

Just when she was at a loss, a strong strength came next to her. Someone covered her head, swiftly protecting her on the floor. Everything almost happened in a second.

After the loud sound vanished, the tympanic membrane seemed to be still reverberating, and she could hear the sporadic sound of falling glass around.

 "Move!"

 A husky male voice came to her ears, and someone pushed her. Rain looked up and saw a pair of eyes as deep as a cheetah. Just with a glance, she felt this man was like a wild beast suddenly broke into the human's peaceful land. The dangerous vibe was too dark to be ignored, which left her a deep impression.

The explosion had finished, and there was nothing but silence in the supermarket. After a short period of dead stillness, shrill screams tore through the air. The people frightened by the blast got up from the floor and flocked to the safety exit. Rain stood up wobbly, but the fit man earlier had joined the flustered crowd and disappeared suddenly.

Without hesitation, Rain followed others and rushed to the safety exit. Out of her expectations, someone grabbed her wrist straight away. The vigorous force pulled her and made her fall on the floor, and she could feel a froze on her temple. A gloomy voice came from the top of her head, "If you don't want to die, don't you dare to move!

People were crying out in fear around her. Rain raised her head, and the supermarket couldn't have been more chaotic. The men with weapons took quite a few hostages, forcing them to squat on the floor as she did.

Soon after, except for these criminals with guns and hostages, there was no one else in the supermarket anymore. At this time, a siren rang from outside. The police were here.

"Chris. The cops are here. What should we do?"

A sense of pain crawled onto her scalp as the man pulled her long hair to force her up, and his gloomy voice came from behind. "Where's the escape route Xavi had arranged? It's not fuckin done yet?!"

"Chris, it's ready!"

Another man came from the other side of the supermarket and said while panting, "Xavi and other brothers are there! Let's move now."

The man called Chris looked around the supermarket with his dark eyes, "Leave these hostages behind and take this one to go!"

Hearing his order, Rain felt severe pain in her shoulder. Chris hit her hard with the butt of his gun, pushing her forward. Immediately, two men came up from the side to drag her, forcing her to retreat from the supermarket with them.

Rain McConnell had never thought she would have been a hostage one day. Was she unlucky? Or maybe this was the challenge from her karma?

She had been studying and working in Tughland for more than ten years. Although she had seen similar news on TV from time to time, she could never imagine this tragedy would happen to her.

The men grabbed her arms vigorously, which caused intense pain as if her muscles were torn into pieces. Everything that happened afterward was in a big mess but too fast for her to react. They crossed the supermarket aisles, and these violent men pulled into another safe passage.

After rushing downstairs, the exit of their emergency route was actually in an alley around seven feet wide, where several vans had been waiting. One of the men forced Rain to get into the car. As soon as she sat on the chairs, the driver pushed the padel to the metal.

After around ten minutes, the van arrived next to the Yelong River. The moment these men dragged her on a speedboat, Rain's heart sank. She had expected the scenario would have been like in Hollywood crime movies── With a crazy police pursuit highway race, they would be surrounded in a building, and she would be the bargaining chips. Finally, the police would arrest these men and rescue her.

However, it seemed that the gang wasn't like ordinary criminals. They were well-armored, swift, and had a complete plan. After leaving the supermarket with the fastest and shortest route, the speedboat raised churning white waves on the river and soon left Funtain, heading to the north.

The high winds on the river coldheartedly attacked Rain's face, and the speedboat's motor broke the river's silence. Soon after, the boat docked again. The men pushed her to the shore, which didn't look like a pier. The speedboat made a turn and headed back right away.

Rain's shoulder felt the force from a gunstick, and she heard the man next to her say with a harsh tone of voice. "What the hell are you looking at? We are already here. Do you think you can still escape? Be a good girl and follow us to the mountain. If you behave well, maybe we will be more gentle!"

After realizing there was no more risk, the group of men turned much more relaxed. After hearing what one of them had said to Rain, they burst into laughter. At this time, Chris pushed them away and walked to her, staring at them with his gloomy eyes. Seeing his threatening look, the others stopped laughing and lowered their heads to avoid eye contact with him.

Rain hadn't had a chance to take a good look at Chris till now. This man was big-boned, wearing a leather jacket, military shorts, and boots. His tanned skin was dark brown, and the rather bulky muscles made him beastlike. There was always darkness in his eyes, which could bring a chill down anyone's spine.

The smell of cruelty and bloodthirsty seemed to flow from his body, like some savage period of murderous savages. As long as anyone didn't obey his will, he would turn them into ashes. Rain also didn't dare stare at him for too long, lowering her head.

"Chris."

The crowd made way for the man who came ashore with the speedboat behind them to come forward, and Rain looked up in surprise. Although she had only heard this voice once, it had left a strong impression in her mind. Not too many men had this low voice, and not to mention he had saved her in the supermarket earlier.

Sure enough, it was that man. Rain finally could take a closer look at him, who quickly caught the crowd's attention. All of a sudden, his presence made everything surrounding look dull and colorless. The facial features on his face showed the mix raced background, and the chill behaviors seemed to add a sense of sexiness.

However, under his delicate face and calm attitude, there was a shadow of danger, which was different from Chris but breathtaking as well.

His eyes fell on Rain, and there was no trace of surprise and shock in his expression. He emotionlessly stared at her for a second and turned to Chris, "Mr. Gibson has received the news of this mission, and he is waiting for our report in the base."

"Thank you, Xavier."

Chris said with a cold tone, which showed no gratitude in his voice. On the contrary, he sounded indifferent. After finishing his words, he turned around and left. The men around stood motionless, waiting until Xavier moved and finally dared to follow behind.

After a few seconds, Chris suddenly whipped his head and gave those behind an order. "Send this girl directly back to my room in the base. I want to have some fun with her tonight."

Hearing the other men respond in unison, Rain turned more frustrated. She stared closely at Xavier like trying to grab driftwood in the ocean. Maybe he had saved her in the supermarket, so she desperately hoped that he could do something for her again. However, instead of responding to her, he walked to the mountain behind Chris as if she didn't exist.

Rain tightly pinched her palms. The fear made her unable to move. A man next to her leaned forward and whispered to her ears with a malicious tone, "Don't worry baby! Chris is a man of generosity, so he always shares the women with us after trying them. I promise, you will be satisfied tonight!"

There weren't even roads in the mountain but paths filled with dirt in the dense forest. If there hadn't been broken trees branches and the messy grass in the mud, it would have been impossible to tell this had been a road.

These men were wearing military boots, so passing through these mountain roads was like a walk in the park for them. Rain McConnell was glad that she had sneakers with her today. Although she had been stumbling, at least she managed to keep up with their steps.

After around three hours of walking up the mountain, the sun hadn't gone down, but the heavy forest turned way dimmer.

All of a sudden, Chris, who was in front, stopped moving forward and gestured to others behind. Seeing this, the whole team tensed up right away. One of them then covered Rain's mouth and forced her to crouch to the ground. After the man leading the way observed and said something, Chris gave another hand signal. Seeing his sign, the others in the group finally relaxed and dropped their guard.

Realizing that they were at the checkpoint of the secret sentry, Rain was shocked. It seemed that the criminal group who kidnapped her was more organized than she had imagined. A road appeared further on after they passed through the secret post hidden in the dense forest.

There was a vast and peculiar wooden gate that spanned over the road. This unique wooden gate was supplemented with beast patterns, carved in rough and primitive colors, carrying a serious and mysterious atmosphere to this place.

Arriving at the entrance, every man in the group respectfully took off their hats and saluted toward the gate. After the gesture, they boarded the jeep parked under the gate and kept going.

During this long time living in Tughland, Rain heard about Ekha People living in the mountains in the country's northern side. The Ekha People strongly believed in the god of the gate, and this wooden door was built to ward off evil spirits, so no one dared to offend their protector. After analyzing the situation, she was sure that they kidnapped her to the Ekha tribe.

However, Rain didn't have too much time to think about anything. There was a giant complex built on the mountain far ahead on the hill. The red spires were hidden in the dense forest as the wide stone paths, pure white walls, and heavy carved wooden doors and windows were vaguely visible.

At this moment, the sun had set almost below the horizon, showing a glimmer of light before it went down. The torchlight on the outskirts of the buildings was blazing, but the malicious flames made the green twilight sky seem to be even colder and indifferent.

The jeep cars continued to move on the road, where checkpoints and machine guns were set up. Before letting them drive into the small city-like tribe, the guard people came up to check the vehicles and saluted Chris and Xavier.

Rain had always thought that the Ekha tribe lived deep in the mountains, so their living conditions should have been pretty under-developed and shabby. Out of her expectations, the buildings were sophisticated and organized, and the city was rather well planned.

Their car followed the road to the north, stopped at the courtyard of the most massive and highest-lying house in the city's iron gate. There were finally no more checkpoints and weapons anymore. After Chris rang the video doorbell, the iron gate slowly opened.

He returned to the jeep car.

The jeep entered the courtyard and made a detour, stopping in front of the sculpture in the garden. The whole group left the car, and someone grabbed Rain's arms to push her out of the vehicle.

Chris turned to look at her and tilted his head at the big man holding her. After understanding his meaning, the man harshly gripped her arms and hailed her violently in a different direction from the others.

An intense fear took over Rain's heart, for she knew that the man was taking her to Chris' room. His earlier words on the boat and the other men's filthy and lusty eyes made her couldn't imagine what kind of tragedy was waiting for her.

Rain desperately struggled, but his strength had an overwhelming advantage. Her resistance turned the big man impatient, so he caught her body and hung her like a chick on his shoulder to haul her away.

"Wait a minute."

A slow and calm voice came from behind, and the big man stopped, dropped Rain down, and looked at Xavier respectfully. Chris also paused at the iron gate, whipping his head, and stared at him with confusion in his eyes.

"Chris, you already quite a lot of women. It's rare that I am interested in this girl, so why don't you do me a favor and give her to me as a gift?"