The monster in me, the one I worked hard to control, broke down the door, thundering to the surface. It did not think. Only reacted. My shoulders expanded, enlarging and coiling. I could no longer see anything but red. I did not feel my pain or the fever raging in my body.
My hands still in cuffs, I swung my paired arms like a bat against Vadik’s skull. The cartilage in his nose crunched against the metal cuffs, and the force threw him across the desk. Objects went flying, hitting the floor and walls.
Cadoc’s fingers wrapped tighter around my arm, but I twisted out of his grip, rushing forward and slamming Vadik into the desk.
Shouts reverberated off me and hands grabbed for me, but all I saw and heard was my anger.
Crimson.
The control I fought to contain gave way. The rage inside became my voice. And it kept repeating her name over and over.
Zoey. Zoey. Zoey.
My fist smashed down onto Vadik’s face, my elbow cracked into Cadoc’s. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a floor lamp swing down, striking the back of my head. My body dipped when it hit, but I didn’t feel any pain, my focus lasered on the man underneath me.
“No. One. Will. Touch. Her.” A roar came from me. Blood from my head wound trickled into my eyes. “No. One. Hurts. Her. But. Me.” The moment the words were out of my mouth and soaked into my mind I halted. An image of choking her to death fired through my veins, stirring a deep drive. A carnal but robotic notion. Was that all this was? I didn’t want anyone to take my kill from me?
Fuck.
Scarlet drained from my sight, clearing my vision. Several hands yanked me off Vadik and hauled me back across the room. A gun was thrust to my head.
“If you move, I will gladly pull the trigger,” Garrett snarled in my ear. “Just give me a reason. Please.”
Vadik sat up, taking a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping the blood from his nose. “I think I know what the promise entails now.”
I growled.
Vadik patted his nose again; the blood already stopped. He stood, straightening his wrinkled suit with cool, detached motions.
The icy aloofness provoked a deep fear in me. I knew fury lay under his reserve, a rage which would put my monster to shame.
Fuck with a demon and you were going to get more than the horns.
A tight smile stretched his mouth, and he took measured steps to me. “You will take me to her.”
“No.”
His eyes flashed. He crouched down in my face, his voice vibrating with wrath. “Let’s see how you feel later. You will be begging for your death…or hers.”
The last thing I saw was Garrett’s arm coming for me before he slammed the butt of the gun into my head.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The tops of my feet dragged across the floor, hitting the stone stairs as they hauled me to the basement. My head lolled and bobbed, not able to pick itself up yet. As the monster I didn’t feel pain, but now it was back with a vengeance.
Long ago, I’d almost burned to death. It took me months to come out of my coma, my fae powers keeping me asleep as I healed. I no longer had this luxury. I was still fae, so it eased the pain, but I was more human in healing. Every hit hurt worse than it ever had before. I was changing, my body slowing down. The fever sapped my energy, which pissed me off. I did not handle being fragile very well.
Several other men joined Cadoc in towing me back to the cell I’d been calling home. I recognized some of the men from my encounters with Garrett. One blue-haired guy ran ahead, pulling the extra chain off the floor until it hung from the ceiling at eyeline.
I’d been around too long not to know what was ahead of me. Torture had not advanced much with fae. They liked the old-school ways. I grunted and struggled. Cadoc and another fae grabbed my arms and wrapped the metal cuffs around my wrists, clicking them into place. The blue-haired fae yanked the pulley. My arms shot over my head. The bones and muscles along my shoulders and sides popped as my weight tugged back on them. The clanging chain echoed off the walls. My joints wrenched from their sockets. The tips of my bare toes skimmed the floor.
Shoes clicked across the stone floor.
“You’re still the same. Disobedient and impertinent,” Vadik hissed, I heard the whip snap as he opened it up.
My fingers rolled into fists, preparing for the pain. But no matter how much you do, you can never prepare for this kind of torture. The sound of the leather cracked in the room only an instant before the switch lashed across my back. My mouth slammed together, a groan caught in my chest.
The whip struck my back again.
Then again.
“Is a human really worth this?” Vadik growled.
I didn’t respond. She was worth more.
Agony sliced down my back as he snapped the whip. My skin split. The leather strap slashed across the open wounds. My knees dipped and dizziness overcame me, building and exploding with nausea.
“You are a fool. I hoped better from you.” Wrath coated every word he spoke. His resentment for me seemed deeper than what I’d expect from a bad business deal. But this was why people feared him—he was a demon who relished torture. You’d think he’d let others do this, not get his hands dirty. Not with me.
A bellow rushed out of him, his arm coming down, snapping the leather harshly.
My body jerked forward, curving with anguish. Against my will a moan escaped my throat. I slammed my jaw together, keeping Vadik from getting any more satisfaction from my pain. Sweat streamed down my face and blood flowed in trails along my back, dripping onto the floor.
“You need to learn I am in charge. You do not disrespect me,” Vadik yelled, the violence giving more fire to his rage. Each hit only gave him more fuel, more drive, causing him to strike harder.
Hurt so unreal choked the air in my throat. Screams could no longer reach the surface, barricaded beneath the agony. I huffed. Saliva oozed out the corners of my mouth. Snot bubbled out my nose.
Crack.
Crack.
Snaps of the whip echoed off the stone.
My vision blurred. Bile filled my mouth as the room spun. I drifted further from myself. My muscles let go, and I hung freely from the chains in the ceiling, ripping me a part.
“Vadik. That’s enough,” I heard a woman’s voice cry, then the sound of a hand hitting flesh. A form fell to the ground.
“Do not tell me when it’s enough,” Vadik growled. “You want to be next? You are already walking a thin line with me, Amara. You can easily be replaced. No one will miss you. No one.”
Time and reality were getting hazier as I receded deeper into my mind.
“Now turn him around,” a voice ordered.
I felt hands on me, pairs of feet scuffling over the floor. The chain above my head creaked as they twisted me around.
“Wake him up.”
A sharp, foul smell spiked up my nose and caused my eyes and mouth to water violently. I lifted my head, blinking back sweat and blood.
Vadik watched me, his eyes completely black. Sweat and spots of my blood sprinkled his sullen white face. His cheek bones stuck out sharply, which only enhanced the terrifying monster he really was. A twisted smile grew on his lips when he saw I was awake. “That’s better. I want you looking at me when I talk to you.”
His words sparked something in my head, a deep instinctual fear buried far below. But my brain couldn’t latch onto any reason or understanding. He flicked the whip with his wrist.
I knew what was coming. My punishment was far from over.
“Once again I will ask. Is this human’s life worth this? The more you fight me, the more I will be sure Zoey gets all m y attention. You want to die, knowing you left that life for her? My concubine, my slave, my fighter?” Vadik said. “You can live or she can. But you will find her for me.”
It took everything I had to unclench my jaw. “Fuck. You.” Saliva and foam sprayed from my mouth.
“Bad decision.” He lifted his arm.
As the
switch made contact with my stomach, my threshold for unbearable pain hit its max. A howl ripped out from the depths of my guts. He quickly responded with another one.
Darkness reached up, covering my eyes and mouth, and pulled me back into the depths of oblivion.
I went willingly.
My lids blinked open to a small comfortable room with its peeling paint and white billowing curtains. Instantly I felt the warmth of her body pressed against my leg. I rolled over, the old comfortable bed creaking. I propped my head on my hand and watched her sleep. Her brown tresses only held a dim violet color now as they tumbled around her shoulders and down her back. This was the first peace I felt in a long time. No pain. No torment. Only relief and contentment at seeing her.
She was beautiful, but it was more than that. The girl was a force. No one I ever met, fae or human, compared to her. Even with all the horrible things she had gone through, she still fought with hope, love, and violent determination.
I hadn’t let myself feel deeply for anyone in a long, long time. I hadn’t wanted to. Until now. But she barreled down my walls with ferocity.
My gaze rolled over her sleeping form, taking in every inch, especially the way the sheet curved over her body. She wore one of my thin white T-shirts and a slip of fabric for underwear. The top was hitched up, displaying a strip of her bare back. I reached out my hand for her, catching the edge of the shirt, and dragged the fabric to the top of her shoulder blades. My fingers trailed over her spine, curving over her ass. She stirred under my touch. Her head turned over on the pillow till she faced me.
“Thought that might wake you up.” I smiled.
“Ryker,” she whispered.
“Miss me?”
“Yes.”
The bluntness and honesty of her declaration stunned me.
“Wow. You said that without the least bit of sarcasm.”
Liquid glistened in her eyes. A deep sadness and desperation echoed in them I had never seen before.
“Hey.” My hand went to her face, cupping her cheek. “Are you all right?”
She leaned into my hand and bit down on her lower lip. She looked lost. Unsure. Seeing her like this caused panic to prickle in every pore.
“Zoey, you’re freakin’ me out.”
She licked her lips, closing her lids briefly. “I know you’re not real, but I need you…to get me through this.”
The need to protect her, to shield her from pain, fear, or harm drove me to her. I pulled her to me, my lips brushing softly over her forehead. “You are strong; you can get through this. You don’t need me, but I’ll be here whenever you want.”
“I wish you could tell me you were all right. That you got away from Vadik.”
I could have told her, but the despondency in her demeanor made me lock the truth away.
“If I were free or capable, I would have already found you.”
She watched me. A fire flickered in her eyes, her gaze dropping to my mouth. It was like the fire in her eyes jumped to me, igniting a combustion through me. I grabbed her hips and pulled her onto my lap. She inhaled sharply, enhancing my need for her. To be inside her.
I knew this was a dream, and she wasn’t real. But she felt hot, wet and her legs clenched my hips with desire. A moan emerged from my throat. I knew one thing. Even If I had never made an oath to her, nothing in this world would stop me from getting to her.
“Even without the oath, I would find you.”
“I wish the vow worked both ways. I want to be able to feel you and know you are still alive,” she whispered, grinding into my lap.
Fuck.
“You want to feel me, huh?” I grabbed her waist, flipping her back onto the bed. I nudged her legs apart and crawled between them. My gaze never left hers. I lifted her shirt up, my lips sweeping over her stomach, my mouth moving down.
“Feel this?”
I tilted her hips up, slipping her underwear down her legs. The sight of her almost made me lose control. My hands roughly traveled over every inch of her skin.
She let a small groan escape. Her arms twitched, looking like she wanted to touch me. Her face strained, and her eyes grew hazy. Faraway.
I felt myself drifting, reality breaking through. Dull slashes of pain ran over my torso, dragging me away from her back to the dungeon.
No.
I did not want this dream to end. She said she needed me, but I needed her just as much.
“Stop. Stay with me.” I straddled her on all fours, stopping her struggle to touch me. “Just a little longer.” I leaned over, my lips finding hers.
Tasting her felt like I finally found my place. I wanted to be so deep inside her neither one of us could find our way out again.
Even if this was a dream, for one moment I wanted to pretend it was true.
“I’ve done some interesting things, but this might be hitting a new level,” I mumbled against her mouth.
“Why? You’re not even real. This is all in my head.”
No, it was in my head.
“Zoey, I will make you another promise. I am going to bury myself into you so deeply and fiercely we are both going to feel it in reality.”
I grabbed her ass, angling her to me. I sank into her, then plunged deeper, feeling like I had come home.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Voices came and went, speaking words I could not understand and had no energy to try. Time had no meaning. Pain was the only way I could decipher reality, with sleep taking me away when it became too much. The fever was back, blistering my skin with heat.
Each morning and evening Vadik’s servants came to feed me, clean my wounds, or bathe me. Two guards stood at the door. They fed me fae food, which helped ease my physical suffering and would help to heal me.
They stayed silent and left as soon as they were done. Keeping me alive and helping me heal was simply so he could torment me again.
Vadik was not forgiving.
Every moment was torture. The deep gashes across my stomach and back drove buckling pain through me. Exposed tissue and torn skin gaped like tiny, pink mouths with ragged teeth, open and screaming.
I measured time by the visits. Days if not weeks passed this way.
Eventually, they no longer chained me to the wall and allowed me to roam the small cell, if I got up. I barely did. The only thing in the cell was a bucket to piss in. Most of the time I slept curled on my side, to keep pressure off the deep wounds slashed across my back and stomach. The icy stone floor prevented my muscles from unlocking or relaxing.
The thud of the door snapped my lids open, then they slowly drooped again. Footsteps moved toward me.
“Roll him onto his back,” Vadik’s voice boomed through the cell.
Hands came down on me, pitching me over. I squeezed my lids tight, pain in my back throbbing and spiking every nerve.
“Are you done being stubborn?” Vadik’s voice came from above me. I wanted to spit at him, to tell him to fuck off, but my tongue and mouth wouldn’t cooperate.
“Look at me and answer,” he demanded with a growl.
His words caused a flash of fear to press down on my lungs, stirring a deep-rooted terror. It was a strange reaction. I took a deep breath, and the movement shoved my back against the floor. Pain brought my thoughts back to the horrendous aching I tried to ignore.
“Are you ready to locate your girlfriend?”
My lids lifted, blinking a few times. “Kiss my ass.”
Vadik stood over me, his hair slicked back, his navy eyes narrowed on mine. He wore one of his incredibly expensive suits. The pressed immaculate outfit and clean manicured nails fostered the idea he never got his hands dirty.
It was all a façade.
“Do not disrespect me.” The tips of his shoes dug into my ribs.
I ground my teeth together. “Why don’t you get her?” I said through a gritted mouth. “Go get her from your buddy Rapava yourself.”
A nerve in Vadik’s neck twitched.
“Most humans
are stupid. He is one of the rare ones who actually understands and fears our power. The domination we could regain, but he is quite good at keeping his location secret.” Vadik slipped his hands into his trousers, his feet still clipping my side. “Our deals bring me money and supplies him victims to use as experiments.”
“Your own people,” I snarled.
A creepy smile flashed on his face. “Not all. He needs humans as well.”
“What do you mean?”
He smirked but didn’t respond.
Whatever his secret, I was sure it was dangerous. I actually didn’t want to know. I had too much on my plate to worry about.
“Do you feel the oath nipping at you? Growing stronger every day?” Vadik leaned over me. “The longer you ignore it, the worse it gets. I could be patient and wait for the day you can no longer stand it, but I’m in a hurry.” He stood straight again. “Anyway, by then you will tear her apart in a state of bloodlust. I would like her alive until I decide which one of you to keep.”
Like a pet. That’s all we were to him. Pets, minions, and slaves.
Vadik took his hands from his pockets, his polished cufflinks glinting in the dim light. Something about them caught my eye. I directed my gaze at the symbols of two dragons, their necks linking around each other. A family crest. The dragons sat atop a shield with a crown and boat on it. I couldn’t make out the writing below the crown. The fine details of the crest were lost in the shadows. A flicker of familiarity crossed my mind. I had traveled to so many places, I could have easily seen the crest before. Maybe there was a reason Vadik hated me so much. Besides double-crossing him this time, I might have done it before, although he didn’t seem the kind to keep our past dealings a secret.
“I will take your silence as a no.” He clicked his tongue. At that, Cadoc and the blue-haired guy moved to his side. He nodded.
A whimper coiled around my throat, but I kept my mouth shut as the two men pulled me to my feet, latching the cuffs around my wrists.
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