Renegades: Badlands Next Generation

by Natalie Bennett

  I took the chain from him and began to wrap it around Kevin’s body, flipping him when necessary.

  “You said you wouldn’t kill me.”

  “I’m not killing you. I’m simply helping you to an untimely death.”

  I tested to make sure the bindings were secure, then hoisted Kevin up, hitching the round metal hoop over the end of the bloodied meat hook.

  The chain cinched, metal digging into the raw, open wounds on Kevin’s back. I withdrew my buck blade and made quick work of him. Keeping my word not to kill his ass, I made a few deep cuts that ensured he would bleed out eventually.

  I wanted it to happen slowly. His adrenaline and noradrenaline levels had to rise, and his heart would start to work overtime in a failed effort to save him. It was one thing to kill and end it quickly, another entirely to make someone feel their life slipping away.

  That was my favorite part of death: watching it arrive and seeing it leave. I reached out and felt his pulse. It was throbbing already. Due to his other injuries, he could die sooner than I wanted.

  Wouldn’t be the end of the world. There was bound to be another man in his place sooner rather than later.

  “You did all of this for nothing. To try and get back someone who doesn’t belong to you.”

  “She’s A.R.C,” he coughed, choking on his own saliva.

  “Then why is her blood on a Savage’s dick?”

  He sucked in a sharp breath. Leaving him to moan and whine, I walked over to the bulletin board. It was ironic he tried to claim her, considering they were legitimately trying to give her away.

  I looked at everything we’d compiled since yesterday. Cam joined Ice and me, whistling low once he did the same. “And I thought our family dynamic was jacked-up.”

  “Compared to most of the Badlands, the Savages are the Brady Bunch.”

  Ice’s eyes flashed to the upper corner, and his jaw tensed. “Then there’s him.”

  “Are we really surprised?” Cam asked. “Samael was the hybrid result for a next generation. I think everyone overlooked that. I doubt he was as sick as that doctor said. You know he disappeared too? I think this was something the kid had been planning for a while.”

  Our mutual agreeance came loud and clear.

  “So, you and the renegade?”

  I shifted my attention to Ice. “What about us?”

  “Is it solid? She’s it?”

  “Would I have told you guys that if she wasn’t?”

  “What about the initiation?”

  “That isn’t happening until we deal with what’s in front of us.”

  “She has to do something to prove herself. You know we don’t just let anyone in,” Cam finished. “Not even our moms had it that easy.”

  “You think she’s capable of being queen?”

  “She’s my choice, so it doesn’t matter, but you know she is.” I wasn’t sure why he would even ask. He knew half of the things that I did. We’d investigated together.

  Astraea was nowhere near as harmless as she came off.

  She and her brother were brought up to kill whenever it was necessary and not give a fuck about the repercussions that could come later.

  A.R.C murdering her father had been their first mistake. You didn’t take in a wild animal and then off the only person who could handle it. All those scars on Star’s back? That was the proof that they couldn’t fucking handle it. I would make them pay for each fuckin one.

  “She’s got it in her,” Cam added, gesturing to our board.

  I read from left to right, laughing to myself. Our lives were twisted and complicated as shit, but I wouldn’t change a damn thing about em. Everything always panned out in the end. The paths each of us took were always dark and fucked-up, but they led us to exactly where we were meant to be.

  I didn’t believe in fate or soulmates, but I knew Star’s world was meant to collide with mine.

  “How long you think it’ll take the A.R.C to respond to that message you sent?” Cam asked.

  “A day or two tops.”

  “If you wanted an immediate response, you should have sent one about that precious V card.”

  “Precious?”

  He started to laugh, causing Cam to shake his head

  “All joking aside, are you two cool with this?”

  “I was on board before you were,” Ice pointed out.

  Cam made a sound between a scoff and a grunt. “Bro, what kind of friends would we be if we weren’t? If you’re happy, we’re ecstatic.”

  Despite the way he looked at her, I believed he meant that.

  If I had any inclination that Star felt the same pull to him as she did towards me, I’d have avoided the girl like the plague.

  I couldn’t do love triangles. I didn’t have the time, patience, or pussy-whipped mentality it would take to stay in the running and not kill any other man who dared touch what I saw as mine.

  I didn’t know what the fuck was wrong with people who got caught up in some push and pull bullshit either. If you knew what you wanted, you found a way to get it.

  I wanted Astraea. I got her.

  Now, I was going to do what was necessary to keep her.

  I was going to plant myself inside her pretty little head so thoroughly, she’d never be rid of me.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I knew he was there.

  We were beneath his comforter, but I was the only one naked. I could feel the fabric of his briefs or something pressing against me. I was probably the only one sore, too. A good kind of sore. For once.

  I glanced back and up at his face. He was propped on one arm, staring down at me in the same way he had when I was locked in his storage room.

  What did someone say after they’d done the things we did? All I had to go off was gossip, and I refused to use what A.R.C had taught me about being a good woman.

  A smirk settled on the right side of Luce’s mouth, making him look even better than he needed to first thing in the morning.

  “What?”

  “You’re over-thinking.” He lifted a strand of my hair and rubbed it between two fingers. “You aren’t going anywhere. We made a deal. You’re mine.”

  “But—”

  “You offered something, and I took it. We fucked. We’ll be doing that a lot.”

  I rolled onto my back so that I was looking straight up at him. “Is that all you want me for?”

  His eyes narrowed subtly. The bed dipped as he shifted and then stood up.

  He reached back for me, and I gave him my hand. Out from beneath the comforter, I finally saw the bruises on my body. A smile simmered as I studied them, following Luce into the bathroom.

  He let go of me to start the shower and dropped his briefs, recapturing my hand when the temperature of the water had elevated. This shower not only had a spicket on the ceiling, but there were smaller ones on the walls. I held my hand up to one, watching the stream spray through my fingers.

  Luce had his back to mine. He hadn’t said a word since we’d come in here. Replaying all he’d said to me the night before, I began to see how my question could be taken the wrong way. It was partially insensitive.

  I let him wash up in peace, giving him the space to think while I did the same.

  I pulled my hair over one shoulder and gingerly started to wash my back. The pain had lessened dramatically, but after being pressed into Luce’s mattress the previous night, some of the marks were tender. It was so worth it.

  If that’s what good dick was, now I knew why the girls liked it. Though I couldn’t think of a single guerilla or Exarch worth risking my life for.

  The mere thought of any one of them putting their hands on me more than they already had made my stomach churn. Men who preached righteousness had been shown up by a man they swore was the devil. My devil, now.

  Luce’s hand wrapped around my wrist, bringing me back to the present.

  “Let me.” It wasn’t a question.

  He tugged my purple body sponge from my
hand and gently began to wash my back.

  His breath fanned onto my neck, tickling and causing all the tiny hairs to rise. I had never been ashamed of nudity or my body, but I hadn’t ever had the chance to be this free with who saw it, either.

  I was comfortable with Luce. I didn’t have to hide behind a demure demeanor or risk him tying me to a cross when he got upset. He hadn’t shied away from my flaws or belittled me for them like others had done. None of the Savages had, but it meant more to me that he hadn’t.

  His thumb brushed over the barcode on my hip. “This has to go.”

  I glanced down at it. “You’re not cutting it off me.”

  “I’ve got a small amount of decency,” he refuted. “I have the perfect replacement in mind.”

  “Feel free to share. I don’t like it either.”

  He brought his fingers to my back, tracing the outline of my scars, careful with the way he touched the most recent lashes. “Do they hurt?”

  “Only for the first few days. Some have been deeper than others. It depends on who’s holding the whip and what I did.”

  He paused for a second and expelled a deep breath.

  “No one’s ever going to touch you again.”

  I turned to face him, replacing his touch with the spray of water.

  “How can you say something like that and know for sure?”

  “I’m not just saying that, dove. I’ll kill any motherfucker who lays a hand on you.”

  He snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me flush against his hardened frame.

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me for doing what I promised I would.”

  I gave him a small smile, bringing my hands up to cup his face. He was so ridiculously gorgeous, all the way down to his dark and dirty soul. I wished I could have frozen time so we could stay just like this. I had to choose reality over fantasy, though.

  Whatever this was between us, it was as intense as it was fragile.

  If he truly meant what he’d said the previous night, we had a very long road ahead. We had to learn who the other was and how to co-exist. Things wouldn’t be easy or blissful between us, but being right here in his arms? It felt right.

  There was a frequency between our souls that couldn’t be explained. I wanted to see this through. I had to.

  “What I said a while ago… I didn’t mean it how it came across.”

  He ran a hand up my back, then down. “Explain that.”

  “I don’t care if that—”

  “You should care.” He tried to pull away from me. I wasn’t having that. I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep him still. Or, I tried to. Holding Luce in place was like trying to hold onto a tank.

  He unwound my arms and leaned back slightly, keeping hold of my wrists. “What the fuck was that?”

  “You didn’t let me finish! Stop being such a moody asshole.”

  I barely blinked before he had me pushed against the slick, tiled wall.

  He tilted his head to the side and stared down at my face. “What did you just call me?”

  “A moody asshole.”

  He started to laugh, which in turn had me glaring up at him.

  “No one talks to me like that.”

  “I’m not no one, I’m—”

  “Mine,” he cut me off and his lips claimed my mouth as if he needed to solidify his possession.

  I didn’t dare push him away. My body screamed its soreness as I granted him access, matching the fervor of his kiss.

  Calloused fingers delved between my legs, strumming and teasing me until I was breathing heavily and hardly able to concentrate on kissing him back.

  He grabbed my hand and placed it on his cock. It was hard, pulsing against my palm.

  I gently traced around the two metal bars situated just beneath the head. I wrapped my fingers around him as best as I could, applying pressure as I glided them down his entire length then back up.

  The slight change in his breathing had me doing it again, repeating the motion until he was capturing my wrist and forcing me to stop.

  He spread my thighs and grabbed one of my legs, hooking it over his hip. I looked down to watch him, biting my lower lip when he started to ease himself in before slowly withdrawing.

  The pain and discomfort from the day before mingled with soreness, but I didn’t want this to stop.

  He continued to tease me, running his tip up and down my slit.

  “You like watching?” he asked, pressing in and withdrawing again.

  “I like seeing you inside me,” I breathed. “Feeling you.”

  He groaned. “Don’t say things like that, baby. This will be over a lot sooner than either of us want it to be.” His grip on my thigh tightened, and one hand came to rest on the base of my throat.

  He pushed inside me, seating himself fully. I dug my fingers into his slickened shoulders, trying to get used to this new position. My pussy gripped his thick length like a vise, and I spread my legs further.

  This time, he didn’t give me a chance to adjust, making me feel him—thoroughly. Our height difference and this position made everything that much more intense. I didn’t recognize the sounds coming from my mouth as he hammered into me.

  “Your pussy feels so fucking good,” he ground out. “Touch yourself, baby. Show me how filthy you can be.”

  His words prickled at something inside me. Eagerly responding to his directive, I slipped a hand down my navel, traveling to my sensitive clit.

  I’d done this before, but not ever in this fashion. His hand tightened around my throat, and the feeling sent a rush of arousal straight between my legs, coating his cock. The same sensation I’d felt the night before began to build within me.

  “You like that?”

  “Don’t stop,” I nearly pleaded.

  “Tell me what you want.”

  Was that rhetorical? I could hardly breathe let alone speak coherently.

  “You,” fell from my lips, and with a sound that was more feral than human, he pulled out and turned me around.

  My breasts pressed against the cool tiles, a scream flying from my throat as he drove himself back inside me.

  He knotted a hand in my hair and pulled my head back, hooking my thigh over his forearm to give him a better angle. I whimpered from a heady mixture of pain and pleasure, clenching around his cock when he nipped my shoulder.

  His name spilled from my lungs and echoed around the room before I came on a soundless scream, squeezing my eyes shut, overwhelmed from the rush of pleasure.

  “Fuck,” he cursed and pulled out, coming on my lower back.

  I pressed my cheek to the tiled wall, relaxing into the flow of normal breathing again. Luce gently lowered my leg and pressed his chest against my back.

  I sagged into the embrace, moving my head to rest on his solid frame.

  “I wouldn’t go this far simply to get a girl to fuck. I don’t like repeating myself. Just remember everything I told you and know I meant it.” His lips skimmed down the side of my neck, making me laugh from the tickling sensation.

  I did remember. Clearly. One thing that stood out the most was him promising he’d take everything from me.

  Neither of us said anything for a few minutes, not even when we parted to clean ourselves off and get out.

  “You’re going to have to get on a contraceptive,” he said from beside me, toothbrush wedged in his mouth.

  I slowed combing out my hair. “Those are real?”

  The look he gave me was gone before I could decipher it. “Yes, dove. They’re real. And I’m not ready to have mini versions of myself running around anytime soon.”

  I was in full agreement with that. The image of one day floated to my mind, proving I was partially insane.

  “Why do you call me that?” I changed the subject.

  “Can’t say.”

  “And why not?”

  He rinsed his toothbrush, half grinning at me in the mirror. I rolled my eyes and got back to combing out
my hair.

  “Did you just roll your eyes at me?”

  “Can’t say.” I shrugged.

  He laughed lowly and moved to stand in front of me, covered by only a towel.

  He slipped his arms around my waist, placing his palms on the curve of my lower back. Luce was more hands-on than I ever thought he would be, but I didn’t mind it at all. Not even a little.

  “You’ve got an extreme affliction of disinhibition.”

  I didn’t know what that meant. “Is that… bad?”

  “In any other circumstance, yes. When it comes to you being with me, no. I fucking love it. You don’t fear me, and because of that, you’re nothing other than you.”

  I brought my fingertips to his perfect jawline and lightly traced over it.

  “What’s going to happen now, Luce? If they come for me—”

  “You’re doing it again,” he interrupted. “Stop second-guessing me and listen. You don’t have to worry, dove. No one is going to take you away, least of all those dumb fucks.”

  “Don’t underestimate them.”

  “You’re underestimating the lengths I’ll go to keep my word.”

  “All the more reason to be careful. I don’t want you or anyone else getting hurt.”

  “Aw, little Star. I’m touched.”

  I squeezed his cheeks together as if he were a child. “I said you or anyone else. You need to be serious.”

  He grinned and pulled my hands down, keeping them clasped within his.

  “Do you think the Savages lasted as long as they have by not being serious about fucking shit up?”

  Okay, he had a point.

  “See,” he intoned smugly.

  “On to more pressing matters, I have a shit load to do today, and I can’t have you with me yet. I’ll send Bella with your tasks.”

  “My tasks?”

  “Yup. We usually like to toss people into our world headfirst and see if they’ll sink or swim, but you’ve got a starring role, so out of the kindness of my dark heart, she’ll give you some pointers.”

  I peered up at him, brows knitting. “I’m not following this conversation.”

  “Good.” He brushed a kiss over my lips then stepped back and maneuvered around me, exiting the bathroom.