With all the shame that soiled my soul, I looked at Grim from beneath my lashes, gritting my jaw. “I…” I forced out. “I need…”
Grim’s chuckle snaked through my veins, leaving a trail of rot in its wake. “I do love it when you beg.”
“My rib,” I grunted, looking away from him. My breaths croaked shallowly, compounding the brutal agony as blood pooled in my lungs and excreted from my mouth and nose. I removed my arm and hand that blocked the rib from sight, then carefully pulled my shirt up to expose the bone. “I can’t heal ‘til…it’s…”
“Ah…” Grim’s satisfaction of having me at his mercy eroded the last of my self-respect. “Of course. But you know this will cost you, right?”
Forcing down the lump in my throat, my teeth ground against one another as I focused on the gouges in the cell wall. “Just push the motherfucker back in so I don’t choke on my godsdamn blood.”
“Lie down,” my stepfather said.
Not having much of a choice, I complied, groaning through the searing torment. I closed my eyes and replayed the kiss I sharedwith Gray on the rooftop, letting it whisk me away. My only happy place.
Frigid hands pressed on the skin surrounding my ribs.
If I can just get the protruding bone back inside my body, close enough to where my healing ability can heal it the rest of the way, I’ll be fine.
“You need me after all. Don’t ya, boy?” Grim’s whisper forced its way into my ear. The sourness twisted in my stomach, making me choke on the blood in my throat. “It’s always such a sight having you at my mercy like this.”
Slowly, he pushed the rib back in through the hole that it protruded from. I gurgled on a scream from the torturous agony, tears tracking down my temples. The bite of the glacial air chilled the wetness, aching my bones.
Grim chuckled. “There’s that scream I love to hear.” The dull-yet-piercing torture dragged out for an eternity. I wondered if he even pushed at all or just put heavy pressure on the bone. “Look at the powerful Chrome Freyr—the hybrid. The strongest being in our known history. Here…screaming at my mercy. Begging me for help.”
My heart thrashed a dangerous rhythm, threatening my consciousness. My head began to swim, and I grew lightheaded as my vision blackened.
“Oh, no you don’t, boy,” Grim said as he pushed the rib in another inch, eliciting more agonized, raspy screams.
I hardly recognized the voice ripping from my throat.
“I want you to remember this. Remember who owns you the next time you think you’re infallible. I want you to remember that you’re still mortal. Just a boy. A weapon,” Grim whispered in my ear as he pressed his body weight into the rib with controlled precision.
I couldn’t contain the trembles quaking my entire body. I was going into shock. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“I want to hear you say it.”
Once again, bile rose to my throat, but nothing came up. I couldn’t speak, the ability to breathe still being hampered by the pain.
He pushed a bit more. “All this will be over once you say the words.”
I knew what words he wanted. I didn’t care, though. I’d say anything to end this.
“You…” I wheezed. My breaths stopped with just one word, but I had to end this. “Own…me.”
“Go on.” Grim leaned into the rib more, and another torrent of knives cleaved through my body.
“My mind…” I gasped. “Body.” A guttural groan scraped free. “Soul.” My heart split in half. “All yours.”
“Very good.” He sagged into the rib with the rest of his body weight, pushing him flat against me, and I felt the bone pop back inside. Darkness devoured my scream, my body’s healing ability taking hold and mending the bone back into place, stitching my ribcage to its normal state.
Each breath grew easier, and I greedily gulped in air as my lungs purged the blood that filled them.
Grim lifted himself from my body but kept his hand on the spot where the rib had jutted from. “Never forget,” he demanded, “the price for my help.”
The brief reprieve dissolved as fast as water on a steaming surface. My rapidly beating heart sank, and any self-worth I clung to dissipated with the reprieve.
I am fucking disgusting. Weak.
A ringing echoed in my head. The familiar sound reminded me of my place in this world as my body healed from the wounds and my magic desperately searched to replenish.
