Instead, I thought of Grandmother. If our places were reversed, if someone were whipping her, she’d stand firm. Resolute. She’d always told me the mind was stronger than the body. If she were in my place, she’d use her mind to find a way to endure.
I lifted my chin, fixed my gaze on the wall of weapons, and focused all my attention on a dagger with a carved hilt. Flowers. The hilt was carved with flowers. Roses. In my mind, I slipped the dagger’s blade between Drake’s ribs and twisted the pretty hilt.
I flinched at the impact of a particularly vicious lash and sealed my lips. I would not beg. I would not scream. Drake might flay the skin from my bones, but what was inside me remained whole, untouched by his cruelty.
Fresh agony bloomed across my back, but I focused on the dagger. How would it feel in my hand? How would it feel to gut Drake? If I broke free, claimed the dagger, and killed the man holding the whip, what then? I imagined myself looking down at his sightless corpse. I even felt the urge to spit on his lifelessface. And when he was dead? I couldn’t go home. Not when I might bring the guards’ vengeance to Grandmother’s door.
I’d made my choice and given up the warmth and safety of home so the girls could remain protected. I’d made my choice. I just never dreamed it would lead to this.
The pain was too much to bear, so I disappeared deep inside my head.
Chapter
Eight
GRAYSON
“We’ve got to get in there.” Teal raked his fingers through his already mussed hair. “He’ll kill her.”
“What do you propose?” I snapped. The four of us stood in the hallway outside the locked gymnasium.
“We break the locks.” Teal’s voice rose, his anger clear.
I gaped at him. “Teal, she’s a shield.”
His cheeks darkened in anger. “We let him kill her?”
“There’s a bigger picture.”
“That’s what people say when they do something indefensible. It’s for the greater good. There’s a bigger picture. Here’s a picture for you—we dragged that woman from her home, and now, thanks to our inaction, she’s being tortured.”
Thinking like that would get us killed. “You need to calm down.”
“What if it were Elise?” Teal demanded. He knew I was fond of his little sister. “What if Drake had demanded that she fall to her knees and suck his cock? What if she protected herself? What then?”
“We would protect her.”
“We didn’t protect Haven.”
My stomach twisted like a washcloth wrung too tight. “It’s different, and it’s too late now.”
“We failed her once. Now we fail her a second time?”
“The door is locked!” I snapped.
“So we unlock it!” He wasn’t backing down.
Leading other alphas came with challenges. I’d never anticipated this one. Teal had lost his fucking mind. Years of service, and he was ready to throw it away for a woman. This was precisely why we didn’t get attached to shields.
My hands fisted, and I had to force myself to relax. “Calm. Down.”
“Move.” Flynn pushed past me and rested his hand against the iron lock. Flames leaped from his hand, and the lock melted.
“What the hell, Flynn?” Pierce, who stood next to the door, rubbed the singed hair on his arms. “Why are you helping him?”
Flynn didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. When push came to shove, Flynn and Teal had each other’s backs. Always.
Teal shook his head, took a step back, and gave the door a solid kick.
