MALAKAI
It doesn’t take longbefore the sound of a scuffle coming closer meets our ears. The feminine grunts and growls and gasps have me clutching at my hips, fingers digging into my skin, while my bowed head steadily thuds. I have a fucking concussion and should probably be resting, but when Finneas says jump, we don’t even bother asking how high, we just do or face the consequences.
I don’t want to know what more Finneas has in mind where Delilah is concerned, but it won’t be long before he doles out that misery. My stomach turns as a horrible vision of him shoving his old wrinkly cock between her legs swims before my eyes. He’s only been back a handful of hours, but he’s well on his way to making her regret whatever transpired between them.
I feel for her, but no matter what, I can’t let on that I’d rather not take part in this. Clenching my teeth, I watch out of the corner of my eye as Hayzecomes into the room with the flailing girl. He’s got her caught tightly to his chest, her arms trapped by his, which are banded around her middle. She squirms as she looks around the room, then wildly shakes her head. A heartbreaking, stuttered “N-nooo,” falls from her lips, and those sky-blue eyes of hers pin on me before slamming shut.
I force all the air from my lungs. She definitely remembers that this is the room where her correction—and Arrow’s—took place. My skin goes clammy as overwhelming thoughts flash through me. The things that’d transpired that day haven’t left my tortured thoughts since. I was forced to rape her while everyone looked on. They can call it a correction if they want, but I will never forgive myself for doing it. But if it hadn’t been me… it could have been worse. I can hardly swallow past the hard knot that’s developed in my throat at the rush of sick memories. And now, who knows what hell is coming her way.
Tracking Hayze and Delilah’s movement toward the front of the room, the deep grooves that line his face and the intense ire on hers tell the story of how the last few minutes have gone. She’s clearly more than a little pissed off at him. And his eyes—they’re haunted. For all the times I’ve been jealous of his place in this compound and with the Collective, I sure don’t envy him this. Not one bit.
Watching her struggle, sweat forms on my back, sticking my shirt to my skin. Sickness roils in my gut. “Bring her to me.” Finneas’s rough command isenough to startle me from the echoes of past horrors I’d been busy reliving. With an inward grimace, I try to focus on anything but what’s happening before me. I don’t want to be a participant in Delilah’s suffering.
My head swims, as if my brain has liquified, and I close my eyes, fighting the urge to either brace my hands on the floor in front of me or yank myself free of the jacket. Instead of the comfort it usually provides, it’s suffocating the life out of me.
Hayze stops in front of his father, his back to us. Each breath he takes is audibly ragged. He puts his lips near her ear and mumbles, “I told you, stop fighting this, bitch. Time to complete your correction.”
My teeth clench, and I tilt my head to the side, wondering what his father makes of the way Hayze has changed since he’s been gone. The funny part is he’s stepped up where his duties are concerned, but I know for a fact that his thoughts about his future with the Collective have done a one-eighty. He doesn’t want to be part of this any more than I do. We’re both simply existing here, just getting by until we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. I never dreamed I’d ever have anything in common with Hayze at all. Yet …
My teeth sink into my lip as I continue to watch the unlucky bastard who is slated to someday lead this group of hedonistic men. He’s on the receiving end of one hell of a glare from Delilah as she angles her head before gritting out, “Put me down.”
“Twenty-Three!” The boom of Finneas’s voice thunders, practically shaking the walls, as his browarches. He pauses, waiting. “If you speak out of turn again, you’ll lose that pretty pink tongue.”
With a swallow, she freezes in place, and Hayze sets Delilah on her feet, then shifts to hold her upper arms.
My stomach turns as Finneas leers. “Ah. I see you’ve met Eight, then.”
The shallow quickness of her breath is an obvious clue as to how badly he’s rattled her with that comment. If I weren’t so used to it, the smile that curves Finneas’s lips would traumatize me, too. Delilah shudders, and he nods, stepping closer to her. “You will be corrected again now before the Collective and its sons for your disrespect of our ways.”
My brows crash together, but only for an instant.Whatexactlyis he referring to?The fact that she junk punched him?No one asks questions, and he doesn’t explain because why would he? He’s in charge.
Nolan, Henry, and my father all nod in approval as Finneas reaches out, cupping Delilah’s jaw in his big hand. He rubs his thumb over the swell of her lower lip, his eyes carefully tracking the movement. His mouth twitches with silent laughter when she visibly shudders. “You were given a book to study after your arrival, so I know you have an understanding of our ways. Tell me, Twenty-Three, what is the appropriate thing to do when brought before one of the Collective?” He slides the tip of his tongue over his front teeth as he awaits her response. His thumb continues to move lazily back and forth over her plush lip, making her tremble. “Come now. You did it perfectlylast night. Isn’t that right?” He lifts his dark brows. “That recitation is the only time I should hear your voice.”
She nods, then sucks in a strangled breath as her body quakes. Lips quivering, she utters the words he’s demanding from her. Dropping to her knees at his feet, she murmurs, “I follow. I honor. I nourish. I kneel.”
Finneas nods, glancing at the other members of the Collective. “Do I understand correctly that she led Arrow astray?”
My father chuckles, stretching the jagged edges of the still-healing grooves on his cheek. “Yes, that’s right. He was unable to deny himself the temptation of her body.”
“And yet”—Finneas grimaces—“after a correction, shestillthought it wise to attack me during the Hunting.”
The apprehensive way Henry eyes her makes me want to laugh internally. The day she dug her fingernails into my father’s face, she’d scared the shit outta Arrow’s father, too. “Agreed,” he barks. “She must be taught to behave properly. Right now, she’s nothing more than a little harpy sharpening her claws on us. I don’t wish for my son to go through another correction because of her.” Slapping his hand on his thigh, he nods. “He learned his lesson. Now, we must nip her insolence in the bud.”
I lift a hand to my head, grunting softly at the throbbing that has only intensified as this discussion has gone on. A second later, I regret my actions as a switchflips in my father, and he jabs a finger in my direction. “For all we know she’s the one who tried to cave my son’s skull in!” His breath heaves wildly as he focuses on Finneas. “If you believe you can handle her better than we have, I welcome you to have a go at her, Finn. Perhaps she could benefit from your stern hand.”
Jesus fuck. I squeeze my eyes shut. Finneas is known for his impatience, and he’s even more aggressive than my father is at times.
“Was it her, Malakai?” The boldly stated question bursts from Finneas, and my eyes flash open to find him studying me.
Exhaling, I press my lips together and slowly shake my head to give myself a moment to think, but the movement only makes pain radiate right down my spine. I blink, unsure how to answer.Do I deny it was her?I never saw the person who did it, and that’s what I told them last night. To be able to emphatically say no it wasn’t, I’d have to point the finger at someone else. “No. I don’t think so. I mean—” My eyes dart to my father as the pulsing sensation that’s making me want to clutch at my head continues. Scrambling for a suitable answer, I shrug. “I just don’t know. Is she even strong enough to be able—” As I jerk to a stop, the disappointment that floods his features has my heart sinking like a rock into my gut.
But then, Delilah hazards a quick look over her shoulder, and her cornflower-blue eyes lock with mine, that stubborn jaw of hers held so tightly that her lips tremble. Everything she’s going through, everythingshe’s feeling, it crashes into me like a wave. Right then and there, I know I can’t let them believe that it could possibly be her. Lifting a hand to my head, I grimace. “It hurts too fuckin’ bad. There’s no way anywomancould have hit me that hard.”
Finneas squints in thought, twisting his lips. I don’t breathe until he speaks again. “Very well. But Twenty-Three still must be dealt with.” He rakes a hand through his hair. “Hayze. I’d like to see you administer this part of the correction since you did your first without me being present.”
At my side, Hayze coughs roughly. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do, Father.”
Lip curling, his father leans forward to pat Delilah’s cheek. “She’ll suck your cock, of course. If she didn’t participate in the Hunting as she was commanded to do, then she must not care enough about who we are as a society. Therefore it doesn’t matter in what manner we waste our seed. She’ll take it down her throat.” He tips his head to the side, aiming a mocking stare at her. “Perhaps next time, she’ll change her mind and do her part.”
