It’s her.
I lunge towards the computer with shaking fists. My sister puts a hand on my chest.
“Easy,” she warns.
Jabir navigates to his second monitor, opening his browser which contains the link sent in the message. It’s a livestream. Though the webcam is slightly out of focus, there’s no questioning who is in the center of the frame, strapped to a chair, mangled and bruised.
I fall to my knees at the sight of my mate. Hair hangs over her face, drawing attention to her shorn pink lingerie and the handkerchief around her neck. A steady stream of blood spills down her arm, even spilling from the soaked tourniquets around her thighs. The sound of the video is muted, but I can tell she's hyperventilating.
A vicious growl erupts out of Demi's throat. "When we get our hands on these pricks, I’m gonna skin them alive and feed it back to them."
Two men appear behind the chair, faces cleverly cut out of the frame. One of them manhandles Vessa by the nape, forcing her to stare down the camera. Her face is splotchy, save for the massive black eye that's had a few days to take shape. A hand removes the cloth stuffed in her mouth. Vessa immediately jerks away from it, and like a pinch collar, the scarf pulls tight around her windpipe.
Horrified, Nell begins to cry.
Jabir slides his chair over to the first monitor, typing a complex chain of codes into the keyboard. "I'm trying to track the IP address, Axe. I'm sorry, there’s a few barriers I need to break through.”
The audio kicks in abruptly.
“Skornokovy,” the male offscreen begins. "I hope that we have your undivided attention. But just in case we don't . . ." He brushes Vessa's tangled hair aside, revealing her bruised breasts and the flaming red mark not on her neck, but her shoulder, where blood still oozes. Blood, from a second lycan’s bite.
My entire body goes slack. For a second, it feels as if I am dreaming. As if my sleep paralysis is on the verge of locking me down.No! My wolf roars loud enough that my ears are ringing, tinting my vision red.
The frame cuts just below the neck of a second male as he reaches down to stroke her cheek. She whips her head away, eliciting a deep laugh from him.
"Just wanted to give you an update on your feisty little Luna. I wish we could say that she's being a good girl, but I don't think she's ever been good one day in her life. Must be one of the things you like so much about her. Other than that five-star pussy."
"Anything?" I ask Jabir desperately, chest heaving. I’m about to lose it. My wolf is clawing me so hard he may end up shredding my sternum.
He shakes his head, still typing furiously.
"Fuck you, you spineless piece of shit," Vessa croaks.
The other wolf who is restraining her snorts. "Spineless? Don't think we've heard that one before."
Vessa’s eyes blaze with promise. "When Axe comes, it'll be the very last thing you hear. Right before he demonstrates."
I don’t have to reach for the connection between us to know she’s exhausted, trying to buy herself time that I know she doesn’t have.
“Why don’t we show him who the real Alpha is?”
The leader motions to the male who holds Vessa in place with the scarf. He clamps a hand over her mouth and his partner sidesteps the chair, unzipping his jeans. Pointing his shaft upwards, he proceeds to urinate on the inflamed bitemark that burns on Vessa's neck. My mark. Her screams are muffled, but they are felt though our screen, nonetheless.
My fist connects with the wall then, shattering my fingers.
Nell whimpers. “Lehrohina, please.”
"I needed that IP yesterday, Jabir," Demi barks.
"I’m trying. Almost through the firewall," he answers.
Moments away from my wolf taking hold, my sister latches onto my shoulder, plastering me against the back wall. “Breathe, Axe. Let him do his job.”
Everyone freezes at an urgent commotion. A woman’s voice shouts over the video footage. "Shut the video down. Do it now!"
That voice. I know it.
The only thing the camera captures before everything goes dark is a head of short, white-blonde hair. A tattoo of winding flames that stretches from ear to neck. It's enough to make my sister go completely still.
