Rhys snaps his gaze to me, his amber eyes blazing with a mixture of protectiveness, frustration and dread. “Whatever happens once they come in, you need to not react,” he hisses as the lock clicks.
My eyes widen in confusion and horror. “Wha—”
He cuts me off. “Doesn’t matter what they say or do;do not react.” He turns just as the door swings open.
Three figures step through, all three towering above us as they stop in front of our outstretched legs. The middle figure I recognise immediately, still wearing that smug smirk as he peers down at us. The other two men are unfamiliar, but sporting similar expressions on their faces.
“So glad you see you’re both alive and awake,” Luke says in that annoying mocking voice. “How are you enjoying your accommodation?”
Rhys says nothing. He just glares up at the three men. I follow his lead, not in the mood to take whatever bait Luke is laying out in front of us and trusting that Rhys knows how to deal with men like him.
Luke heaves out a long-suffering sigh, sounding almost like a disappointed parent. “And here I thought at leastoneof you might be entertaining enough to be worthwhile. No matter. I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here…” He trails off and peers at us expectantly, almost like he’s waiting for one of us to react.
Neither of us do.
His lips tighten and something flickers in his dark eyes but it’s gone before I can put my finger on what it is. “Wow, you two are turning out to be massive disappointments.” He shakes his head. “The entire reason you’re here is because you were sold to me—well,Rhyswas sold to me, you’re just a freebie.” He flicks his gaze to me, silently assessing my reaction, but I just continue to glare at him.
He huffs. “Soboring. But anyway, you’re here because you have information that I want, and I plan to get that info by any means necessary. So I suggest you learn to be interesting really quickly because I’m not known for my patience. And don’t worry, I’m a feminist. You’ll be treated the same as your companion, freebie.” His smirk turns sinister, and it’s all I can do not to shudder as ice cold fear trickles down my spine.
There’s somethingoffabout this man. Something that has alarm bells blaring in the back of my head and the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. It reminds me a little of the cruelty Ethan possessed beneath his thin nice-guy veneer, only far darker and more dangerous. There’s a monster lurking inside him, one far worse than any zombie or gang member we’ve come across before.
As quick as a snake, his foot lashes out, slamming into Rhys’s vulnerable midsection. Rhys coughs and groans as he curls in on himself while I barely bite back a shocked gasp.
His earlier words ring in my ear;whatever happens once they come in, you need to not react. Did he know this was going to happen? Is heexpecting worse shit to happen? My stomach roils with nausea at the thought.
Luke’s grin turns manic as he stares gleefully at Rhys while he struggles to breathe and straighten. “Maybe this’ll be more fun than I thought.” He flicks his gaze to the two men standing on either side of him. “Strip them.”
The men on either side of him chuckle lewdly and whip out knives, eager to do his bidding.
Every muscle in my body tenses and horror washes over me at his words. Rhys’s eyes meet mine, my terror mirrored in his gaze, but he gives a slight shake of his head.Don’t react, he tells me without words, but how can I not when a man coming at me with a knife, intending to strip me bare?
Bile burns my throat and I blink back tears as the gang member crouches in front of me and starts slicing away at my clothes. My shirt is the first thing that goes, followed quickly by my bra, and I shudder in revulsion as the blade of the knife brushes against my nipples. The lecherous grin on the man’s face only adds to my disgust and humiliation as my jeans and underwear are sliced from my body, leaving me naked.
I shiver, both from the icy air and the horrifying vulnerability of being stripped naked in front of several men without my consent. They leer at me, making me feel dirty and used in a way I’ve never experienced before. Not even when men I’ve fucked have turned around and told me I’d never be anything but a good lay. That my hands are tied behind my back and I can’t use them to cover myself only makes it worse.
Luke stands back and hums in satisfaction as he surveys us both. “You’re definitely easier on the eyes, freebie,” he taunts. “Much better than this scarred fucker.” He kicks Rhys’s foot with a laugh. “Although from what Ethan told me, you’re not entirely pristine either, are you?”
In a blink, he has his hand wrapped around my ankle and yanks savagely. My bare back and hands slide painfully against the pitted concrete and my head bounces off the floor, causing my vision to darken for amoment as agony bursts from the back of my head. I think I hear Rhys growl, but it’s too faint over the mocking laughs from our captors and my pained gasp.
“Seems like both of you are scarred. How sad,” Luke says, but it’s hard to concentrate on his voice when my head is pounding. “Take him. Leave the girl.”
Take him? No! Not Rhys!
I try to move, but my body refuses to cooperate, so I just flop on the ground uselessly, the pounding in my head getting worse. I blink and Luke’s manically grinning face fills my darkening vision.
“I’ll be back for you later,” he says with a sinister chuckle that would make any supervillain proud before disappearing from view.
A few moments later, the door slams shut and the lock clicks, leaving me alone, naked and in pain. Misery, panic and horror press down on me, clogging my throat as I struggle to breathe beneath the weight. But none of it is directed at me. No, I’mterrifiedfor Rhysand hating the fact that there’s nothing I can do to save him.
All I can do is lie here and pray he comes back to me as I slip into unconsciousness.
Beatings and Betrayals
Alex
Panic and dread havebecome my constant companions for the past day, threatening to overwhelm me. The only reason I’m not completely lost to them is because of the rage burning inside me. Rage I’m taking out on one of the bastards who attacked our community.
“Where the fuck did they take them?” I snarl in the face of the bloodied and beaten Scourge gang member as I grip his throat.
