“Maybe instead of branding you as mine, I'll just brand you as what you are. A fucking whore who tempts men into betraying their masters.” He moves closer until his lips press against my ear. “If you move or back off, I’ll make your boyfriendsufferwhile you watch.” The dark threat in his voice has icy terror shivering down my stiff spine.
With a flick of his wrist, the edge of the knife slices into my cheek.
I hiss as pain sears across my face and blood trickles down my face. Alex and Theo make noises of complaint, and even Rhys snarls out something, but I don’t pay any attention to them. My focus is elsewhere, to the still-open gap in the wall.
Tobias holds Harlow by the scruff of her neck as the dog snarls silently at the scene in front of her. There’s a look of horror on my brother’s face as he watches Luke cut my cheek with a savage grin. His eyes meet mine, and with the hand not holding Harlow, he makes a gun with his fingers and then points up.
My gaze follows where he pointed to see the sleek barrel of a rifle peeking between barbed wire above the wall. That must be Rachel, although how the hell she’s sticking to the wall, I don’t know. A second later, a thumbs-up pops up above the gun.
I hope that means she’s ready because time is almost up. Blood is filling my mouth, coating my tongue with the cloying tang of iron, and the pain is almost unbearable as it burns across my cheek.
With my current position, I can’t see any of the guys, but I can see Colin and Anthony. Colin stares at me with an expression similar to my brother’s, with a hint of confusion, as if he can’t understand why I’m letting this psycho do this to me. Anthony’s face is hard as he glares at Luke with blazing hatred.
I meet Colin’s eyes and widen mine slightly before flicking them to where Rachel is. His brow furrows for a second until he finds the barrel of Rachel’s gun. The confusion melts from his face, replaced with determination as he nods once.
Anthony, having dragged his glare from Luke, sees where Colin looked and follows, his eyes flaring slightly. He snaps his attention back to me and inclines his head before the two of them work on getting my guys’ attention.
With the two of them on board, the only thing left to do is get this party started.
I turn my focus back to Luke just as he pulls the knife from my face. “You bleed so prettily,” he says with a wistful sigh. He goes to lean forward, tongue out as if he intends tolick my blood.
Oh,fuck no.
I snap my hands out, grab his broken wrist, and jerk it as hard as I can. The scream of agony that erupts from his mouth is surprisingly satisfying as he tries to stumble away from me. I don’t let him, holding onto his arm for dear life as I shake and twist is as much as I can. More cries spill from his lips, his face so pale that he looks like he’s about to pass out as he swipes sloppily at me with the knife.
Around us, everyone else has sprung into action. People shout, gunshots crack and the meaty thuds of fists hitting flesh echo around me. I even hear Harlow’s barks and snarls. But I ignore it all as I let go of Luke’s arm to dodge the attack and then go for the hand holding the knife.
His grip is weak thanks to the agony from his ruined wrist, making it easy for me to take the blade. Doesn’t stop me from slicing my palm as I do, but I ignore the burst of pain as I grip the handle of the knife for dear life.
Luke’s eyes are hazy with pain, rage and madness as he lunges at me. “You fucking bitch. I’m going todestroy you!”
His body slams into me, sending the two of us sprawling across the ground. Somehow, despite my hand being slick with blood, I keep a hold of the knife even as my arm smashes against the floor, leaving me gasping in pain. Luke isn’t faring much better, having fallen onto his broken wrist, but he recovers before I do and is on me in a second.
I try to scramble away, but he grabs me and drags me back. The knife I’d held onto slips from my grip. I try to get it back, but it’s too late.
Luke flips me over, straddles my waist and wraps a large hand around my throat.
Messy but Effective
Theo
As soon as Ollieattacks Luke, the area erupts into chaos.
Tobias and Harlow come out of nowhere and leap towards the two guards holding Anthony while shots ring out from somewhere near the wall. A few of the guards are already dead, lying in widening pools of blood with bullet holes in their heads. The burst of gunshots are interspersed by the familiar caws and squawks from Ketchup as she joins the fray.
Mark shouts out a curse and goes for Rhys while Elsa stands frozen and stares wide-eyed and terrified at the fighting.
The two guards behind me and Alex are stunned, giving the two of us the chance to get the jump on them.
I grab the barrel of the shotgun before the guard can turn it on us, and seeing this, he strikes out with his foot. It lands on my thigh, causing me to grunt as my knees threaten to give way beneath me. Pain ripples outfrom the hit, adding to the throbbing waves of agony from my gunshot wounds.
Fuck.
While I’m not as injured as I acted, my thigh and ass still hurt like a bitch, and that hit only added to it. As soon as this is over, I’m drowning myself in painkillers and sleeping for a week with Ollie in my arms.
I grit my teeth and yank at the shotgun, trying to pull it from the guard’s grip, but he holds strong and kicks at me again. This time I’m ready for it and deflect it with a well-timed kick of my own, knocking him off-balance. Pressing my advantage, I kick out again, this time aiming for his unprotected groin. The guy groans as he folds in two, his grip loosening on his gun. I rip it from his fingers, turn it around and discharge it straight into his skull.
It’s loud, messy and disgusting as bits of brain, blood and bone splatter everywhere, but it’s effective.
