By now, the pounding in my head has been replaced by my thundering heartbeat as his hand slides up my right thigh, making the silk fabric of my nightgown bunch. Even though I know it won’t do any good, I can’t stop myself from whimpering against his palm, pleading for him to stop.
“Alpha hasn’t been playing with his new toy like he should.” His voice is low and haunting, lacing his words with a silent promise to leave me with invisible scars that will never go away no matter how much time passes.
Tears begin to stream down my face as I start to come to terms with my reality, allowing the paralyzing fear to take over.No matter what I do, his hold on me is too strong, and the more I fight, the quicker he seems to move.
The hand that had been slowly crawling up my thigh is almost to my underwear as he knocks my feet apart, forcing my legs to spread wider. It’s almost as if the walls themselves are closing in on me now, threatening to crush me the longer I’m trapped in this nightmare. But while my lower body seems to want to shut down, my mind refuses to give up. There’s only one move left for me to make, so I lean my head forward and slam it back with as much force as I can muster.
Troy immediately goes stumbling backward, but even though I’m almost positive I heard his nose crack against my skull, his hold on me never wavers.
“You put up a good fight for a human,” he rasps, nuzzling against the side of my face.
While pain continues to ricochet through my head, his fingers trail along the lace fabric of my underwear, before pulling away. For a split second, I actually allow myself to believe he’s changed his mind, but when I hear his zipper, a wave of panic crashes into me, drowning the last of my hope. His fingers slip beneath the waistband of the thin fabric that is the only barrier left between us, and it feels like they’re burning into my lower back, marking my skin with his sinister touch as a permanent reminder of him.
This is it. I know what comes next. It’s a hell that seems to exist no matter who runs the world, and as numbness spreads across my skin like I’ve been injected with an anesthetic, I close my eyes, bracing myself for the horrors that are to come. Within seconds, my thoughts drift off to somewhere far away, leaving behind the room and the animal holding me captive.
My consciousness is too busy drowning in the darkest corner of my mind that I don’t even register the thunderinggrowl tearing through the room until I’m pulled backward and slammed into the wall. I’m still trying to make sense of what is happening when I see Thane hurl the werewolf across the desk and pick him up off the floor with one hand wrapped around his throat. Thane’s violent rage seems to spill across the room as he drills the man into the opposite wall, leaving behind a giant imprint.
“How dare you come into my house and put your hands on a woman!”
“I-I’m sorry, Alpha. It won’t happen—”
The werewolf’s words are cut off when Thane throws him to the ground with a force so strong the man goes skidding across the dark carpet. When the wolf comes to a halt he tries to sit up, but Thane is on him in an instant, connecting his fists to the man’s face. Blood begins to coat both of them, and no part of Thane looks like he’s going to stop until Troy is dead.
“That’s enough! You’re going to kill him!”
Thane whirls his head to look at me, and I can tell just by the hardened look on his face, mercy is something he doesn’t often show.
“He doesn’t deserve to live,” Thane snarls, turning his attention back to the half-conscious man lying beneath him.
My lips part, but no more words come out. Thane is right. I should want him dead after what he did and what he was going to do. I wasn’t his first victim, and I certainly won’t be the last.
“Please,” the man begs in a whisper so quiet I almost didn’t hear it.
I watch from across the room as Thane lifts Troy’s upper body off the ground, bringing himself face-to-face with the man who was going to hurt me in ways that could never be undone.
“You’re a disgrace!” Thane spits with outright disgust.
His werewolf claws extend from his fingertips just before he plunges them into the werewolf leader’s chest, burying them so deep his entire hand disappears. An agonizing groan slips from Troy’s mouth, followed by a gush of blood.
Thane releases a ferocious snarl and pulls his hand from the werewolf’s chest as his lifeless body falls back to the ground. The sight of Thane holding Troy’s heart in the palm of his hand reminds me just how deadly he really is. The burning of my arm. The nights spent in the pen. The dog food. The fall from the roof. Those are just games to him. The pain he’s capable of inflicting is much worse than what I’ve experienced.
Thane darts over to me, dropping the bloody heart at my feet like he’s a dog with a bone. His piercing eyes scan my body and face, stopping on the cut across my forehead. I flinch when he lifts his hand and gently traces his thumb over the wound, clenching his jaw so tight I think his teeth might shatter. When he finally pulls his hand away, a darkness seems to wash over him and his eyes glaze over. He whips around, turning his back to me and his body begins to tremor with so much anger that I don’t even try to move away. Instead, I just look at him standing with both of his bloody fists balled at his sides, wondering if his claws are digging into his palms.
Before I can figure out what to do or say to calm him, the last of his restraint slips, and the wooden desk goes flying across the room, crashing into the wall already bearing a werewolf-sized hole. Shock shoots through my veins as I watch the beast before me unravel with violent rage, darting to the left wall and throwing his fist into it with so much strength, his entire arm disappears within it.
I remain unmoving while Thane pulls it out and begins pacing back and forth as his broad chest heaveswith every breath. I’ve seen anger before, but nothing quite like this. It’s almost like he’s going to combust at any moment. He stops in the middle of the room and tosses his head back, releasing a howl charged with so much rage that I’m sure anyone within two miles could hear it. Thane drags his hands through his thick black hair and down his face, exhaling a long breath as he walks over, stopping in front of me, leaving barely any space between us.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” His voice is deep and cutting.
I don’t answer but turn around to reveal the belt cutting into my wrists. In a breath, the leather falls away, and a rush of relief ripples through my wrists and shoulders. But the relief only lasts for a short moment before a shudder claims my entire body as Thane’s fingertips dance along my skin, making their way up my arm. They slip beneath the silk strap that has fallen, and I swallow down the growing panic, knowing that I’ve simply traded one monster for another.
His breath trails along my shoulder blade, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. By now, my heart is hammering to the point I can hear it pounding in my head. I want to pull away from him, but I can’t get my body to move. Instead, it feels like I’m caught in his snare. Nothing more than a fox at the mercy of a wolf.
His fingers linger beneath the strap, and I feel him close in on me as the shadow of him crawls up the wall. We stay like that for what feels like an eternity before he releases a deep sigh, pulling the strap back onto my shoulder. The heat of his touch seeps into me before fading away when he drops his hand.
“Thank you,” I whisper as I turn back around, keeping my gaze on my wrists as I massage them.
“Look at me,” Thane orders, tilting my chin up. I shut my eyes, trying to keep the tears from escaping. I don’t want himto see me like this. To see me weak and broken. To see me vulnerable. “Open your eyes, Fallon.”
