Page 79 of Nicolette

There was a momentary lull as they waited to make sure the vampire was gone. Amaretto struck first, but since she wasn’t all that strong, it didn’t do much but scratch my legs. The problem was it didn’t matter how weak she was. The bits of metal were silver. Whatever damage she did wouldn’t heal the same or at all with my shifter abilities. If my guys didn’t get here soon, I’d have to break my promise to Dice and Circus. No matter what, I would never become a human puppet.

“Look who’s the pathetic cast-off bitch now?” Amaretto taunted, landing another blow, this one directed at my face. “Where are your mates? Aren’t they supposed to be coming to your rescue?”

I kept silent. There was no reason to say anything to either of them. Nothing would change what was about to happen or what I’d done to them, so why waste my breath? She, however, took the chance to share with me all the things she hated about me and how she envisioned killing me. Blow after blow, Amaretto refused to shut the fuck up, and it was driving me crazy. Each hit hurt like a motherfucking bitch, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it would be once Zealot got in on the act. When the twat was finally tired, she took a step back and let Zealot take her place.

“Now you’re gonna pay, you fucking cunt.” He snarled, landing his first blow across my chest, ripping the T-shirt to shreds.

As I predicted, that was fucking agony. Stars bloomed in my vision as the pain shot through my body, making me cry out for the first time. A second blow landed across my legs but wrapped around them, so when he pulled back, it tore. There was no possible way for me not to scream, so I didn’t fight it and let every ounce of pain I was feeling into that sound. If there was a chance of my men being in the building and they could hear me, I wanted them to be able to follow my voice.

Zealot gave me a moment as he circled to my back and, in quick succession, landed two blows. This time I screamed until there was no air left in my lungs. My vision swam, and I started to sway, no longer able to keep myself in one place. Tears ran down my face, and there was nothing I could do to stop them.

There reached a point where your body reacted, not giving a fuck what you thought. Finally, my lioness had had enough, and I realized she’d been quiet up until this point. I got the fleeting feeling she didn’t want the vampire to know I was a lioness, so she hid. Now she was going to settle this matter because Zealot was still a feline, and we were alpha.

Letting my lioness do what was needed, magic pulsed out of me, wrapping around Zealot and digging deep to find his feline. A cougar snarled at me, but I grabbed its throat and yanked, forcing Zealot to shift, dropping the whip. The large cat slunk away from us, but I wasn’t done with him yet.

“What the fuck did you just do?” Amaretto screamed, shooting to her feet, whip in hand, ready to attack me.

“Zealot, kill her,” I bit out.

The cougar had no choice in the matter with the amount of power I was putting into the command. He charged at her knocking her to the ground, and in mere seconds ripped out her throat, cutting off her screams with a gurgle. I let out a sob of relief as I realized there might be the hope of getting out of there alive. Looking up at the chain holding me, I saw it was attached to one of the hooks we used for the punching bags. They had a control that would lower or lift them, which hung on the wall. Spotting it, I turned back to Zealot, who was watching me, blood dripping from his muzzle.

“The switch is over there. Lower me,” I ordered. He tried to resist, but my lioness wasn’t having it and bitch slapped him with her authority as alpha female. “Do it.”

So he did until I was kneeling on the ground. But the pain my body was in, now that my shoulders didn’t have to hold my weight, broke my concentration. Within seconds he was almost on me, but a little black blur darted between us, and Dice appeared, grabbing the cougar by the neck and flipping him away from me. I tried to keep up with what was happening, but Dice was shifting back and forth so fast as he fought I couldn’t keep up. Then there was Nine standing in the doorway looking like the fucking king he was in his lion form. Spotting me, he shifted and ran, dropping to his knees before me.

“Thank fuck we found you.” He gasped, cupping my face.

I sobbed, unable to hold back the relief seeing him gave me. “I knew you would,” I rasped the words.

He set to work getting me free, and once I was, I collapsed against him, unable to use my arms. Gathering me up as gingerly as he could, trying to soothe me as I whimpered, he stood.

“This is clearly not the right time or place to say this, but I need you to know I fucking love you, Nicolette. I thought I was going to lose my mind when Dice told us you’d been taken.” He nuzzled the side of my face that wasn’t as abused as the other. “I’m sorry we didn’t get here faster, but it’s time to go home now.”

All I could do was nod and hide my face in his neck, trying not to pass out from the pain.

“You done with him yet?” Nine asked.

“Yes, but I still think I killed him too quickly. Should have tied him up and come back later to kill him with the whip he used,” Dice muttered. “Had to let the fucker live.”

“Enough,” Nine snapped. “We have more important things to worry about. We’ve got her, so let’s go.”

“Wait,” I said, curling my hand in his shirt. “Mortas, find him. He’s the one who caused this. He can’t escape, or he’ll never stop coming for me.”

“My mate asks, and she shall receive,” Dice announced as he combed his fingers through my hair. “One dead vampire coming up, my soul.”

With that, he shifted and disappeared out the door with the yowl of a leopard, telling me Circus was on the hunt with him.

“Did you find the others?” I asked.

“Yes, they were in the main area of the Lucky Strike,” Nine answered. “Let me show you who else we found.”

We made our way through the gym and into the main warehouse part of the building, where the fights were held. I spotted the ring, which had been turned into a cage with Rambler standing near it, arms folded, glowering at a fuming leprechaun.

“Do you know who I am? Let me out of this fucking cage right now, or I’ll be sure to unleash my monsters on you,” LC threatened.

The monster’s inquisition where another ghoul and a chupacabra banging at the bars to get to the wee creature. Rambler spotted us and came charging over, reaching out to touch me, then paused as if unsure of where to touch.

“What have they done to you,” Rambler asked between clenched teeth, rage flickering in his eyes. “Tell me they’re dead. I need to know they’re dead.”