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They were the ones he needed to check.
She’d been clean. No device.
He got to the town and the first man he came to spat in his face.
His pack tensed up.
He checked the man all over, his men having to hold him out to keep him steady. He found what he was looking for. The device was in his left arm.
His anger increased. Because of the device and the fact he spat, he needed to settle the monster within him. He grabbed his knife and, without using any pain medication and even with the doctor warning him, he sliced into the bastard’s skin, found the tracker, removed it, dropped it to the ground, and stepped on it.
The man screamed, the pain clearly getting to him.
Good. He was done with assholes like this.
He moved on to the next person. “You want to spit at me? I can make it just as painful.”
The man didn’t spit. He held his arm up and the device went off.
This time, the doctor took care of each person. One by one. Rocko made them all stand there as their tracking devices were removed and shattered. By the end of it, it was dark and cold, and he glared at each of them.
“Why didn’t Winter have one?” he asked.
All of the humans had them, apart from Winter.
The man who spat at him laughed. “Do you really think we’d have saved that animal-loving slut? No, she’s not one of us. She can rot and die with the rest of you.”
“He doesn’t get any food tonight. Everyone else who complied, they can eat and have a shower. Tomorrow, you don’t have to work the fields. You can rest. He will be doing the work for you.”
With the orders given, he turned on his heel and walked back to his home.
Standing outside, he looked at his house. This was the only place he’d ever thought of as being his. Inside was a woman he’d hurt.
Would he have really hurt her? Cut her open without pain medication? His anger had been profound and he hadn’t thought about what he was doing. He’d only been enraged and that was his error, not Winter’s.
He nodded at his men to leave and walked inside, closing and locking the door. Whenever he was home, he didn’t need an armed guard to keep him safe.
Rocko heard the sniffles first.
He followed the sound and found her in the kitchen. She wore one of the sets of pajamas he’d provided.
She looked so sad and lost, swiping at her face.
“You need to go to bed.”
Winter looked up. “Are you here to kill me?”
“No.”
“Did they have tracking devices?” she asked.
“Yes. They have now been removed.”
“And you thought I was the one responsible for it?”
“I was angry.”
“And when you’re angry you just go around hurting people?”
“You have no new bruises on you.” He’d seen the ones on her skin while she’d been in the swimsuit. Clearly, he’d fucked up. “How is Daphne?” He could make small talk in an effort to win back her forgiveness.
“No, you don’t get to come in here and hurt me, or threaten to kill me and think everything is going to be okay. We need to talk!”
****
Winter hated violence.
She hated being angry, or scared, or even upset.
All it ever did was make her feel sick to her stomach. Rocko had the power to kill her, and knowing he could do it at a moment’s notice scared her.
She didn’t want to live like this. Even as her heart raced, she had to grow a spine and deal with this. He wasn’t going to keep on hurting her and expecting her to just put up with it. That time was past. She wouldn’t accept it, or agree to it. He was going to have to deal with her properly.
“This is my house and I get to say when we talk.”
“No!” She held onto the edge of the table.
“No?” He raised a brow at her. He could dismiss her so easily.
“I’m not going to keep taking this crap. I have done nothing to deserve your hatred. I’m human but if that is my only flaw, I can’t help that. I never wanted to hurt you and I’ve proven myself to you time and time again. I’m not going to betray your trust. Yet, each time I think we’re moving past this, you’re hurting me. Threatening me. I don’t want to live with constantly being told I’m worthless, which you keep on doing each time you go to kill me.”
She took a deep breath. “Either kill me, or it stops. Today is the last time I am going to be afraid in this house. I will never harm you. I follow your rules. I don’t leave this house. I stick to the yard. I don’t open the curtains. I never get your guards’ attention. I take care of your child. I am doing everything in my power to show you I’m not a bad person and you keep throwing it in my face. It stops now.”
