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Rage. Mindless, seething, murderous rage.
My hands fly out, fingers like talons, as I lunge. I’m going to flay his cruel face into bloody strips.
“Come, my little demon!” He laughs wickedly, arms outstretched. “Come for my cock!”
Blood roars in my ears, my vision narrowing to a dark tunnel. As my hand makes contact with his chest, a muscled arm hooks around my midsection.
Wrenched backward, I’m turned and thrown over a shoulder, caveman-style.
“Kodiak!” Hanging upside down, I pound on his beefy back. “Put me down!”
“Release her, Kody.” Leonid grabs my ankle in a bone-bruising grip. “Right now.”
“If you don’t step back,” Kodiak says, “I’ll tell her everything.”
I go still. This is what I want.
Please, Kodiak. Please, keep talking.
“You’ll have nothing to bargain with.” He wraps a hand around Leonid’s wrist and tries to pry my leg free. “No more peep shows. No more deals. Once she knows everything, it’s over.”
“I’m good with that.” I twist my neck, unable to see around Kodiak’s broad shoulders. “Tell me, please. You can trust me.”
The air between them spits fire, their breaths hot and heavy.
At last, the fingers on my ankle unclench and slide away.
The room spins as Kodiak turns on his heel, carrying me out of the basement.
The door closes behind us, but not before I see Leonid’s livid expression, churning like a thundercloud of retribution.
“He’s going to kill me.” I dig my fingers into Kodiak’s brick-hard back.
“He’ll come for me first.”
25
Frankie
—
Holy fuck, he’s huge.
As Kodiak carries me over his shoulder to his bedroom, I feel like I’m hanging off a mountain. Hard, brawny slopes rise and fall beneath my awkward position. Heat swells with each step, bleeding from him, from his skin, making me sweaty and half-crazed.
No amount of shouting or kicking persuades him to set me down. Apparently, he’s gone deaf.
And numb.
I kick him again.
Fuck, my ribs hurt. I thought they were healed, but this position puts too much pressure on them, reminding me it’s only been five weeks since the accident.
In his bedroom, he shuts the door. Then, at last, my feet touch the floor.
“That was unnecessary.” I shuffle back, jumpy and unnerved about being in here alone with him.
“The entire evening was unnecessary.” That savage, inhuman look in his eyes never seems to fade, but right now, it’s especially potent. He tracks me as if daring me to run. As if the slightest movement will trigger his prey drive.
“I’m tired.” I stand frozen, speaking in my soothing nurse tone. “I’d like to sleep now.”
His breathing deepens, and his pupils dilate. He shoots a threatening glance at the closed door, bares his teeth, and yanks off his shirt.
The fabric snags on the bandage around his hand, and while he fights to free it, I fight to free the bronchial airway in my lungs.
All that glowing bronze skin, thick midnight hair, liquid black eyes, chiseled jawline for days, and a physique that just won’t quit…Bless. This creature was born to elicit sexual frustration. I’ve never needed a drink so badly. He’s a goddamn thirst trap.
What is it about the men in this place? Is there something in the water? Or did Denver choose their mothers, knowing their offspring would grow into…this?
Perfect male specimens.
Why would he care what they look like? What was his motivation in kidnapping women with children? He’s an engineer. But what kind? Biological? Genetic? Is this part of some twisted breeding project where he takes the sexiest men alive and breeds them with…? Oh, God. Am I here because he needs an incubator?
My throat closes, and my eyes widen at the sight of more clothes falling to the floor. “What are you doing?”
“Going to bed.” Kodiak shucks off his pants and stands before me in nothing but black boxers.
“Here?” I look away from the soft yet monstrous bulge between his legs.
“This is my room.”
“You’ve been staying elsewhere—”
“For forty-two nights.”
“You say that as if I’m the trespasser. Like I wasn’t kidnapped, drugged, and flown here in a wooden crate.” With a furious exhale, I head to the door. “It’s all yours.”
“You’re sleeping here, too.” His fingers clamp around my arm, stopping me.
“With you? Not happening.” I twist in his grip.
He tightens his hold. “You’re not safe out there.”
Leonid’s violent expression fills my mind, giving me pause. Is Kodiak afraid of him? Is that why he wants to stay here tonight?
As if a measly door can keep out any of these heathens.
“Okay, fine.” I pull away, relieved when he lets go. “You should know I’m a light sleeper. If you try anything—”
“You sleep like the dead. A zombie horde wouldn’t wake you.”
“How would you know?” A chill slices through me. “Do you come in here while I sleep?”
“I’m here now because I don’t want to fight with my brother. If he touches you…” He sets his jaw. “He won’t survive the night.”
He would kill his brother? For me? That can’t be true, but at this point, I don’t know what to believe.
