That only makes the dozens of slices and cuts that sadistic piece of shit made all over my body over the last several hours hurt even more.
So much blood drips across my skin now, that I don’t dare look down.
If I even tried, I would only gag more, and each time that happens, the agony is worse.
It clouds my head.
Makes it hard to process what’s happening.
Whatever sound came from outside drew him out there a minute ago…
And it was the first glimmer of hope I’ve had since I first found him in here.
When was that?
I’ve lost all sense of time.
But I know hours have passed. Only because the sun disappeared from the window a long time ago and my captor stoked the fire in the stove several times against the chill and to light the small cabin…
So he could see what he was doing to me better. So he could witness his handiwork and get off on it…
I gag on the blood in my mouth and spit it to the side, trying to swallow without that awful taste so I can gather my breath to cry out.
Because whatever made that noise wasn’t an animal.
It was a monster…
It was the one Connor had to become to save his family on the homestead, the one he has warned me about countless times up on this mountain.
Deep in my gut, I know it’s him.
I know he came back for me.
A sob tears from my chest, and gunshots ring through the air.
“Connor!” I try to cry out, but my voice is barely above a whisper.
I don’t have any strength left. Not after the last round of blows and cuts. Everything feels so heavy.
My limbs tied to the chair…
My eyelids that don’t want to stay open…
My chest every time I try to take a breath…
I choke on blood again and spit it out, trying to call out for him, but another gunshot rings out, and instead, all that comes from my throat is a strangled sob.
Another shot comes, along with darkness creeping in around the edges of my already blurry vision. I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. They’re too heavy…
I barely hear the footsteps approaching over the sound of blood rushing in my ears and my own sobs.
Only when familiar, calloused hands take my cheeks in them do I finally open my eyes again to the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
Connor fucking McBride’s dark, onyx eyes staring back at me, searching my face. “Oh, my God, Firefly, what’d he do to you?”
A blond head appears, and someone cuts my hands and feet free. More intense pain instantly rushes through them as the circulation starts to return, and the warm drip of blood on my skin shifts direction.
“Raven, can you hear us?”
