Chapter One
Rylee
Cutting a man’s dick off in my imagination is vastly different than doing it in real life.
I glare at the asshole tied to the chair, trying to control my urge to vomit. Stabbing him everywhere else on his body was easy. My rage bubbled up from my memories of being held captive, and the knife slid in with no problem. I swore I would chop off the offensive appendage that caused most of my trauma, but I couldn’t follow through.
“I’m sure you would laugh at me if you were conscious,” I grumble, and move to the sink. “I wish there was toothpaste.” I grip the sides of the porcelain and bow my head, breathing deep. I’m still ready to gag, even though his penis wasn’t near my mouth. My stomach is turning.
I have waited years to get my revenge. Bobbie is on the edge of death, and the final step is removing the one thing he holds dear. He is beyond talking and covered in blood. When I started, he threatened, but quickly his anger turned to pleas. It didn’t matter what excuses he cried out; I was numb to them. There is nothing he could say to make his abuse anything but evil.
I turn around, my body calming, and stare at him. His eyes are closed because I gave him two black eyes. His heartbeat is slow, and his fear is stinking up the room. I’ve tried to prolong his death for at least a week. I thought it was poetic since that was the amount of time he had me, yet it’s only been four days. He’s human, so I knew he wouldn’t last long. I didn’t like it, but I was going to end it.
I was seventeen when I met him. At the time, I thought he was handsome and charismatic. His dark brown hair was shaggy and fell charmingly over his eyes. Through the eyes of a teenager who was desperate for any kind of attention, no one could compare. He knew exactly what to say and do. I fell hard and regretted it every day since. I’ve worked hard to be in a place where I could handle seeing him again and killing him. I may have underestimated his control over my emotions. Not that I feel sorry for him, but I’m not sure I am cut out for torturing someone.
“Shit,” I whisper, looking toward the door, hearing movement outside. I borrowed the location from friends to bring Bobbie to justice, and I’ve been found. Heath is the man who rescued me after my captivity. He is a snake shifter, and the brother I always wanted. For years, he tracked and killed all the men involved. Hethought I'd given him all the men's names, but I held one back. I wanted to be the one who found Bobbie. I can tell he’s annoyed by the tapping of his cane as he enters the building. “Heath, are you stalking me?”
“The only person I stalk now is my mate,” he drawls, stopping inside the doorway. “I paid others to stalk you.” He grins slightly.
“Who?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
“Kade and Cash.” He looks at Bobbie briefly before focusing on me. “Which was convenient since they are the ones you asked to borrow the building.”
“Fuck,” I grit out. The tiger shifters have become my friends, and although I didn’t tell them why I needed a place in the middle of nowhere, I should have known they would wonder.
“They were concerned. Asking to use a shack in the middle of the woods prompts questions.” He raises a brow, and I sigh. Leaning against the door frame, he crosses his arms, hanging the handle of his cane on his arm. He doesn’t use it for balance, but as a weapon. The cane holds his power and turns into a whip on his command. Most people are terrified of the snake shifter, yet I know he loves me and only wants the best for me.
“This is Bobbie.” I wave toward the chair. “I didn’t tell you about him. I thought I could kill him.”
“He was part of the group?” he asks.
“He was the ringleader,” I say softly.
“Why would you hide his identity from me?” He scowls.
“I wanted to be ready to confront him.” I lean against the wall. “All these years, I tried to move past it, but I knew that one day, I would find him. If it weren’t for him, everything else wouldn’t have happened. He deserves death, and I wanted to be the one to do it.” I slide down and sit on my ankles, clasping my hands between my knees. “Seeing him again brought me back to that moment. I felt like a girl again, and for a second, I felt powerless.”
“Did tying him to the chair help?” he asks, standing straight.
“A bit,” I chuckle.
“When you stabbed him, what did you feel?” He walks further into the room and crouches beside me.
“Powerful. Justified.” I meet his gaze.
“Good,” he says.
“I couldn’t go through with it, though.”
“With what?”
“Cutting his dick off,” I mumble, and he shakes his head and looks at Bobbie. “I gagged.”
He looks at me. “So, you are taking this as a weakness?”
“Well, yeah.” I scrunch my nose. “He made the most awful noises and passed out. I barely nicked the skin, and I almost threw up.” I look at Bobbie. “I tossed the towel over his junk and backed away.”
“Rylee,” Heath says, and waits for my attention. “Most people wouldn’t be able to do it.”
