She didn't want this, but she had to endure it.
When there was a slight whizzing sound, signaling the coming crack of leather against her bare skin, it was relief and not pain she felt when it connected. This she could handle, this helped her keep her perspective and remember what was at risk if she did the wrong thing.
But what happened if Master decided he needed more before Delta Team made their entrance? Was she strong enough to follow through on what she’d assured Thunder she could handle?
Chapter
Twenty
March 11th
6:18 A.M.
Thunder had been filled with rage enough times in his life to believe he was intimately acquainted with the term seeing red.
It turned out he’d been wrong.
Despite the anger that had been a constant companion for as far back as his memories existed, amplified when the experimental drugs they were given filled them with fury and a strong desire to end their own lives, what he felt right now made all that pale in comparison.
The slight whooshing sound had him grinding his teeth together, and he physically flinched when he heard what he knew was the sound of leather hitting bare flesh.
Maya’s flesh.
Dr. Gardner was whipping her.
There was no power on earth strong enough to save the scientist’s life. As soon as Thunder was out of this cage, he was going to unleash thirty-two years’ worth of rage on the man.
But for the moment, there was nothing he could do.
Since he wasn't Steel, he couldn’t just bend the metal bars trapping him in half of this room and walk out. Even if he could, he was outmanned and unarmed. Dr. Gardner might not know how to fight, but there were at least eight mercenaries who had abducted him and Maya somewhere close by.
While he could, of course, break his way out given enough time, the time it took wasn't going to stop what was happening to Maya this very second.
Each strike of what he assumed was the belt Dr. Gardner had been wearing against Maya’s skin had his anger ratcheting up another notch, until he was actually vibrating with rage.
“Have you learned your lesson, pretty toy?” Dr. Gardner crooned in a sort of sing-song voice one might usually reserve for talking to an infant or small child. It was loud enough that Thunder knew he was supposed to overhear, supposed to get angry about what the scientist was doing.
Just because Dr. Gardner had no way of knowing that he had fallen hard and fast for the pretty blonde currently being whipped as punishment for being rescued didn't mean that the maniac wasn't aware that seeing an innocent being hurt would enrage him.
“I'm sure you have, because you're a good girl, aren't you?” Dr. Gardner continued, his tone shifting now to one someone might use when talking to a dog. “A good girl, even if you did let those men take you away from me. But you're back now, aren't you? Back home where you belong. With your master who takes such good care of you.”
Despite the scientist’s rambling, Thunder didn't hear a peep out of Maya, and since she hadn't cried out in pain as she was being whipped, he worried that he’d already lost her. That she had already retreated inside her mind, and that even once Dr. Gardner was dead and she was safe, he might not be able to pull her back out.
“Stand,” Dr. Gardner commanded, and since the man didn't say anything else, Thunder assumed that Maya had complied with the order. So if she had slipped away to hide inside her mind, she wasn't so far gone that she wasn't aware of what was going on around her.
That had to be a good thing.
At least he was going to believe that it was.
“Come,” Dr. Gardner gave another order, and while it only enraged Thunder further, the relief he felt a moment later when the scientist re-entered the room with Maya trailing along behind him was immense.
His girl was here, alive. Still dressed, so he had to assume that she hadn't been sexually violated. She was walking a little awkwardly, which he assumed was a result of just being whipped, but he couldn’t see any blood on her so that had to be a good thing.
“Don’t worry, she won't be punished again for your sins,” Dr. Gardner said with a smirk as he stopped just out of arm’s reach. Too bad the man wasn't stupid enough to get close enough that Thunder could reach through the bars and grab hold of him.
If he did, he’d be the one doling out punishments.
“Did you really think this wasn't the inevitable conclusion?” Dr. Gardner continued, that smug smile still in place. “Of course, I was going to get you back, you belong to me after all, every bit as much as my pretty little toy does. I created you, I own you, and you will work for me again.”
