Page 161 of Veiled

“You’re making this worse for yourself,” he says, leaning down so close I can feel his breath against my ear. “We just need you quiet for a little bit longer.”

I twist sharply, using the tiny bit of slack he stupidly gave me to wrench one hand free. My nails dig into his face, and I feel the satisfying, wet resistance of his skin tearing.

“Bitch!” he shouts, recoiling just enough that the weight on my torso shifts.

I seize the moment, bucking my hips so violently that he’s partially thrown off, and Web loses his grip on the rope. Platt fights to regain his balance, but I keep bucking, twisting, using my feet to try to push myself out from under him.

I feel Web’s rope around my second ankle at the same time blinding pain explodes across my cheekbone.

For a moment, the world flashes white. Then black.

I try to blink, but my left eye feels glued together, the swelling only allowing it to open enough to get a blurry view through my eyelashes. My right eye, on the other hand, fully opens, but I regret it as soon as it does. Pain radiates through my skull, but I force myself to keep it open.

It’s cold, damp, and I know exactly where I am.

A cave.

Aiden’s cave.

I’m tied up in almost the exact spot where he and I learned we were going to be fake married. Where he slid the ring on my finger when I still loathed him. But that all feels like it’s from a different lifetime, because he’ll never be my husband, and he isn’t here with me.

No, the tall man looking out of the cave isn’t Aiden, it’s Platt, and he’s just noticed I’m awake.

“Finally! You’ve been out for hours.” Platt pushes off the cave wall, stalking toward me with a smile that already makes me feel violated. “I was hoping we would get a little alone time before Web gets back.”

His fingers trail down my throat, and only then do I realize my uniform top has been cut open.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” I try to squirm away from him, but my arms are bound behind my back, and my foot restraints are looped around the base of a boulder.

“Yes! We knew this was going to be fun with how hard you’ve made it for us to get you alone all year. And after the fight you put up trying not to get caught today, I can’t wait to see how hard you scream and thrash around when we’re both taking you.”

“What did you just say?” fear unlike anything I’ve ever felt before, consumes me.

“WHERE ARE YOU, FAREN?” Tyr’s voice is manic as he yells into my mind.

“That’s right, we’re going to fuck you at the same time. Oh, you meant the first part, didn’t you?”

His laugh is deranged, sending shivers down my spine.

“In a cave in the woods, north of campus,” I tell Tyr.

“You thought it was that douchebag Lucas following you around and leaving you presents, didn’t you? Is that why your pet beat him up?”

“Presents?” I yell, my anger overshadowing everything else. “You call a dead fucking pig a present?”

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?”

Tilting his head from side to side, he smiles, “Okay, that one was just Webs' way of showing how upset he was after you turned him down in the forest. He felt really bad after that, though. And really, it made him much more patient. We have spent so much time watching you, waiting for the perfect time to get you alone.”

I try pulling my arms in different directions, hoping their knots are loose, but there’s no give.

“Two guys have me tied up in a cave. I’m ok for now, but I don’t think I will be for long.”

“Oh, you’re going to be so much fun,” Platt says as he openly adjusts the bulge in his pants. “When I heard you like it rough, I can’t even tell you how many scenarios I imagined fucking you in.”

“That’s a bullshit rumor! It’s not true! Please, just let me go!”

His laugh is cold and harsh. “See, the thing is, I don’t really care if it’s true, and neither does Web.”