Page 38 of Devour

The footsteps stop. They’re maybe ten feet away from me. I squeeze the rock tighter, ready to lunge at them as soon as they’re close enough.

“Saylor.”

His voice cuts through everything—the drugs, the fear, the feeling of that man’s tongue on my face that I can’t stop replaying.

Axl.

I stand up behind the log, and he’s right there. He pulls his mask off with his bloody hands as soon as he sees me.

He rushes to me, and I let the rock fall from my hand to wrap my arms around his neck.

He lifts me off the ground, and I wrap my legs around his waist and bury my face in his shoulder, breathing him in. His arms are tight around me, one hand on the back of my head, the other gripping my thigh. I’m trembling against him, and I can’t make it stop.

“I’ve got you, little heathen.” His mouth is against my ear. “He’s dead, and no one is going to fucking touch you again. Only I get to make you cry.”

I pull back to look at his face. His jaw is swelling where the guy hit him, and there’s a cut above his eyebrow that’s bleeding into his lashes. His eyes are locked on the bruise forming around my left eye where that piece of shit hit me.

His hand comes up to my face. His thumb traces under my swollen eye, and his jaw tightens so hard I can see the muscle jump.

“I should have tortured that fuck for weeks,” he growls.

“I’m okay.” Or at least I will be.

“Did he do anything else?” He runs his knuckles along my cheek. “Did he hurt you?”

I shake my head, tears escaping the corners of my eyes. The drugs make my head spin as I try not to think any more about what almost happened.

He pulls me tighter against him. My legs are still wrapped around his waist. He shifts his grip under my thighs, holding me up with one arm. He squats with me in his arms and grabs his mask off the ground and slides it back onto his face. “Time to claim my girl.”

Axl rises and starts walking, carrying me through the trail of brush and trees. I keep my face against his neck and my arms tight around him. His pulse hammers against my lips where my mouth presses to his throat. “I want you, Axl.”

He’s a dominating, possessive asshole. But I know he would never hurt me. Not like that dead bastard in the woods tried to do. Axl has proven he will show up for me every time I need him. There isn’t a safer place I could be than where I am right now. I don’t care how fucked up it is. I’ll kneel for him. I’ll crawl to him. I’ll serve my king. Because he’s fucking earned it.

“That was the only way it was going to go, as long as I’m fucking breathing, little heathen.” His hand squeezes my thigh tighter as he carries me. “We’ll get this shit over with, and then no one ever gets to see what’s mine again.”

I can hear the crowd before I can see them. The noise builds as the trees thin out—voices, cheering, music coming from somewhere in the building.

The spotlights hit us as he clears the last row of trees. Every masked face is turned toward the woods, and when Axl steps out carrying me, the noise gets louder. The crowd is cheering and whistling. He doesn’t stop. He doesn’t wave or play to the crowd. He walks straight across the open ground with me in his arms and his mask glowing neon red.

I lift my head from his neck and look around. Crew is already on the far side with a woman over his shoulder. I know it’s him from the ink on his body. I don’t recognize the girl, but she has a big grin on her face. The men are whistling as one of the Talons claims his Dove, fucking her on the platform while they watch. It doesn’t seem to bother him that they pierced his dick earlier.

It makes me wonder how much pain Axl is in between the piercing and all the fighting.

I see Justin walking out from the opposite tree line. Kynlee is over his shoulder, just as they arranged. I want to call out to her, but Axl is still moving, carrying me past the rows of masked onlookers toward the far archway. I catch a glimpse of Kase in the stands. His mask is on his face and not pulled down, and he’s staring at Justin carrying his sister. I’m pretty sure Priest is beside him, wearing a mask with blue neon. Neither seem to have noticed Axl and me.

The masks prevent me from finding my parents in the crowd, which is a relief. I’d rather pretend they aren’t watching.

Axl carries me toward a raised stone platform at the center of where everyone watches. There are two more Talons there now with their Doves. There are a few chairs, chaise lounges, and even a table on the long stone structure. They seem strange on something that looks like it’s supposed to be an offering place, but the setup gives the men their choice of options for how they want to claim us. Crew has his Dove bent over the table and is fucking her with his mask on while she grips the edge and moans. Another Talon I don’t recognize has his Dove on her knees. The crowd is whistling and cheering as they watch the show.

This is how it’s been done for over two hundred years, and it’s my turn to serve. I knew it was coming and what would happen when I chose this over auction. And now, I want it even more than I did before. I want them all to know that I’m Axl’s.

Axl steps up onto the platform and sets me down on my feet beside a wingback chair. “You’re fucking mine, Saylor. Do you understand me?”

“Yes.” My pussy throbs, and my body hums waiting for what he’s going to do next.

“Then fucking say it.”

“I’m yours, Axl.”