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I gag involuntarily. “Oh, God...”
He waits until the outside browns before turning toward Paula. She doesn't acknowledge him, but he kneels before her anyway, holding the steaming flesh inches from her face. “Eat.”
Her lips part only enough for a whisper. “No.”
His free hand closes around her jaw firmly. “I will not repeat myself.”
The absence of emotion in his voice makes my skin crawl.
Paula turns her face away as far as his grip allows. “Please just let me die.”
“You will not.” He forces her head back until she cries out, then wedges two thick claws between her teeth, forcing her jaw wide. She thrashes helplessly, the iron cuff around her ankle rattling as tears spill down bruised cheeks.
“Stop!” I shout, throwing myself forward. “Leave her alone!”
He doesn't even glance in my direction. With slow, deliberate precision, he pushes the strip of meat into Paula's mouth, and she gags against him, trying to spit it back out.
But his hand clamps over her mouth. The other wraps around her throat. “Swallow.”
Sobbing, her head thrashes side to side.
His thumb presses into the underside of her jaw while his fingers tighten around her neck, cutting off just enough air that I can see panic flood her eyes.
“Swallow,” he repeats, his voice almost bored.
Her body bucks once, then instinct must betray her, because her throat contracts. He keeps his hand over her mouth for another long moment, watching her struggle until he feels the swallow beneath his fingers, and only then does he let her go.
She collapses onto her hands and knees, coughing violently before scrubbing at her tongue as though she can somehow erase what she's just been forced to do.
The monster watches without a shred of sympathy, then turns back to me. “You next.”
I've never wanted to kill another living creature in my entire life more than in this moment. “You're never touching me.”
“You are mine now. I will do whatever I please.”
The monster storms over in two enormous strides, and I scramble backward until the chain reaches its end. He stoops, closing one massive hand around the front of my jacket before lifting me into the air.
“Put me down!”
“You will eat.”
Another strip of flesh nears my face, its smell alone sending a surge of bile up my throat. His thumb digs painfully into my cheek as the meat brushes against my lips, but I clamp them shut with everything I have.
That only makes his expression darken. “I will break your jaw if I must.”
Terror floods every corner of my body. His fingers begin to pry harder, pain blooming along my jaw. Just when I think he's about to make good on his threat, a thunderous roar rattles the cave so violently that dust rains from the ceiling.
Somewhere deep beneath our feet, stone groans as though the cavern has taken a breath.
Every hair on my body stands straight. For the first time since being taken, a spark of fear ignites inside Orion's father's eye.
“My son,” he grinds out—
Just as a blur of brown fur bursts through the entrance.
I hit the ground hard when they crash together, their impact sending Earl's corpse skidding across dirt. The roar that tears from Orion's chest is unlike any sound I've ever heard, filled with rage and grief and pain. I swear every ounce of agony he's endured since I left him pours into one single, earth-shattering cry.
His father answers with a snarl that exposes sharp teeth. “I wondered how long it would take for this moment to come.”
