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I’ve always hated getting knocked out. Sure as hell never been a fan. I also hate waking up inside a stone wall with chains all tethering me to the ground, but I knew my fate when I walked into the trap.
They just didn’t expect me to take away their one token of leverage they had over the others. That small victory is enough to keep me sane right now.
I beat them.
Groaning, I sit up, sliding against the wall as the chains
rattle around my wrists. It’s not the same cell I was once in—I had every stone in there memorized. There are different cracks in here, but to the untrained eye, it’s almost the same.
“Wakey Wakey, pup,” a voice says.
I guess they plan to talk to me this time. Great.
“Already awake,” I mumble as the door to my cell opens.
I don’t have to look up. I smell the leather of the whip. I suppose it’s probably an anointed whip now.
The collar lies beside me, meaning they’ll beat me before they put it on. Or worse. But I retreat into the back of my mind to a better time and place before the first lash slices across my chest.
I don’t cry out, because I’m not here. I’m in Thad’s arms, and I’m staring at his smile.
The second strike hits me across the stomach as the chains jerk me higher, forcing me to my feet. But it’s all dull noise in the background because Thad is kissing me, telling me he loves me instead of me interrupting him. And I’m telling him I love him back before pulling him inside.
By the fifth lash that strikes across my face, I’m smiling, because Thad is taking my blood while I writhe beneath him, letting him consume me and take away the pain.
This time they won’t break me, because I have something to hold onto. They can hold my body here, but my mind still has the ability to escape.
Chapter 37
THAD
“How unoriginal is Master?” Dice asks as we follow Reese in his wolf form, moving quickly through the forest.
“Not now,” I growl.
“I mean, really. Master? It’s so cliché, and the lack of pronouns really pisses me off. Why couldn’t they have said she needs the wolf? Because you know it’s a bloody woman.”
“Dice!” I snap, glaring over at him. “Now is really not the fucking time.”
“I’m sticking to calling her the big bad or monster evil. Master,” he scoffs, disgusted. “It’s a horrible hashtag too.”
I grab him by the throat, and toss him to the ground.
“I said not now!”
He scrambles back to his feet while glaring at me.
“It’s my coping mechanism, dick. Deal with it. You go all broody and smash things. Gage blows shit up—like his house. Zee does a lot of swearing and threatening before breaking shit. And Chaz gets all quiet and pensive like Ella. I use ill-timed humor. Fuck off.”
Before I can strangle him, Reese shifts back into flesh, staring at a vacant space like it’s supposed to hold all the answers.
“She was here, but they moved her into the planes,” Reese says, kicking, cursing, and screaming as he falls apart next to the woods.
Dice kneels, inspecting the stirred dirt around where it seems there was a struggle. I don’t know how much longer I can hold it together.
“I’m going to kill Drackus when I see him,” I growl.
“He didn’t do it,” Gage says, appearing with Kimber in his arms, and my heartbeat speeds up as Kimber throws her arms around me.
