Chapter 7
KILLIAN
“They call you Sik Vik, do they?” I ask as he stirs.
It’s taken him some time to wake up since my guys sedated him before bringing him to Rothguard, to one of the many torture rooms in our basement. While waiting for him, I considered the perfect punishment for what he did to Wrath.
It’s my job to protect the Wildes, something Old Terror drilled into me before he died a few years after Logan’s father, Ian.
But now it’s beyond avenging our allies.
They’re about to become one with the Lordes, meaning their blood will be ours, so Sik Vik might as well have done what he did to Wrath to one of my brothers.
But even more than that, when I saw the panic in Logan’s expression, how pained he was, the fear for his brother, I couldn’t help but relate as a brother responsible for my own siblings’ well-being.
Especially since I’ve already let most of them down.
Sik Vik’s eyes flit open, and he struggles in the restraints around his wrists. Naked, stretched out across the table, his body awaits his punishment.
I shouldn’t have this…affection for torture, but it brings back such beautiful memories of father-son bonding time.
“I’ve been searching through all my toys,” I tell him, “wondering what would be the best way to manage a monster like you.”
He tries to speak, but the horse bit I’ve placed in his mouth catches whatever he’s trying to say, and judging by his expression, it wasn’t anything pleasant.
“Don’t worry, I’ll remove that once we get started. I enjoy the screaming too much not to.”
His pupils flare, assuring me this will be as exciting as I’d hoped.
I retrieve my hunting blade from the holster on my belt and run it down his bare chest, through the grooves, inspecting every inch, trying to decide where the best place to puncture is.
“You see…as much pleasure as I get out of what I do to people physically, it’s the psychological aspect that really arouses me. But I must be careful not to move too quickly. That used to be my problem. I was too eager and impatient. I didn’t understand the art of torture the way my father did.”
I finish tracing a tattoo of a snake along his side before taking his hand. He struggles, trying to ball his fist, but I manage to get hold of a finger and slice under the nail before depressing gently. He bites down on the horse bit, screaming.
The rush is like a hit of coke…oh, it’s heavenly.
I watch his expression as I dig into his flesh to give him a taste of what’s to come.
The farther I penetrate beneath the nail, the more comes back to me.
First, from earlier in the night, seeing how distressed Logan was to see his fallen brother.
Then further back, to holding my dying father in my arms, not realizing that my mom and most of my siblings were dead.
I lean close, whispering in his ear, “You’re probably wondering why I haven’t removed the bit yet, and that’s because I said when we get started. We haven’t started yet.”
I pull back, watching his pupils flare as I continue cutting into him. The more Sik Vik screams, the more relief I feel. It’s like I’m funneling the pain through him, freeing me from it once and for all. It’s the sort of act that reminds me why no one fucks with the Lordes.
Blood rushes from his finger onto the table as I hear the lock at the door. When it opens, my butler, Kline, steps in. “Boss,” he says.
“What?” I say through my teeth. I don’t enjoy being interrupted, especially in the middle of vengeance.
“Your fiancé has arrived.”
“What?” I ask.
I figured word would get back to Logan that we had him, but I expected he would be appreciative we’d handled the enemy. But maybe this will emphasize to my future husband why it’s essential we unite as our fathers intended.
“Looks like we have a visitor,” I tell Sik Vik, whose eyes are wide with horror.
“This will give you time to consider why you should have learned to control your temper before you stepped foot into the cage tonight. The only regret you should have is that someone didn’t teach you that lesson before you encountered the Wildes and the Lordes. ”
I clean up before leaving my new friend and following Kline through the hall until we reach my study, where Logan waits for me. His button-down shirt is rolled at the sleeves, a few buttons undone at the top, revealing enticing hairs that tempt me to take him now and claim him as mine.
“How is Wrath?”
Logan flinches, like he wasn’t expecting me to care about his family. “He’ll be fine. Thank you for asking. And thank you for apprehending the asshole who did that to him.”
“Trust me, it’s my pleasure.”
He searches around the room uneasily. Maybe considering his last time here under very different circumstances.
“I was in the middle of entertaining him when you arrived.” I figured that might cheer him up, but his nostrils flare.
“Is he alive?”
“Not for long, but probably longer than he wants to be.”
“I don’t want you to do this, Killian.”
I’m taken aback.
“I always thought our bloodlust was one of the things that united our fathers, but maybe I was wrong, or maybe it didn’t get passed down to his son.”
Logan doesn’t respond.
“You’re not suggesting I let that monster go after what we saw him do, are you?”
His brow creases. “What? No. But it’s not your job to punish him for what he did to Wrath. It’s mine.” The greed drips off his lips, and there’s hunger in his eyes, something I haven’t seen from him before.
Full of surprises, aren’t you, Logan Wilde?
I chuckle.
“Why is that funny?” he asks, offended by my amusement.
“We were just talking about how good we are at reading people, yet here I am, realizing I misread you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I start circling him, a predator taking his time studying his prey, to make sense of what I missed, trying to recalibrate the sensor in me that would’ve usually picked up something like this from someone.
“You’ve been playing the golden boy for so long, maybe you’re starting to believe it, but there’s something else in there. The blood of your father, who was a sick fuck, same as my own. That’s why they got along so well, isn’t it?”
His jaw stiffens, and I feel his defensiveness, the kind one only feels when someone’s read them right.
Now I’m satisfied.
“What would you do to him if I gave him to you?”
“I don’t want to talk about that.”
“Then I won’t give him up.” I turn my back on him.
“Can’t you see it as an early wedding present maybe?”
Adrenaline shoots through me, and I spin back to him as my lips slip into a grin. “Well, well, look who’s coming around.”
He doesn’t look happy about it, his eyes narrowed, hands balled into fists, but it’s hard to tell how much of this is about me and how much is about him wanting to punish Sik Vik.
“I’m not coming around to anything.”
“So you want me to sever the agreement?” The way the muscles in his jaw shift, I’m half expecting him to growl at me, like the dog we had when I was younger if you got too close to him. “I’ll take that as a no, meaning you understand you’ll eventually have to concede.”
“We don’t have to discuss that tonight. Just let me at Sik Vik, if you’ve even left anything for me to do.” He sounds jealous, which feels like vindication for what he did with Alana earlier.
“My responsibility is to my father,” I add, “to keep my promise to protect your family. Outside of that, I don’t owe you anything. Why would I, when I don’t even know if you intend to be my wife?”
“If I’m even to consider it, you’ll have to start calling me your future husband.”
I can’t help but smirk.
“I guess the thing is, then, until I know that for sure, what will you do for me?”
His gaze wavers. “How much do you want?”
“You know I don’t need money, and I know you don’t have as much as you need.”
He must struggle as much with reading me as I do him because he doesn’t seem to catch on.
“Can you just be out with it?”
“You know what men like me want, don’t you, Logan? Power. To dominate, especially someone like you, someone with so much pride and this air of self-importance.”
“One thing I know I don’t like about you is how long it takes you to get to a goddamn point.”
I slide my hand to my crotch, stroking, my cock lengthening at the thought of what I want from him…wondering what his warm mouth would feel like around me…
“Remember when I said I wanted you to choke on my hard cock?”
He huffs, rolling his eyes. “Dream on.” He spins and starts for the door.
“You came all the way over here to punish Sik Vik, but you’re unwilling to do the one thing that can help you exact revenge for your brother?”
“I guess you don’t know me as well as you think.”
He reaches for the doorknob, and I’m certain that will be that, but he stops himself.
I’m intrigued, Logan Wilde.
Intrigued.
Excited.
Aroused.
He’s still for a few moments. It reminds me of times when we used to visit my aunt and uncle for hunting trips, when deer would settle but seem to have this awareness that we were somewhere in the vicinity, intuiting it but unable to tell where the danger was coming from.
Finally, he snaps from his state, and just when I think he’s about to bolt, he turns back to me and rushes across the room. A primal impulse overtakes me, tempting me to get out my gun—
I’m embarrassed to admit that the determination in his eyes, the precision of his movements is intimidating.
Even to a Lorde.
What are you doing, Logan?