Chapter 39
M yles
I’d never enjoyed a run through the woods as much as I did this one.
“Fuck,” Axel swore as he tripped on a log and stumbled. I’d give him credit. He managed to stay on his feet. I was toying with him, letting him wear himself down and give him a glimmer of hope only so that I could snatch it away.
I wanted him to know what it was like to taste fear, the same fear that my Snowflake felt—the sense of helplessness and a foreboding doom that he wouldn’t escape.
Liam was out here with me while we herded him where we wanted him to go.
It wasn’t too much further, and he was going to realize the error of his wild run.
Axel thought he was running toward safety when, in reality, he’d lost all sense of direction fifteen minutes ago and was now running headlong into our second trap.
The look on his face when he realized he’d been tricked and it wasn’t his mother he was meeting had been worth the wait.
Pushing a little faster, I let Axel know that I was gaining on him, not bothering to hide the sound of my footsteps. I flanked him, and he glanced back at me before changing course. I counted in my head and almost laughed as he skidded to a stop the moment he pushed through the tree line.
“Hello, Axel,” I heard Nash say just as I tackled him from behind.
With a crash, we both slammed into the dirt, but I had his arm yanked back and my gun pressed to the side of his head before he even started to fight. It was so tempting to shoot him now, and my finger hovered over the trigger, but what we had planned next was a lot more fun.
Liam grabbed Axel’s other arm, and together, we hauled him to his feet. “Ya made a mistake going after my Snowflake. No one hurts her, and lives. No one.”
“You can’t do this. The Curators will kill all of you and your families,” Axel said, his breathing heavy and sweat from the run glistening in the light of the fire.
Liam and I dragged Axel over to the large tree that had seen so many deaths that it could’ve been used for a blood ritual by now.
Theo was quick with the leather cuffs that pulled his arms back while the chain locked him into place.
“Will they, though,” Nash asked as he crossed his arms.
I dropped my head and diverted my eyes from the six hooded figures stepping out from the darkness of the trees.
“What the fuck,” Axel said. The tone of his voice was higher. I could almost smell his fear now. He was no longer as confident, and his cocky demeanor had started to fade.
“Proceed,” came a low booming voice from inside one of the hoods, and I nodded. Peeling off my hoodie and t-shirt, I tossed them to Theo before turning to Axel.
“It has been decided that I get to choose your punishment and execution.” Axel snorted, but when no one moved or said anything, the chains rattled as he shuffled uncomfortably.
“This is bullshit, but nice bluff,” Axel said.
I let the rage loose that had filled me and had nowhere to go the moment I laid eyes on my precious Snowflake.
Each fist that landed and every groan of pain was delicious to the darkness that had been breathed into me as a young boy.
I revolted against the lessons my father taught.
The carving across my stomach was proof of that, but the hatred I felt festered like an infected wound until, no matter how hard I tried, that mark on my soul remained.
Crack.
My fist connected with his jaw, and blood flew from his mouth.
Crack.
Axel screamed, and I felt his ribs give as they broke under the powerful blow.
“Stop, please. I’m sorry,” Axel begged. Blood dripped from my clenched fists and coated Axel’s body. “Please, please. I’ll do anything.”
I grabbed his battered jaw, and Axel yelled in pain, but I squeezed harder and forced him to look at me. I wanted him to see the devil who lived inside me. I wanted him to see what he unleashed the moment he laid a single finger on the most precious thing in my life.
“Ya see it now, don’t ya?”
Terror stared back at me, the others standing around long forgotten. The wind whistling through the trees and crackling fire was the only background sound.
“Please,” he whimpered.
“Did my Snowflake run from ya? Did she beg ya to stop?” He didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to for me to know that the correct response was yes. “Ya touched what’s mine. You must know that I’m never lettin’ ya go.”
His chin dropped to his chest when I released him, but he began to laugh. I glared at the top of his head. As he slowly raised his eyes to mine, I could see the maniac inside of him. Whether it was always there, and he just hid it well, or the prospect of death brought it out was hard to say.
“Then you should know that no matter how hard you try to wipe me from her thoughts, I will always be her first. When you’re with her, she’ll always think of me and how she screamed in pain and called your name for help, but you never came. That’s what she’ll remember.”
I stumbled back, the comment a lethal blow to my heart. Axel couldn’t have said anything more devastating to me. She’d been calling out to me for help. Axel laughed, the sound echoing into the night, but not how I’d envisioned.
“Do you want me to tell you how she cried? How I broke her?”
Nash growled as he stormed past me and finished what I had started. Axel slumped against the tree, knocked out, but I couldn’t stop staring at him as his words circled the drain in my damaged mind, threatening to pull me down.
“Hey,” Nash yelled directly in front of me.
“Snap out of it. You don’t know if he’s telling you the truth, and even if he is, it doesn’t matter now.
What’s done is done and making an example of him…
.” Nash pointed at Axel. “Is the only way we keep something like this from happening again. You want to protect Ren? Then man the fuck up, we still have work to do.”
His blue eyes were as cold as I’d ever seen them, and I nodded and pushed aside all of the emotions that were trying to take over.
Nash lifted his fingers and snapped, and the black hooded figures stepped forward.
“Unchain him and tie him down to the altar,” Nash ordered before pulling a long knife out of a sheath.
He held it out for me to take. The metal glinted as brightly as the black handle absorbed all the light around it.
“Either you can, or I will, but he dies tonight.”
My hand wrapped around the black handle. “Don’t insult me, of course I will. There is nothing I want more.”
“Good.”
Nash walked away, and I slowly stalked toward the wooden slab where Axel was being secured.
I squatted down in front of him and tapped him on the cheek with the cold blade as I contemplated how I wanted him to die.
Axel’s eyes fluttered and then slowly opened.
As soon as he saw me, he jerked and pulled on the thick bindings holding him down.
“Welcome back, Axel. Yer little nap gave me time to think. Have ya ever heard of the Blood Eagle?” He just blinked.
“Naw? I really kind of disappointed ya don’t know yer family’s heritage better Axel.
Let me help ya out. It’s a torture method that dates as far back as the Vikings used for those who committed the worst crimes. ”
“Oh yeah, sounds like a good time,” he said, his arrogance trying to hide the fear, but the trembling of his body gave him away. A sinister smirk pulled up the corner of my mouth.
I stared him in the eyes. “Cut off his clothes,” I ordered, my eyes never leaving his. I wanted to watch his face up close and make sure that I was the only thing he saw when he screamed for mercy. “Who would like the honor of castrating him?”
“What?” Axel blurted out and struggled harder against the leather and chain.
One of the hooded figures stepped forward and pushed back the heavy material to show that it was Rory. “I do.”
I nodded, and he unclipped the heavy robe and took a knife from Nash. Axel squirmed harder, his voice squeaking as the panic took over. “No, you can’t do this. Get away from me, you freak!” I snatched Axel’s chin, his wide eyes finding mine as I forced him to look at me instead of Rory.
“Tell me somethin’, Axel. Should we mail yer nuts to yer mother separately or shove them up yer ass and sew it shut?”
A blood-curdling scream echoed as Axel thrashed around, but I wouldn’t let go of his head and watched every tear that trailed down his face as he cried.
There wasn’t a single part of me that felt bad, but my Snowflake deserved justice.
There was no doubt that I’d end up in hell, but I’d smile as I sent Axel there ahead of me to keep a seat warm.
Rory held up his prize. The whimpers tumbling from Axel’s lips were a dark fuel that would feed me for years.
“I’m…sorry,” Axel mumbled through the sobs.
“I didn’t hear that,” I said.
His tear-filled eyes locked with mine, his lower lip trembling. “I’m…sorry,” he said as Rory walked around and held out his balls for me to take.
“I’m sure ya are. It’s funny that I’m the last one to play with yer nuts and…
.” I squeezed hard, forcing his jaw open.
“Yer the last one to suck on them.” He screamed as I shoved them into his mouth.
“I changed my mind. This is far more fitting.” I smiled at Axel as I forced his mouth closed and then took the thick bone needle and sinew thread from Nash to sew his mouth closed. “When ya meet Satan, say hi for me.”
FEbrUARY 25 – FRIDAY 11:59 PM
Liam and Theo were left behind to oversee the disposal and cleanup. I’d showered in the cabin, scrubbing at every square inch of my body to remove any trace of Axel before pulling on a clean set of clothes.