16. Harper
“ A ll three of them?”
“Yes, baby.”
“ Fuck, little bird… you always get me the best presents.”
“Mmm. I knew you would like it.”
I blinked lazily as my consciousness returned. My head was throbbing, and my mouth was so dry I wanted to gag.
Speaking of gags, I was pretty sure I had one in my mouth. Something had been stuffed flush against my tongue, and it felt like there was tape holding it in.
It took several moments for me to register that I couldn’t move. Panic ripped through me as I realized I was tied down to something… A chair?
With the one small ounce of sense I still had, I forced myself not to thrash against the restraints.
Instinct told me to do my best to keep my captors from knowing I was awake. I needed time to think and get my bearings. So, I forced myself not to groan and struggle like I wanted to. Instead, I took a deep, slow breath through my nose and peeked out through my eyelashes .
I was in an unfinished basement. The dimly lit, concrete room flickered as the bare pot lights sputtered overhead, allowing me to take in my surroundings.
Gabriel and that Hazai guy were standing in the center of the large, empty room, conversing with each other like they hadn’t just fucking kidnapped me.
Their casual, relaxed demeanors infuriated me. It took everything I had not to start screaming at them through the gag stuck to my face.
I flexed against my restraints, attempting to draw my legs together, but found they were tied to each leg of some sort of strange chair. The middle of the seat had been cut out. Only the outer edges remained for my thighs to rest on, but between my legs, there was nothing but open air.
“And you found a queening chair… I haven’t seen one of these in centuries,” Hazai purred, stepping closer to me and examining my prone form like I was a new piece of furniture Gabe had brought home for him to inspect.
Gabe chuckled, his citrine eyes shining with amusement as he watched Hazai examine me.
“They’re actually not that hard to come by. Found it online. I thought we could have some fun with it,” Gabriel said, his smooth voice rolling through the room like honey. “She’s awake, you know.”
My heart stopped in my chest at the auburn-haired man’s words, and Hazai laughed.
“Oh, I know. I figured we would just give her a minute to adjust before we got started. Maybe she can watch us play with her brothers first.”
My eyes flew all the way open at the mention of my brothers, and I growled into my gag, only to find myself staring at a very amused Hazai right in the face.
“There she is,” he purred, reaching out to run his knuckles tenderly over my cheek. I jerked away from him so hard that the strange chair scraped across the floor, and Hazai laughed.
“So feisty. You’ve always been a scrappy little witch.” He grinned, and I frowned.
Always?
“Enough games, Hecate. Come out and play. My revenge won’t be as sweet if you don’t even know it’s happening. ”
What the fuck was he talking about?
I glared at him, unable to respond. His green eyes flashed with annoyance.
“Fine. It’s gonna be like that? We’ll just have to make you come out,” he rumbled before pulling away to join his partner, who was looking slightly bored.
“Wake her brothers up. We’ll start with them.”
“I thought you would never ask,” Gabriel purred, sending me a cocky smirk. I narrowed my eyes at him and let him see how much I fucking hated him.
I’d trusted him!
Like a fucking idiot!
His lips curled up at my glare, letting me know the message had been received.
“I think she’s angry with me,” he commented dryly, and Hazai chuckled.
“Welcome to the club. She’s always angry at me.”
“What the fuck are you two talking about!?” I screamed into my gag, but it came out as: mmmphh mmphh mmmm!
Gabe stepped forward and tenderly brushed a strand of my white hair behind my ear.
“I can’t understand you, gorgeous.” He dropped a gentle kiss on my forehead, and I jerked away from him in rage, which just made him chuckle softly.
He pulled back and touched his fingers to my chin, tilting my head back so he could meet my eyes.
“Such a pretty toy. You’re going to make my little hellcat feel so good,” he purred, and my blood ran cold.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Suddenly, the gap in the seat of my chair was more concerning than ever. I was still fully clothed, but the way they were looking at me was making me worried that wouldn’t be the case for long.
“Let’s go get your brothers,” Gabe said softly, patting me on the head like I was a child before stepping out of my line of sight.
I was left alone with Hazai, who was leaning against the wall, staring after Gabe with a soft, almost reverent expression on his face .
“I’m going to fucking kill you!” I screamed into my gag, and he dragged his gaze away from wherever Gabe had gone to face me.
That infuriating smile of his was cocked on his lips, and he tilted his head to the side as he watched me jerk and struggle to get free.
“I know. He’s a keeper, isn’t he?” he asked, intentionally misunderstanding me and making my vision go red. “So twisted and dark. You really thought he was on your side, didn’t you?”
His eyes darkened, and something close to anger flickered across his face, but it was gone in an instant.
“Well, he’s mine, Hec. Don’t you fucking forget that.”
He said it so quietly that I barely heard him, and I knew Gabe certainly couldn’t either.
What sort of twisted rapist soap opera was I starring in!?
Hazai stepped up to me, sidling between my spread legs and taking his turn to curl his fingers under my chin, smiling down at me with that dangerous glint in his green eyes.
“Though, I don’t mind sharing. As long as you remember your place.”
We were interrupted by Gabe’s return. There was a great deal of growling and shuffling behind me, and I strained to see what was causing the commotion.
My eyes widened as I took in the horrifying sight.
Gabe was corralling my brothers toward me, and they were both butt-ass naked.
My face flushed as I realized what he’d done to them. Their hands were bound behind their backs with some sort of golden noose, and they were gagged as well. Both of them had thick collars around their throats with heavy chains latched to them like leashes.
Gabe held both their chains in one hand as he booted Romulus between the shoulder blades, casually forcing him to stumble forward.
Rem whined and followed, tripping after his brother with an expression of pure terror written across his features.
What.
The.
Fuck! ?
“Sit,” Gabe ordered once he’d forced my brothers to gather in front of me. I averted my gaze, not interested in seeing them in this naked and vulnerable state.
My brothers growled and snarled against their gags, but no matter how much they struggled, they couldn’t seem to break their hands free, and Gabe held their leashes so tightly that they couldn’t get away from him.
“Tie them to that post for now,” Hazai ordered. Gabe obeyed, quietly fastening their leads to a nearby supporting pillar.
I watched as Hazai manifested a blue bottle filled with a thick, ominous liquid, and both he and Gabe began to snap on latex gloves.
Hazai looked so fucking excited; he was literally quivering.
“Remove their gags,” he said, and Gabe smirked, immediately obliging.
He ripped the tape off Remus first. Rem spat out the cloth in his mouth immediately.
“Harper!” he bellowed, straining against his collar to get to me. “I’m so fucking sorry! Fuck, Harper, have they touched you?”
I tried to show him with my eyes that it wasn’t his fault. It was mine. I should have known better than to trust a fucking man.
“Shut up,” Gabe drawled, casually backhanding my brother so hard he yelped in pain.
Romulus snarled against his gag, but Gabe rolled his eyes before tearing the tape off him next.
The second Rom’s mouth was free, he roared and clamped his jaws down on Gabe’s hand.
I swear his teeth grew into fangs right before my eyes, and blood exploded out of Gabe’s flesh.
Satisfaction erupted through me as Gabe barked out a shout of pain, trying to pull away from Rom.
My brother just chomped down harder, burying his teeth deeper into his hand.
Hazai booted Romulus in the ribs so sharply that I heard a sickening crack, and my brother let out a dog-like whine as he shrunk away.
“ Fucker!” Gabe swore, and for the first time since I’d met him, he looked angry.
He shook out his bloody hand, and Hazai looked both furious and concerned.
He set the blue bottle down and carefully took Gabe’s injured hand in his. With gentle fingers, he peeled the now shredded glove off so he could examine the wound.
I tried not to smirk at how deep the gash was.
Serves you right, you sick fuck .
“Fuck, baby. He got you bad,” Hazai murmured, carefully raising Gabe’s hand to his mouth and kissing the wound softly, his tongue darting out to taste the other man’s blood.
“Does that hurt?” he whispered, rolling his eyes up to meet Gabe’s.
They looked at each other for a long moment before Gabe reached out and gently brushed some of Hazai’s dark hair out of his eyes.
“Yeah, baby, but I’ll be okay.”
Hazai nodded and dropped another kiss on his partner’s hand before turning furious green eyes on my brother, who was looking at them with a smug, bloody smile on his face.
“You’re going to pay for that,” Hazai growled at Rom, and my skin turned to gooseflesh at the man’s threat.
Fuck. He was terrifying when he was angry.
Uncertainty flickered across my brother’s face as Hazai snatched back up his blue bottle while Gabe replaced the glove Rom had shredded through.
“No one hurts my little bird but me,” Hazai said, his soft voice somehow making me shiver with fear.
The dark-haired man crouched before Romulus, who snarled at him in defiance. He pulled the stopper off the strange bottle and let out a deep rumble that almost sounded like a purr.
“You’re going to make it up to my little bird, Skoll. Then, your brother is going to get your sister nice and wet for us.”
Romulus’ eyes widened in fear as he eyed the bottle that Hazai was carefully tipping over his head.
“Don’t—” Remus whined, jerking forward in an attempt to prevent Hazai from drizzling Romulus with the strange oil.
“And the best part is, you’re going to beg us to let you do it.” Hazai laughed before letting the first drops of liquid fall.