Chapter Fourteen
Talia
I fucking hate to admit it, but I don’t hate being here. I might even enjoy it. Am I happy? I think Soren is permanently grumpy, but he’s tolerable. More than that, he’s comforting to be around.
Micah has explained a lot to me over the last month, and he said that he’s battling a lot of demons right now, but I just need to be patient.
After everything I have been through, especially since Dad sold me, I can be patient with Soren.
He tries to make me think he will hurt me as a way to try and push me away, but we both know it’s bullshit.
I’ll let him think whatever, and he will come around eventually.
Soren and the guys are hunting this slippery little bitch down. I know they all hate being away from home, but they need to get this done. It’s not often that their marks get away from them, but this dude knows that he has a hit out on him.
I’ve been reading in bed for most of the day, so I set my book down and walk to the kitchen to feed myself. As I am placing my plate of leftover pasta into the microwave, I hear the front door open.
“Hey, guys,” I call out so they know where I am. “I didn’t know you already got him.”
Silence…
“Hello? Am I talking to myself?” I ask. When I still don’t get a response, I go to the kitchen door and find the door wide open.
Fear starts to creep in, and I don’t have a good feeling.
I take a step out of the kitchen to peer around the corner, but I cry out in pain when I am hit so hard in the face that it makes my head spin.
I hit the floor, and I’m spitting out blood as I try to crawl away from the body looming over me. “Not so fast, bitch,” he grunts as he drags me back.
“Stop! Let me go!” I scream when he starts yanking my leggings down. I start kicking and clawing at the floor, trying to get away. When I am rolled to my back, I immediately recognize him as the guard from the hotel, Greg, I think.
He pins my arms above my head with one hand as he forces his knee between my thighs to spread my legs.
I am sobbing so hard that my pleas are incoherent.
I scream in pain when he shoves inside of me.
He releases my arms but starts ramming into me harder.
I hit him as hard as I can and try to push him off me, but he’s too strong.
When I start trying to twist my body, he lets me.
As soon as I roll to try and crawl away, he simply grabs my hips and rams into my ass.
I claw at the floor, trying to crawl away.
My nails break and bleed, but I don’t give up until I am too weak to move.
Eventually, he comes and flips me back to my back.
He’s screaming at me, but I cannot make out the words.
He slaps me across the face, and I realize he’s trying to ask me something.
The only word I can make out is ‘vampire’ before he starts punching me.
I try to shield my face, but the blows seem to come from everywhere.
I am hardly conscious by the time he stops, and he leans down to whisper in my ear. “If I can’t kill him, I’ll kill his mate instead,” he growls.
A deafening pop explodes, and a white-hot pain stabs through my abdomen, just below my ribs, and my body numbs in an instant.
Greg pulls back, and he has blood on him. I’m disoriented as I feel my belly. I look down at my hand, and it’s covered in blood.
I don’t understand what I did… None of this is my fault. Dad is the one who got into debt, not me. Why does everyone hurt me? Will I never know peace? Because every time I find it, I lose it in an instant.
I roll to my side and curl myself up, trying to comfort myself as I grow weaker.
When my eyes are finally too weak to open, I let myself think about what could have been with Soren.
We were finally making progress, but now…
I hope I am as disposable as he once said, because I don’t want my death to hurt him.
This time, slipping into oblivion isn’t the place I want to be.