30. Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Royal
J ackson’s naked and partially mutilated body swings from the beams, looking worse for wear. Maddox did a number on it already, but there’s still too much untouched on his body for my liking. I can’t wait to see Raena in action again. I know I’m fucked in the head…but she needs this, and I need him to suffer for hurting my Angel.
Seeing the aftermath of her body in just a few short days, I have no idea how she survived for three years with King and his men the first time. She really is the strongest, most resilient human. But she shouldn’t have to be. The caveman in me is screaming that I need to protect her, to shelter her from the horrors that torturing her tormentors will have on her. But I know the hard truth– there's not a single spot on her soul not tainted by the stain of her trauma.
This is her kill.
She deserves some retribution– some vengeance– for what she’s endured. With the darkness we’ve survived, sometimes you’ve got to join the dark side to find even a fraction of the peace that was stolen from you. I can give her this peace. It doesn’t mean I won’t help her, but she’s running this show.
Maddox leads Raena by the hand past us to Jackson’s unconscious form, and judging by the look in both of their eyes, this is going to get real fucking fun here soon.
“Surprise!” Maddox exclaims, bouncing in his typical giddy manner. “Do you like it?”
“This is just what I need,” Raena says, smiling from ear to ear. Her voice is already slipping into that monotone Hunter voice she uses when she locks down her vulnerabilities so they can’t hurt her. I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure she never has to go to that place again, but for now, I appreciate her built-in protection. Whatever she needs to survive this, I’ll take.
Walking around behind the dangling body, I scan her body head-to-toe. Watching her face for any doubt or hesitation, I find none. She’s ready.
“This is your show, Angel. Tell us what you need.”
“I need answers. Jackson is his right hand. If anyone knows where he’d hole up and hide, it’s him,” she tells me, and of course, she’s right. That was our thinking, too.
“Let's wake him up and have a little chat then,” Maddox says as Alek walks back to the door, pulling it closed to give us some privacy.
We left Snow and her guys at the house, preparing more food to feed the army we’ve built, and we’ve instructed said army to ignore anything they hear from this shed for a while. He’s not leaving this building alive, but just to be safe, we don’t want him having any intel on our little hideout or how many people we have.
“Did you…skin his balls?” Raena can’t hide the excitement in her glittering green eyes as she looks over his handiwork.
“Nice touch, right?” Maddox beams under her approval. “Don’t worry, my Queen, I left plenty for you.”
The little psycho has met his match, that's for sure. No one but our girl could bond with him over mutilated genitals. I don’t think my fucked up heart has ever been more full than it is right now.
The smile she gives him is nothing short of breathtaking. She saunters up to him, swaying her ass with every step. She runs a single finger up and down his chest over the shirt he threw on earlier. The dominance in her voice is something I’ve never heard, and it almost drops me to my knees when she looks up at him from beneath her full lashes. “Take off your clothes, Maddie Baby.”
Holy fucking shit.
My dick couldn’t be harder than it is right now watching her sexy little ass going all ‘Domme’ on my little brother.
Alek steps up beside me, and a quick look at him and the monster imprint he’s sporting in those sweats tells me he’s not unaffected either. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he leans down to whisper in my ear, his deep gravel voice sending a shiver down my spine unexpectedly. He’s never affected me like this, either. I can’t say that I mind at all. “Looks like our girl is full of her own surprises.”
“That she is,” I respond, not being able to tear my eyes away from Maddox, who is stripping his clothes off with a feral grin on his face, and our girl standing there with confidence oozing from her.
When he stands there completely naked, Raena circles him slowly, trailing her finger along his arms, chest, and back as she goes. His pierced dick is definitely on board with whatever she has planned as it jerks and responds to her delicate touch.
In the back of my mind, I’m worried it’s too soon for her to be doing anything sexual after the trauma she so recently went through…again. But if this is what she needs to heal, she can use our bodies in whatever way she wants. I know better than to tell a woman she’s wrong for doing what she needs to do to dig herself out of a trauma hole.
No, this is how she’s taking back the power they stole from her. She’s in charge, and she fucking knows it. I’ve never seen anything sexier.
“Do you remember telling me you were going to paint my body with the blood of our enemies?” She asks, standing behind him in her power position.
“I did say that.” His throat bobs in anticipation, waiting to see what she does.
She walks away, going to the shelf Maddox laid out his ‘tools’ on. She picks up a dagger, running her finger along the blade as she walks back to stand in front of him once more. When she turns to Jackson, she drags the blade down diagonally across his chest, starting at his left shoulder and ending at his right hip.
Her mark.
Jackson’s eyes immediately pop open, with his muffled scream following after. She ignores him as she repeats the mark on the opposite side, crafting her signature 'X' on his skin.
His smothered screams and cries around his gag still fill the tiny space, no doubt spilling out for our men to hear. But she doesn’t pay him a bit of attention as she slips the blade into her waistband and coats her tiny hands in the blood as it runs down his torso. She turns back to Maddox with a devilish, sexy smile. “I’ll go first.”
She smears the blood across his tattooed chest, down his abs, reaching back for more as she needs to. Jackson’s wide eyes dart around between the four of us, begging for a reprieve he won’t get. I don’t have a single fuck to give him. My dick’s about to bust out of my pants and plead its own case with her for a little bit of the attention she’s giving my brother.
When her dainty hand wraps around his cock, coating it in blood, I almost come on the spot. “Goddamn, Angel,” I curse under my breath, gripping myself tightly to gather even a semblance of control over my own cock. Out of the corner of my eye, Alek’s adjusting himself as well.
We’re so fucked for this girl.
No one utters a single word while she finishes painting Maddox’s entire upper body with Jackson’s blood. When she’s deemed it good enough, she steps back, eyeing her masterpiece with desire that very well might set us all ablaze.
Maddox looks like she did when we rescued her–he looks every bit the feral psycho we know and love, and the shit-eating grin he’s sporting tells me he’s right in his element.
“Your turn,” she says, handing the blade to Maddox and spinning a whimpering Jackson around on his chains to face away from them. “Paint me red, little psycho.”
Her nickname has his already face-splitting grin widening impossibly bigger. “As you wish, my Bloody Cherry,” he says, taking the blade and slicing into Jackson’s back with ease. The skin splits on contact, spilling more paint for their little art project.
If she gets naked, this little Q and A is going to be over before we even get started. Tapping Alek on the arm, I turn to him. “Let’s let them have their time. We need to go check in with the others.”
“Come on, Royal. It’s just about to get good,” he groans, looking like I just kicked his puppy. But he knows I’m right. He will get his time with our girl, just like he let me have mine. “Ugh! Fine. But I don’t want to hear shit when I steal her away from you the next time you try to get your dick wet.”
I’ve never seen Alek act like this, and it’s hilarious. He’s always so put together and calm. Who knew this little fireball could undo him so well?
Before Raena can pull her tank top over her head, I step in front of her, wrapping my hand around her delicate throat and capturing her lips with mine in a kiss that tells her exactly what she does to me. I can feel her pulse thundering beneath my fingers like a hummingbird's wings beating a mile a minute. When I pull away, both of us are breathless, and her emerald eyes are hazy with lust. “We’ll be right outside, Angel. Take your time.”
“Wait, you’re leaving?” She rushes, gripping onto my arm as the haze in her eyes clears, and panic rushes forward. If it’s possible, her pulse increases to an alarming rate, and her breath comes in pants that have nothing to do with how I just kissed her.
“No. Not leaving. Just giving you and Maddox some time together. We’ll be right outside the shed if you need us. I promise.” I say, gripping her throat tighter, not enough to cut off her oxygen but enough to bring her heart rate back down to an acceptable rhythm. “Is that okay, Angel?”
“Um–uh…y-yes.” She clears her throat and takes a deep, measured breath, blowing it out slowly to calm herself. “I’m okay. Thank you. That’s okay.”
She’s still a little breathless when I slowly unwrap my fingers from around her throat and tuck a stray curl behind her ear. I lean down, bringing my mouth to her ear and sucking the lobe in my mouth. She tastes so fucking good that it takes everything in me not to take her right here, right now. “That’s my good girl. Maddox needs this just as much as you. Just yell if you need us.”
Stepping back with monumental effort, I tug Alek behind me by the arm, and he walks backwards the entire way out the door, unable to tear his eyes away from our girl until I shut the door behind us.
“Come on, Daddy. You’ll get your turn soon.”