Chapter 35 Kain
Kain
The shackles around his wrists cut into his already bleeding flesh, but the pain was easy to ignore.
Snarling, he crouched by the wall he was chained to, ready to lunge the second the female came within reach. He would snap her neck as he had the last of his captors who’d made that mistake.
“Now, now, big boy. I just want to chat,” she purred from behind the bars of his cell. She cocked a hip and looked him over with hunger in her cold eyes. “You’re such a handsome one. And strong. I just want to make you feel good. Don’t you want to feel good?”
“I want to rip the head from your shoulders. That would make me feel good.”
Her laughter echoed off the stone walls, its pitch modulated for seduction. The only impact it had on Kain was to further fuel his rage.
“I bet your offspring will be as fierce as their daddy. Would that be so bad? To make strong children who will bring honor to your name?”
Children. His chest gave an achy spasm, and he gritted his teeth against the onslaught of emotion that word brought.
He had a child—or at least he’d had a child. He didn’t know if Selma managed to escape, and he would likely never find out. All he could do was hope that she’d made it to Kesh and that his brother would treat her and their child well.
If a mated demon died, it was customary that the Breeder went to a sexually mature family member if she still had young children. It was the only way to ensure her new mate didn’t kill the offspring not related to him in a fit of jealousy.
To Selma and his family, he was dead. No one knew where he’d been taken or that he was even alive, and Kesh was smart enough to know not to draw attention to Naharan’s betrayal. An all-out war with the royal family would risk destroying them all—including his mate and unborn child.
“I have sent you willing female after willing female, and you have denied them all. And of course you killed poor Freidha. She was in heat, which is why she was silly enough to get too close, but I really did expect you to at least sniff her a bit before breaking her neck.
“Yet nothing has tempted that lovely cock of yours—which, let’s be honest, is pretty out of character for your kind. I’ve been told you Lords enjoy raping those of us you capture, so why not take it when it’s freely given?”
Kain spat at the ground and showed his teeth in disgust. He knew what they wanted from him—his seed to strengthen their offspring.
Maybe before he’d mated his little one his body would have given in to the alluring scent of a female in heat, but now all he felt was repulsion.
Nothing and no one would ever make him yearn like Selma did, and mounting another would only sully her memory.
He was fully aware that the image of her pretty face and the way she made him feel things he hadn’t even known were possible were the only pleasantness he would ever know again.
“You know,” the female said, the purr in her voice changing ever-so slightly to a more threatening sound, “you will give me what I want eventually. I am your queen, and sooner or later, you will yield to me. You produce stronger sperm when at full health and vitality, but I will starve and torture you to get what I need.”
Kain’s only response was a growl. Let her try to break him—he would rather die than give her what belonged to his mate.
Selma.
If she had made it to safety, nothing they did to him would matter.
The queen sighed and uncoiled the whip hanging by her hip. “I see you’ve made your choice. Very well.”
His body still trembled long after the queen had left the dungeon. He wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with pain, but even his exceedingly high level of endurance had started to crack after hours of being whipped and beaten.
Kain breathed in deeply to calm himself, and the scent of his own blood filled his nostrils.
He leaned his head back against the cool stone wall he was slouched against. Closing his eyes, he groaned at the ache in his marred shoulders when they pressed more firmly against the surface.
He’d heal quickly enough, but he had no delusions that the bitch queen wasn’t going to draw more blood the next time she came.
And the time after that, and the time after that.
Hopefully, one day soon, she would let her guard down for just a second. When she did, he would strike, and maybe—just maybe—he would escape and find his mate again.
He smiled wryly. Succumbing to romantic fantasies… what a little torture and emotional turmoil could do to a man—even a demon.
During the beating, he’d indulged himself and let his mind escape to those moments in the car when he’d been driving Selma back.
While looking at her sleeping form all curled up on the passenger seat next to him, he had finally realized what that sore thing constricting in his chest every time he thought of her was.
Love.
How ridiculous that such a folly had his insides twisting and his very being yearning. Yet he’d felt nothing but warmth flood his body as he’d watched her sleep, knowing that what he felt was love.
She’d chosen him. She’d chosen him and his child, had assured him that she would never leave their son—and in her scent and beautiful eyes, he’d seen the truth to her words.
For nearly an hour of his life, while the sound of Selma’s deep breaths and her beautiful scent filled the car he was bringing her home in, he’d known true happiness. It was enough—it was more than he’d ever hoped for. More than he’d known to hope for.
No matter whether he escaped, they could never take that away from him.
Rattling at the dungeon door made his jaw clench and his thoughts slam back into the present.
He’d hoped to get some sleep and to gather a bit of strength before the next session, but the queen was undoubtedly determined to make him break sooner rather than later.
He still had the marks to prove as much.
The sharp fluorescent lights flickered on, and he could now make out two sets of individual footsteps. With a low growl he got to his feet, though he remained crouched and prepared to attack.
“Kain?”
The soft voice made his breath catch in his throat, choking off the growl.
No…
He hadn’t finished the denial before the owner of the voice came into view. She paused for a second, her soft mouth dropping open in shock. Then she ran to the bars.
“Kain!”
Panic, desperation, and overwhelming joy blended into a knot of emotion in his stomach as Selma pulled uselessly at the door to his cell, rattling it in her attempt at getting to him.
“You can’t be here,” he gasped, panic taking over as he envisioned his beloved mate in the hands of the ruthless queen. “You have to get out!”
“We’re not planning on hanging around, if that’s what you mean.” Another figure came into view, gently prying Selma’s fingers off the bars so he could get to the lock.
Kesh.
Dark light flickered around his hand as he pressed his black energy into the lock, melting it off.
The moment the door was open, Selma rushed through it as if she was going to jump at him. But she stopped short, looking his bruised and bleeding body up and down with horror in her eyes.
“Oh, Kain.”
The scent of her anguish pulled the rumbling hum from his chest before he closed his arms around her, shackles and all, and pulled her soft body against his.
His lashes hurt when she pressed against them, but the soothing comfort of her already familiar weight far overshadowed any discomfort.
Lost in the sensation of her, he buried his face in her long hair to inhale her intoxicating aroma, never pausing his deep rumble.
His mate. His beloved.
“Could you guys maybe wait with the reunion shit until we’re out of here? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re in a fucking dungeon underneath one of the queen’s residences. If we want any chance at getting out, it needs to happen before they manage to call for reinforcements.”
Selma pulled away at his brother’s snide comment, her brown eyes filling with worry instead of joy.
“He’s right,” she said, her voice tight. “Kirigan is trying to contain the guards upstairs. We have to hurry.”
His father was there? Kesh had taken her to their father?
Through sheer force of will, Kain pushed away the worry clenching in his stomach. He could have words with his brother about putting his entrusted mate into danger—which damn well included bringing her here—later.
He glared at Kesh over the top of Selma’s head, but the other demon was too preoccupied with examining his chains to care.
“Resistant to our magic,” he muttered as he gave the lock an experimental prod with the tip of his knife. “It’ll take forever to pick this. They sure didn’t want you getting loose, eh? Selma, give it a try.”
Kain frowned as his mate grabbed the shackles around his wrists and stared intently at them. His unasked question was soon answered when pure white light burst from her palms and into the metal, cracking the lock open as efficiently as a rock to a walnut.
“What the fuck was that?”
Kesh quirked a sardonic eyebrow at him. “Oh, that? Yeah, turns out your Breeder is capable of killing even the strongest among us. And may I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your choice of mate? Well-picked. She sure is worth the shit-ton of trouble your claiming has caused.”
A defensive growl rumbled from his chest even as he eyed Selma with some hesitation. Had she always been capable of this? Had she somehow manipulated him into believing she was defenseless?
Her face contorted under his scrutiny, giving way to lines of anxiety and exhaustion.
“I didn’t know, Kain,” she whispered as if the questions were plain is his eyes.
No, she wasn’t pretending to be weak—he’d smelled her terror when she was cornered and abused the first time he saw her, and now… she looked so frail, tired. Whatever was going on with her unexpected power, she obviously wasn’t in control.