37. Cáel
“Don’t kill him. Not here,” Terry warned.
The words barely penetrated through the blood roaring in my ears. All I could see was Hayden’s face. Her split lip. The bruise already rising on her cheek. The red marks rimming her neck.
“He. Dies,” I gritted out.
The pissant scrambled back. “Y-you can’t do that. I’m a tenured professor.”
I growled low, the sound making everyone in the room freeze. “You. Touched. Her.”
“She came on to me,” Brent snapped.
It was the wrong thing to say.
I lunged forward, my fist connecting with Brent’s cheekbone. His head snapped back, hitting the wall. He howled in pain as the door flew open.
Maddox stalked inside. “What the hell is going on?”
“I’m going to sue you!” Brent yelled.
Maddox’s gaze jumped from me to the professor and back. “Cáel.” He approached me slowly. “What happened?”
I recognized Mad’s posture, his tone. It was as if he were approaching an injured animal. He thought I was overreacting to some perceived slight.
“He attacked Hayden.”
Maddox froze, his eyes swirling gold.
“He’s lying!” Brent shouted, scrambling to his feet.
“Where is she?” Maddox demanded.
“Knox has her.” Pain flashed through me. The two parts of my soul battled against each other. The need for vengeance, for blood, and the need for her.
My jaw worked back and forth as I struggled to get the next words out. “He hit her. Split her lip. Strangled her. Ripped her blouse.”
“Lies!” Brent shouted. “She came on to me. I was just trying to get her off me.”
Maddox straightened to his full height and turned slowly to face the professor. He stalked forward, each step deliberate, a predator stalking his prey. “She’s half your size. You could shove her off with one push. You sure as hell wouldn’t have to strangle her. Wouldn’t need to rip. Her. Blouse.”
“Y-you weren’t here. You didn’t see,” Brent argued.
“I know that Hayden wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole. And now I know that you’re a sick fuck who’s going to pay for his sins in blood,” Maddox snarled.
Brent’s face reddened. “She’s a slut. She was begging for it.”
Fury swept through me like an inferno. “What. Did. You. Say?”
My dragon shoved at my skin so hard it was physically painful to hold him back. He wanted to end this human, but he wanted to play with him first.
“Everyone knows that she’s fucking everyone who looks her way. Why should I be any different?” Brent huffed.
“I am going to remove your organs one by one, but I’m going to keep you alive while I do it so that you feel every ounce of agony.” My voice had gone completely cold—no warmth in it at all.
Brent paled. But it was too late for him.
My fist struck out again. I went for the temple this time. One carefully placed blow, and he was collapsing to the floor, unconscious.
Maddox glanced at me. “I’m impressed with your control.”
“I did it for Hayden,” I gritted out. We needed answers before we ended this sack of shit. Needed to make sure he was just your run-of-the-mill monster and not someone the Corbetts had set on Hayden.
Pain streaked across Maddox’s face. “How bad was she?”
I tried desperately to shove the images out of my mind. “It wasn’t good.”
“We called the caster,” Pete said, stepping forward. “He’s making some salves to help with her healing.”
“Cillian wants you to bring the teacher to the shed,” Terry added, glaring at the heap on the floor.
My beast pushed for supremacy again. He knew what the shed meant. That he’d get his blood, his screams.
“First, we need to figure out how to get him out of here without being seen,” Maddox muttered. “And someone needs to clean up the office so there aren’t signs of a struggle.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Pete said with a grin. He disappeared out the door, returning a few seconds later with the custodian’s cleaning cart. “I think we can make him fit in the garbage can like the trash he is.”
Yes, we could.
Our blacked-outSUV pulled up to the rundown shed far from our house. Far enough that no one would hear Brent scream. His muffled yells from the trunk reminded me that my dragon would get to hear every cry of pain. He needed that. Needed to inflict ten times the agony that this monster had inflicted on Hayden.
I opened the back door and slid out of the vehicle, only to be greeted by a very pissed-off Cillian.
“Where. Is. He?” Cillian growled.
“Trunk.”
Maddox was already moving to open it as Pete and Terry waited for further instruction.
The back hatch rose as Brent twisted and writhed. But there was tape over his mouth, and his hands and feet were zip-tied.
“Get him in the chair,” Cillian snapped.
The two enforcers easily carried a flailing Brent into the shed.
“Have you heard from Knox?” Maddox asked.
Cillian nodded. “He and East are bringing Hayden back to the house now. They’ll treat her wounds and make sure she’s okay.”
“She’s not okay.” The words ground out like a vicious accusation.
Cillian’s eyes bled to black. “I know. And we are going to get retribution.”
With that, he stalked toward the shed.
We followed behind to find that Pete and Terry already had the pissant zip-tied to the chair. Cillian prowled toward him, ripping off the tape.
Brent cried out. “I’m going to sue all of you. Take your fucking billions. I’ll own your ass.”
Cillian chuckled low, sending a shiver over all of us. “They’d have to find your body first. And with the tiny little pieces Cáel is going to chop you into, I highly doubt they will.”
Brent’s face blanched of all color. “You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, we would. You’re going to die either way. The question is how painful we make it. If you answer me honestly now, I’ll make sure it’s quick. If you fuck with me, I’ll let Cáel take his time.”
My dragon surged again. He wanted to keep the monster alive for days, to stretch out the torture for as long as possible.
“Y-you’re messing with me,” Brent stammered.
“Am I?” Cillian asked, extending his hand toward Terry, who placed a knife in it. In one swift movement, Cillian brought the knife down. It cleanly severed one of Brent’s fingers.
There was a pause and then a scream of agony.
Cillian grinned, wiping the blade on Brent’s pants. “Now. Are you going to tell me what I want to know?”
“Yes! Yes! Fuck!”
“Good. Who told you to target Hayden?”
Brent’s brow puckered. “What? No one.”
Cillian pressed the blade to his throat. “You sure about that?”
“Y-yes. She’s hot. I just thought—she seemed like she liked me.”
Maddox and I let out audible growls that had Brent’s eyes widening.
“Do you know the Corbett family?” Cillian asked, fury lacing his tone.
“Who? No. Do they have a kid at the school?”
Brent didn’t know shit. He was just a sick fuck trying to prey on his advisees.
Cillian stepped back, looking at me. “Cáel, he’s all yours.”
“But you said!” Brent yelled.
Cillian glared at him. “I lied.”
I brought my hand down, unsheathing my claws.
Brent’s eyes went wide as saucers. “W-what are you?”
I grinned. “Your worst nightmare.”