Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
Leo
I can smell Harlow’s fear as I drop her into the chair. She looks so tiny as she stares around the room. I am not a good man, yet not even I like seeing the fear on her face. She knows what this room is for, what happens in here. It is not a regular playroom.
No, Corbin doesn’t like his girls willing. It doesn’t matter that a few of us hate this room, he is our Alpha, and it is impossible to go against his command. Corbin comes into the room with a black leather pouch in his hand. It contains his serum.
Luckily, I was able to avoid lying to Corbin, so he believes my deception. Nothing I said wasn’t true. Unfortunately, I can tell Harlow believes I’m exactly like him. A monster. In some ways, she may be correct.
“Get her on the bed. She is no use to me in the chair. Tie her down,” Corbin orders, and both Kingsley and I go about the task. I need to find another way. I need that serum bag. The bond won’t be complete if she doesn’t mark us. But she will if Corbin commands her.
I reach to grab her, but Kingsley gets her first. Harlow fights, as expected, and I turn my gaze away, suddenly sickened. I don’t know if it is because I know Harlow or because she is around the same age as my daughter.
Corbin pulls a syringe from the leather pouch. Harlow sees it and thrashes. I try to figure a way to avoid this but see no options. Kingsley starts tying her down, with Slater’s help, while Corbin climbs on the bed. She kicks out, and Corbin barks at me to grab her legs as she attempts to kick him.
I move quickly, gripping her ankles as he goes to jab the needle in her thigh.
I let one of her legs go as she thrashes, and her knee hits him in the chest. She thrashes more frantically, seeing his serum about to be plunged into her.
She screams in rage, thrashing and bucking like a crazed animal. Her eyes even flicker to her wolf form.
Corbin growls. I can tell he is two seconds away from commanding her.
I grab her legs again while Kingsley moves to restrain them, having finished her hands.
I time her movements while Corbin tries not to get kicked.
When I feel her muscles tense, I throw myself at Corbin, pretending her momentum pushed me into him, and we both topple off the bed.
The syringe goes flying, and three of our other mates move to hold her down.
“Fucking pin the bitch! How hard is it? She is fucking tiny,” Corbin snarls as I snatch the needle, quickly breaking the tip off while Corbin gets to his feet. I pass it to him just as they finish restraining her. Harlow breaks down. Tears streak her face as Corbin grabs her thigh for his serum.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake! Leo, see if there is another syringe,” he tells me. I move to grab the little black bag off the table, knowing full well that Corbin only keeps one in each bag.
“None left.”
“Go grab another bag from the fridge,” he dismisses me, tossing the broken syringe into the trash bin by the door.
Harlow’s eyes meet mine in panic. I swallow, pulling my gaze away, and leave to retrieve what he asked for. I hate leaving her alone with them, but this is my chance.
I race through the house in a hurry. I stop at the front door and quickly punch in the code to disarm the alarms and detonators. I also unlock the front gate.
It will take them at least ten minutes to get up the driveway.
I race to the kitchen and rip open the fridge, grabbing another bag with Corbin’s serum.
I then grab a knife and slash it down my bicep, where I hid Thane’s vial.
I hiss as the blade digs into my muscle before jamming my fingers into the wound to pull it out.
I quickly rinse it and empty one of the syringes, not having time to hunt for a new one.
Glancing at my arm, I see the wound closing over.
I try to clean the syringe as best I can, using boiling water and the hand sanitizer we keep on the counter. I break out in a sweat and glance over my shoulder. Each passing second feels like an hour, when I hear Harlow’s scream ring out through the mansion.
My hands shake as I fill the syringe with Thane’s serum.
Tossing the vial, I put the syringe back in the bag.
Before racing back to the room, I check the driveway camera by the front door.
I see the cars coming up the driveway. All their headlights are off.
There’s a huge black wolf on the roof of one of the cars.
It jumps off and starts running up here.
Getting back to the rape room, as I call it, I stop in my tracks. Corbin has already marked her. So has Slater and a few others. Harlow screams as Kingsley bends down to bite her.
“Just in time. Give her the serum and mark her,” Corbin tells me. I fiddle with the zipper on the bag, trying not to let my hands shake. I pull the syringe out and move toward the bed as Kingsley steps back. Tears leave tracks down her face as they start undressing her.
“Please! Please don’t,” Harlow begs me. Her neck is a bloody mess after my seven mates marked her, and I’m not about to make it any better.
I crawl onto the bed. “Hang tight, sweetie. Leo will take care of you,” I purr, knowing Corbin is watching me.
Harlow cries and sobs when I kiss her. Thane is going to kill me for this.
I want to kill me, seeing Harlow fight against this.
I lick a line across her jaw, down to her neck where the skin is marred.
Yet, I can still smell Thane in her blood.
That bond won’t be broken until she marks us.
This is reversible, I tell myself as I sink my teeth into her neck, trying to be as gentle as possible.
Harlow shrieks, her voice raspy from all her screaming.
Harlow suddenly starts laughing, her fear turning her hysterical. “I’m going to watch you fucking bleed out. I will bathe in all your fucking blood!” she screams furiously.
I run my tongue over her neck. Her breathing is heavy with rage. “I’ll get you out of here,” I whisper so low that only she hears. Harlow gasps, and I pull away. I see the question in her eyes. As if she’s wondering if she heard right.
The look on her face is giving too much away. Damn Harlow, you’re no actor, I think. I pull back, cupping her cheek before kissing her. She whimpers as my tongue forces its way between her lips. I grope her, putting on a show for Corbin. He laughs, tapping my shoulder.
“Serum. Then you can fuck that sweet pussy,” Corbin tells me. I growl, pecking her lips before climbing off her. I inject her with the serum.
Harlow hisses, and her eyes go wide before she suddenly stills.
She blinks, realizing that it’s not Corbin’s serum.
Her eyes flicker. Her entire demeanor changes as Thane’s DNA burns through her veins, strengthening her.
My heart rate slows, knowing in two seconds, Corbin’s command will no longer work on her.
“Okay, sweetheart. Your turn,” Corbin says, sliding in next to her. His hand trails over her body, and she grits her teeth when he squeezes her breast. I clench mine too, as I watch him fondle her. Harlow shakes her head. Thane better hurry up. I can’t take on all my mates.
I feel Corbin’s aura rush out. She tenses, then quickly relaxes. “Mark me,” he commands her. She grits her teeth before tilting her head. She regards him like some failed science experiment, not a man trying to force himself on her.
Corbin grips the back of her neck as he leans closer. Her eyes meet mine. I can feel his aura violently holding her, but she appears to be unaffected. My lips tug at the corners, and her eyes narrow in realization as she looks at me. I incline my head. Her eyes flicker and sparkle deviously.
“Mark me!” Corbin snarls at her. Her lips open, and for a second, I think he managed it.
“Go… fuck… yourself,” she says, speaking slowly and clearly. The venom in her words drips off her tongue. Corbin jerks back, staring at her.
“I said mark me!” he snaps, gripping her hair. She hisses at his grip but smiles and sucks in a deep breath. I think she’ll scream, but instead, she spits in his face. Corbin shoves her back, slamming her head against the headboard.
Corbin wipes her spit from his face before backhanding her. Harlow’s head whips to the side, and she laughs, her lip bleeding. I watch as her tongue darts out, sweeping over the cut.
“I can feel him, you know, feel him creeping closer.” Harlow smiles and shudders as the power of Thane’s Alpha-of-Alphas serum morphs her DNA.
Morphs her. “Do you know what it feels like to die?” she asks Corbin.
He grips her neck, and she cackles like a madwoman.
“It feels cold. You can feel the life drain from your body. Literally feel the blood in your veins cool with your breath. Nothing is colder than death,” she says, and Corbin slaps her.
“You’re about to find out just how cold death feels. And as your heart beats frantically, trying to stop the cold, know that’s death's knock you hear. Thump, thump… thump.”
“Shut up!” Corbin screams in her face.
“You’re a dead man.”
Corbin grips her shoulders and slams her back against the headboard. I get to my feet, cursing at how long the driveway is because I know I’m going to have to intervene.
“Mark me!” he screams in her face.
“I’m gonna enjoy watching him break you. You fucked with the wrong Omega. His Omega!” she giggles. Corbin raises his hand to slap her again just as windows start shattering all over the house, causing him to stop and look up.
“Run, Corbin. Thane is coming for you,” Harlow snickers. His head whips in her direction. A few of my mates run off to fight the incursion, but I can’t leave her here. Not while she’s still tied down, and not with him.
“Oh, you’ll mark me, little Omega,” Corbin snarls. She shakes her head.
“Nope. Thane already marked you. Only, he marked you for death.” She smiles as we hear all hell break loose upstairs.
“Help me untie her!” Corbin panics, and I move to remove her restraints.