Chapter 28
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
HAVEN
Despite the adrenaline flooding my veins, travel-induced exhaustion was real. The longer I waited, the heavier my eyelids became. I dozed.
The door’s squeaky hinge had me jerking my chin off my chest.
“You’re sure she’ll wake up?” The speaker’s barely contained excitement raised goose bumps on my arms.
“We gave her enough to make her drowsy and docile, not enough to knock her out.”
I recognized the innkeeper’s raspy tone, and my muscles tensed.
“I want her awake while I fuck her.”
A shudder traveled the length of my spine.
“I know, I know.” The innkeeper sounded weary, as if he’d heard that exact demand a million times. “Their fear turns you on.”
Their. Plural. How many girls had they raped?
Someone stepped into the room, carrying with them the scent of sour ale and old sweat. The flickering light from the candle on the bedside table revealed long, stringy hair. The man from the bar.
I suppressed a gag.
This man wanted to revel in my fear? He couldn’t have it. Instead, I’d give him a taste of the abject terror that swamped powerless girls as they faced men like him.
He closed the door, then yanked on the blankets, revealing the pillows I’d hidden.
For an instant, his face clouded with confusion, then his gaze landed on me.
He licked his lips, and the candlelight revealed excitement in his eyes.
He didn’t understand. He thought he held the power, that he was a predator and I was prey. He couldn’t be more wrong.
I stood.
Someone pounded on the door. “Grillo, hurry up! There’s a line.”
Grillo’s lips stretched across his rotting teeth. “Nah, I think I’ll take my time. Take off your clothes, girl.”
“No.”
He grinned as if my refusal pleased him. “I like it when they fight.”
Then he was going to love me. “Do you? Shall we fight?” As satisfying as breaking his nose might be, it wouldn’t induce fear. I pulled the dagger from my boot and admired the blade.
He tilted his head and frowned as if he couldn’t quite work out how I’d produced a weapon, then held out his hand. “I’ll take that.”
“You can try.” I sent a bit of Carron’s power—pain—at him.
He clutched his belly.
I twirled the dagger, admiring the roses on the hilt. “Or I can render you unconscious and then cut off your pathetic cock.” I sent more misery spiraling through his veins. “I prefer that option.”
Grillo bent over and moaned. “What are you doing?”
“You planned on raping me.”
“Not rape. I paid my money. Same as the rest.”
“But you didn’t get my consent.”
His upper lip curled into a sneer. “Don’t need it. You’re nothing but a slit.”
Rage burned through me, faster, brighter, hotter than a fatwood fire.
“You might want to watch what you say to me.” I smiled pleasantly as if we were having a friendly conversation over a pint of ale, then I flexed my fingers and made him feel like the flesh was being peeled from his bones. “After all, I can cut off your cock.”
He fell to his knees.
“How many girls have you raped?”
“This is my first time. I swear.” The man was an abysmal liar.
I tsked and added a thousand knives to the peeling. “There’s a penalty for lying.”
“Ten!”
“Ten?” Not for a minute did I believe him. “Are you sure?” I twisted the dagger, allowing the candlelight to glint off the blade.
“Twenty!” He was still lying.
“You don’t deserve a cock.” I turned the dagger so that its sharp blade glinted in the light. “You’ll hardly miss it.”
He clutched his hands to his groin, but not before I saw wetness darken the front of his trousers.
“Please,” he begged. “I’ll do anything. Anything.”
As if I’d ever touch his cock. Never. Not even to cut it off. “You use that thing to hurt women. It has to go.”
“No!” he squeaked. “Please no.”
“I found the handcuffs. Maybe I should shackle you to the bed first.”
“Those handcuffs aren’t mine! They’re here for Van.”
If Van was waiting in the hall, I’d make him pay.
I sent another searing jolt of pain through Grillo’s body and felt an echo in my own. Unlike my own magic, the magic I absorbed from Smit and Carron demanded a price. My knees buckled as phantom fire raced along my spine. I clutched one of the bed’s posts.
Grillo missed my weakness as tears streamed down his cheeks. “Please,” he begged. “Have mercy.”
“Did the girls you raped plead for mercy?”
He stared at me as if he didn’t know how to answer. I could almost see his thoughts turning in his ugly head. Should he lie? Would I know? Would I punish him by extending his agony? Or should he tell the truth? He’d feasted on their fear, reveling in their terror.
I could end his miserable existence. I had Smit’s death magic, and if ever a man deserved death, it was Grillo. He’d raped countless girls.
Tempting, but I was neither judge nor executioner.
Rather than killing him, I crashed a wave of pain over him and smiled when he fell face-first on the hard floor.
“Hurry up in there!” Someone in the hallway was impatient.
If they knew how furious I was, they’d happily wait to see me. And my fury wasn’t reserved for the men lining up outside my door. Grayson, Teal, Flynn, and even Pierce had failed to protect me. Again.
I took a breath, gathered my strength, and shoved open the door.
Seven men crowded the hallway. Seven.
Carron’s gift exploded from my fingers, attacking the closest men in their lungs, their guts, their hearts. Squeezing. Twisting. Wringing not nearly enough agony from them. Too soon, they fell to the floor, unconscious.
As they fell, the magic I’d borrowed from Carron sputtered out.
The remaining four men stared in confusion at their companions on the floor.
Their confusion gave me a chance to summon conventional weapons. A sword. A staff.
I swung the staff, breaking a man’s thigh bone before they even thought of attacking me. Then I destroyed a second man’s knee.
The remaining two raised their fists.
I roundhouse kicked one in the head and grinned as he crashed to the floor.
Only the innkeeper remained. He pulled a knife and stalked toward me. “You think you can do this to my customers?”
“You’re lucky I didn’t kill them.” Arguably, they’d deserved it.
He lunged toward me, and I brought the staff down on his wrist. The crack of a breaking bone was sweet.
“Bitch!”
Not terribly original. Swinging the staff, I aimed the hardened wood at his head. He fell forward. Face-first. Hopefully, he’d broken his nose.
I stepped over their prone bodies, pausing only to kick the innkeeper in the ribs. Once. Twice. Okay, three times. The third kick was rewarded with another loud crack. Not entirely satisfied, I also kicked him in the jaw.
But my rage wasn’t spent. It burned hotter, demanding answers. The guards had left me down here. They’d heard the men at the bar, seen their leering looks. And they hadn’t cared.
I climbed the stairs, my fury propelling me past my exhaustion.
Let’s see how Grayson liked being attacked in his bed. Let’s see how he liked being helpless.
I paused at the top of the steps and took a moment to slow my breathing.
Which rooms were theirs?
I listened for a clue and heard Teal’s voice.
I approached and pressed my hand against the door. It cracked open, and I froze at what I saw in the flickering candlelight.
Teal had Flynn pushed against a wall. His hand wrapped around Flynn’s throat. “You deserve to be punished.” Aggression and testosterone scented the air, and I expected Flynn to fight.
Instead, his breath came in short, sharp pants. “Yes,” he moaned. He wanted to be punished.
My mind reeled. All this time, I’d assumed Flynn was simply entitled. But this … this was shocking. His brattiness—it had been a plea for discipline.
“What did you say to Haven? Why did she slap you?”
Flynn caught his lower lip in his teeth before he replied, “I told her I wanted to fuck her.”
Walking away was the right thing to do, but I found my feet rooted to the floor. They were talking about me, and I wanted to hear what they had to say. Also, I’d sensed something beyond their aggression and testosterone. I’d sensed their lust, and I was powerless to turn away.
“Is that all?” Teal caressed Flynn’s cheek with the back of his free hand. The gesture was almost tender.
Flynn gave a tiny shake of his head. “I told her you and Pierce wanted to fuck her too.”
A charged second passed, then Teal demanded, “What did she say?”
“She didn’t say no.”
I’d told him hell, a place of endless flame, would freeze over before I’d fuck them.
“Tell me, Flynn.” Teal’s voice was husky with want. “Why the slap?”
Flynn had gently grazed my torso with his large hands and then cupped my breasts.
I’d spent a few seconds too shocked to react. Shocked by his touch. Shocked that I didn’t hate the feeling of his large, warm hands on my body. Shocked that my body wanted more. Then common sense had taken over, and I’d slapped him as hard as I could.
“I touched her,” Flynn admitted.
“She didn’t ask for your touch?”
“No.”
“You do deserve a punishment. You know what to do.” Teal released Flynn’s throat and watched as his friend—his lover?—lowered his pants.
Flynn’s cock—both long and thick—was erect and reached for his belly button.
I pressed my palm to my lips to contain my gasp. I’d seen a naked man before, but he’d looked nothing like Flynn.
Without a word, Flynn crossed to the bed, bending over and presenting his muscular ass.
“Five?” Teal removed his belt, doubling it into a loop.
“Ten.” Flynn sounded eager. Needy.
Leather bit into Flynn’s ass, and I flinched with remembered agony.
Flynn moaned. “More. Harder.” He welcomed the pain.
“You’ll take what I give you.”
Lust—musky, spicy, enticing—poured off both of them, filling the room, sneaking into the hallway.
“Count,” Teal ordered.
Flynn reached for his cock as the belt met his ass. “Ten.”
“Did I say you could touch yourself?”
The sound Flynn made was desire, and need, and longing, all wrapped up in a desperate keening. “No, sir.”
“If she were with us right now, what would you do?”
“Whatever you told me, sir.”
“Good boy.” Teal rewarded him with another lash. “Imagine she’s spread out on the bed in front of you. Naked. Creamy thighs, perfect breasts, glistening pussy, all on display. She wants you. Wants us.”
Flynn’s groan wrapped around me as Teal’s belt met his bare ass. “Nine.”
“If I told you to bury your face between her thighs?”
Flynn moaned. “Please. That.”
“Keep counting.”
“Eight.” Flynn shuddered with the impact of leather meeting his right butt cheek.
“Blow warm breath on her pussy.”
My core clenched. My brain understood they were unredeemable assholes, utterly unworthy of me, but my treacherous body didn’t seem to care.
“Seven.”
“Lick her, Flynn. How does she taste?” With slow precision, Teal ran the belt up Flynn’s inner thigh.
Flynn shuddered. “She’s delicious. She tastes like berries, cream, and cinnamon.” His voice was strained. When the leather met his flesh, he croaked, “Six.”
This was insane. And my body was reacting. Achy. Needy. Eager for Flynn’s tongue.
“Slide your finger inside her, then tease her clit.”
Again, Flynn moaned. “Fuck me.”
Teal chuckled. “Only if you behave. This is a punishment.” Then he brought the looped belt down on Flynn’s ass.
“Five.”
“Is she tight?”
Flynn’s hand hovered near his cock. “So tight.”
“Add another finger.”
“So fucking tight.” His hips jerked toward the bed. “Four. Please, sir, can I—”
“Touch yourself? No.” He drew his arm back. “Keep counting.”
“Three.”
“Imagine I’m fucking you while you eat her out. Imagine my cock driving into your ass.”
“Two.” Flynn’s voice was desperately needy, near strangled.
“Suck her clit and take my cock like a good boy.”
My throat was dry. My body was on fire. I’d never been this turned on. Never.
“Please, sir, I need to come.”
“You’re being punished. Now, is she close?” He brushed Flynn’s ass with the belt, teasing him.
“So close.” Flynn sounded strung out, wholly lost to the fantasy.
“Make her come. Make. Her. Scream.” Teal drew back his arm and hit Flynn hard enough to drive his hips into the bed.
Those hips continued to jerk as he orgasmed.
I stepped into the shadows, my shaking legs barely able to keep me standing. What. The. Actual. Fuck?
Teal’s chuckle sent shivers down my spine.
Had he heard me? Did he know I was watching?
“Did I give you permission to come?” he demanded.
“No, sir.”
“Then get on your knees and make it up to me.”
Flynn turned, and I saw his face. His eyes were hooded. His cheeks were flushed. His mouth was already open in anticipation. He crashed to his knees and deep-throated Teal’s cock.
Teal raked his fingers through Flynn’s hair, guiding him. Controlling him. “Good boy.”
I couldn’t watch anymore. I had to get away from them—away from whatever it was I was feeling. I stumbled toward the steps, my anger nearly forgotten.
At the bottom of the stairs, I grabbed my cloak from the peg where I’d left it, wrapped the thin material around me, and took refuge in the window seat that overlooked the empty road.
What had I been thinking? To watch them? To listen to their fantasies? I squeezed my eyes shut and rested my forehead on my knees. There was something terribly wrong with me. Because watching them—listening to them—had shifted the world as I understood it.
I’d known desire before—a friendship that had turned into something deeper.
This was different. Darker. More complex.
More passionate. The way Flynn surrendered control so completely while Teal commanded with such careful authority …
it spoke to something I’d never explored, never known existed within me.
For those few insane moments watching them, I’d wondered what it would feel like to make their fantasy real.
The realization terrified me. Not because the passion felt wrong, but because of the men who made me feel it.