CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Aurora was left shaking, Violet’s words sinking in. She was to be whipped, her punishment for trying to run, for needing to get away from the hellish place the Guild was quickly becoming. Staring unblinking at the table, Aurora sat in shock as Silas continued to play with a lock of her hair.
Only the sound of Eli fighting against the hold Khyro and Atlas had on him reached her. His voice sounded as if he was so far away from her, panicked, desperate, “Get away from her! Don’t fucking touch her, Silas!”
Silas sucked at his teeth, the sound acting as an electric bolt radiating through her, luring her back to what was happening in the room.
He dropped the silky, brown strand, letting it slip free from his fingers, “She’s made you soft, Eli. Since when are you prepared to sacrifice everything for one person? Hmmm, I think Violet is right, you yourself may need some adjustments.”
He grabbed Aurora by the arm, roughly hauling her out of the chair, the action causing it to topple over.
Aurora yelped at the bite of his fingers through the fabric of her tunic. Her upper arm barked in pain as his nails breached her skin.
The deadly male moved with conviction, his wide steps bringing them further from Eli. He dragged Aurora along with him as he crossed the room.
She didn’t make it easy, she would be damned if she went down without a fight. Aurora fought against him. Tugging and clawing at his hand with hers, her nails raking his flesh but nothing she did caused him to loosen the grip he had on her.
Fear gripped her so tightly she was beginning to find it hard to take a breath.
Frantic, she glanced back and watched helpless as Eli fought against the two males holding him. He was so weak, weaker than she had ever seen him.
His green eyes were wild, alight with panic. He roared, rage burning a blazing fire within him, but it did no good. They held him firmly, for Eli’s sake or Silas’s she wasn’t sure, the look in his eyes, pure violence burned.
Silas ignored the scene behind them, his mind on his task. He tugged on Aurora’s arm, yanking hard as he dragged her from the room, out a different door from the one Violet had left from.
She whimpered, her fight waning, the pain in her arm so intense she thought he would be sure to break it. Throwing one last glance back at Eli she saw in his eyes, what she knew he could see in hers. Sadness...his eyes were locked on her and even as he fought to get free, to get to her and save her from what she was about to endure, they both knew it was useless.
Atlas was leaning close, whispering to Eli, trying his best to calm the struggling male, but it was no use. “DO NOT COWER!” He yelled after her, “DO NOT LET HIM brEAK YOU LITTLE WOLF! SHOW THE BASTARD YOUR TEETH!”
The walls shook, Eli’s fury rattling them.
Little Wolf, that’s what he would call her when he wanted her to behave, to act how he wanted her to, how he had taught her. Those words, that name, caused her heart to fracture.
Without being touched, the heavy door slammed behind them. Eli’s roar of anger now muffled as Silas continued to drag her down the dark passageway hauling her to an unknown part of the Guild.
She fought against Silas harder.
He cursed under his breath in a language she did not know, his irritation clear. Her struggles did not affect him though, nothing would stop what was about to take place.