Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
I hate them. I hate them all. I hate my fucking life and who I am.
Carter is to my left, still standing in the same place he was when I entered. There wasn’t a single attempt from him to help. He says, “Declan, you need—”
Fuck him.
“She’s mine!” Lowering my voice and swallowing the lump in my throat, I bring my gaze level with his and tell him, “I will do with her as I see fit.”
My tone and words are careful, the threat they contain thinly veiled.
He stares me down for a fraction of a second before finally joining my other brothers to leave. The tension in my shoulders keeps them stiff, until I can no longer hear their footsteps.
I’m left only with a deep wound that’s unfamiliar but aches, and a broken Braelynn who doesn’t dare look me in the eyes as she cries in my arms.
“Eat,” I say, and the single word is softer than before. Gentle and kind, and I hope she hears the remorse I feel. I take the bowl into my own hands and lift a spoonful of the soup to my mouth to blow on it, and to test the temperature before bringing it to her lips.
She’s still shivering slightly, but when the first bite is swallowed, her eyes close with a comforting murmur. It’s slight, but with tearstained cheeks and color barely suffusing her lips, I’ll take the small sign of life from her as a blessing.
The spoon tinks as I dip into the bowl for more warm broth for her.
Whispering gently for her to open her mouth, she obeys and then readjusts in my lap, pulling the blanket tighter around her.
“You’re going to eat it all, my little pet. And then I’ll decide what to do with you.”
BRAELYNN
Both the fear and the chill still have a grip on me even an hour after slowly eating soup with Declan warming me. He hasn’t let go of me, and I haven’t let go of him either but I know it’s coming soon. I can’t hold on to him forever.
Even though he’s taken me through his home, from the vast kitchen and through the den to what he said was his wing and safe, to his bedroom, I barely saw a thing. The terror is blinding and I don’t know how I made it out of there alive. I don’t know what happened but I would do anything to never go back.
The only image replaying in my head over and over is of the iron cage being lifted and lowered repeatedly into the ice water. I can’t breathe, I can’t think. All I can do is cling to him even if I can’t look him in the eyes.
Did he send me there? Did he know what they were going to do? The questions are so easily answered. I know he did. The knowledge is paralyzing.
“Let go, Braelynn,” Declan commands as he lowers me down onto his bed. Still wrapped in the damp blanket, I hold on to it until he tells me otherwise.
“Get under the covers.” His tone is subdued, as if he hates this. As if he regrets taking me out of there. He killed him, didn’t he? The muffled gunshot comes back to me in a flash. The man who was questioning me—Declan killed him. I know he did. But there were other men present too.
Nate.
Nate was there. My heart races and I try to swallow as Declan takes the blanket his brother gave me. Goosebumps still linger on my skin even though I’m cocooned within the sheets and thick comforter. I’m still freezing, still terrified.
“Declan—” I manage although my voice rasps. Hours of screaming and pleading did nothing but leave what feels like raw and hot deep scars on the inside of my throat.
With his hand on my jaw, he stills me, his eyes piercing into mine. They hold nothing but pain and regret. I can fucking feel it all and I know something has fundamentally shifted between us.
“Hush,” he commands me and then leaves my side. Swallowing thickly, I watch his back, the muscles rippling under his damp shirt that clings to him as he locks his bedroom door. My heart hammers in fear.
He told me I should be terrified.
All of the unanswered questions and all my fears rattle through me as I lie helplessly on his bed doing everything I can to have any composure at all.
I’m grateful I can even wiggle my toes. I swear they were blue. The thought of the tub and the ice bath has my eyes shutting tight and my entire body curling up in the fetal position. I’m doing everything I can not to look Declan in the eyes.
Please, let this all be a nightmare. I wish I’d never gone down that hall. I wish I’d never seen Scarlet or what Nate did. I wish I could just go back and wait for Declan like he wanted.