I ignore the grisly sight of the torture equipment and zone in on the solitary guard. He’s yelling at me in Latin and running forward. I pretend to cower as my guys finally notice me and start shouting at the demon outrage.
“Don’t fucking touch her! I’ll destroy you!” Sam yells fiercely.
“I’ve been wanting to kill you for two days, I promise it won’t be quick you fucking bastard!” Mason’s voice joins Sam’s. I’ve never heard him seem so vicious.
“Guys, shut up,” Liam sounds exasperated. “Our girl isn’t weak or stupid.”
His confidence in me warms my heart. It also bolsters my confidence. As the demon nears me, I pretend to back up, but instead bring my foot up and use as much force as I can to kick at his knee cap.Do demons even have kneecaps?
Apparently I hit something, because he falls backward and screeches in agony. I bring my foot up again and stomp on his head. He manages to grab my ankle and bring me down, but I’m ready for it and bring my dagger down hard, piercing it straight through his creepy black eye. His fight stops and I pull my dagger out with a gross squelch, liquid pouring out that’s mixed with dark blood. I wipe it on the weird robe he’s wearing and tuck it back down in my boot. He dropped the keys in the fight and I grab them just as the door slams open and I know my time is up. But I’ve found what I need. Acting quickly, I turn and toss the keys through the bars into Sam’s waiting hands. He easily tucks them away and they all grab on the bars, getting as close to me as possible.
“I’ll be fine,” I mouth quickly before falling to my knees and sobbing. I have to make this believable, but I’m so keyed up that it doesn’t take much acting.
Mason catches on and reaches through the bars to clasp my hand. He starts talking fake reassurances to me like he’s reassuring me that it will be alright. I hate to admit how much that small touch does for me.
“Oh, how heartwarming.” Drekavac says in an obviously false show of sympathy for us. I pretend I’m not fantasizing about cutting his dick off. It’s a delusional win-win.
“I just wanted to see them,” I say in a pathetic voice. He growls and runs towards me so fast I can’t react, grabbing me by my hair and pulling me to my feet.
“Don’t worry, my guards will heal. We’ll just move up our mating. Then you won’t have a reason to come down here again,” he says with a gross amount of confidence. I’ve just sealed our fates by making him jealous. His words have a whimper escaping me and I cast a panicked look at the guys. This is not going according to plan at all. Sam is practically shaking with rage. Mason and Liam both look closer to vomiting than hulking out.
I try to stay quiet so it doesn’t make it more difficult on them, but I cry out as he yanks me harder than before. My body is already bruised and battered from my previous fighting, and the pain of being yanked around by my hair becomes too much.
“I’ve given you everything! And yet you still want these disgusting reapers?” He growls, slamming me into the wall. My head hits hard enough it explodes in pain to the point that I’m unable to stop the darkness from taking me under.
Again I find myself opening my eyes to the void. It’s silent but I hope with Drekavac dragging me around he won’t come for me here. I call out, hoping Thea is here by some small miracle. Not even growls or whispers answer my call.
The fact that I’m passed out and vulnerable with Drekavac weighs heavily on me. I try to tether myself to each of my guys, but nothing seems to work. Either my injuries are too bad or it’s another challenge of being in the demon realm instead of ours.
In a last ditch effort to save my body from him, I try to tether to Drekavac. This time the pull lands me back in my body and I instantly regret it. The pain hasn’t lessened, in fact it feels worse than before. Every inch of me is in pain, as if I’ve been hit by a fucking semi truck, and at some point he dragged me away from my men. At least they don’t have to witness this.
My vision is blurry and I can barely move because he took my weak moment to tie my legs together with a thick rope. As Drekavac’s fist lands on my cheek, I realize why my pain is worse. He’s been beating me to pull me away from the darkness.
Fucking jackass demon!
“What the fuck?” I yell and push his arm away. My cheek feels like it’s on fire and my head is throbbing incessantly in time with my racing heart.
“You think you can go to the void while I’m talking to you? You dare treat your king like that?” He spits his outrage in my face and I meet his glare with a fierce look of my own.
“I didn’tchooseto go into the darkness you asshole. Your guard knocked me into a wall, and you yanked me by my hair then slammed me into stone.Yousent me to the darkness,” I spit back at him. His face contorts even further in his rage, and he now looks even more like his lesser demon minions.
“Maybe we should complete the mating now, you little tease. We can have a ceremony after.” His eyes fill with a mixture of lust and arrogance. I’m not surprised this fucker gets off on torture. My only relief is that he clearly doesn’t know that Sam has the keys.
Drekavac rips my tank top before I have time to react, exposing my torso and bra to him. He leans down and I can feel his disgusting erection pushing against me. I jerk my bound knees up as hard as I can, connecting with it. His answering shriek of pain is animalistic and he grips my arms, shaking me wildly as he spits out his anger in Latin.Where the fuck are my guys at?!
He drops me down and brings his fist down into my jaw. I can taste blood as he splits my lip open. But I’ll take it over a punch to the top of my head right now. Even as he beats me, I fight with everything I have, refusing to let this demon succeed with his plan to mate me. Because the mind isn’t healed so easily, that’s not something even my reaper body can come back from.
He reaches for my pants next and uses his strength to weigh me down. I pull my leg up to grab my dagger, but he snatches it first. My breath catches in my throat as I feel the pointed tip of my dagger against my throat.
“Should I return the favor? Or should I just fuck you now and ruin you for your little boyfriends?” he snarls and starts to pull my pants down. His focus never leaves my face, and he inches the dagger closer forcing me to flatten myself further into the cold stone floor.
Just as he has my pants past my hips, I feel his weight suddenly leave me. My mind barely catches up as he crashes into the fireplace, knocking the shelf above it off of the wall.
Liam, looking far more fierce than I have ever seen him, is over him in a second. He brings his fist up and slams it down into Drekavac’s nose. The crunch is satisfying. I have to force my attention away so I can pull my pants back up. It’s difficult enough with my legs bound and my head still swimming.
“You dare touch my Luz?” he snarls, landing more blows over his face until he is no longer recognizable.
Mason and Sam crash into the room a moment later. Clearly Liam is faster and didn’t wait for them, and I’m thankful for that. If Liam hadn’t arrived to pull Drekavac away when he did, I would be in an even worse position right now.