Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 66503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
But then it all stops.
The agony doesn’t immediately leave my body, and the memory is as vivid as it was before my near-death experience. But one thing I know for sure … the one in control is still the man I so violently hate.
“So you’re awake,” my owner muses, and he steps forward, looking down at me with disdain. “And already so brutal. You killed another one of my guards.” He walks to the guard and kicks him, but the man doesn’t move anymore. I made sure of that.
My owner makes a tsk sound. “What a waste. After all that effort I went through to keep you alive.”
When I’ve regained enough strength, I push myself up from the floor, and the guard holding the button immediately tenses.
But my owner holds up a hand.
“No need. He will listen.” He goes to his knees. “Won’t you, Beast?”
“Give me one good reason,” I say through gritted teeth, my voice sounding more like an animal than a human being. “I would rather die than obey you.”
“But not in an excruciating manner, I suppose?” he muses, smiling like the devil. “I asked my technicians to upgrade the device. Give it a little edge over the old one. It hurts more, don’t you think?”
I don’t respond, and when I try to get up, all the muscles in my body refuse to listen. I cough, and some blood spills out onto the floor.
Even though no one touched me.
Fuck.
“What the fuck did you do to me?” I growl.
“Two things.” He raises his fingers. “One. We’ve implanted it in your skin.”
My fingers touch the base of my neck, and my nostrils flare in a frenzy. “You think this can contain me?”
“No, but I figured, now that you’re awake, you’re well enough to be transported back to your actual room.” He flicks his fingers, and a bunch of guards steps forward to shove me onto the ground. They throw my arms on my back and snap two thick slabs of metal around my wrists and feet, locking me in place.
“Ready to go down, you filthy pig?” one of them spits as four of them haul me up from the floor.
They drag me through the hallway and down the staircase into the main hall. But when I spot that damn door again, I panic.
“No, no, no!” I grunt.
I fight and fight as best I can, even with locked arms and legs, but every time I do, the button is pushed, and the pain makes all my muscles spasm intensely.
“Yes, Beast. Back where you belong,” my owner growls as the door is opened, and the gateway to my own personal hell is right in front of me.
A deep, dark, damp cell.
Where every inch of light and hope are evaporated.
“Let me go!” I yell as they drag me back to the one place I vowed never to return.
My owner merely laughs as they shove me right back into the cell. “This is where you belong, just like the fucking Beast you are.”
They spread my legs, pinning them to the wall, and fasten them with metal clasps to a new device drilled into the wall. Then they pin my arms spread-eagled to the wall with the same type of metal clasps, forcing me into an upright position, like a hanged man.
Both dead and alive.
“You promised me freedom!” I growl as my owner steps inside to gaze at me with disgust.
“And you promised to kill your target,” he replies, grabbing my face and forcing me to look at him. “So I will keep you locked up in here as long as it fucking suits me, and you will fight for me when I tell you to. You think this is hell?” he asks through gritted teeth. “Imagine a pain a hundred times worse than death … blasting you forever and ever.” He tilts my head to gaze at whatever is buried in my neck. “Don’t mistake my honor for kindness. When you forfeit your loyalty to me, you forfeit your soul.”
When he turns to walk, I say, “What about the girl? Aurora?”
He pauses in his tracks, glaring at me over his shoulder. “What about her?”
“Did she escape?”
A vicious smile spreads on his face. “You really care more about her than your own life, don’t you?”
I swallow, keeping my words to myself. He doesn’t deserve them.
But judging from the annoyed look on his face, I definitely hit a chord.
He hasn’t caught her.
Which means she’s free.
And even though I’m in grave pain, it still brings an actual smile to my face.
The look on his face turns more monstrous than I could ever be. “I will find her, make no mistake. And when I do …” he says, grinding his teeth. “I will make her my fuck doll and force you to watch.”
CHAPTER 8
Aurora
Present
I’m strapped to the van with actual metal cuffs now, and they sting against my skin. I try to ignore it and focus, but it’s so damn hard. All I can think about is Beast.