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)
Suddenly, the door at the top of the stairs opens, and a guard waltzes down. Aurora quickly raises her pants back up over her waist before anyone sees. I do the same with my linen pants, ensuring the flower isn’t damaged.
“Hey, you! What’s that ruck—Fuck.” The guard stops and stares at us halfway down the steps, his gaze slowly focusing on Aurora in shock. “Who the fuck put you in here!?”
He immediately approaches the cell and grabs his walkie-talkie. “We got a problem in the cell. Need some backup. I don’t know how, but he’s out of the chains.”
I march toward him and slam my fists through the bars, narrowly missing his face by a hair. He quickly sidesteps out of my reach.
“You motherfuc—”
He pulls out a tiny box with a few buttons on it, the same one my owner used to keep, and presses it.
The pain is instant, intense, but above all, cruel.
I sink to my knees, roaring in pain.
“No! Don’t hurt him!” Aurora yells behind me, but I can barely hear her voice through the visceral spasm twisting my body.
This new device is ten times worse than the collar ever was.
Fuck.
How am I going to survive this agony?
“Get her out of there!” the guard yells as some of his fellow guardsmen come downstairs.
“What? No,” Aurora yelps as the men open the door and step inside with a bunch of them.
And all I can do is watch helplessly as they drag her out of the cell and up the stairs.
“Beast!” she calls, her voice going through marrow and bone.
“Aurora!” I yell back. But my body refuses to listen with this extreme zapping forcing my limbs into odd shapes.
“If you fucking touch her, I swear …” I say through gritted teeth, barely able to speak.
The guard in front of me laughs as his buddies close the cell again. “You’ll what? Drool a little?” He sniggers and turns around.
The electrical current finally relents when he’s at the top of the stairs.
I breathe in deep, forcing the pain to leave my body as I get up to stand. My muscles quake with my every move, but I still approach the bars and yell, “I WILL KILL YOU ALL!”
CHAPTER 10
Aurora
“No, take me back!” I yelp as they drag me through the hallway and into the living room area, where I come face-to-face with Lex himself.
The mere sight of his deathly gaze has me boiling with rage.
“Well, I’ve never heard anyone beg so loudly to be put back into a dark hole again.” He laughs out loud. “You’re really smitten with him, aren’t you?”
He laughs so hard that he coughs, and he pulls out a napkin from his pocket and wipes his mouth. There’s blood.
But I don’t care if he’s hurt or not. He hurt Beast and me. This man deserves zero compassion.
“You shot him!” I yell in anger. “How dare you? He did the right thing, and you repaid him by almost killing him.”
“Almost being the keyword here.” He winks. “And what’s right is subjective.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it,” I retort.
“He let you run, and what was the reward?” he muses. “His own near-death and more pain.” Lex shakes his head. “All thanks to you.”
He flicks his fingers, and the guards put me on a couch near the fireplace.
“Who put her in that cell?” he asks one of his guards.
“Uh …” the man stutters.
“Find out. Punish them with the whip,” Lex says, and the guards immediately walk off, talking amongst themselves.
Two guards remain in the room to guard the place while Lex sits down on the seat opposite me. He grabs a cigar from a box off the table and sticks it in his mouth, then fishes a lighter from his pocket to fire it up, all while keeping his gaze fixed on me.
But I’m not intimidated easily by him anymore.
“Let. Me. Go,” I hiss, clutching the couch's armrest.
He snorts. “Give me one good reason.”
“Why do you even need me in the first place?” I ask.
“You were with your father when you ran,” he says, taking another drag of his cigar, blowing out the smoke in my direction. “You know where he is.”
“You think I’d tell you where he is?” I scoff.
He raises a brow. “He hurt you, didn’t he?”
Sweat drops roll down my back. “You did too.”
“It must be so tough living in a world where even your own family doesn’t want you,” he says, steamrolling over me and my emotions. “Where your own father calls you a monster.”
“Don’t,” I say, tears welling up in my eyes.
“Or what?” He blows out more smoke after taking another drag. “You think you have any power in this world?” He gets up from his seat, towering over me. “You live only because I let you live.”
“I’m alive thanks to Beast and no one else,” I say through gritted teeth, pushing back the tears.