Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Suddenly, the guards march toward me.
I push myself into the wall. “No, get away from me!”
The guards grab my arms, forcing them to my back until my wrists are locked.
“I told you not to touch her!” Beast growls, and he goes to lunge at them, but he collapses before he can even try.
He wriggles around on the floor, clutching his neck, scratching at his own skin. I can hear electricity sizzle. His neck slowly turns red.
Oh God.
“Stop it!” I yell at Raymond, who is pressing a button on a device. “Stop. Can’t you see he’s in pain?!”
“Exactly the fucking point,” Raymond says, and the others laugh.
“There’s no need to do this,” I say as Beast struggles to even get up on his feet.
“No one gets away with trying to defy me,” Raymond spits back, and he applies another jolt, causing Beast to buck and heave.
Without a second thought, I shove my full body weight into him, and he drops the device on the floor.
He immediately snatches it up before Beast or I can reach for it. Incensed, he turns to face me. My heart is racing, my breath quickening.
WHACK!
The slap is fast, and my cheek instantly burns with pain, but I refuse to show it.
“Don’t you fucking try any of that shit ever again,” Raymond growls at me. “You hear me?”
I don’t respond.
Behind him, Beast rises from the ground, his frame blocking the only light in the room until he casts a shadow big enough to catch even the guard’s attention as he slowly turns to look.
“You’ll pay for that.” Beast’s voice is low and husky. Almost as if he’s making a vow.
Raymond snorts. “As if you’ll ever have a chance, wearing that fucking collar, dog.”
Beast leans over, just a little bit, but it’s enough to make the guard lean back.
“Not if,” the Beast growls, his fist tightening. “When.”
The way he says it is so threatening that Raymond gulps, his knees quaking. Just like mine.
“We don’t have all day!” someone upstairs yells, breaking the spell.
The guards immediately jump into action and drag me along toward the stairs.
“Wait, where are we going?” I ask as Beast and the other guards march up the stairs behind us like we’re all headed to the gallows.
And the grin on Raymond’s face is anything but comforting. “You’ll see.”
CHAPTER 20
Beast
Normally, I’m the one driving this van.
The one in charge of the hit.
But now I’m out of control. Shackled. The one thing I despise.
I’m in the back of the van with her, bound to the van’s interior. It’s a deliberate choice by the guards. If I try to escape, I’ll take the whole van with me, including her.
My fist tightens.
I’ve got to keep my cool.
Don’t let them see what’s underneath.
Be the hound. Be the killer.
Suddenly, a velvety soft hand snakes around mine, and I lose all sense of reality. All sense of who I am as I turn to look at the girl whose face has been covered by a bag so she doesn’t know where we came from or where we’re going. They made her get dressed in my owner’s wife’s clothes. A simple blue T-shirt and a pair of black leggings. It fits so snugly around her tiny frame that I wonder if she feels at all comfortable, despite being hooded.
Her gloved fingers slowly lace through mine, like a little lamb trying to huddle close, and I can’t help but be moved by that simple gesture of trust.
Trust I haven’t earned yet am given without a single afterthought.
My fingers close around hers, and the warmth her gloved hand exudes makes me gently squeeze. I’ve never cared about anything in my life, but for some reason, I feel the need to calm her down.
“Where are they taking us?” she whispers, her voice trembling as much as her body.
“Shhh,” I whisper.
Talking will only make things worse.
And judging from the fact that my owner made me put on my protective gear, we’re definitely going somewhere dangerous.
She swallows and leans back as the van drives on, her body swaying from left to right as the steering wheel is jerked. They’re in a rush, it seems. The question is why.
The van comes to a full stop with screeching tires, and within seconds, the doors are slammed open.
“Out,” Raymond barks.
I step out and blink a couple of times to adjust to the sunlight. We’re in front of a giant mansion with the doors left open and bloodied marks all over the ground.
The same mansion I stole her from.
Behind me, Aurora is lifted out of the van, the hood ripped off like she’s going to get interrogated.
She hastily looks around the premises, her eyes widening as she soaks it all in.
“This is—”
“Your home.” A car door slams shut, and my owner walks toward us wearing a gleeful smile. “Aren’t you happy to be back?”