Coveted (26 page)

The blade and drug made
her overconfident.

Made her careless.

“I don’t think so.”
Shawn slammed his hand backward, his claws sinking deep into her thigh and
shredding muscles. He dropped and rolled out of the way, coming up balanced on
all fours.  

Her high-pitched
scream of pain echoed in the corridor.

Aiden snapped his arm
out, knocking the knife from her grip and clamped his hand around her throat.
He inexorably drew her closer until he was right in her face. “Where’s Shayla?”

Panic widened her
eyes until they looked pure white as blood dripped down her leg in an ever
widening puddle. “Give me the drug.”

His hand clenched
involuntarily, not willing to lose the only prey that might know where they’d
taken Shayla.

She scratched at his
hand, struggling to speak. “I’m not healing fast enough. If I die, you’ll never
know.”

Aiden stared at her
pale, blood-splattered face, and couldn’t believe that he’d ever been fooled by
her innocent act. He relented and nodded to the boy. The kid gave a grimace of
distaste and went to fetch another vial.

Aiden swiped the drug
before Shawn could hand it over. He held the vial away from her, keeping it just
out of reach. “Where?”

She groped for the
drug, while her other hand tried in vain to staunch the flow of blood bubbling
up between her fingers. With her eyes glued on the vial like an addict, she
tripped over her words. “He keeps his special prisoners in a different
location.”

Aiden’s arm dropped heavily
to his side. The vial dropped, cracked and rolled. Nora shrieked and ripped
herself from his grip to lick the floor.

He saw it all through
a fog.

He knew exactly where
that bastard had taken her.

To Aiden’s very own
personal hell. He should’ve gone back and destroyed the place when he had the
chance.

That Shayla would be
imprisoned in his old cell, tortured by that bastard, freezing the blood in his
veins. His stomach bottomed out, and he wished for the first time that she’d
never found him. At least she would still be safe.

All emotions, all the
rage evaporated and calm settled over him. Aiden knew what he had to do.

He turned and hauled
ass out of the tunnel.

He didn’t care about
Nora. The others were welcome to her.

“Wait! Where are you
going, so I can tell the others?” Shawn tried to keep up, but he was no match
for Aiden’s longer strides.

“Send them to the
ruins overlooking the cliff. He took her to the dungeon.”

 Chapter Twenty-Seven

S
hayla was being dragged
through bitterly cold water, her body nearly submerged. The chill penetrated
every cell so deeply her bones felt like solid ice.

It slapped her back
to reality, and everything came rushing back. She’d been kidnapped. Shayla
struggled against the grip on her shoulder.

“Want to try it on
your own, huh?”

The support disappeared.

All thoughts stopped
when her head dropped below the surface. Brackish water immediately filled her
mouth, spilling down her throat. She flailed for purchase, and sank like dead
weight.

A hand fisted in her
hair. Shards of pain wrapped around her skull as she was yanked out of the
water none too gently.

“My dear, you must
take care. It wouldn’t do for you to die before I’ve finished with you.”

Shayla gulped for
air, clutching at the hand that was doing its best to scalp her. Filtered light
barely penetrated the darkness. The walls were stone and very old.

Familiar.

Shayla bit her lip against
a whimper when she recognized exactly where she’d ended up.

The dark, stinking
hole where everything began…the ancient prison under the earth. She scrambled
away, a bubble of desperation building in her chest.

“Not so fast.” He
grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked until the collar threatened to
strangle her.

She wasn’t going to
win against him in a physical fight. It was time to use her brain if she wanted
to survive. Rivulets of water poured down the walls, seeping through cracks in
the stones. The level had risen drastically since she’d last been there, well
above her knees now. Instead of Aiden’s cell, the one he hauled her in was
decrepit.

From one step to the
next, the floor vanished from under her feet, and she dropped. Water
immediately rose to her waist, and she gasped at the cold. More suspicious now,
Shayla took in the rest of the cell. No windows, a low celling, and—more
troubling—only one exit. Most of the stones were cracked, stacked precariously.
If any more pressure came to bear on those walls, everything would collapse.

 “Get your filthy
hands off of me.” She wrenched away, but his grip only tightened. A muscle
ticked in his jaw, like she had struck a nerve, and he yanked her closer.

“Not so pretty now,
are you? I wonder if your beastman would still want you if I messed you up a
little.” His voice dipped lower. “If he knew I had you.” He tilted his head
into the meager light, the ruined side of his face twisting into a grotesque
mask in the shifting shadows. “Do you want me now that his mark turned me into
a monster, too?” 

His mouth descended.

Revulsion shuddered
through her. Shayla struggled to stand, get away, only to be brought up short
by the fist holding her hair. Fingers locked cruelly in her curls, tearing strands
from her scalp as he yanked her head back. His thin lips crushed hers, mashing
them into her teeth until she tasted blood.

Shayla wanted to
shove him away, but she was on a slope of some kind and couldn’t get any
leverage. Every time she lifted her hands from the thick sewage on the bottom
of the pit, her position became more precarious. When she started to slip, it
was only his grip that kept her above water. She didn’t trust him not to shove
her under for daring to refuse his advances. One of his hands dropped toward
her breasts, his fingers brutally twisting the vulnerable flesh.

She felt violated.

Outraged.

And pissed off.

He nipped at her
bottom lip, drawing blood, not releasing her until she gasped in pain. As if
claiming her as a prize, he jammed his tongue into her mouth. Shayla gagged at
the slurp of his sloppy kiss.

Bastard
.

Shayla sank her teeth
into his tongue, steeling herself to not to let go as blood filled her mouth.

With a roar, he
jerked away.

Shayla slid backwards
and sank below the water. It took her precious seconds to realize that she was
free. She surged toward the surface, noticing the pit sloped deeper, the water
now up to her chest. And her spirits plummeted when she saw she’d ended up even
further away from the door.

She shivered with the
penetrating cold. She was bruised. Battered. Her clothes were soaked with putrefied
water, her shoes squished with every step, but she was alive.

She considered it a
win.

She spit out a
mouthful of blood, and smiled at him. If she was going to die down here, she’d
be damned if she’d do it without taking her pound of flesh.

Blood trickled down
his chin, his lip already swelling. A line of bruises marched across his
cheekbones. Her elbow still ached from the blow. Triumph burned bright until
she met his gaze and saw his eyes darken with unadulterated hatred.

When he lunged for
her, Shayla threw herself back to evade his grasping hands.

And slipped on the
sludge.

Her head dipped below
the water again. Her captor’s arm reached around her waist, crushing her in his
cruel grip. Shayla knew better than to expect a rescue and tensed for the next
blow.

Instead, she found
herself airborne.

Before she could
brace herself, she smacked headfirst into the wall.

Half her face went numb.
Stunned by the impact, she plunged under the filthy water. The chilled shocked
her back from unconsciousness and she thrashed. Something nudged her from under
the water, and an unshakable fear that something was lurking down there made
her chest constrict.

She heaved herself
toward the surface, her movements uncoordinated as panic blinded her. There
wasn’t anywhere solid to place her feet, the floor so slimy that every time she
tried to stand, she slid further into the muck.

Precious seconds
passed before Shayla gave up and planted her knees. She lifted her head, barely
able to break the surface, and sputtered to get rid of the water that had found
its way in her mouth. It left a brackish film behind that she wanted to scrape
off her tongue.

When Jacob drew back
his leg, Shayla flinched and lifted her arm to protect her face. But instead of
hitting her, he kicked a half-decomposed corpse out of his way. The body
toppled into the soup of decay surrounding her and everything girly in her
shuddered in revulsion.

He fiddled with
something lower against the wall, and Shayla took advantage of the opportunity.
Ignoring her bruised ribs, she swam toward freedom in an awkward crawl. Just
when her fingers touched stone, he clamped down hard on her ankle, crushing the
bones, and she cried out as he dragged her backward.

“We wouldn’t want you
to leave before our guest arrives.”

His knee caught her
in the ribs. Air exploded from her in a harsh whoosh. When he pulled back his foot
again, she braced for another blow.

But the foot never
landed.

A heavy weight
settled on her back, forcing her down until she was once more submerged.

The blow to her ribs was
a blessing if she ignored the massive bruises. The inability to breathe prevented
her from swallowing a gallon of water. The bones of her spine protested the pressure,
creaking under his weight. Cold metal scraped against her neck. She wanted to
reach up and pry it away, but her hands were all that held her above the
dubious sludge.

Then she was free.

Shayla struggled to get
her knees under her, exhaustion making her sluggish. Her head barely broke the
surface. Brown, rank water sloshed down her face, and she greedily gulped air.
Her tormentor stood calmly by the door, watching her impassively, as if he no
longer considered her human.

Refusing to be caught
kneeling in front of a creep like him, she shoved to her feet.

An unyielding metal
cuff cut into her neck, slamming her back to her knees with a splash. She
reached up. Cold metal met her fingertips. The shackle encasing her throat was at
least two inches wide and a quarter of an inch thick. The weight of it abraded
her skin.

A fucking dog collar.

The metal had been reinforced,
the sharp edges built to penetrate fur so a wolf couldn’t struggle very hard
without decapitating himself. If she wasn’t careful, the same would happen to
her.

There was no lock
that she could feel, nothing for her to try and pick. Instead, a series of tiny
pins kept the two ends of the collar secured. The pins were too small for her
nails to grasp. They were wedged tight. She yanked on the chain and discovered the
other end was secured to the base of the wall. The length didn’t permit her to
stand, barely allowing her to keep her head above water.

The stench of the
place infused every part of her. Slime coated her body, invaded her mouth, like
a legion of leeches. She touched her tongue to the split in her lip and winced.

Then she straightened
as much as the chain would allow, refusing to show any more weakness to this
asshole.

She wouldn’t give him
the pleasure.

“If you’re going to
fuck the animals, you’ll be treated like one.” He swaggered forward like he’d
won.

Not likely.

When he came close
enough, she slammed her fist directly into his balls.

He doubled over,
gasping for air, stumbling back out of her reach, the stone wall the only thing
holding him up. He glared at her, but didn’t come any closer.

Then he chuckled. “Bravo!
You’re a worthy opponent, but let’s wait to see who’s still standing in the
end, shall we?”

She relaxed at the
reprieve from whatever torture he’d been planning. She wasn’t tough. She
wouldn’t survive what a man like him enjoyed inflicting on women.

Jacob straightened
and smiled, his ruined face twisted until he looked more monster than human,
and Shayla couldn’t resist striking back the only way left to her. “I bet your
new face, combined with your charm, will really have the woman flocking to you.
However will you get off if you can’t tempt a woman close enough for you to
beat her?”

Hatred contorted his
face.

Then he laughed.

The sound so unnerved
her that Shayla retreated until her back hit the wall, the chain preventing her
from moving any further.

“It won’t matter
soon. Your beastman carries the cure in his veins. He’s the strongest, his
bloodline dating back centuries. It’s the most potent blood I’ve ever found. Your
presence will ensure that I get exactly what I need.” Jacob sloshed through the
doorway. The cell door groaned loudly in protest as he slammed it shut. The
wall trembled, and a few smaller rocks plopped into the water, but it held.

A key turned in the
lock, and Shayla saw him walk away, the confidence back in his swagger…if you
ignored the slight hitch in his stride from her parting gift.

The son of a bitch
wanted to drain Aiden.

Rage bubbled up, but fear
slithered through the cracks of her composure. Aiden was too important to his
people.

Too important to her.

Cold prickled against
her skin that had nothing to do with the frigid water and everything to do with
losing Aiden.

Jacob had no
intention of letting either one of them go.

Water continued to gush
down the walls. The pool rose steadily. Time was not on her side. She tugged on
the chain, but the damned thing didn’t budge an inch. The collar weighed so heavily
against her throat it felt like it was tightening with every breath.

She reached
underwater. If she couldn’t loosen the bolt, she’d just have to take the whole
blasted rock. She scratched around the fixture that secured her to the wall.
Her nails snapped to the quick. By the time she admitted defeat and lifted her
hands, her fingers were a bloody mess, and the only damage she’d managed to
inflict was to herself.

This wasn’t going to
work.

She needed a better
plan.

Half of her face was battered,
her lip busted, blood crusted her nose, and a large knot throbbed at the base
of her skull. Her neck ached every time she so much as twitched, not to mention
her ribs, which were bruised from front to back, made each breath a chore. That
didn’t mean she was helpless.