Judgement 8 (Subject Alpha #1) (29 page)

“ELINA,” MUMMY SAID IN her soft voice as her hand rested on my shoulder and she smiled down at me. “I would like you to meet someone very special to me.”

My eyes grew huge. Mummy had never called anyone special before. She had friends over, always men, but she had never called any of them special.

I shifted nervously into Mummy’s side when a tall man with jet black hair walked in. He smiled down at me, his grey eyes mesmerising me as they glinted in the light. He crouched down, his face level with mine, and held out a hand.

“Hello, Elina. My name is Iain. I’m very happy to finally meet you. Your mother has told me lots of lovely things about you.”

“Has she?” I looked up at Mummy and smiled. She never said nice things to me and I was happy she said them to others. It gave my tummy a warm squiggle and I smiled at Iain.

“She has.” He nodded. “And she tells me you’re a very, very special little girl.”

Reaching behind him to the table, he picked up a box I hadn’t seen. It was covered in bright yellow paper with huge pink stars. It was really pretty. “This is for you.” He held it out to me and after looking up at Mummy and getting her agreement, I took it from him.

Pulling off the paper, I gasped when the prettiest dolly ever lay in the box on a pink pillow. She wore a pretty yellow dress that had blue flowers stitched into it. Her hair was like mine, long and yellow, and her lips were as puffy as mine and as pink as my own.

“She reminded me of you,” Iain said as he watched me take her from the box and draw her to my chest.

“She does look like me,” I replied quietly, my cheeks heating. I felt silly, taking a dolly from a man I had never met and instantly loving her.

“What do you think we should call her?” Mummy asked.

“I’d like to call her Charlie.”

My mummy lifted her eyebrow but smiled and nodded. “What do you say to Mr McCallum, Elina?”

I looked at Iain, squinting at his name but I was always told to be polite. “Thank you, Mr McCallum. This is very kind of you.”

He smiled. “That’s okay, Elina. I’m sure you can do me a huge favour to say thank you.”

I nodded eagerly. It was good to be able to do nice things for others. “I would like that.”

I flinched when his big hand came to rest on one of my cheeks. “Good girl.” I shivered when his eyes seemed to darken and his smile turned a little scary. “Good girl.”

Mr McCallum was cruel today. I couldn’t hold my sobs back when he played with my mind, sending images in that horrified me; mutilated bodies, women raped and tortured, animals ripping each other apart, men forcing torture devices into women who were on the brink of death.

I screamed, my teeth rattling when my body started to convulse, a raging fire ripping through my veins as my sobs heightened with yet more images. I vomited as one particular horrifying scene burst behind my eyes, filling me with visions of a man towering over a little girl and twisting a knife so far in her that I could see her heart throbbing inside her chest when he tore her open.

The lights in the room blinked as my head started to shake, my psyche trying to push out the images that tortured me. I drew my legs up as far as they would go in their restraints as a torturous pain coursed through me.

“I’m getting readings, Iain,” my mother rushed out excitedly. “But she’s going into shock. We’re going to lose connection.”

I winced when a sharp scratch pierced my upper arm and ice flowed through my veins, sending my blood rushing into my organs in attempt to keep warm. I couldn’t seem to breathe when the chill solidified the air in my lungs.

Darkness gave me a reprieve when my own mind took me to a greater place.

I pushed at the creamed potatoes in my tray with my fork, the sight of them curling my gut. My head was still smarting after mother had lost her temper with me this morning and beat me when her testing had once again proved futile. I instinctively rubbed my head where she’d ripped a clump of my hair out.

“Hey.”

I looked up, squinting when the light behind him blinded my already sore eyes. Dropping my gaze to read his security tag, I ignored him and let my eyes fall back to my plate. The guards in this place all wanted the same thing—to find the space between your thighs, and although this one was new, I knew he’d be exactly the same. Janice only hired the lowest of the low, her need to keep us in line with fear worked every time.

I tensed when he slid onto the bench beside me. “Are you okay? You look like you need to see a medic.”

I frowned, looking at him again. He was young; maybe five or so years older than me. He was good-looking, I’ll admit, his masculine features were pleasing to the eye, the soft gaze in his eyes soothing. His cheeks were covered in stubble and his hair was a messy nest on top of his head. His lips were the palest of pinks, the bottom one slightly thinner than the top. He was simply stunning, but it was the fact that he was a Judgement employee that stole away his beauty and gave him the appeal of a monster.

“Leave me alone.”

He blinked, appearing shocked by my hostility. He’d learn. “I’m sorry.” He spoke well but quietly, the tone of his voice a little gruff and doing something to the lower half of my belly. “You just looked like you needed a friend.”

He pushed upright his large hands palming the table to give him leverage.

“I have friends,” I hissed. “You’re not one of them.”

I stilled when he started to laugh and I turned to look at him. “You’re really quite brutal aren’t you, little girl?”

I smirked when the light above my table flashed faintly. I stared at him and chuckled. “Before you find out exactly how brutal I can be, fuck off and leave me alone.”

My viciousness didn’t seem to faze him. He lifted his hands and nodded, a look of amusement on his face. “Well, it was nice meeting you, Elina.” I flinched when he said my name, knowing what it meant. “I’m afraid I’ll have to get used to your brutality. I’m your new personal custodian.” He leaned over my shoulder, the warmth from his breath tickling my cheek. “But you can call me Reid.”

To Be Continued

in

As Elina struggles to slip into ‘normal’ life, her mind and her heart are very much still tethered to the very thing that destroyed her—Reid McCallum.

His lies and deceit, even after everything her mother and Judgement did, annihilated all of her hopes and dreams, leaving her alone and incredibly angry.

Now facing the freedom she had always dreamed of on her own, life isn’t exactly as Elina had envisioned. She soon finds herself hurtling down a dangerous path of self-destruction, leading to something she recently discovered empowers something inside her and allows her to fill the emptiness inside—sex and pain.

Jayson, the security guard Petra insisted Elina kept with her since the disappearance of her father-in-law and Lettie, becomes a friend, and if he had his way, much more than a friend, leaving Elina with choices she never thought she would have to make.

But even though her heart will always be Reid’s, her soul’s increasing need for oblivion and pain become too much to ignore. And the one person who can feed that side of her wants more from her than she is willing to give.

Everything around Reid has come crashing down. His dying daughter is missing, his father, the brains behind Judgement, is already building himself a new army, and to top it off, the reason his heart still beats refuses to allow him into her life. Not that he blames her. His lies, his family and his sadistic need for power destroyed everything good in her.

Now he has no choice but to watch from the sidelines as she spirals into a world of destruction and depravity. But when Jayson, one of his ex-wife’s bodyguards, decides Elina belongs to him, Reid finds himself in the hardest war he’s ever had to face—winning back the woman who makes his soul burn.

But is it too late, has her spirit absorbed so much sin and debauchery that she is no longer the woman Reid fell in love with all those years ago when he was given the job to watch her inside Judgement? Has the darkness in Elina eclipsed everything radiant within her, or can Reid pull her back and show her that sometimes, the light can still provide her deepest desires as well as a life she can live to the full?

Coming Very Soon

My wonderful beta’s; Vickie, Michelle, Charlie, Kim, Di, Kelly, Ker, Terrie and Rhonda. Each of you make Judgement 8 what it is. Thank you for holding me up and helping me through!

To my editor, Kyra Lennon; your little comments always bring a smile.

My amazing formatter, Stacey from Champagne Formats. You ROCK! Honestly, you make my shit look pretty and that is a miracle in itself!!

To the Oh So sexy ladies; You’re part of my family and keep me sane.

And lastly to my family; you keep me breathing and fed. You hold my hand through life and support me in ways you will never know.