RedeemingZorus (16 page)

A hand grabbed Charlie’s ass. “Have you ever taken a male
here?” His fingers pressed against her anus. “I am told it hurts. They didn’t
care if he screamed. They didn’t care if he bled. They enjoyed his suffering.”

He jerked his hand away. Charlie screamed when she heard the
sound of his pants being opened.

“You’re going to know his pain.”

Charlie tried to fight, tried to get away from him, but he
kept her immobile against the dresser with his hand still gripping the back of
her neck. His hot breath fanned her throat, another snarl coming from him.

“I’m going to enjoy every painful moment you suffer,” he
swore. “You’re nothing but a toy for me to play with now.”

* * * * *

Zorus smiled when he entered his apartment. The smell of the
meal Charlie had prepared greeted him when the elevator doors opened. His gaze
swept the kitchen and living area, searching for her as he strode inside. His
stomach rumbled from hunger and the tempting scents of something he couldn’t identify
but wanted to eat.

“Charlie?” He headed for the bedroom when he didn’t see her.

He froze at the open doorway at the sight of Darius. His son
had his pants down to the back of his thighs to reveal his bare ass, faced the
dresser, and as their gazes met, he saw blood dripping from his nose down his
face. A muffled scream made his heart nearly stop before rage engulfed him. He
moved before he even understood why his son had ventured inside his bedroom
half undressed.

Darius turned more and in that instant Zorus saw what his
son’s body had shielded him from. Darius had Charlie wedged against the
dresser, bent over it, her hands tied behind her back, and a red mark the size
of a fist showed on her bare body, on her ass. He heard the anguished sound of
horrified shock that came from his own lips.

Zorus lunged, roaring in rage, and before he knew it, he’d
grabbed his son and thrown him away from Charlie. Her body shook and her
muffled sobs tore at his gut. That’s when he realized something was tied around
her head. She’d slumped against the dresser the instant he’d thrown Darius away
from her but he managed to catch her within his arms before she slid to the
floor.

“What did you do?” Zorus roared, his head jerking to glare
at his son, while he clutched Charlie’s shaking body inside the cradle of his
arms.

Darius lay sprawled on the floor where he’d landed roughly
on his side. It only took Zorus a second to see the state of his son’s aroused
body to guess what he’d interrupted. He roared out in rage again, watched his
son pale and his dark eyes widen with alarm.

Charlie sobbed, her body trembled hard against his, and the
muffled noise dragged his infuriated focus to her. He turned her gently in his
hold to get a look at her face. Tears streamed from her eyes, hair stuck to her
face from the wetness, and a wide strip of torn clothing hid her mouth. Zorus
sank to the floor, his legs giving out on him, but managed to cushion her when
he fell. The look in Charlie’s eyes tore him apart inside. Her fear and pain
was so strong that he could almost feel them himself.

Zorus couldn’t get breath into his lungs. His mind tried to
function but the awfulness of the situation made thinking hard to do. He eased
Charlie closer on his lap. His hands trembled badly as he tried to free her
from the gag. He knew he pulled her hair but couldn’t avoid it. The material
had been tied with strands of it tangled into the knot. The second he gently
removed it from her mouth, Charlie screamed.

The ragged, gut-wrenching sound tore through the room,
pierced not only his ears with her pain but his heart. She sucked in air and
threw her face against his chest. Great sobs racked her body. His arms wrapped
around her only to realize her hands were still bound behind her back. He
reached for them.

“Father?”

Zorus turned his head, fury finally burning through his
distress. Darius had sat up and jerked his pants back into place on his hips
but he hadn’t fastened them. Zorus’ fingers worked the knots that bound
Charlie’s wrists until he freed her. Her hands clutched at his shirt while she
sobbed against him.

“I’m sorry if I should have waited to start torturing her.”

It took everything for Zorus to get words out of his mouth.
He wanted to scream the way Charlie had. “Did you rape her?”

“I was just about to.”

Zorus felt a coldness settle into his soul while he glared
at his son. “Did you enter her?”

“I was working on that when you walked in. She’s very small
and wouldn’t easily take me.” Darius slowly climbed to his feet. He scowled
down at his father and then the woman on his lap. “What are you doing, freeing
her?”

Zorus attempted to move Charlie off his lap to deal with his
son but she cried out, clung to him tighter, and made it impossible for him to
ease her onto the floor next to him. He froze. Emotions nearly overwhelmed him
while they tore him in half. His son had attacked the woman he loved. Darius
had tried to rape Charlie, had assaulted her, and he wanted to beat on his own
flesh and blood so badly that he quaked from the force of desire to kill the son
he loved. He closed his eyes.

“Go,” he rasped. “Leave, Darius.”

“Father? What is wrong? Did I ruin your plans for her? Were
you still playing the nice game with her?”

Zorus glowered at his son. “You attacked her.” He paused—had
to when his voice broke. “I don’t want to kill you. I’m that angry at this
moment. You had no authority to touch Charlie.” His voice rose until he yelled.
“She means something to me. Do you know what you’ve done? Do you understand I’d
like nothing better than to make you bleed? Pound on you until you no longer
live? Leave!” He shouted the last word.

Darius gaped at him.

Zorus embraced Charlie’s shaking, small form, trying to
comfort them both, but knew it wasn’t possible. He closed his eyes to fight the
wrath that threatened to make him take the life of his only son.

Long minutes passed before Charlie’s sobs started to
subside. Zorus opened his eyes to realize Darius no longer remained inside the
room. He turned his head to make certain his son had left. He and Charlie were
alone once again. He forced his numb body to move, to carefully cradle the
woman he loved within his arms, and managed to get to his knees, then to his
unsteady feet. He slowly walked into the bathroom.

Charlie got control of her emotions when Zorus eased her
bare bottom onto the cool countertop and opened her eyes when he pulled away.
She didn’t look at his face. She couldn’t. Her body trembled, ached in too many
places to count, but Zorus had arrived home in time to stop his son from raping
her. She fought another sob that threatened at the memory of Darius pressing
against her ass, trying to force his cock inside her.

“Charlie?” Zorus whispered her name. “I’m so sorry. Where do
you hurt? What did he do to you?”

She wrapped her arms around her bare chest, hugged her body
tightly, and kept her head down. More tears threatened to spill. She didn’t
know what to say to Zorus. She’d heard what he’d said to his son, the threat
he’d made to kill him, and how upset he’d sounded.

“Charlie?” Zorus placed his hands gently on the tops of her
thighs. She flinched, not meaning to, and inwardly winced when he jerked away.
“I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do this,” she whispered.

An uncomfortable silence stretched. “Didn’t I? I raised him
to hate humans—all of them—and should have immediately spoken to him when I
brought you into my home. I just didn’t think of him. I had been told he’d
returned to Garden after I was taken to Earth and I should have contacted him
to warn him that I planned to live with you. I needed to make it clear what you
mean to me, that you aren’t the enemy. I should have ordered him to stay away
from you if he couldn’t accept you as an important part of my life.”

She finally lifted her head to study Zorus. His handsome
face looked ravaged with anguish, regret, and sadness. Hot tears blinded her
until she blinked them back. “I’m going to be okay.”

A muscle near his jaw twitched. “What did he do?”

She lowered her gaze. “I’m going to have some bruises and I
may have some bald spots on the back of my head.”

Zorus leaned closer until his body gently brushed against
her knees while he examined the back of her head. “I don’t see any.”

“It feels like it. He pulled me around by my hair.”

A soft growl came from him that made Charlie jerk her head
up to stare at him. Anger darkened his features.

“I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do it.”

He opened his mouth.

“I know,” she whispered before he could repeat taking the
blame. “You feel responsible. Let’s not go there, okay? I’m trying really hard
to keep it together. I was terrified,” she admitted. “If you hadn’t walked in
when―” Emotion choked her.

“He would have raped you.”

She looked away from the rage burning in his dark gaze. “He
tried.”

Zorus moved closer to her again. “Let me wash you. It helps.
You’ll feel better once you clean away his touch.”

She glanced up at Zorus, remembering what Darius had told
her about his past. She didn’t tell him what had been said but she had the sad
insight that he knew from experience that bathing would help. No one had saved
him from the humans who’d attacked him, raped and tortured him. She’d been
spared the fate of being sexually abused.

Gentle hands helped her ease off the counter. She stood on
trembling legs while he turned on the water inside the large tub located in one
corner of the bathroom. She had longingly looked at it when she’d showered but
hadn’t wanted Zorus to return home to find her being lazy inside his bath.

“Dinner! There’s a roast in the oven. It’s going to burn.”

“I’ll remove it.” He hesitated. “I’ll return quickly.”

She waited for him to leave before she faced a mirror. Red
marks marred her skin on her upper arms, wrists, and shoulders. Her face looked
red and her lips swollen from the gag that Darius had used. She turned then,
lifted on tiptoe, and looked over her shoulder to get a view at her ass.

A red, angry mark showed on her ass cheek from where Darius
had forced his hipbone against her there. A shiver ran up her spine at how
close she’d been to being raped. A few more seconds and he would have entered
her.

Zorus returned as quickly as he’d promised, stepped into the
bathroom, and tested the temperature of the bath water. He turned and slowly
started to undress. Charlie tensed.

“I’m not exactly in the mood now.”

That drew an irritated look from him. “I don’t wish to have
sex. I want to go into the water with you, hold you, and wash you. Afterward
I’ll feed you dinner while you rest.” He paused. “I just want to hold you. I
need to. I could have lost you and I just—” His voice broke. “I want to hold
you.”

Hot tears blinded her but she blinked them back. “I’d like
that.”

He closed the distance between them in just his pants and
boots, his strong arms pulling her against his chest in a tight hug, and she
wrapped her arms around him.

“This will never happen again. I swear it to you, Charlie.”

She nodded against his hot, bare chest. His body heat
soothed her, warmed the cold places inside her that the attack had created, and
she did feel safe.

“I will deal with my son.” His tone turned icy.

Charlie suddenly shivered again. She didn’t think Darius
would enjoy whatever Zorus would say or do to his son. Not that she cared.
Darius had shown no mercy for her and she wouldn’t be broken up if he got his
ass kicked by his father. Her only regret would be not watching as Zorus beat
on him.

Chapter Ten

Zorus waited impatiently at the door to the apartment, three
buildings from his own. He’d tried to calm the rage inside him. It had been
difficult. He’d washed Charlie, cared for her, and she’d slept after he fed her
the delicious meal she’d prepared.

Darius opened the door with a grim expression on his
features. “Father.”

“Son.”

“You’re angry.”

“Furious.”

Darius cocked his head and backed up. “Enter.”

The apartment had a female’s touch to the décor. Zorus
glanced around. “Are your female and children of your family unit home?”

“This is her week to live with Urgo.”

The thought of sending Charlie to live with another male
made Zorus clench his fists. His son shared the woman of his family unit with
two other males and whichever breeding-pact males were needed to conceive
children if they needed outside help. He turned to face Darius when the door
closed behind him.

“You had no authority to touch my female.” His voice
deepened. “Your female would be very angry if she knew you tried to have
intercourse with another female.”

Darius hesitated. “Not with a human. They are nothing but
slaves for our use. My female understands that I have needs she isn’t always
around to fill.”

“You are never,” Zorus ground out each word, “to attempt to
harm Charlie again. I don’t even want you near her.”

“She’s just a human.”

“She’s mine!” Zorus snarled the words. He stepped back after
he realized that he’d lunged forward a step when Darius backed up. He fought
his fury, gained control of his emotions, and nearly flinched at the astounded
expression on the face that so resembled his own.

“You care what happens to it?”

“Her. Charlie isn’t my enemy, nor is she yours. Do you
understand me? I plan to form a family unit with her.”

Astonishment quickly transformed into anger on his son’s
face. Darius glared at his father. “She’s somehow influenced you. You always
said they could corrupt our people if given the opportunity. She has fooled you
into believing she will not cause harm to you or our people. What did she do to
you while you were a prisoner on Earth? Drug you? Torture you?”