Delta Salvation (Phantom Force, Book 1) (28 page)

“Where have you been, little girl?” Keith’s voice grated like nails against concrete.

She’d learned at a very young age not to allow him to see how he affected her. A deep inhale helped steady her nerves. “My truck broke down.” As long as she stayed close to the truth, Keith wouldn’t scent a lie. Another thing she’d learned at his knee, fists, and claws.

Keith cleared the ten or so feet separating them in one leap, startling a gasp out of her. “Don’t lie to me you little bitch. I know there was more to it than that. You were in the woods up in Mystic again. Which one of those bastards were you sniffing after?”

His face had contorted into his half-beast. A cross between wolf and whatever he could be. Even Taryn had no clue what all he was, but he was mean.

Her head tilted toward the two wolves standing off to the side. “I followed those two, yes.” Again, half truths.

His chest expanded with his deep inhale. She was sure he’d give her some mundane chore, or take away her privileges like a child. At twenty-five years old, being treated like a five year old on a weekly basis was nothing new.

As his large arm raised with its muscles and veins covered by fur, she didn’t flinch as he ran the back of his knuckles down her cheek. “Your skin is so smooth, and soft. Unblemished from time and age. Do you know how lucky you are to have my genes coursing through your veins?”

She swallowed. “Yes, alpha.” Nobody could accuse her of being a stupid wolf. Her eyes stayed below his chin, yet she never gave him the respect due his status.

“When will you learn your place?” His voice didn’t raise. One claw scraped down, lifting her chin to meet his eyes.

The hate and loathing staring back at her made her gut clench. Whether it was directed at her or the Mystic Wolves didn’t matter. Alpha Keith was angry, or suspicious.

Her voice came out a croak. “I don’t have a place. I’m the lowest member of your pack, below even that.”

The blow that knocked her across the room shocked her, then the pain hit, blood filling her mouth. Before she could get to her feet, he was on her, his hand gripping her by the throat and lifting her up, dangling her feet off the ground.

The scary beast in front of her drew his arm back, the shifted paw of the wolf was larger than a full grown bear, and he flashed his black claws like they were knives. They reminded Taryn of the movie
Nightmare On Elm Street
, when the killer would taunt his victims before he’d slice the razor sharp talons, gutting them. Some days she wondered if he’d actually kill her. Had silently prayed for death on more than one occasion.

He laughed. “Oh, you are truly smart. Too smart maybe.”

A rake of those too sharp claws swiped across her cheek, burning her flesh like liquid acid pouring down on her. Silently she screamed, knowing he fed off the pain and anguish of others. Oh, he loved to see his handy work, too. She watched satisfaction flare in his unholy black orbs at the blood running down her face, ruining one of her favorite shirts.

Still, she dangled a good three feet off the ground. His grip on her shirt never loosening while he held her at his height of over six feet four, give or take, in human form, but in his beast mode he was closer to seven.

His next blow broke several ribs, a gasp escaping before she could control it.

“Ah, let’s see how much more you can stand. Hmm?” Keith asked, dropping her from his grasp.

Taryn tried to protect her head, knowing it was the most important part of her body. Everything else would heal itself within hours with no outward sign of damage. However, a head injury could take days.

The sound of the pack cheering Keith on became background noise as he continued to kick and hit her. She tried to curl into a ball, focusing all her energy on keeping her head from taking any of his abuse. Every now and again he’d give a grunt, but even that was for show. By the time he was finished, Taryn couldn’t count the number of broken bones in her body on both hands.

Excruciating pain radiated out of every pore of her being. Both eyes had swollen to slits from the kicks to her face. Whatever had angered him, Keith had decided she was going to be his punching bag tonight. Not an uncommon occurrence, but this was one of the worst beatings she’d suffered in years. This time she didn’t have a mother figure willing to crawl over and help her back to their rooms.

“Someone help the whelp up before I kill her this time. It’s not her day to die, yet.” He growled, sounding more beast than man.

She wanted to tell whoever came to drag her up to leave her alone, but the gentle touch and sweet scents of her friends washed over her. They hadn’t been in the space when Taryn had been summoned by Keith, otherwise her friends would’ve tried to intervene. They’d have been hurt even worse than her, only their injuries wouldn’t have healed as fast, nor as completely.

Joni and Sky eased their arms under her, their wolf strength gave them the ability to lift her with ease. When they reached the sparse room she called her own, they lay her on the full sized bed. A moan finally escaping her busted lips. “Could you get me a glass of water, please?” Was that her voice? She hoped they understood the garbled mess.

Her friend Sky rushed to the small room, not bothering to turn the light on. The cup shook in the other girl’s hand. “You look so bad, Ryn.”

It hurt to swallow, let alone to reassure her friends she’d be okay. They didn’t know how fast she would heal. Heck, she wasn’t sure how quickly it would take this time. “Need, time, ladies.”

“We are staying with you, so shut the hell up. I brought wine,” Joni whispered.

Too tired and hurting to argue, Taryn took another drink of water. Lying on her bed, knowing she was ruining the beautiful bedding, she wanted to cry. A weakness Keith would love to see. Already bones were realigning, bruised organs healing. The last parts of her to heal would be the outer package, which could take days. Days of agony where she would feel each bone and cartilage reform, refill with fresh blood and tissue. Her mind shut down as her last thought was of the alluring wolf Jett Tremaine. Goddess, but he was a fine specimen she’d love to do dirty things to.

The next time she woke it didn’t feel like she’d been run over by a Mack Truck, and then backed over again. Lifting her eyelids, she risked a glance down her body, expecting to see blood crusted over every inch of her.

“Thank you jeezus. I didn’t think you’d ever wake the fuck up. I swear you scared like ten years off my life,” Joni said, coming to stand beside her, a glass in her hand.

It took Taryn a couple seconds to get her voice to work, and then she was able to speak. “How long was I out?”

“Three mother fucking days,” Sky growled.

Taryn tried to sit up at the announcement, but the world spun a little. “What? I didn’t wake at all?”

“I almost hauled your ass in to the hospital. One more day and you were going.” Joni held the drink out, the anxiety she’d obviously felt clear in her tone. “Drink this, and then you need to eat, and no you didn’t wake.”

Gulping the orange juice down her parched throat, Taryn was glad her friends had stayed with her.

“How do you feel?” Sky asked.

The thought of moving her body didn’t appeal in the least, but Taryn was no pussy. She stretched her legs out, expecting a little pain. When none came she tested her arms, again no pain.

“We took turns watching you, making sure none of the assholes decided to come in and take advantage of you. The second day we decided to wash you up a bit. I couldn’t stand to look at the blood on you a moment longer, but we didn’t want to jar you too much. Do you think you’re up for a bath?” Sky was the mothering sort. Someday she’d make a great mate, just not to one of the jackholes in their pack.

A bath sounded divine, but her rooms didn’t boast that extravagance, only a small stand up shower cubicle. Not that she wasn’t completely healed, her friends just didn’t know that. Both Sky and Joni had better accommodations than she had due to their parents being higher up in Keith’s hierarchy. Their alpha would still slit their throats if he felt like it, but he needed them since they provided money to their pack. Sky’s parents were lawyers, a needed attribute in their world, while Joni’s were the technical geeks who kept Keith up on the latest gadgets. They were like the step sisters in the fairytale, while she was Cinderella. The thought made her giggle. She had no prince charming who would ride in to save her. One day her time would come, when Keith decided she wasn’t worth keeping alive and end her. Until then she would enjoy what life she had, and lying around in bloody clothes, stinking to high heaven wasn’t on the agenda.

She wished she could hang out with them like regular girls. Go out and have drinks. Dance at the clubs and meet guys. Their world wasn’t normal. Sky and Joni’s parents would never allow their girls to go anywhere with Keith’s thing. Their fear for what he’d do to them if something happened to her, or their hate for her because of what she was made it impossible. Taryn accepted the fact she had no pack outside of her rooms. Joni and Sky loved her as much as they could, would even go against their parents if her life was at stake, which they’d obviously done to stay with her. But she’d never put them in danger. Again. They couldn’t handle the beatings she could from Keith. Seeing their pain was worse than feeling her own.

No, Taryn would rather be friendless than have to witness Sky or Joni’s tears, or hear the sound of their bones being broken.

Read Two Quick Excerpts from Caitlyn O’Leary’s Thrilling New Book,

Released February 23rd

HER ADORING SEAL

Book 3 in the Midnight Delta Series

By Caitlyn O’Leary

HIDING IN FEAR 

Beth Hildago feels shattered after the time she spent in the hands of the Mexican drug cartel. Now her life is on the line as corrupt authorities try to hunt her down. 

FIERCE PROTECTOR 

Jack Preston is a decorated Navy SEAL whose family’s Texas Ranch is the perfect place for Beth to hide. 

ON THE RUN 

When Beth’s cover is blown, she is once again forced to run. This time Jack is not going to leave her side. But what happens when there is an enemy no one ever expected? Can he keep her safe? 

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Excerpt One

T
hey were going to kill her.  Jack gripped his gun as he looked into the storage room.  Griff was across the square in the bell tower, and Jack had just gotten word he found three of the other doctors and could take down their captors.  Aiden and Dex were on other floors of the hospital looking for hostages and tangos.  Their lieutenant was outside ready to give the command to Aiden to start taking out the targets.  That left him in the basement to find this horror.

The woman was on her knees, her shirt torn, breasts spilling out, and a face covered in blood and bruises.  She had one arm wrapped around a man’s hips like a lover, her cheek pressed against his thigh, and her blonde hair tangled with his pubic hair.  That’s where the farce ended.  The tip of the knife she held was pressed against his balls, and Jack could see a trickle of blood.

“Come closer and I will cut off his cock,” she said in raspy Spanish. 

“Kill her.”  The man commanded to the three other men in the room.

“Sir, the bullet could hit you.”

“You’re two feet away.  You can’t shoot straight?  Kill the bitch!”

The woman flinched, and the knife bit into the man’s tender flesh.  He yowled.

“Kill her now, she’s cutting me.” 

“You keep talking and threatening me and you’ll never father a child.  Tell them to back off.”

Jack admired her bravery, but what did she think she was going to accomplish?  How in the hell did she think she was going to get out of this mess?

Excerpt Two

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B
eth caught fire in his arms.  Jack hadn’t expected she would burn so bright and so fast.  He looked up at her face, and saw her biting her lip her face suffused with passion.  He was scared, but it had never stopped him before, and it wasn’t going to stop him now.  This was the most important mission of his life. 

Her brow furrowed as she began to rock back and forth in his lap.  It was clear to him what she needed.  He continued to taste the sublime texture of her nipple, licking, savoring, and then he took the brown rose nub into his mouth.  She arched into him with a sigh.  He continued to hold her breast to his lips, while his other hand began a languid journey down her torso.

He knew Beth was unaware of her rocking, the way her legs had shifted and were now slightly spread apart.  Her soft buttocks tortured his erection, and her legs attempted to clamp around his knee.  He stroked further downwards, easing over the waistband of her Capri pants.  She jerked.

Her hands were suddenly there, and he couldn’t help a second of disappointment he immediately tamped down.  But her hands slid underneath his, and she was unbuttoning her trousers and lowering the zipper.

He considered, and knew he needed to take this opportunity to show her she could.  She made a frustrated sound as the zipper caught. 

“Shhhh, I’ve got it.  They train us in complicated machinery.”  She gave a little giggle.  Just what he wanted.  Her hands stayed on her zipper, as if not sure where to go.

“I love it when you touch my hair,” he coaxed.

“You do?”  He looked at her and smiled. “Don’t you like it when I touch yours?”

“Yes.”  She reached up put and her arms around his neck, her hands playing in his hair.

He kissed her, once again luxuriating in the taste of Beth Hidalgo.

She relaxed, and he unzipped her pants, easing his hand inside the front of her silky panties.  Her curls were damp.  He dipped down further, nudging her tender folds apart, finding her drenched.  He brought some of that moisture upwards, and began to gently circle her engorged bud. 

She broke off the kiss, and buried her head in the crook of his neck, panting.  He continued his ministrations.  She pushed against him, hard.  Understanding her wordless command he increased his speed and pressure.

She sobbed into his neck. “I can’t.”