Rebel Roused (Untamed #5) (2 page)

Slowly, I opened my eyes. Darkness sped by, punctuated by lights too bright for my eyes. I brought my hands up to shield my face.

“Give her another hit.” The voice was hard and rough. Male. And I tried to place where I’d heard it before. A fuzzy memory prodded the back of my mind. Something had happened…but I couldn’t remember what. My brain refused to focus on anything for very long.

And why the hell was I even bothering to fight the haze? There was a reason, I was sure of it. An important reason. Fuck. What was it?

Before I could chase away the smoke obscuring my thoughts, something pricked my arm. The sting was followed by a delicious feeling of serenity, and I closed my eyes again, surrendering to the clouds in my mind.

Voices argued from far away, echoing in my mind as I tried to surface. It was like I was swimming through quicksand—the harder I tried to come up to consciousness, the more I was dragged down.

But little by little, I made progress. The angry voices became clearer as light filtered into my awareness. Shit. The noise hurt like hell. I immediately wanted to shrink away from it all, yell at the loud voices to go away, but it was so freaking hard to get my mouth to move, I couldn’t tell whether I had made even a sound. I could barely breathe. My chest felt like it was being crushed and the air felt too thick.

Then a hand grabbed my jaw, and my eyes flew open. My heart slammed against my ribcage as the man in front of me shoved a pill into my mouth, and then held it closed.

“Swallow,” he said, his voice as gruff as sandpaper.

I squinted into the morning light barely streaming through the dirty windows, and tried to figure out why someone was giving me pills. Had I been hurt? Was I in the hospital?

“Swallow, bitch. NOW.” He clamped my nose shut so I couldn’t breathe.

I clawed at his hands and tried to kick out my feet, but someone grabbed them. Christ. What the fuck was going on? The light was killing my head, and my brain was all fogged up. I struggled, my lungs burning, darkness crowding the edges of my vision.

“Open her mouth,” another voice said. “If we give her a drink, she’ll swallow.” Chills ran down my spine. I
knew
that voice.

They laughed, and someone grabbed my arms and held them down, while the first guy pried my jaw open. I didn’t have time to breathe before water was poured down my throat, and I was sputtering and coughing.

And swallowing.

They let go roughly, and I thought for sure I was going to cough up a lung. When I finally caught my breath, I was staring into the dead-cold eyes of Dare’s father.

The floodgates opened and everything came rushing back.

Daren shooting Rex and then…the blood. Oh, god, all the blood that was spreading so fast even before they dragged me out of his studio and threw me into their car. That image was burned into my brain: Rex lying there helpless, surprise and confusion on his face as he clutched at his stomach, his head shaking in disbelief. Tears stung my eyes. I only hoped someone heard the shot and got there in time.

Because Rex had to survive. He HAD to.

I glanced around the room—where the fuck had they taken me? It looked like an old warehouse. Rusty metal walls thirty feet high were lined with filthy, small-paned windows all along the roofline. Junk was littered throughout, as if the place had been abandoned a long time ago.

And it was quiet. Disturbingly so. No sounds of cars nor people. Fuck. Not a chance of someone hearing me if I screamed. Still, I had to try.

Drawing in a raspy breath, I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. My throat was as dry as the fucking desert, and my body and mind felt like I had no control over them. As my vision started to swim, my limbs began to feel weightless. I was floating.

Higher, higher,
higher
…

God, what had they given me? I was never going to get out of here if they kept me drugged. And I had to get out of here. I had to keep Dare far, far away from the madman in front of me.

“Wh…where…?” I tried to speak the full sentence, but the words were getting stuck somewhere between my brain and lips.

Daren stepped forward, bringing his face close to mine. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Princess,” he said. “You just tell me everything I want to know, and you’ll die quickly.” He laughed. “Let’s start with Dare’s phone number. He needs to see this with his own eyes.”

“Fuck…” My words slurred. “…off.”

There was a sharp sting around my eye and my head ricocheted backwards, banging against the cement floor.

Then everything went blessedly black.

When I surfaced again, it was dark. I glanced up at the windows, where the sky was just beginning to lighten. The warehouse was deathly quiet. A light burned bright where two men sat staring at their phones in silence on the other side of the building, but I was cloaked in shadow.

God, was this it? Was this my chance?

Keeping my gaze on them, I slowly—
painstakingly
—got to my feet. My right eye felt weird, and I reached up to touch my face. Jesus. The whole side was puffed up and tender, throbbing under my touch. I couldn’t even see the hand in front of that side of my face. My eye was swollen shut, my cheek sticky with blood.

I glanced around, looking for the nearest door. Shit, it was all the way across the room. Not near the two guys, thank god, yet not close enough for me to slip out with ease.

Sticking to the shadows, I took a couple of steps toward the door and paused. The two were deep in some angry conversation now, oblivious to me. My heart hammered louder the closer I got to the door. It was dark out and I had no idea where I was, even what state I was in, but if I got through that door, I would run like the fucking devil was chasing me.

Because, most likely, he would be.

My life depended on the next few seconds.

Here goes—

“Do you really think we’re going to let you just walk out the door? You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

My heart lodged in my throat, and I turned to see Daren behind me, leaning casually against a shadowy corner of the wall.

Fuck. Me.

He slinked out of the darkness, sneering. “You think it’s going to be
that
easy to get away from me, Princess?” He threw back his head and laughed. “My son obviously told you nothing about me.”

“He told me plenty.”

His eyebrows shot up and his eyes brightened with interest. “Do tell.”

I kept my mouth shut and glared at him, realizing too late I’d just given him another reason to kill me. Like he needed any more.

“No? Well then, I’ll have to leave it up to my imagination.” He tapped a finger to his temple. “And I’ve got a wild one. In fact, I’ve been dreaming up all sorts of fun things to do to you while that shit-for-brains bastard son of mine watches.” Stone cold fear shivered through me. I knew all too well what Daren was capable of. “He’ll come for you, I have no doubt. He’s always been weak that way.”

“He’s a better man than you by far.” My voice shook, but I lifted my chin while I slid my foot backwards, trying to get a little closer to the door. Maybe I could make a break for it. No one else had come over to us, though the guys across the room were watching our exchange with interest.

And Daren was overconfident. I was hoping that would be his downfall.

He clucked. “Now don’t be so hasty in your judgments there, Princess. You haven’t
had
me yet.” He took a menacing step toward me, like a sinewy predator. “You don’t know what a real man is like. But don’t worry, I’ll show you soon enough.”

Not if I could help it.

I bolted for the door, but before I could open it, I was slammed against it, my whole body ringing from the impact. As I started to fall, Daren grabbed my arms. He held them behind me, hauled me to my feet, and spun me around so I was inches from his face.

“Let’s try this again, you little bitch.” His eyes were crazed, deep black pits. “I’m tired of waiting. Call. Him. Now.”

“No.” I shook my head. I was going down, I knew that, but I’d be damned if I was going to go down without a fight.

“I don’t think you understand.” He leaned in dangerously close, his breath hot on my face, his voice as sharp as the knife he slid under my chin. “This isn’t a request. It’s an order. You will tell me his fucking phone number.”

“Fuck you. You’re not getting a single digit from me.” Involuntary shudders ran through my body, but I refused to let the prick see my fear. Not like that would change my fate. Still, I would not give him the satisfaction. I was only live bait to him, but at least I had that going for me. He needed me alive so he could get to Dare.

All I could think about was that I had to keep Dare far away from him. If my fate was already sealed and Daren was intent on killing me, so be it. But I was going to go down protecting the love of my life.

“String her up,” he said, and smirked.

Two huge guys appeared out of nowhere, and wrapped thick rope around my wrists and feet. Every time I struggled, one of them smacked me across the face until my ears rang and the room swam. Then they lifted me up, slid my hands over the end of a metal bar above me and hung me there, my bound feet not even skimming the floor.

“Why are you protecting him?” Daren’s blade hovered above my chest, teasing the hem of my camisole. “Hmm?”

“Because…I love him.”

He laughed, then turned to one of his men and shook his head. “Did you hear that, Eddie? Someone loves the fucking failure. Ain’t that something?”

“He’s more of a man than you could ever hope to be.” I spat the words at him, not caring if I pissed him off. He was going to kill me no matter what.

“You talk way too much for someone who’s about to die.” He backhanded me across the cheek, snapping my head to the side, filling my vision with blinding stars.

Eddie came closer, his eyes feasting on my body as if he were a starved man and I was an all-you-can-eat buffet.

“Let me have her for an hour, boss,” he said stepping so close his rancid breath made me gag. “I’ll show her
exactly
what she’s been missing”

My eyes widened as I looked over at Daren, the hairs on the back of my neck rising.

Daren smiled again, and my blood froze, my breath stopped. He was considering letting the asshole have his way with me. Fucking monsters—both of them. My stomach knotted as Eddie licked his lips in anticipation.

But Daren shook his head, thank god. “No, I want to keep her fresh. I want the boy to hear her first screams, see the first time. And the second. And the third. I want him to watch me cut into her and take her away from him piece-by-fucking-piece.”

Disappointment intensified the ugly on Eddie’s face. “Aw, come on. It’s a waste to have such a pretty toy and not get any good use out of it before it goes to the dump. I promise not to break her.” He grinned, his hand snaking out to me, aiming directly for the button of my jeans. “Not much, anyway,” he added with a laugh.

Swinging my legs up and catching Eddie in the groin, I screamed, “NOOOO!”

He reeled, doubling over in pain even as he swung at me, his fist smashing painfully against my knee. “You little whore—”

“Enough!” Daren swore and shoved the blade at Eddie’s throat. He nodded over his shoulder at the other thug. “Let’s see if she’ll talk this time while she’s high. I want my bastard son here so I can kill this bitch already.” He grabbed my chin and squeezed roughly. “Open wide, Princess.” Then he stuffed a pill down my throat.

I was gasping for breath when he finally let go. Shuddering, I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to focus on breathing, knowing I had to stay strong for Dare.

Just a little longer. Just a little longer, then…

Then what?

If I didn’t get away—and soon—I would be leaving this place in a body bag.

But in all reality, the longer I spent with Daren and his men, the better death was starting to look.

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