Wild Hunts (29 page)

“I would expect better behavior from a revered white. After all, you’ve acquired a great following.” Eva jerked the whip upward, piercing the soft skin beneath Kasa’s mouth. She absorbed the new pain, refusing to lower her gaze from the evil were in front of her. Fresh blood trickled between her breasts, tickling her skin. Hell, as the water dried, it left her entire body itching.

She balled her fists above the tight shackles, tensing her muscles. She wanted to kick the bitch away, kick her so hard she impaled herself on one of the torture devices lining the walls. However, if Eva didn’t go down on the first try, she would be in deep shit.

I’m already in deep shit.

The door opened and the ugly man reentered the room. Eva glanced back at him and motioned for his approach. Kasa’s lips twitched in a snarl, nostrils flared at the pungent odor surrounding the man.

“Her feet,” Eva ordered, lowering her whip from beneath Kasa’s chin. The man grabbed her by the calves and lifted her shackled feet level with Eva’s stomach. The bitch tucked the whip into a belt loop on her dress and rolled the knife in her hand. “So many nerve endings in your fingers and toes.”

“Jordan, I can handle this. I can. Don’t panic. Please don’t panic,”
Kasa begged, her eyes trained on the glinting tip of the knife. Silver, no doubt in its purest form.
“I know Micah and Slade are close by. They’ll find us before anything happens. I swear it. They’ll be here soon.”

“
You
should’ve never come here. God, woman, I can’t bear to watch her torture you.”

“Then don’t. Close your eyes. I’m stronger than she is. I can take this.”

Another lie. She wasn’t sure she could last through any significant torture, but she wouldn’t subject her brother to enduring the sound of her agony. He suffered enough because of her, of what she was. All of this murder and mayhem over the color of a wolf’s coat.

How sickening. How sad.

Eva pressed the sharp tip of the knife to the bottom side of her big toe. “To cut each one off would sever the effect of watching you suffer. I’ve had plenty of time to develop ways of bringing out the highest degree of pain in even the strongest of weres.”

The blade bit into Kasa’s flesh. Fire swept up her leg, her stomach, her chest, twisting each muscle, organ, nerve. Kasa held her breath, trying to calm her rapid heartbeat and keep the stinging tears from her eyes. Eva slowly pulled the blade through the tender flesh of her big toe, opening the underside but not severing the appendage.

“Damage the nerves and it takes a were much longer to heal. Especially when the wounds inflicted are made by silver. Cut off the toe completely, and they heal with little repercussion. Sometimes, they even regenerate. No fun in that.”

Kasa endured another deliberate cut along the underside of her second toe. Her body jerked. The chains rattled. Sparks of color touched the perimeter of her vision. The pain equaled that of acid running through her veins, eating away at her body from the inside out. The ugly man tightened his grip on her legs, holding her bound feet out for Eva. His eyes lingered on Kasa’s breasts and the small thatch of curls at the apex of her thighs. His tongue swept over his lips again and again.

Behind Eva, Jordan watched the spectacle. Sorrow, regret, shame flared in his eyes. Kasa saw him struggle against the tight restraints. His teeth gritted, his forehead creased. His chest puffed out, but when it flattened against the wall, he moaned. A few seconds later, Kasa saw blood dripping onto the ground between his legs.

The third toe became victim to the razor-sharp blade, igniting a new wave of nauseating agony that rushed up to her chest. She swallowed the bile, swallowed the pain, forcing herself not to dwell on what was happening, but rather what would happen once her mates arrived.

They couldn’t be far away. They just couldn’t.

“When the toes are open, I like to toy with the sole of the foot. So many pressure points in a foot. So much pain to be had,” Eva said, cutting open her fourth toe. Kasa’s fists stiffened. The iron shackles rubbed her wrists raw from her movements. Small trickles of blood began to roll down her forearms. “You can thank your cousins and their mates for the torture you’ll endure before I kill you tonight. Had they left my sisters alone, my hunger for revenge wouldn’t have escalated to such a degree.”

“Your sisters tried to kill my cousins, you sick, demented dog,” Kasa growled. Her voice strained against the burn overwhelming her body and her spirit. Her wolf mewled, pacing relentlessly along her mind. “You would’ve never stopped until we were all dead anyhow.”

“True.” Eva paused in thought. The tip of the knife rested against her pinkie toe. A small pool of blood had formed from her open wounds at Eva’s feet.

A loud commotion erupted outside the door. The glaze over Eva’s eyes vanished. “Go find out what the problem is. I told everyone to leave me alone this evening.”

The obedient, ugly man dropped Kasa’s legs. The dead weight pulled at her shoulders, stretching her ligaments and opening her wrists against the cuffs. She sucked in breath after breath, trying to sooth her aching mind and body. Eva stepped back, lifting the bloodied tip of the knife to her mouth. Her tongue flicked out, licking Kasa’s blood from the blade. A slight shudder rippled through the woman’s body.

“I’ll have buckets brought in to collect this precious essence as I drain you. I’ll take pleasure in bathing in it tomorrow.”

“You sick fucking lunatic,” Kasa muttered.

The door slammed against the wall. Three men barged into the room, dwarfing the already cramped space. Eva tipped the knife back and forth like a pendulum held upside down.

“They’re storming the cave. Both entrances have been breached,” one man said. Kasa’s gaze shot over to Jordan.

“I told you they’d come.”

“Don’t celebrate until you’re out of here.”

Kasa’s heart swelled with hope. Her men had arrived, and they would save her and Jordan.

The hypnotic sway of the knife came to a sudden halt. Kasa noticed the muscles in Eva’s back tense.

“What do you mean, they’ve breached both entrances?”

“They’re pouring in from the east and west. Your men are engaged, but they’re not far from this cell. You must leave.”

Eva snarled, a sound that resonated in Kasa’s marrow. She threw the knife in a fit of anger, the blade embedding deep into the rocky wall, then stormed out of the room. Kasa didn’t miss her yell, “I’ll take care of them myself! You stay here and watch them!”

One man scurried back into the room and closed the door. He looked out through the iron bars slatted in the crude viewing hole. His claws grew, digging into the wood. Kasa curled and flexed her wounded foot, trying to stop the throbbing. Jordan stared at her, his lips taut, his cheeks pale. His eyes dimmed, shimmering with tears. Her heart tore open, sympathy pouring out.

“I’m okay. Nothing a few days won’t heal. Then you’ll be chasing me through the woods, bailing my furry tail out of trouble again,”
she assured with a smile. Jordan frowned, his eyes rolling toward the man at the door.

“Little sister, I won’t be the one bailing you out of anything. You’ve two utterly capable men who’ll be doing that from now on.”
Jordan sighed, both audibly and telepathically. His gaze rolled back to her.
“I’ve failed you. If not for them coming to us when they did, you’d be doomed.”

“Quit your nonsense chatter. You’re suffering from blood loss.”
God, could he be any more somber? The promise of freedom lay close at hand and her brother reflected on the “what could have happened” scenarios.
“I’ll cook you up a nice, rare steak when we get out of here—”

Clatter rose from outside the door.
Whoosh
. The man at the door groaned, stumbled backward, then crumbled to the ground. Kasa’s eyes widened when she saw the short silver spear protruding from his forehead. Blood seeped out around the weapon through the creases in his skin.

The door opened enough to allow a small figure entrance. Kasa took a deep breath, inhaling this one’s scent. An oversized cloak covered head to toe, but there was no denying the unmistakable fragrance of another woman. She seemed to float over to the lever at Kasa’s back. The pulley system cranked, lowering Kasa to the ground. She spun on her good foot to get a better look at the stranger. Slowly, the chains slackened and her arms lowered in front of her.

“Who are you? What are you doing?” Kasa demanded. The woman locked the lever. She made quick work of Kasa’s shackles, first her ankles, then her wrists. Without a word, she rushed over to Jordan, releasing him from his bindings in the same order. Kasa hurried to her brother’s aid, ignoring the searing pain that shot up her leg with each step. He tumbled away from the wall, exposing a horrific board dotted with half-inch long iron needles. Kasa swept her gaze over his back only to find the same pattern of bloodied punctures in his flesh.

“I’m going to kill that wretched bitch!” Anger pummeled through her, showing no mercy to emotions in its path. The woman unlocked the collar, letting it fall to the ground. She turned him over on her lap even as Kasa fought to keep him close to her. “Let him go!”

Once again, the woman remained silent as she unlocked the crude devices from around Jordan’s genitals. Kasa spared him the embarrassment of looking at him and focused her attention on the woman. She tried to knock the hood back, but the woman scrambled away. Jordan’s dead weight prevented her from moving fast enough to tackle the stranger before she reached the door.

“Leave now while you can,” the woman instructed in a hoarse whisper. She disappeared into the cavern.

Jordan lifted his head from Kasa’s thigh. Snarls, barks, yelps, and mewls echoed down the tunnel, growing louder on their approach.

“Can you stand?” she asked. Jordan grunted, shifting his hands over the ground. As he pushed himself onto hands and knees, fresh blood seeped from the open wounds along his back. She helped him climb to his feet, slinging his arm around her shoulders. He clung to the silver collar. “Leave that here.”

“No. I’ll take pleasure in using it on her,” Jordan rasped.

“Eva won’t make it through this night.”

“Not Eva.” His eyes flickered with spirit-piercing hatred, chilling her. “Lilia.”

Kasa shuffled them to the door, choosing to let that comment go. There would be plenty of time to question his claims later. She pulled them out into the corridor and was nearly tackled by a group of wolves. Scents overwhelmed her still-throbbing head, and she swayed. Two wolves transformed into men, and immediately pried Jordan off her.

“Oh no you don’t!” She swiped her hand, short nails catching one man’s bare back. A hand clamped down on her wrist, halting her from another swipe. She jerked her head back, baring her teeth.

“They’ll get him out of here. You’re in no shape to haul his weight.” Riley’s eyes glowed. The man might be handsome as sin, but he possessed a dark danger that could easily make anyone recoil.

She wasn’t just anyone.

Two more men transformed after they teamed up on a single rebel, downing him in record time. One scooped her into his arms. She didn’t bother to put up a fight, despite her wolf’s desire to take part in the hunt. She knew her limits. Her injury would make her a liability.

“Where’re Slade and Micah?”

She had to yell to be heard over the melee. Riley flicked his wrist toward a group of wolves in a vicious tangle of legs, paws, and fur. Her heart thundered to life, as did much of her body. She caught the blur of Micah’s dark coat against several lighter browns and grays. Slade broke away from the engaged pack, luring a few blood-thirsty wolves from his brother before taking them on solo. Her mates fought viciously, skillfully. Downright awesome. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the agile movements of both weres, the lethal blows they made to their prey, or the shockwave of heat that erupted within her when they stole a glance at her before focusing on the brawl.