Page 107 of Scars Run Deep

And they were all staring at one thing.

Aurora had the trainer—a middle aged fit guy with spiky platinum blond hair—pinned beneath her on the ground, screaming at him in a state of absolute rage as she tugged on a leash she’d obviously found somewhere. I peered closer and realized it was one of those choke chains they used on dogs. The guy was bright red and struggling to draw in a breath as she yanked on it over and over, slamming his head onto the carpet in the process. She’d stuffed a spider gag into his mouth too and she snatched up a big neon-blue dildo then stuffed it down his throat, making him sputter and his body buck beneath her.

I noted that it wasn’t just good positioning on her part that was keeping him done and unable to fight back. There was a knife buried in either palm, crucifying his hands and pinning him to the floor.

“How does it feel to be used like a piece of trash!” she screamed at him. “To be forced to endure mind-breaking pain, not knowing when or if it’s gonna actually end? To be degraded like you’re nothing!” She ripped the dildo out of his mouth, then threw it across the room. “You’re a sick piece of shit! Hurting these people! That’s right, they’re people, actual human beings, you depraved, sadistic fuck!” She ripped the blade from one of his hands, making him shriek.

She spun it expertly in her hand, then brought it down, hovering just shy of his chest.

“Judgment Day is here, asshole,” she snarled.

I was there in the next moment, just before she brought the blade down and ended his miserable life, snatching her wrist and holding it steady just an inch before its target.

She swung her head toward me.

Her eyes were black.

Lost to the darkness.

“You kill him in cold blood and you become him.”

She stilled for a moment.

But it was just a moment, before she was pushing at my grip, her hand shaking with determination to smash through my strength and give into the bloodlust that all this shit had clearly awakened in her.

More than I’d even realized, because she’d hid it well after that first time.

I held steady.

She needed more.

With me wearing the accursed contacts, combined with the balaclava, she couldn’t make the connection to me that was needed.

With my free hand, I pulled the balaclava off.

The moment I did, I saw the trainer recognize me, his eyes widening in disbelief.

I ignored it and focused on Aurora. “Sweetheart, you do this and you become me.”

She faltered, but still fought it, telling me, “That doesn’t seem so bad.”

“It’s worse. So much worse. There’s no coming back from what I am. I don’t want that for you. Jonah and Killian don’t want it for you. You do this and when your father is finally back with you, he won’t be able to recognize his daughter.”

She grimaced, emotion bleeding from her.

And then her grip went slack and she relinquished the knife to me.

Movement in my peripheral vision caught my eye and I looked to see the trainer about to go for Aurora with his free bloodied hand that she’d pulled the knife out of.

I burst forward, leaning over her and breaking two of his fingers in a flash.

He screamed and Aurora jolted back against me in shock.

I pulled her off him fully, then took aim at the trainer with her knife.

Keeping my eyes on him, I stroked her arm, then told her calmly, “Lead the hostages downstairs. Caleb will be here any moment to help them and get them the hell out of here.”

“Yeah,” she murmured. “Yeah, okay.”

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