Page 111 of Their Dark Rose

His fire will scald and annihilate others. Not me. I’m more convinced than ever now that I was born to absorb his rage, to use it as fuel. To become better and stronger thanks to it.

“Thorn didn’t hurt, uh—“ The explanation in my head doesn’t sound right. Thorn did hurt me. Just not the way he wanted to, the fucker. “He couldn’t get it up to rape me. He tried, but he couldn’t. And he didn’t hit me. Falk, I—listen. I’m so sorry for this. For all of this.” I choke, swallow, continue. “All I wanted was to dance in the snow. I was such an idiot, how I walked right into their trap. I did it. I—”

“They did it.“ Falk enunciates every word with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel. “The only reason we’re in this goddamn mess is because of her”—he jerks his head to the side—“psychotic, money-hungry ass. You’re a good girl, Briar. Such a good girl. You’re a good girl even when you’re being a brat, sweetheart.”

A pathetic whine accompanies Mason’s grunt.

I glimpse in their direction, my newfound rage urging me not to miss out on any torture Mason might put Thorn through.

There’s no actual violence going on. Mason doesn’t punch Thorn. Instead, he loops the rope around Thorn’s middle, securing him to the back of the chair.

And that’s good enough for me.

“But why did you scream?” Falk calls for my attention while Finn throws his feet off the bed.

“I was relieved. I thought Thorn drugged me with something worse than a sedative, that it made me dream you three were here,” I say to the three of them. “That the drugs messed me up, and I was hallucinating. Then I tasted you, and I knew you were actually here. You came for me.”

Finn covers the rest of my body without saying a thing, then heads to close the door.

Anxiety poisons my chest, ravenous and deafening. Terrifying. Has Finn reached his limit?

Falk said the attempted rape wasn’t my fault. And I believe him. Then again, maybe imagining another man grinding on me was too much for Finn.

“F-Finn, you’re leaving?” I reiterate the question it feels like I’ve asked him eons ago.

Slamming the door shut, he returns to the bed in a heartbeat with my clean clothes between his arm and body. His eyes are narrowed as he nudges Falk to the side, filling my view with his intense, all-consuming face.

“Remember what my answer was the first time you asked me that question?” He passes the clothes to Falk, who helps straighten me up to a sitting position.

“You said you won’t.” Reflexively, I lift my arms, accepting the black thermal shirt Falk drapes on me. “But his cock was on me, I thought…”

Finn holds off his response until Falk covers me in my white wool sweater. They guessed I’d need my clothes. They knew Mallie kidnapped me, that she’d be all too eager to hurt me. Potentially one of them leaving me in the cold.

“I’ll always love you, Briar Rose.” Finn presses his possessive lips to mine, lathing my tongue with his. Owning me so passionately I’m burning, then pulls back to look at me. “You could run from me, hit me, be a brat, and tell me to go to hell. I wouldn’t care. I will always come back to you. I’ll fight for you until my dying breath, and even then, I’ll die only to come back to you. There’s nothing you or anyone else can do to stop my pores, heart, and bones from loving you. I’m yours, little rose, whether you like it or not. I’m never leaving you, you hear? Never.”

“We’re never leaving.“ The bed dips when Mason sits on the edge. In perfect synchrony, Falk and Finn twist my sitting body to their brother, passing him my fleece gray sweatpants.

Mason helps me slide into them while saying the most beautiful words a girl could ever hope to hear.

“There’s no us without you, flower. You were the one who guided us through our darkest years. You gave our lives meaning the day you were born and this meaning, this vow to protect you even from ourselves is what’s been keeping us alive. We’re here thanks to you.“ He gathers me into his arms, and my legs, desperate to feel him, straddle his waist. “We’re sane because the world makes so much fucking sense when you’re in it. Being cold to you tore us up, but it was a necessary evil. It was for you, Briar. Everything we’ve ever done, everything we’ll ever do—it’s for you.”

“I love you,” I tell him, then turn to Finn and Falk, who move to round us, ignoring the two knocked-out assholes sitting right next to us. “I love you for the men you are. For being the best thing that’s ever happened to me through the good times and the shitty ones. I’ve never once stopped loving you. As difficult as it’d been, I don’t regret anything. You’ve turned me into the woman I am today, and I will love you for fucking ever.”

Fingers clasp around my nape. Two sets of lips are on my cheeks. And Mason’s icy gaze penetrates deep into the innermost caverns of my soul.

“Tell me you understand.”

I nod, as sure as I’ll ever be. “I do.”

“Good, now that we got that out of the way…” His voice is as thick as his cock between my thighs. “We have other matters to take care of, and it needs to happen before the fucker dies.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“This looks awesome.” I grin at Finn wickedly. “I love it.”

“You do, don’t you?” He returns my demonic expression from where he’s crouched on the floor.

Each bob of my head is more vehement than the previous. My eyes are wide, trained on Finn’s handiwork as I sit on the edge of the rumpled bed.

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