Page 125 of Cruel Dominion

My vision went black at the edges as I kicked in the door.

Anna lay in the corner, slumped against the radiator in just a pair of panties. Her breasts were streaked with dried blood. Her hair was a tangled, ratty mess.

Crouched next to her was the man I meant to crush with my bare hands.

His grubby hands were on her legs. He’d pay for every tiny bruise and cut on her thighs.

I aimed the gun right at his face. “Step the fuck back.”

Josh looked over at me with genuine surprise. The asshole was high as a kite, his eyes unfocused and movements strange and jerky. He raised his hands and stumbled to his feet.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, chill, man,” he said.

I didn’t bother saying another word. There wasn’t a real, rational person behind those eyes. Just some pathetic fuck-up pumped full of drugs.

“Sorry. Y’know I was lookin’ fr Annie. But turns out, thas not Annie.”

He was slurring, not making any fucking sense.

Josh pointed over his shoulder at Anna. She was coming to groggily, swallowing slow, blinking those big beautiful eyes open.

“Carter?”

Christ, she sounded so weak.

“On your knees,” I bellowed to Josh when he turned to look at her. I didn’t want his eyes on her another second.

Josh looked confused. Instead, he stumbled a few steps closer to me.

“I said, on your fucking knees!” I shouted.

Josh rushed me without warning, and I fired the gun. With his wild movements, the shot missed the kill zone, cutting through the flesh at the side of his skull.

He kept coming, too high to feel the pain, his fists flying.

I got him with a knee to his gut but as he went down he got hold of my arm and sank his teeth into the meaty flesh at the base of my thumb, biting down to the bone. The gun fell from my grip, misfiring into the ceiling.

Anna shrieked and distracted by her, it took me a second to register that he was making a grab for it.

Fucker.

I threw out a knee to catch him in the side of the head and he staggered to the right.

I searched the floor for the gun.

“Carter!”

Something hard slammed into the side of my head, making my right ear ring and my vision go spotty. Double.

A wet laugh, and I blinked, finding two of Josh with pipes in their hands. Which one was the double?

Fuck.

My vision swam and I felt rough carpet under my palms.

“Carter! Carter, get up!”

I tried to stand, but the floor tipped up and I went down. I willed my eyes to fucking focus, and they did—a moment too late.

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