Page 16 of Angel Captive

His lizard gaze turned feral, eyes dilating. “Suit yourself, bitch. I’ll show you how a male treats a rebellious female after we cut the monster from your womb.”

He spun on his heel, marching away before I could pull together a rebuttal.

I slunk to the floor, bile burning the back of my throat. Hundreds of images of Xaden being hurt flashed through my mind. This was all my fault. I’d forgotten they’d be watching us and without the show of Xaden and my kiss days ago, they’d get suspicious and take action. And here I’d been concerned about getting all the information perfect. Every scratch, every bruise on him was my stupid fault. I’d been so self-centered and stubborn, wanting to escape that I let it consume me and now Xaden was paying the price. My stomach churned and I wanted to scream at the injustice.

I kicked aside one of the torn plates with my heel.

None of it mattered. I was alone and without Xaden to help lift me to the locking mechanism at the top of the door, all of my knowledge was useless.

But it was more than that. It was feeling like for the first time in my life I could tell someone my secret and still have them as a friend without pity.

I missed Xaden’s brooding presence. But after whatever the Roulex did to him and the truth about me, he’d neven want to look at me again. And that belief, along with knowing I was the reason for his physical pain, felt like I was dying on the inside.

10

Xaden

The fucking tractor beam lowered to my chest, arms, and legs. I slid my chin back and forth to rid the soreness of straining against being locked in place and trying to curse these monsters.

“Shame that we have to do this,” Sofria said in a sultry voice. “If only you’d given us what we want, then you wouldn’t be punished.” She trailed a hand down my chest.

“Get the fuck away from me,” I snarled.

She clicked her tongue, her lips dipping into a pout. “Is that any way to speak to me?”

When I didn’t bother to answer her, she slapped across my face.

“It’s that bitch, isn’t it?” She puffed up her chest. “You’d rather mate with her than with me. I can change that…I can have her carved up and we won’t ever have to bother with her.”

My insides tightened, but I put a bored look on my face. I couldn’t deal with a woman tortured in the worst of times. Which the Roulex would be happy to do if they knew what it would do to me. And thinking about Riley hurt or given to someone else to force her to mate made me feel like I was being gutted.

I shouldn’t care this much. Not for one lonely human when my entire species was endangered.

“Do whatever the fuck you want.” The words scraped my throat raw.

“Really?” She tapped her claw against her lower lip. “I’ll hold you to that.”

I didn’t look at her. Couldn’t. Even though she couldn’t read lies like me, she’d see the disgust with myself in my eyes.

“Are you done flirting with the prisoner?” Charred stomped into the room.

I’d taken up Riley’s nickname for him and smiled.

“What are you grinning at, asshole?” Charred yanked open a tray of silver instruments. “I think it’s time for us to try something else, don’t you?”

Inside, I flinched. But if this would keep Riley safe if even for a night, I’d take every blow, every fucking cut, and everything they could do to me for her. And I would get her out of here, no matter what it took. No matter if it meant me throwing myself at every Roulex I could get my hands on.

“You will never break me.” I smirked.

“Those shitty wings of yours are looking too healed lately.” He spun a pair of pliers in his hand. “Let’s count how many you have.”

Bitter acid shot up the back of my throat. I couldn’t count the number of times they’d shredded my feathers, but never like this. Never one at a time.

“You tell me when to stop.” He twisted the pliers onto one of the feathers, ripping it out.

The pain shot down my wings and into my shoulders and back. I hissed out a breath because I wasn’t going to give the fucker the satisfaction of hearing me scream.

“That was one.” He clamped the pliers on another feather. “All this can stop if you give the word. Your vow that you’ll impregnant the female.”

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