Page 102 of Daughters of Chaos

I shudder at the last memory of Dom and his men in that room with me—the last time I had to fight them off. Reaper's hands flinch, and I sense the fury radiating off him. "They never got what they wanted, not really. I fought too hard. Broke one's nose a couple times and smashed a few testicles. I hardly slept because I had to stay alert."

Jesse eyes me with sympathy. It almost makes me come undone, but I shake off the emotion and finish my story. "I thought it was over when you two came to get me. I thought Iwas hallucinating. Thought I'd used up all the fight I had left. Then I woke up here."

My eyes sting, but I blink back the tears. It's over now, I'm safe. Reaper and Jesse are quiet for a long while, letting what happened to me sink in. They don't know what to say. Neither do I, but the nightmare is over.

Heavy breathing catches my attention, and I look over to see Reaper's jaw clenched. His face is set in a murderous scowl. I can see it in his eyes—he's blaming himself for what happened to me. "Hey, J," I say, grabbing Jesse's attention. "Can you give us a minute?"

His eyes dart between Reaper and me as he nods. "Yeah, no problem. I'll come back in a bit with Phoenix. She wanted to know when you were awake."

"Thanks," I tell him with a tight smile.

When the door closes behind him, I turn to Reaper, whose eyes are already trained on me. There's an intensity in his gaze that knocks me off kilter, making me forget what I was going to say. "Tell me everything," he says, jaw still tight. "What did those mother fuckers do to you?"

The look in his eyes screamsDanger,but not for me. His wrath is reserved for the men already rotting in hell. I shake my head as I take a deep breath. He's not going to let this go; I know it. "They didn't get what they wanted," I tell him. "They roughed me up trying, but I'm a fighter. As much as they hurt me, I hurt them right back."

His rigid posture stiffens even more, and the ire in his stare doesn't cool. So, I continue. I tell him everything. How they hit me when they interrogated me, how they kept trying—and failing—to take from me what I'd never let them have. I tell him the truth, that the closest they got to getting a piece of me was a handful of boob and a clothed grip between my legs.

I leave out how worried I was that they almost made it further, that, had they not been interrupted, they may have taken more. He doesn't need that on his conscience. It didn't get that far, and I’m eternally grateful.

"They never touched me like that beneath my clothes," I tell Reaper. "They didn't get the chance to rape me." I keep my voice steady as I say the word.

If he sees me crumble, he'll only blame himself more, and I won't let him. I can be strong right now. I've already survived worse.

Reaper's heavy breathing grows rapid as he tries to rein in his temper. "Who," he demands. "Who touched you?"

With a sigh, I tell him, "The one who grabbed my tits was the one with the broken nose. And Dom was the other. The rest stopped trying too hard after watching me hurt their pals."

A wicked rumble sounds deep in Reaper's chest as he curses under his breath. "Shoulda fuckin' made them suffer more.”

It's twisted, but it warms my heart to hear him say that. He'd burn the world down for me, and I kind of like that. I can see he's beating himself up about everything. "Hey," I tell him as I twist in his arms to grab his face. "You got there in time. No one's touched me like you since we last had sex. I'm not ruined or tainted or whatever else you're telling yourself right now. Those fuckers don't get to take that away from us."

His face is a mixture of emotions as he looks at me. "You think I'm worried about you being tainted?"

I drop my hands, looking away. That's it, isn't it? That's what I'm worried about. I don't bother answering, letting the quiet settle between us until he speaks again.

"I’m thinking about how I’d like to torture anyone that laid a finger on you. If they had raped you, I’d never think of you differently. But I would wipe their entire family off the face of the planet for touching what's mine.”

His words have such conviction that I can't help but tear up. When he lays a hand on my hip, I melt into him. “No one touches my girl," he growls. "I won't let anyone else touch you ever again. I won’t fail you again, Wildfire. I swear.”

I can't help the emotion that floods me hearing his promise. It unleashes something deep within me. In a flash, I pull him to me, kissing him hard, taking everything he's willing to give. He kisses me back deeply, and the world around us fades away. The kiss intensifies, and I pull him on top of me as we sink to the mattress.

Pulling away, I meet his eyes. "No one touches you either," I tell him. "Because you'remine."

Sparks light in his dark eyes at my words, and an instant later, his mouth is on mine again. A deep rumble in his chest and the claiming grip of his hands on my body sets me on fire. I'm panting beneath him, unable to get enough as our tongues twine and our breath mingles.

The pain from my wounds is absent as I get lost in passion, letting his weight and warmth surround me, letting his touch comfort me.

61

Phoenix

Baby," a soft voice rumbles in my ear, coaxing me awake. I didn't think I'd fall asleep so fast.How long was I out?

"Raven's awake, Nix." The words from Mason snap me out of my exhausted state.

I shoot up from the bed, my heart racing at the news. "She is?"

Mason nods, catching me around the waist as I start to leap from the bed, nearly falling on my face when my foot catches in the sheets. "Careful, babe. We'll go check on her in a second." He starts untangling my leg from the sheets as I nibble on my lip.

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