Page 14 of Bound By Valor

Leora was tied up in a chair and unconscious while this other man held her head up to line her mouth with his dick. My eyes hazed for a moment, unable to register what was happening in front of me. The man’s head snapped in my direction and I didn’t think, I just shot. It went right through his length as he fell to the floor writhing in pain. His guttural screams echoing off the walls.

I dashed to Leora, quickly untying her and pulling her into my arms. Her body was limp, and a wave of panic surged through me as I whispered urgently into her ear, “Leora?”

She didn’t stir for a moment and my finger flew to her neck to feel a pulse.

“Wake up, Leora.Fuck!”I was losing it.

The thudding of her heartbeat under my fingers was the only solace in the room. She murmured faintly, her words lost beneath the incessant screaming from the asshole, grating on my nerves.

Fucking hell. With an exasperated sigh, I yanked my gun up and emptied a bullet into his head.

Now, I can hear her better.

She stirred again, mumbled something incoherent and my head dropped to hers with relief.

“Zarek?” her voice was faint, almost lost.

“Yes, I’m here. Fuck, this should never have happened.” Gently, I brushed tangled strands of hair from her face.

“I guess we’re even, now,” she murmured with a mix of breathlessness and roughness in her voice.

“Let’s get you out of here, okay?”

Carefully, I lifted her into my arms, carrying her away from the dark confines of that apartment and into the safety of my car parked outside.

“Casteel bolted through the fire escape.” Logan said, slightly irritated with himself. “I didn’t want to leave you guys here.”

I nodded. My focus shifted to the girl in my arms, her faint breaths warm on my neck.

“Find him.” I instructed.

“Yeah, I’ll try to find the asshole. You take the car,” Logan sighed, tossing the keys to me.

As we made our way to the headquarters, Leora’s awareness seemed to sharpen. She gazed out the window, her expression unreadable, her silence unnerving.

“Can you walk?” I asked, my voice tight with worry as I supported her out of the car. My heart was still pounding fiercely, haunted by how close we’d come to something unimaginably horrifying.

“Yeah, I can walk,” she said tersely, shrugging off my hand and moving steadily toward the three-story house we stood before in the driveway.

“Are you feeling okay?” I ventured, catching up to her as I opened the gate with a keycode and my thumbprint.

She walked through without a word, her silence heavy between us. Inside, she paused and turned to face me, her eyes somber, almost resigned.

“I need a bed to rest in,” she said simply, her voice devoid of any warmth.

I led her to my upstairs room, offering her one of my T-shirts and a towel before excusing myself. As I closed the door behind me, her silence echoed louder than any words. She hadn’t spoken anything meaningful since we left that horrific apartment, and the air between us felt charged with an unspoken reproach. I was left to wonder if she resented me, not just for the danger I’d exposed her to, but for the entire clusterfuck since we met.

EIGHT

Leora

I changed into the T-shirt Zarek/Grant gave me, which was barely longer than the dress I had been wearing. In the bathroom, I ran the towel under some hot water and began cleaning myself up as thoroughly as I could.

As I wiped away the remnants of the night, the sight of dark bruises blossoming across my legs, ribs, shoulders, and neck stopped me cold. Each mark felt like a betrayal of my body’s boundaries, a painful reminder not just of last night, but of a past I’d struggled to move beyond. I stripped away my smeared makeup and washed my face, the water mixing with a bitter sting of memories from my time with Adriano—times when bruises had been more common than I cared to admit. I was angry. Frustrated that I’d let myself into yet another situation that made me lose control of my life.

Climbing into the warm sheets, sleep quickly overtook me despite the aching of my battered body.When I awoke, the sunlight piercing through the window felt harsh, as though no time had passed at all.

I wondered what this place was. Zarek/Grant didn’t seem like a police officer at all.

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