Page 28 of The Devil's Viking

“A motorcycle club? How did our little Iris end up getting driven away from us by a member of a group of men like that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe someone from her life before?”

“I don’t recall her having any connection to Colorado.” Gideon grunted, lifted the woman almost out of the water with a violent thrust; she stifled a gasp of pain. “Or to a biker club.”

“Maybe she kept it from you?”

“Impossible.” He moved his hand to the woman’s delicate throat, gripped her hard as the tempo of his thrusts accelerated. “She told me everything.”

“But she was contacting this guy somehow without you knowing,” Briley pointed out. “So maybe Iris had more secrets than any of us really knew.”

“Indeed.” Gideon’s face was contorted in that way that invaded her nightmares. “But we can work on the theory that she’s in Denver right now.”

“Yes, I –”

Just then, Gideon grimaced, groaned, and came. Briley forced down vomit, willed her stomach to cooperate – and that’s when she realized that the brunette was staring at her. The woman’s mint-green eyes – eyes so close in shape and color to Briley’s own – were intent and huge and begging Briley for…what?

Help?

In the two years that Briley had been under Gideon’s thumb, no woman-servant had ever raised their head in her presence, let alone made eye contact. And now here was this woman, dutifully massaging her Master’s shoulders and not missing a beat, staring directly at her, silently trying to communicate.

It was only for a second, and then the brunette dropped her gaze again. Briley blinked and then returned her own look at Gideon, who was flushed and breathing heavily, pushing the woman off his lap. She’d served her purpose and now she was just another body in the tub… now with a bruise around her throat shaped like fingers.

“Right-Guardian Zachariah!” Gideon called to his man standing guarding the doorway. “In here now!”

The smarmy prick was there in three seconds, smartly clicking his boots together. “Master.”

“You and Guardian Michael go to Denver,” Gideon said. “You go to the garage address that Officer Cross gives you and see if Iris is there. If she is, you bring her back to me. She can be injured in the process, you understand, if she resists and you need to get physical, but she must return to the Garden alive.”

“Understood, Master.”

“Go and get Guardian Michael immediately and bring him here. I want to speak with both of you together. A motorcycle club is a possible challenge for us, depending who they are and what they do, but it’s a challenge that we must meet. And defeat.”

“Yes, Master.” Zachariah bowed, backed up and hurried out of the room.

“What will you do to her?” Briley couldn’t stop herself from asking the question, though she knew full well that it was none of her business. Again, those clear-green eyes were up and gazing at her, and they were as helpless and hopeless as Briley felt in this moment. “If you get her back?”

“Notif,” Gideon snapped. “When. And before you eventhinkof asking me another question, you remember your place, you pathetic cunt. The only reason that bitch Cheryl is free and not in jail is because of my grace and mercy – but when you get out of your lane, I feel less merciful. You are where I want you, and that’s where you fucking stay, unless you’re prepared for Cheryl to pay for your insolence and disrespect. Am I understood?”

“Yes,” Briley murmured, ducking her head. “I’m sorry, Gideon.”

“Get out,” he spat. “Stay on top of this club in Denver, and you report to me daily about them.”

“Yes, Gideon.”

“Fuck off. Now. Before you really piss me off.”

Briley spun on her heels, bolted down the hallway to the stairs, through the reception room. She grabbed her gun, made sure nobody had emptied the chamber, and walked out to her car. She had less than an hour to get to work, and it was going to be close. She never wore her uniform to the compound, so she had to get changed at the precinct – and thinking about her uniform made the waves of shame and guilt wash around her now.

So here she was, starting yet another day of being a traitor to her badge and her oath; another day of being a hypocrite. Another day that she had to get through, knowing that she was aiding and abetting Gideon in his monstrous, inhuman behaviour, in actively allowing him to continue hurting and abusing these women – all while she stood by and watched.

Another day that she hoped to not survive, when she prayed to be killed honourably in the line of duty, despite being the most dishonourable person she could possibly be. It was getting harder and harder to live with herself. Briley wondered how things would end for her, when they inevitably ended.

At this point, death was the only escape that she saw, for herself and Cheryl – and she was dangerously close to welcoming it with open arms.

Chapter Eleven

Iris turned over in bed, already fully awake and sure what time it was before she even opened her eyes: Zoe had brought her an alarm clock, but Iris knew that she wouldn’t need it. Her body had been quite violently conditioned to wake itself up at five every morning.

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