Page 8 of Connected

“Urggghh…”She grits her teeth, sucking back tears as the burning pain gets worse. She can smell her singed flesh in her nostrils and she gasps. “Oh, God, it hurts.”

She murmurs silently to herself, determined not to let him see her pain. Stepping back, she pulls away from the man-mountain who’s holding her—he, under Alvarez’s instruction, lets her go. She can’t breathe, the pain is so intense that it feels like flames licking all over her body and every cell feels like it might explode. Her hands shake as she tries to remove it but she only succeeds in burning the tips of her fingers.

“Please, please take it off!” she begs.

He denies her request, and she can hear Luna howl.

The wolf is in so much pain and mentally, Kat watches as Luna backs away; retreating so far into the dark recess of her mind that Kat can no longer hear or feel her.

“Please help me!” she cries. The pain is unbearable, and she drops to her knees. Unable to touch or remove the collar, her breathing becomes fast—panicked—and her heart thuds off the chart. Taking deep slow breaths, she refocuses and clears her mind. Drawing on the techniques she learned in training to cope with being tortured during hell week, she slows her breathing and relaxes her mind—moving her thoughts to a safe place in her head, distancing her mind from her body’s physical pain.

Keeping still and staying quiet, she regains control and hardly daring to breathe, she concentrates on staying calm. Her heart rate slows and as each wave of pain comes, she quietly counts backward—keeping her mind focused in this way helps ease the hurt.

“Oh, fuck…” she gasps. Her body trembles and a stream of hot tears streak her dirt-covered face until finally she gives up fighting and collapses on all fours to the ground.

“There… Sí, perfect. Submission—it work,” Alvarez laughs. “Ohhh… I so sorry. Is it extremely uncomfortable? I no can imagine. I was told pure argent like that. It very…verypainful for wolves? I guess I could try, one day, but… No, I won’t.”

“You fuckin’ son-of-a-whore-bitch.” Zak snarls loudly. “Take it off! Hey, you hear me, you dirty-shifter-fucker? Why don’t you do it to me instead,” Zak continues to snarl, his heart beating so hard in fear for Kat. He’s angry, as he now has to endure the ultimate pain—watching her writhe in agony without being able to save her. Watching as she kneels on the floor he feels some of her pain—the tormenting torture he’s suffered from the silver-tipped sticks—but he also knows it’s nothing compared to what Kat’s experiencing right now.

“You sick fuckin-shifter-asshole,”he curses loudly, pulling hard at his bonds as he tries to break free. “I said take it off her!”

“Now-now, why so angry my beautiful one?” Alvarez smiles. “You know… strangely, I like dis side of you—feisty—but I need you to quiet now. Your voice it make my head hurt.”

He nods, gesturing to one of the larger men guarding Zak and he grabs up what looks like a ball with leather straps—a headpiece—which between the torturers they wrestle over Zak’s face. Forcing the metal ball between his teeth, they buckle the straps around the back of his head, fasten it tight and silence him.

He nearly chokes trying to swallow—it’s so difficult as the metallic ball fills his entire mouth and blocks his airway. Zak now focuses his attention on Alvarez, staring at him like a hawk on its prey, sneering with venomous anger.

Watching him, Alvarez grins. “There, that so much better. I t’ink I like you quieter. Though, I might take it off when I fuck you. I like to hear wolves scream my name,” he teases playfully.

“Mmm…” Zak cries stifled by the gag.

“Sí… I know you can’t wait. Me either, baby niño.” Alvarez pats him on the arm and then gently he brushes his hand along his bicep, his fingers dancing in a pattern over Zak’s chest. Moving downward over his stomach until he reaches his groin, then standing in front of him, he grins and stares him in the eyes as he gropes at his balls.

Zak closes his eyes, desperate to resist any of his body’s natural urge to respond to the physical touch of Alvarez’s hand.

The sound of Kat’s voice suddenly interrupts them. It’s a weak and feeble sound—pitifully filled with pain as she looks up from where she’s still positioned on the floor. Summoning all her strength, she forces herself to her feet—grinding her teeth to help bear the pain—as she faces Alvarez. “What the fuck do you want? Who’s getting you to do all this?”

“I actually don’t know,” he shrugs. “And I don’t care. But someone who wantsyouvery much. So much they pay a lot—limitless dollars—to find you. I had procurers everywhere, searching. Lucky for me, I have the best people. But what they want from you? I don’t care. They can make you do whatever they want. Have you for whatever wonderfully depraved purpose they choose. All I want is my dollars—and him.” He strokes his fingers against Zak’s cheek. “Yeah, I really, really want him.”

“Fuck you!” Kat screams and with her hands now freed she rushes towards him and summoning every ounce of her strength she lashes out, scratching her nails down his face and slashes deep red channels in his cheeks.

She takes him by surprise, and momentarily Alvarez is shaken. He retaliates with fury and slaps her so hard that he knocks her to the floor. Then grabbing her wrist tight, he pulls her up, only to slap her down again.

Again and again, he repeats until her will to fight is destroyed. Then he takes a deep breath and roars, “God, I love Ruby, it gives me so much fuckin’power. You know I should have been born a wolf,” he grins His eyes are wide dark circles—he’s tripping—high on adrenaline mixed with the syringe of wolf blood he’d already taken. It makes him incredibly strong. Humans that use ruby experience a short-lived superhuman strength, but when shifters use it, the effect is much longer-lasting and potent—it can even match that of a wolf—especially a weakened one.

“Sit up, bitch.”

Kat’s in agony not only from the effect of the collar but from his retribution for her scratching his face. She relents and slowly climbs to her knees in front of him. Taking a deep breath, she keeps her head down as her fingers clutch hesitantly at the collar.

She’s desperate to be released from the torturous pain, “Please…” she begs, “please don’t do this.” Exhausted from the agonizing effect of the silver, she can no longer stifle her cry. “You know they’ll come for us. Our team, the others—my bonded—they will come. And when they do… there’ll be no mercy for you. They won’t rest until you’re dead. No matter what happens to us now, you’re marked by me—now you’re a target,” she grins, watching as he touches at the scratches on his face. “They will find you wherever you go.”

He swings out, slapping her hard across the cheek.

“Oh, my dear,” he smirks, “we will be long gone before they find any of us.” He takes another expensive silk handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his face. Throwing the blood-covered fabric to the floor, he crouches down in front of her and lifts her chin. Looking her in the eyes, he smiles as he rubs his thumb gently along the cut on her lip. “Now look what you made me do.”

He grabs her wrist and drags her up onto her feet, then he wipes the blood from her mouth, licking it from his fingers. “Oh my God,” he gasps, “that is so pure. That… that certainly is liquid Ruby—more like a diamond; so delicious. You know, I could almost get high on a single drop. Luiz… when you take the sample, be sure and get extra—a packet for my personal use.” He grins again as he touches her cheek. “Your blood, we are going to take it—and his. Oh yeah… yeah, we will take plenty of his. I hope he is as strong as he looks. He will make good money and when I break him, then he makes good stud dog.”

“Is that what this is about? Our blood, for drugs? You’re dealing in wolf blood?”

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