Page 9 of Ink Deep Devotion

Anders meets my gaze; his eyes almost seem to relish in the blood coating his fingers.“Bite down, baby, I need to cut it bigger so I can fit,” he chuckles my way, then he forces the bullet hole wider, allowing his knife to slip inside my body as he tries to dig under the bullet to leverage it out.

“Come to Daddy,” Anders says as he wiggles around my insides, forcing the bullet up like he’s flipping a pancake that is stuck to the pan. He pulls the knife out, then grabs the bullet, holding it high with a smile.“Gotcha.” He purrs as my blood coats his hand.

He looks at me and tosses the bullet to my chest.“You’re welcome, brother.”

“I’ll shoot you with it someday,” I spit.

Leo chuckles.

Anders grabs his ax.“And I’ll put this inside of you.” He’s serious. In a supposedly friendly fight, he stabbed Titan with his ax once.As I mentioned, Anders is the least stable individual in our family.

Dante replaces him, a flame in hand.“I have to cauterize the wound.”

“Promise me,” I declare out loud to all my brothers as I wait for their replies. I made them all promise me that if something happened to me, they would make sure Mila was safe. I made a commitment to ensure the safety of their loved ones, too.

“You’re not dying today.” Leo assures me.

“Not ever,” Damian adds, his jaw set in stone.

“Not unless I’m the one who gets to kill you,” Anders chimes as he secures his ax to his side.

Titan and Dante don’t reply. They are the most forthcoming, and the likelihood we all survive is slim.

“Promise me.” I hiss as my adrenaline starts to wear off. More pain floods my body.

“We’ll keep her safe,” Dante whispers.

Titan nods.

I close my eyes, readying myself for more suffering. That’s all I feel now. Only levels of pain; even when I see Mila because I know in reality she isn’t here; her face is just a terrifying memory of a ghost that haunts my mind.

Chapter 3

Mila

It feels good.

Great.

Yeah. It’s wonderful.

Bullshit.

I force my body to relax, making sure to press my spine into the mattress, unroll my shoulders, and widen my legs so he can fit better.

He thrusts up, trying to reach a deeper spot that is impossible for him to find.

Only one person has ever found that spot and he’s gone.

“You’re so beautiful,” Dom purrs as he peppers kisses along my jawline.“You mean so much to me. I need you to know that.”

I nod.

Words are hard to find sometimes. My confidence fled when Dash did. I’ve been stumbling through life.

Hell, even when I speak, my tongue trips causing me to look like I have a stutter.

I don’t. My heart is just so broken it’s hard to find the energy to say even‘hello.’