Page 4 of Seized to Sacrifice
He heard Eruk snigger behind him. ‘Can’t wait a moment longer for her, eh, Milord?’
Ryder ignored the man’s words. His human concepts of retribution were nothing compared with what Rye and his Brothers needed. Rye wouldn’t even be able to explain this level of vengeance to him.
He glanced back at them both. ‘Go to the kitchens over there across the yard. Fen, the cook, will feed you and find you a place to sleep for the night. He’ll put you to work tomorrow, so heed him well.’
‘Our thanks,’ said Oreon, speaking for the first time.
Turning away, Rye threw open the doors and pushed the woman down the corridor in front of him to the main hall. The others sat drinking mead close to the hearth, their murmured conversation echoing through the high-ceilinged room.
They both looked up, their cheery expressions shuttering when they saw he’d brought someone with him.
Thorne recognized her first and his eyes widened. ‘It can't be!’ he growled.
He stood up and stalked towards the woman, pushing her hard in the middle of her chest. She fell with a broken cry, cowering on the floor and looking shocked. ‘You fucking bitch. Why are you here? Why have you come back? Did you not do enough to us?’
Thorne pulled her up by her dress and Rye heard the cloth ripping. The woman was looking down at the floor, her lip quivering. She hung limp in his grip. Submitting.
The sight of her thus made his cock swell. His eyes narrowed. Perhaps she did have that to fear from him after all, but he’d enjoy humiliating her as much as possible by making her beg for it first.
When she said nothing, Thorne let her go and she staggered back, falling into the large table with a low thud. Nyx was already behind Thorne, pulling him away when he lunged after her to renew his attack with a sound of anger.
‘It looks like her, but it can't be,’ Nyx rasped. He strode past Thorne and she recoiled as he grabbed her chin.
‘Look at me,’ he commanded, and her terrified eyes slowly moved to his. ‘Do you not know me?’
She looked at him as she had Rye, without a shred of remembrance.
‘Where did you find her?’ Nyx asked, his hold moving down to her throat.
‘I should kill you right now,’ he muttered. ‘Would that I could.’
He squeezed and her mouth opened as she began to choke. He waited until her eyes began to roll back in her head and let her go with a curse. She fell to the floor clutching her neck.
‘Found her in the market at Evesmere,’ Rye said, grabbing his own drinking horn and filling it with mead from the jug warming by the hearth.
‘It can't be her. It looks like her, but it can't be,’ Thorne said, staring at the woman who was wheezing on the floor in front of them, seemingly unable to tear his gaze away from her.
‘Why would she be here?’ Nyx turned away, going back to his chair, and sitting in it so hard it grated against the flagstones of the floor. ‘Not her.’
Thorne approached her and she curled in on herself, flinching away as he grabbed her deep, red hair and pulled her to her feet.
‘Stand up, female,’ he growled.
He put his nose close to her neck, breathing her in. ‘I’d know her by scent alone and she smells …’
Thorne took another deep sniff and Rye’s eyes narrowed. Were Thorne’s eyesdilating to black?
‘Brother,’ Rye began, stepping forward and getting ready to pull him away from her. The last thing they needed was for him to lose control of the Beast after so long.
But when Thorne raised his head from her, his hazel eyes were clear, and Rye relaxed. The Beast hadn’t made an appearance in centuries. It had probably just been a trick of the light.
‘… human,’ Thorne finished. ‘No, it’s not her.’
Thorne cast her away from him and she thudded against the table and fell to the floor with a groan. She didn’t move and he took his seat back by the hearth, none of them making a move to find out how the woman fared.
Ryder took a long pull from his drink, eyeing her and wondering how best to begin their revenge. ‘I don't care what your fucking nose says. She may not smell the same, but I’d know her anywhere. This is one of her little diversions and I’ll fucking prove it somehow.’
He regarded her, a nasty glint in his eye. ‘We’ll finally have the reckoning we’ve waited for,’ he promised them softly.
