Page 115 of Taste of Forever
If I didn’t make it out of here, which was a real possibility, my one regret would be not getting the chance to see her dance one more time. The elation on her face, the expression in her movements as if she felt the music in her soul. And, if we had the chance, I’d have the freedom to touch her and move with her. Because unlike the first time, she would be truly mine.
“My clan will know if you harm her,” I warned the men as they dragged Heather toward the stairs. “And then you’ll be outnumbered. You won’t have a prayer’s chance of escaping them.”
“Blindfold her and then let her out in a random spot in town,” said the one who’d been under my boot. “No roughing her up. Just take her and ditch her.”
My jaw clenched. No matter where Heather ended up, I was certain she’d get to Sanguine. But time was ticking by. The likelihood of me getting out of this alive looked slimmer and slimmer.
Heather’s gaze never left me as she was dragged across the basement and then marched up the stairs. The moment she was out of sight, the human with cold eyes held up one of the silver knives that had been taken from me.
“How well does this work?” he mused, carefully thumbing the blade’s edge. “Silver is a pretty soft metal. Doesn’t it bend when you stab with it?” A chilling grin pulled at his lips. “Guess there’s only one way to find out.”
With that he plunged the knife into my thigh, just above my knee.
The pain was unlike anything I’d ever felt. Hundreds of times worse than carving my vow into my skin and all of my motorcycle accidents combined. My entire leg burned with an unrelenting fire. It felt like my skin and muscle was being peeled away with a red-hot poker.
I jerked against the chair, my body flailing for relief. Tears burned my eyes. Everything in me wanted to scream, was desperate for some kind of release from the agony.
But I kept my jaws shut, only hisses and groans escaping my mouth while my teeth formed a shield against any other sounds coming out.
Because if Heather heard me, I knew she wouldn’t hesitate to run right back into danger.
Chapter 32
Heather
The van seemed to drive around randomly for hours. It felt ten times longer than the drive up to the cabin, although that could have been my desperation to get out and make a run for Sanguine.
My only cold comfort was that I was sitting in the passenger seat rather than the back of the van. And the driver was the nicer of Soren’s two guys, not the one who had dragged me by my hair and slammed my head against the floor. That guy had stayed on guard while Soren tortured Laith in the basement.
Soren might not have wanted to torture me, but he didn’t even see Laith as a person. What kind of horrible things would they do to him down there?
Would they even keep him in that basement? Or take him to some top-secret government lab where he’d be experimented on?
Don’t think about that. You’ve got to keep it together and get help as soon as you can.
My blindfold was soaked with tears and I sniffled for the thousandth time on that painfully long drive.
“How much longer ‘til you let me go?” I croaked. It was the first thing either of us had said anything since we got in the vehicle.
“You asking me that guarantees I’ll be driving around for another half hour,” the guy groused.
More tears spilled, soaking through my already-saturated blindfold.
At long last, the van stopped completely and was turned off. I let out a shuddering breath of relief.Finally.
The passenger door opened and I allowed the man to help me step down to the ground. He took the blindfold off and visibly winced at the sight of me. I could only imagine how big and colorful the bump on my head was.
Bright lights overwhelmed my vision and I blinked rapidly. We seemed to be at an empty gas station. Fuck, how late was it?
I almost saidthank youto Soren’s guy, but caught myself. Fuck him for being complicit.
Without a word, I started toward the little convenience store attached to the gas station. I had nothing on me, no ID or wallet, but maybe the attendant would be sympathetic enough to call a cab for me. Depending on how far I was from home, maybe they’d even cover the fare.
“Wait,” Soren’s guy called after me.
I wanted to ignore him and keep going, but forced myself to stop and turn around.
He walked toward me, thumbing through bills in his wallet. “Here.” He held three twenties out to me. “Get yourself home and, you know, try to forget this ever happened.”
