Page 90 of Corbin
Then payback began for pissing off the Romanian.
Corbin tried to roll over and stopped. He’d forgotten he had multiple cracked ribs plus broken bones in his swollen face. One foot would not work correctly. His hands trembled nonstop from his beaten head. He’d developed a twitch in his cheek.
Ares had wanted to blast out and kill them.
Corbin asked his wolf to stay put and let him take the abuse. He didn’t want to think about what they might do to his wolf once Vlad found a replacement for the dead bear.
What would the Romanian bring in? A rhinoceros?
He tried to smile at that thought, but his facial muscles couldn’t make that happen.
The Romanian had hit him with so many electrical charges over the first three days that Corbin had become numb.
Ares had not.
He broke free and killed the last one to strike Corbin. That left the Romanian two men, one of whom shot Ares with a titanium load before the Romanian could stop him.
Vlad threatened to kill the next guard who shot Corbin or Ares with titanium and robbed him of his pleasure in abusing them.
The other guard had withdrawn a dart gun and shot Ares with a drug.
Losing consciousness, Ares gave the body back to Corbin. The titanium burning his leg from the inside out kept him awake.
The Romanian grumbled about Corbin dying too quickly because he had no one to take the titanium out without exposing his presence in Canada with a captured shifter. Evidently, the Black River wolf pack in the states was to deliver a jacked-up replacement shifter to make up for their bear’s failure to produce the desired results.
Ares said,Bear should have killed this man.
True, Corbin agreed. Once Vlad had his new shifter, he’d fly all of them to Romania, where he owned more people of power than Corbin could count. Few criminals possessed his capacity for blackmail.
Corbin whispered, “Want water. A sip.” Not for him, but Ares, who needed water after that tranq shot.
The garbage in that shot made you beg for a trickle of water.
Corbin opened his eyes and looked through the foggy air that cleared as a bucket of cool water came into view. The bucket tipped and poured over him.
He told Ares,Ah, that’s refreshing, isn’t it?
Ares moaned.You see ghosts again.
No, Corbin had not seen ghosts since they escaped Vlad. Had Ares not gotten enough to drink?
The bucket vanished, and dark swirling air returned. Corbin hadn’t moved a muscle since hitting the hard-packed dirt after Ares shifted back to human. Everything felt familiar in a sick way—even being naked.
Corbin hadn’t worn clothes for years under the Romanian’s rule. The reason had been to remind him daily that he would never be more than an animal.
Screw Vlad. Corbin had better things to think about.
An image of Eirene came floating into his mind for the millionth time. That’s how he’d made it through nonstop torture. Her pretty face smiled. Wind tossed her strawberry-blond locks around. From time to time, he had fleeting moments of heaven until his heart ached with losing the woman he’d wanted forever and beyond. The woman he’d planned to wake up with every day, so he could see her face and hold her warm body.
He’d feel the same a hundred years from now.
His thoughts were lucid again. She was not here but safe far away.
No regrets. This time, he’d chosen to walk back into hell for the most meaningful cause in his life. How had he become numb at times to the vicious pain inflicted by Vlad? Because nothingwould ever match the agony of feeling his heart split apart, one slow piece at a time.
What could the Romanian do to him now that he’d lost Eirene?
She had to be safe.
