Page 21 of Love & Violence

The man I used to idolize and love, is now my enemy.

The guys lead me into my house and force me to stand before my father. I enjoy the look of surprise on his face because I don’t mask how I feel, and I have never looked at him with anything but love before he took my mate.

“Nickolai. Take her to her room,” my father says before he looks back at me. “And you will wash the scent of that man off of you.”

I shake my head.

“You dare defy me?” he growls.

“By taking my mate from me, you have become my enemy, and I will do everything I can to get him back.”

“You’ll never see that bastard again.”

“Then say goodbye to me because the moment I feel him die, I will take my own life on earth to be with him. Your daughter is dead to you because of your hatred for another man. I hope that makes you feel good and satisfied.”

My father’s face turns dark red, and he roars at me to get away.

Nickolai leads me up to my room. I walk up the stairs with as much dignity as possible, pain ripping through my body.

After making sure I can’t escape my room, Nickolai turns, and he walks to my door. “Please think about what you’re saying. You don’t want to burn any bridges with your family.” He pauses on the threshold.

“They are already burnt. The only way to make this right is if my father lets us go. I can’t ever see that happening. Please tell my brother … tell him I love him.” The pain is growing in me, and I know I won’t make it if it goes on. Only the thought of saving my mate is what keeps me on my feet and fighting to stay upright.

“You can tell him yourself.”

I walk to the window and look out. “No, as we speak, they are torturing my mate.”

“How could you know that?”

“I can feel it. Not to the extent he does, but yes. When he hurts, I do, too.”

“Don’t give up hope, Aryanna. Sometimes miracles do happen.”

I nod and then hear the door close. Only when I’m alone do I allow myself to cry and let my fear free.

I press my fingertips to the cool glass. “Please, God. Give us a miracle.”

Chapter Seven

Psych

It’s pain that rips me from the darkness. An intense searing heat shooting through my left leg. It takes me a moment to orientate myself after being drugged. I slowly open my eyes and look around the room.

The first thing I notice is that I’m naked and dangling from an exposed wooden beam in the center of the room. My wrists are bound with a thick rope and attached to a thick chain. It’s cold, and there’s a strong scent of mildew hanging in the air. I try to see more, but the lighting is dim, and the corners of the room are shrouded in shadows.

My heightened senses have not yet fully returned to me, and try as I might, I can’t seem to feel my panther. A lesser man would let the panic overwhelm him, but I breathe through the pain and rising panic before I assess the damage that has been wrought on me. The handle of a hunting knife sticks out of my leg as a pool of blood starts to accumulate beneath me on the concrete floor.

“Thank you for joining us,” a voice says from somewhere in the shadows.

I remain silent until I can better assess the situation. I don’t want any harm to come to Aryanna because of me. These people may be her family, but I know how ruthless they can be.

“So, you are choosing to remain silent?” Aryanna’s brother Domenico steps from the shadows. “I’m sure it will take some time, but I will make you scream.”

He is wearing dress trousers and a white button-down shirt. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, exposing his tattoos for everyone to see. I hope my little mate is strong enough to handle this because I am sure this motherfucker is going to torture me. Every bit of pain I receive will be felt by my mate, even though it will be to a lesser extent.

Domenico walks around me slowly, playing head games. He rattles items on a table just beyond my line of vision. He runs something sharp down the back of my arm, and the pain is instantaneous. But I remain silent. Warm blood trickles down my arm.

“Did you really think you could steal my sister? Force her to mate with you? All without any consequences?” He smirks as he wipes the bloody blade on his shirt.

---