Lark

by Emma Cole

  Chapter Twelve

  Do or Die

  Marcus and the doctor help my three guys up, and Apollo lines us up as he takes a bow. Fuck that. Some clap in appreciation, while others inquire about prices. After Apollo tells them that we already have a prospective buyer and that none of them may purchase us at this time, one man speaks up.

  “The only one I saw with your mark was your companion, Marcus. Therefore, they are available for purchase.” Apollo and Marcus both curse under their breath. I don't really understand what's happening, but the vibe coming off Apollo and Marcus is worrisome. Pausing for a moment, I do recall a raised sun mark on the inside of Marcus’ thigh when he was over me. I didn’t think much of it at the time since I was otherwise occupied, but now that I am, I realize that it's a brand. Like on cattle. Like burned into the skin. Like permanently marked. Oh, fuck no. No one is branding me. They’re going to have a massive fight on their hands if they try.

  “Their marks will be completed as soon as their training is over. They take months to fully heal— I don’t need a delay if it gets infected,” he states coldly to the man. I think that’s going to be the end of it; then Mr. Vitti speaks up.

  “There’s time before they need to be presented again. They can have a few days to heal up, so I don’t see the point in a delay. It’s best to mark the pets sooner rather than later.” What a piece of camel crap. “I just also happen to have the iron that was used for Marcus.” Concluding his bullshit Mr. Vitti pulls out a torch pen with a metal sun that has little wavy rays extending from it. It's attached a few inches above the tip of the small burner, with the medallion itself being about the size of a quarter.

  I feel the color drain from my face so fast I get light-headed and look to Braeden in a panic. He appears stoic, but I know he’s just as freaked out as I am. Glancing over to Rex and Emmett, the former looking pissed, while the latter is nearly green, I have the short lived thought of wondering if we can fight our way out. Unfortunately, we’re underground in an unknown location with who knows how many guards. Not to mention the guys all have their hands bound behind them with things up their asses that are going to make running difficult. Begrudgingly, I wait for Apollo to get us out of this.

  “I don’t agree with this. They are mine to train as I see fit.” Mr. Vitti smiles, and it’s disturbing to say the least. I don’t think Apollo is going to win this one, and I start to feel short of breath. The man is straight evil. If he brands me, I’ll find a way to kill him. Something of my thoughts must have shown on my face as he loses his smile.

  “This is my operation, and I desire the pets be branded.” He snaps his fingers, and instantaneously, we all have guards surrounding us. “We’ll start with her.” He gestures to me, and the guys start to struggle, mostly ineffectively.

  He only put one guard on me, and I immediately lash out at him. Bringing my elbow back, I smash it up into his nose. He instantly drops me, groaning with blood pouring between his fingers. Another guard comes up and backhands me, and I barely keep my feet. I taste blood in my mouth, and I spit it out at the feet of the man that hit me in a show of defiance, maintaining the sneer on my face despite the discomfort.

  The guys are all struggling in earnest, and another man comes up with a bottle of capsules in his hand. He tries forcing the first one into Rex’s mouth, but between the other guard’s difficulty to hold on to him and the movement of his head, it quickly becomes apparent that this tactic isn't going to work. The man gives up and goes to a cupboard, returning with a box full of syringes that are topped with thin short tubing instead of needles. Apollo has gone to step up to stop him when his father gives him a look I can’t interpret, halting Apollo in his tracks.

  “All of you cease struggling now, or Four will receive the punishment for all of you.” This comes from Marcus, and the others turn to glare at him in anger and disbelief, but obey nonetheless. None of them want me hurt. I go to speak, and when I open my mouth to tell them not to stop on my account, something slips over my face and through my teeth so quickly and unexpectedly I don’t even have a chance to close my mouth. It's a gag tasting of leather, holding my mouth open as if I were a horse with a bit. I can still make some noise, but nothing intelligible comes out. The buckle is fastened behind my head, and my hands are cuffed in padded velcro bracelets behind my back.

  The man with the syringes moves back to Rex, and the guards bend him over, exposing his stuffed ass. The man slides the tubing in next to the dildo and empties the contents into him, following with both Emmett and Braeden. On his way past the doctor, he nods his head, and two guards grab him bending him over as well. Apollo is arguing that the doctor isn’t a trainee, and his father states that as part of his training team he belongs to him just as Marcus does.

  "Brent is your nephew, you insisted he be brought in as part of the family business for continued support for his mom and sister. He's not part of this, he's paying off his school loans and providing for his family." Apollo is earnest and slightly panicked, while Brent is resigned.

  I don't know what kind of fucked up family dynamic this is but Apollo isn't having any effect on his father.

  "He's not listed as a trainer as you are. As such, he's part of the trainee program. Enough of this unless you're admitting you can't handle the duties of being my heir." That doesn't sound good, and from the strain on Apollo's face it's a very definite threat

  Robert waves his hand at Apollo's silence and the doctor receives the same treatment as the others. As he comes toward me, I see the guys’ eyes going slightly vacant, and Marcus reaches out a hand to trail over Emmett’s chest, eliciting a moan from him.

  “How much did you give them?” Apollo asks. “You know they can overdose on that shit on top of what they’ve already been given since arriving here!” Wait, what?! They’re drugging us? As the man goes for the flesh between my legs, I kick out, and the syringe flies out of his hand. The man is furious, but answers Apollo as he goes back to his cupboard of drugs.

  “It’s a short-term dose. They’ll remember mostly everything, and it will amplify feeling, yet it will keep them blissed out long enough to get this done.” Amplify feeling? Oh, fuck no! A branding. Amplified. Fuck that shit.

  “You’re seriously going to increase the pain of being branded?” Apollo asks incredulously. Obviously, I’m not the only one that has a major fucking problem with it. At least it's one small step to trusting him, which I'd enjoy, except ya know, the whole trying to brand me fuckery. Well maybe not, he is drugging my ass. I'm still angry about it, but it’s not the appropriate time to deal with that issue either.

  The man comes back, and two more guards have appeared in front of me— one to take each leg and spread them. The man wielding the syringe seems to go for my vagina to put in the tubing, but instead spreads my lips wide and taut, using his body to hide what he’s actually doing as he pushes into my urethra and quickly depresses the plunger. The liquid shoots up into my bladder, burning a path of pure acid.

  I shriek behind the gag, and Apollo is instantly at my side to investigate what’s wrong. He sees the man pull the tubing out with a trickle of urine with it that I couldn’t control coming out, it hurts so badly. I'm embarrassed and in pain.

  “What the fuck, Robert? Your man is damaging my property! Get the hell away from her!" Apollo is pissed, but the damage is already done.

  The man mutters ‘oops’, but I see his smirk. I’ll do him some serious damage if I ever get my hands on him alone. Apollo kneels down to check me out. All the guys are staring but can’t really seem to concentrate. That doctor would come in real handy about now.

  Apollo echoes my thoughts. “These are the types of things I need Brent for, and now he’s doped up and useless to me. Marcus, come help me.” I’m wondering how bad it is as Marcus comes up with a wet wipe and a basin.

  “Four, I need you to empty your bladder. That stuff isn’t meant to be in there, and I don’t know what a dose that size will do to you.” I have to piss into a b
ucket that Marcus is holding while being held by four strange men, and everyone is just standing and sitting here watching. I want to cry, but I won’t do it in front of these people. I close my eyes and try to relax. The burning is instantaneous, and I cry out, immediately stopping the flow of urine. My poor urethra was torn, I know it. It’s throbbing like I smashed it with a hammer.

  Quieter this time, Marcus gives me a look of sympathy. “I know it burns like a bitch. Power through it, and I’ll clean you up and check the damage.” I can feel some of the drug taking effect, and that prompts me to hurry. It burns the entire time, and I do my best to hold back the noises of pain, not wanting to give the asshole that did this the satisfaction.

  Shortly, I’m done, allowing Marcus to clean me up and examine the area. “There’s some blood in her urine, and the edges look a little torn, but I think she’ll be okay with some antibiotics to prevent infection and a few days rest. That tubing wasn’t even sterile; he screwed it on with his bare hands.” Marcus is addressing Apollo in a low menacing voice. Apollo, in turn, addresses his father.

  “Due to the injury— and possible infection— resulting from the unsanitary use of that syringe, my trainee will need a week’s worth of antibiotics. During that time I will have her refrain from training. The other issues will cause several days for all of them to be at rest. I will do light training with the others after the marks have healed enough to allow ease of movement, but nothing involved until I have them all back together. I don’t want to repeat instructions individually due to this incompetence.” Mr. Vitti looks annoyed, but nods his head at Apollo's demands. Turning to me, he continues quietly, “I’m sorry, but we can’t chance giving you anything else right now to help. As soon as Brent recovers, I’ll have him look you over and find out what we can give you. I’m afraid this is going to be rather unpleasant without aid.”

  With that, he steps over to his father to take the brand. On his way back he makes the mistake of making eye contact with me. He seems to understand that this is the breaking point and his life may be in just as much danger as mine is currently in. I hear a click, and the torch lights, heating up the metal above it. I begin to struggle again, but Marcus comes in and slaps the insides of my spread thighs. I squeal, and he does it again and again, alternating between the two. The skin becomes red and welted and is beginning to lose feeling. He applies a cold gel on the skin of my left inner thigh. Right where his brand was, I remember in a panic. When Marcus reaches out with both hands and makes a circle high up on my inner thigh and holds the skin firmly in place, I notice the sensation of his touch is dulled and realize the gel must have been some sort of numbing agent. I start up struggling again anyway as Apollo comes toward me with a blank expression on his face. A guard holds a gun up to Braeden’s head, and I freeze, ceasing all resistance.

  I slump in defeat for a moment, but my anxiety is through the roof at the hot brand coming toward me, and I start to tremble, unable to stop. Apollo has my leg brought as far away from the rest of my body as possible and lines up the hot metal. I can feel the heat radiating off it while it’s still several inches away. Apollo tells me to hold as still as possible so that it doesn’t skip or burn too deeply. I look at the guys, and they’re still mostly lethargic, but when I look to Marcus, I actually see compassion. I guess he would have some since he had to go through this already.

  I close my eyes, as I don’t want to see it happen, when Apollo presses something, causing the torch to go out. Swiftly, he presses the hot metal to my skin, hard, and I scream at the pain. Time stands still as he seems to hold it there for what feels like forever but was probably only mere seconds. The stench of my own seared flesh and the feeling of skin pulling with the metal as he removes it makes my stomach roll.

  I attempt to hold the vomit down, but it’s no use, and I throw up with the gag still in my mouth. I temporarily forget the pain in my leg as I choke on my own puke. Marcus, acting quickly, gets the gag off me and starts wiping me up, muttering curses under his breath. Thankfully, it was mostly liquid as we hadn’t exactly gotten to eat much since we've been here. After he gets me cleaned up, he puts an ointment and a large cushion type bandage over the raw skin. Afraid to look, I glance away. The only even remotely good thing is that my bladder was already empty, or I may have pissed myself as well.

  Marcus leaves me to assist Apollo with the others, and they all get the same routine minus the thigh slapping while I hang there in the guards’ grip. At least it's simpler since they’re drugged, but they still scream. Not as loud as mine was, and they’re not as active as a sober person would be, needing only one other guard to hold them. Marcus bandages them all, and the guards that held them lead them all back to the room. The guards had tried to set me on my feet, but between the pain of my leg and my pee hole, and the drugs having a bad effect after all, I can’t stand very well. Marcus scoops me up in his arms and carries me back down to the room with Apollo opening doors for him as we go.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Rolling on Molly

  After we arrive back in the room, we find Brent trying to undo the bindings on Rex and failing miserably. He keeps fumbling the ties or Rex moans and moves. Marcus gently sets me down on the couch, and he and Apollo move to help. Apollo sends Brent over to sit by me, and we both watch as they’re unbound. Rex grabs— and starts stroking— himself as soon as his hands are free. Apollo reaches out to stop him.

  “Marcus, let’s get them all in the bathroom and into the shower. We all need to bathe, and all the guys are probably going to be like this. I’m not sure why Brent isn’t too.” Marcus grabs Emmett and Braeden, and as out of it as he is, Brade comes back to me instead of following. I take his arm and let him lead with me limping along. At least I can walk on my own two feet now. I register what Apollo said about Brent and remember I’m livid with Apollo and Marcus.

  “Wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that you’ve been regularly dosing us, would it? And that Brent just got a first dose?” Marcus just looks at me and doesn’t say anything. I take that as a yes. I’ll deal with them later, after we’ve all cleaned up and slept.

  Marcus already has the huge bath going and is rinsing Rex off in the shower while Rex is jacking himself off. All those muscles are flexing and straining towards his release. He doesn’t even act like his leg hurts. His bandage doesn’t seem to be getting wet though, the water running over and off it. The thin adhesive plastic membrane must be waterproof. Marcus gets him to widen his legs and bend forward so he can remove the plug from his ass. When he pulls it out, Rex moans with his head back and eyes closed. He tries to rub back against the plug, but it’s gone. Apollo seems exasperated.

  “Marcus, just help him get off and then get him in the tub. It’s our own fault he’s in this shape.” Marcus, taking the suggestion, spreads Rex’s cheeks back open and easily slips the plug back in getting a moan from Rex as his hand speeds up. Marcus begins fucking Rex in the ass with the plug, one hand holding his cheek to the side, while the other pops the plug in and out rapidly. Marcus must sense it isn’t enough, or he’s impatient, and pushes in past the wide base of the plug with his fingers still wrapped around it to grind it into him, eliciting a yell from Rex. He starts spurting from his engorged dick, and Marcus pulls out against his clenching ass before placing the plug on a shelf to finish rinsing Rex then guiding him into the now filled tub of tepid water.

  I do hear one of them mumble about the temperature, so I'm guessing the burn is beginning to register. Apollo puts Brent in and quickly rinses him then puts him in the tub with Rex. Emmett is next with Apollo joining him, and he’s almost as bad as Rex. Rubbing his ass on Apollo as he removes the dildo. Apollo doesn’t even try to stop him, just gets down on his knees and starts sucking Emmett off. He puts one of Emmett’s legs over his shoulders and enters him with the dildo, fucking him hard and deep with it in time to the sucking. Emmett’s dick disappears down Apollo’s throat in tandem with the dildo disappearing in his ass. Apollo can suck a di
ck like a pro. He’s taking it all the way to the base and appears to be swallowing around it until he has to come up for air. One last hold and Emmett takes a hand off the shower wall to palm the back of Apollo’s head, giving a few unsteady jerks in and out, then pressing against his face tight. Apollo continues to fuck him with the dildo until he’s completely done before removing it.

  Marcus comes over to help me and Braeden as Apollo leads Emmett away to babysit all three now in the tub. Marcus carefully removes the small faux plug from me, and I rinse off. I help him rinse Braeden, and he removes his plug while I help support him. He moans and rubs against me some, but pushes Marcus away when he goes to assist him.

  “I’m fine. Just feel like I’m on a shit ton of ecstasy right now. I can feel and understand everything, but it’s like trying to wade through mud to get anything done intentionally.”

  “You should never have gotten that large of a dose, even if you hadn’t already had some. It’s dangerous.” Marcus is pissed, but thankfully not at us.

  “Little bird? You alright? I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.” His words are slightly slurred as he puts his arms around me and holds me tight against him. He whispers in my ear, “I’ll kill them all for hurting you.” If Marcus hears, he doesn’t let on, or maybe he agrees with him. “Let’s get you in the tub. Marcus, can you help her in? I can handle myself, but I’m not steady enough yet to be picking her up.” Marcus nods and swings me up in his arms again, settling us both into the tub. As soon as Braeden is in, he pulls me onto his lap. “Let me check, okay?” I shake my head no. I don’t want him touching it. Not only because it hurts, but because it’s embarrassing, and I’ll keep what dignity I have left wherever I can. “Okay, baby bird, but the doctor will be checking as soon as he’s coherent.” There’s a tone that I don’t dare refuse coming from my best friend, so I keep quiet and snuggle up to him in the warm water and drift off.