by Jayne Rylon
Jeremy released a giant sigh, either because he’d held his breath while he dipped into the contaminated area or because he relished their safety. Probably both.
“Help me.” Ellie collapsed at their feet. She swiped at her own skin. “It hurts. Please, please, do something.”
Despite the awkward angle of his leg, Lucas didn’t hesitate to comfort the woman they’d rescued. He whipped his shirt off a spectacular set of muscles and covered her perky breasts, bared by her tattered clothes.
“Leave me behind.” Lucas dusted Ellie’s bangs from her eyes. She lurched upward and attempted to grind against him. “She needs help quickly. I’ll only slow you down.”
“We’re not abandoning anyone.” Jeremy grasped Lucas’s arm. He hauled the other man upright, bracing his bad side. “Don’t pass out on me and we’ll be okay.”
Lily nodded at her lover, grateful he trusted her so completely. She took a deep breath, cleared her mind and embraced the motivational faculties she’d developed her entire adult life. “Come on, Ellie. We’re going to see Ryan. He’ll help you. He’ll make it stop hurting, right?”
“Ryan.” The girl probably didn’t even notice the tears streaming down her face. “He’ll fix me. He always does.”
Minimizing skin to skin contact for Ellie’s sake, Lily helped the tech to her feet. She spoke gentle, calming nonsense the entire scramble to the wing housing her harem. What had taken five minutes at most to traverse the first time took at least three times as long on the return journey. Sweat poured down Lucas’s back. He never once complained.
When Ryan’s name began to lose its effectiveness in keeping Ellie alert, Lily changed tactics. “Tell me what you did for The Scientist?”
“Bonding.”
“What does that mean?” The string of technobabble that followed might have meant something to Jeremy. It didn’t to Lily.
“Do you know the molecular structure of the compound you were working on?” She tried a few times to cut through the fog growing thicker in the woman’s bloodshot eyes.
“Dimethoxy, dimethoxy, dimethoxy.” Ellie chanted it over and over.
“Jeremy, was that part of the drawing?”
“No.” He peered over his shoulder. “But it could fit. What are the odds?”
“Pretty good I bet.” Intuition reared up. They’d found the missing link.
Ellie began to whimper and shudders wracked her. Lily wondered if walking alone might be causing the woman to come involuntarily. Ellie impressed Lily as she fought the debilitating arousal by chanting her brother’s name over and over to survive the betrayal of her body.
“She’s not going to make it much farther.” Lily whispered to the men in the lead.
“Almost there, sweetheart.” Jeremy glanced over his shoulder, his eyes dark with fury and pain. “Hang on. You’ve got this.”
But she didn’t.
Ellie collapsed and nothing Lily said or did could make her move again. Lily attempted to lift the woman. Every time she touched Ellie, the girl thrashed and groaned.
“Ryan!” Jeremy bellowed despite the risk.
Not more than five seconds later, the man appeared at her side. He skidded to a halt, crashing to his knees. “Ellie. Oh, God. What have they done to you?”
“Ry?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” He jerked his hand back when his comforting touch made her flinch and cry harder. “You’re going to be okay.”
“Love you.”
Ryan returned the sentiment. His sister didn’t hear. She’d already blacked out. At least Lily hoped she’d escaped to unconsciousness and not something worse. He scooped his sister into his arms and dashed, overtaking Jeremy and Lucas, who’d continued their steady march toward shelter.
Lily brought up the rear, shutting the door to the hallway firmly behind them once they all trundled inside her office. “Move the dresser in front of the passage. No one gets in.”
Ben, Cameron and several other slaves rushed to obey.
“Hurry, Ive.” She waved over one of her assistants and rattled off a string of orders. “Bathe her in cold water then hook her to one of the fucking machines. We won’t be able to administer the antidote for at least an hour or two. She can’t sleep through this. It’ll wake her up, burn her alive, if we don’t get it under control.”
Ryan stared at her like she’d gone crazy.
“The Scientist dosed her with Sex Offender. A bunch of it. More than what I took last night for sure.”
“I’ll kill him.” Ryan snarled as he headed for the makeshift barrier. Lily didn’t doubt he’d rip it to shreds if she didn’t prevent him from leaving.
“Too late.” She swallowed bile. “I did it for you.”
“Oh, fuck.” Jeremy bustled her into the far corner of her office, stealing as much privacy as the space could afford. “Are you okay?”
“Numb, mostly.” She dropped her head against his chest. “I have to stay calm for my guys and my staff. I can’t think about it now. Later…maybe we can talk it through.”
“Damn straight.” He kissed her brow. “Of course we will. You’re doing great.”
She adored him for putting his back to the room. No one could intrude with his broad shoulders shielding her from losing face. Not that any of her chosen family would respect her less for temporary weakness in the face of such horror.
“This is crazy, Lily. We have what we came for.” Jeremy squeezed her hand. “Round everyone up. Let’s get the hell out. There were too many eyes. Morselli will know soon, if he doesn’t already, about our interference.”
She nodded.
“I’m calling Mason.” Jeremy checked his watch for the thousandth time. “Matt and Clint should have been back by now. Something’s not right. He’ll figure out a way to cover our extraction.”
Lily winced when Jeremy daubed a drop of blood from her split lip. How had that happened?
“Take care of your guys. The assistants. Lucas and Ellie. I’ll gather my equipment, make the call and be knocking down your door in fifteen minutes tops.” He took her shoulders in a light grip. “I promise. I’m coming right back for you.”
“I know.” She didn’t hesitate one instant before surrounding his wrists with her fingers.
He sighed as he took in the ripped nails tipping her hands. “Be ready to run.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Agent Sterns says it’s not enough.” Mason bit off the bad news.
Jeremy kicked over the chair he’d spanked Lily in the day before. “What the fuck else does he want? A sworn confession?”
“He wants the entire formula—“
“Which I’m ninety-nine percent sure we found.” Jeremy refused to spread it over the unsecured phone. If he had the answer, it had to stay secret. Or everything they’d worked for would be for shit.
“—and a link to put Morselli away for life.”
“Lily swiped the fucking drive from his office. The Scientist took out himself and most of his staff to avoid the fucker.” He yanked on his hair. “The witness we rescued could be next. She wasn’t in great shape when I left. How many more have to suffer? Die?”
“I agree with you, JRad.” Mason cursed. “Your dickhead boss is arguing it’s all circumstantial. He’s lobbying for you to stay undercover until you locate the production facility.”
“They only need probable cause to raid and discover the rest. You know it as well as I do.”
“Yeah.” His friend sighed. “I’m liking this less and less by the minute. The hair on my arm is standing straight up.”
“Yours and mine both.”
“Go grab your girl.” Mason panted as though he were running. “We’re on our way. We’ll be right there to pull you out.”
“Thanks.” Jeremy punched the end button on his phone and shoved the device in his jeans pocket. He ducked beneath the strap of his duffle and made sure the items he’d left behind could be sacrificed.
As he flew along the corridors, he ran through a checklist
starting with transportation for the wounded to potential weapons they could scrounge. No amount of mental war-gaming could have prepared him for what he found when he returned to Lily’s quarters.
The door swung half off its hinges.
Steve swam in a pool of his own congealing blood. A bullet had torn a ragged hole in his chest. Jeremy paused to close the cloudy, wide-open eyes of his fallen teammate. He said a quick prayer before lurching to his feet and sprinting for Lily’s temporary office.
He had to dodge a vase swung at his head when he blasted inside, unannounced.
“It’s me, guys.” Jesus.
“Master Jeremy.” Ryan hovered beside his sister, blocking her from the entrance. Tears filled his eyes. His throat flexed when he swallowed hard. “Morselli took Lily. There was nothing we could do. She ordered us to stand aside—traded her life for ours. It’s not fair. It’s not right. She’s the best of us.”
Jeremy didn’t hang around to ask useless questions or place blame on victims. Only one man was responsible for this.
Morselli would pay.
Lily dangled from her bound wrists. The rough rope wrapped around them cut into her pulse point, making her ultra-aware of her pounding heartbeat. Her fingers had gone numb almost instantly. The weight Morselli tethered to her chained ankles guaranteed it.
Pressure threatened to tear her joints apart. Her toes dangled in tepid water. Machines whirred nearby. She had no doubt the tangled mass of tubes and containers surrounding them housed Sex Offender in various stages of the cooking process. The enormous steel and glass-paneled vat she hovered over fed a plethora of pipes leading toward the production facility.
If her captor expected the constant discomfort—or the threat of being left to drown—to convince her to spill Jeremy’s secrets, he had another thing coming. She could hold out against physical pain indefinitely. Her father had made sure of it.
“You might as well start using that.” She angled her chin toward the long whip Morselli held. “Would you like a lesson first? I’m fairly sure your technique will be crude at best.”
“Dumb bitch. I can’t figure out why he still wants you. Once, for the hell of it… Why not?” Morselli grinned. “I would have broken you. After that, what’s the point?”
“You could’ve tried.” She’d die before she begged for his mercy.
“Feisty.” He tsked. “Not really my thing.”
He was quick. Lily would give him that. Telegraphing his intent highlighted his rookie status, though. She had plenty of time to counteract her ingrained tensing and prepare to absorb the blow. Sting radiated outward. She harnessed the burst of energy and banked it to help her withstand the next lash and the next.
Unlike a skilled, caring Master, Morselli considered nothing about her as he sliced through her thin tank and scored the flesh beneath. “Tell me who he’s working for.”
Lily didn’t bother to respond. She focused on isolating the portion of her brain influenced by pain and diverted her mind to pleasurable stimuli—the color of Jeremy’s eyes, the exquisite patterns of the inked art highlighting his cut body and the sensual purr her name turned into when he murmured it while he buried himself inside her.
“Damn you.” Morselli increased the frequency and strength of his swings as she began to spin beneath the force of his blows.
She had always enjoyed having her back flogged. What this bastard did to her had nothing on sensual experiences, but it wasn’t the first time someone had tested her limits. Habits sprang to life as she channeled the agony into something constructive. She pictured a day when all she’d lived through—every ounce of pain—paid dividends.
Jeremy would come for her. He’d promised he would. A man of his veracity would never violate an oath. Especially not one he’d sworn to a woman he felt affection toward.
How much did he care? Enough to build something that would outlast his investigation?
A sliver of doubt crept in, opening her heart to the suffering Morselli attempted to inflict.
“I’ll stop.” The creep peddled false hope. “If you tell me. Is it Gunther trying to steal my secrets? Or is our dear Jeremy flying solo? Has he promised to share his empire with you?”
Lily stared him straight in the eye when she spit in the direction of the steel-grate platform he perched on.
“Not very ladylike. What would your Master think?” Morselli snapped the whip across her breasts this time. Though she withheld her scream, she couldn’t prevent herself from assessing the damage. Blood oozed from the crest of a nasty welt already rising on her fair skin.
Despite her best intentions, the room, the universe, narrowed to one evil bastard. She bit her lips to keep from uttering a single peep. Nature granted no quarter. She couldn’t battle the debilitating fog stealing her consciousness.
“Do you really think he’ll cut you in on the action?” Another strike, this time to her calves. “No way in hell. Why should he?”
It didn’t surprise her that Morselli couldn’t comprehend the true reason for her silence.
In a kinder, more controlled environment, she’d facilitated extreme pain. Those subjects who’d begged for it often described a communion with their innermost essence following those episodes. They experienced a meditative high that could become addictive.
Surrounded by the brilliance of pure emotion, she admitted the reason she’d never reveal Jeremy’s affiliation with justice. In a surreal, otherworldly place—far above the pedestrian plane she usually inhabited—a million disparate hopes and fears crystalized.
She loved him. Was in love with him.
“Fine. Bitch. Have it your way.” Morselli ramped up his brutal attack.
With every new jolt of agony, she railed against the encroaching darkness, which threatened to consume her.
A stray swing of the savage instrument wrapped around her hip and picked up speed. The tip went supersonic and split open her inner thigh. Mercifully, the excruciating pain overflowed her mental strongholds and shut down her system.
The world went black.
Cold.
That’s all she could think.
Until millions of razors attacked her. Her eyes flew open and panic spread when she realized the maroon stains floating before her meant Morselli had dunked her in the tank. Thank God he’d left her mouth and nose above the water line. With her weighted feet and bound hands, she’d never escape.
Master Jeremy, where are you?
A jerk nearly ripped her shoulders from their sockets. She gasped as panic replaced searing pain. Was she falling? Or rising? She couldn’t tell.
“Welcome back.” Morselli crouched at the edge of the vat, meeting her stare.
If only she could take him with her, she’d gladly sacrifice her life to rid the world of his malignant presence.
“F-fuck you.” Her teeth chattered despite her best efforts at calm.
“Last chance.” He snarled. “I don’t have time for this shit. If you won’t tell me who the two of you are teamed up with, I’ll make sure you don’t blab to anyone else about what you’ve seen. I’m not exactly a patient man.”
“No shit.” She glanced toward the door, expecting to see the silhouette of her sexy-as-sin cop.
Nothing.
“Burn in hell.” She didn’t flinch when he threw a lever. The entire hook suspending her separated from the chain. Somehow it missed bashing in her head and ending things immediately. Whether that was a blessing or a curse, she couldn’t say.
Bubbles rose around her, whizzing skyward as she sank. The weight between her feet clanged into the bottom of the tank. She supposed that’s what she got for making fun of cement shoes. Awkward angles paired with the slimy surface beneath her feet, guaranteeing she wrenched her ankle.
Still, she didn’t thrash. Lily preserved her breath as best she could.
Jeremy would come for her. He’d promised.
Unless Morselli had already done something to him…
No.
She ca
lmed the immediate jolt of despair causing her to wriggle against her bindings.
If only she could see him again she wouldn’t hesitate another minute to share what she’d suspected for months and had given herself permission to admit when the lightning of Morselli’s whip had smote all her false pretenses.
Lily would shout her love for Jeremy from the rooftop if she had the chance.
She held hope even as her lungs screamed for oxygen.
And screamed more.
And more.
The final wisps of air disintegrated into her bloodstream as memories flashed before her eyes. She comforted herself by imagining Jeremy supported her in the bathtub and any second now he’d raise her up.
Because that’s what the man she trusted would do.
The friend who’d comforted her at Malcolm’s funeral and in the hospital afterward, the champion who’d fought for innocent victims by her side, the Master who’d shared his taming touch on stage in this hellhole and the soul mate who’d demonstrated complete possession of her being.
Her lungs shriveled as she forced her instincts into remission. Aspirating a huge swig of water would end her battle.
He was coming.
He would save her.
The fringes of her vision dimmed once more. True gaspers chased the euphoria lifting her spirit higher with each passing moment. So high, she thought she imagined a distorted version of Jeremy’s voice and his face just outside of her reach. Close enough to her final wish, she figured there was no better way to spend her last instant on Earth than to tell the illusion what she wished she’d shared with her Master.
“I love you.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jeremy charged between a pair of stainless-steel silos. He didn’t have to pause to figure out he’d stumbled into the belly of the beast. All around him Sex Offender oozed through enclosed, large-scale production equipment.
Mother fucker.
Didn’t it figure he’d breached the inner sanctum exactly when it no longer ranked as his top priority? He’d lost precious time searching for Morselli on the surveillance cameras he hadn’t been able to access before without leaving a trace. He no longer gave a shit about avoiding detection. Racing around hunks of metal, he searched for the two large holding tanks he’d spotted on the live feeds.
