Collar (Changing Roles Book 3)

by Ellie Masters

  I slumped, hanging from my wrists, my head ringing from the impact. I scrambled to get my footing, fearful of showing any weakness in front of this man.

  With the coming of night, the temperature had fallen. My teeth chattered with the chill. Either that, or shock was setting in. My entire body trembled with fear and cold.

  Josh stepped between his father and me, surprising me with his show of protection. “Back off.”

  I had him. I fucking had him. I needed to ignore the horrific sounds of the men raping Lily and give Josh what he desperately sought. Drive a wedge between him and his father. My insides churned with what I was prepared to do.

  Our eyes met, and I gave him a nod. Then I lowered my eyes and bowed my head in submission. It was a tiny gesture, but it had the effect I was hoping for.

  Josh inhaled, his chest expanding as it filled.

  Cautiously, I elevated my gaze.

  His pupils were blown with the flush of desire.

  I dared to meet his gaze. “I’ll give you whatever you want, Master.” Saying that title to Josh turned my gut, but I had him exactly where I needed.

  With a shifting of my feet, I adjusted my stance. Subtle but effective, that small movement brought the swell of my breast into contact with the side of his arm. I leaned into him, brushing against the fine hairs of his skin.

  Josh tugged me to him, and I didn’t resist as he pulled me against his side.

  “I’ll take her when I’m good and ready. We don’t need to kill them both.”

  No! I wouldn’t sacrifice Lily to save my life. I would die before I’d let Lily be murdered by these animals.

  I didn’t want to seem too enthusiastic with my submission, so I pulled away. “She shouldn’t have to die. Hasn’t she suffered enough?”

  BlackJack snorted. “My piss-ass son should have stood up for his brother. And Kevin? I practically raised that boy in my home. They took my son from me, left him to rot, and now I’m taking you and the Asian cunt. It’s time for them to pay.”

  Josh and I were bonding in a sick and perverse fashion. He held me tight, in a protective embrace, and I leaned into him, shaking with my fear and with disgust at what I was doing, but I no longer resisted him.

  A man behind me grunted with his release, making me cringe, but Lily’s soft cries told me she was still with me. If she pulled through this, I feared for her sanity.

  “Please, don’t do this,” I said to Josh, trying to snare his attention. A twin to Jake, they shared the same large frame. I had only to turn him against his father to save us. “I’ll do whatever you want. Anything. Killing us serves no purpose.”

  Josh barked at me. “It evens the score.”

  “Does it?” I sagged in his arms. “Our deaths are meaningless.” I modulated the tone of my voice the way I did with my submissives to bind them to my will. “They’ll hunt you down.”

  “Then we’ll kill them.” BlackJack stared at me, but his son seemed to consider my words.

  “You’d kill your twin?” My gut churned as I tried to appear subdued. “After he and Kevin tried to free you?”

  Josh shifted his feet, looking confused. His fingers splayed against my waist, caressing me lightly as he held me against his body. His eyes slanted to his father, demanding an answer. “Is that true?”

  BlackJack’s eyes darkened with fury. “She lies.”

  Josh leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead. “Are you lying…slave?”

  My chest constricted with the change in energy surging around us, but I didn’t miss what he called me.

  I pulled my head away, but only so I could look in his eyes. Making my voice small, I gave him what he needed. “It’s the truth. I wouldn’t lie to you, Master.”

  BlackJack pounced on me. Gripping my hair in his large hand, he yanked my head back. “Shut the fuck up, you filthy cunt.”

  Stars filled my vision as he shook my head, and blackness crowded my periphery. My neck twisted with each cruel yank.

  “She’s fucking with your mind, Son. Lying through that filthy mouth of hers.”

  I wanted to cry out, but I had to school my responses. The three men had finished with Lily and were closing in on us. The biggest question I had was who were they loyal to, BlackJack or his son?

  Josh released me and lunged at his father. “All these years, you’ve been lying to me.”

  His father reacted in a blur of movement, punching Josh in the gut and doubling him over. The men surrounding us stood their ground, answering my question as to whom they followed. Josh gasped against the pain, fumbling at his waist. He pulled out a gun, but again BlackJack was faster. They grappled for several terrifying moments. Then a single shot split the air.

  Josh and his father fell to their knees. BlackJack shoved his son to the side. Josh collapsed on the floor, a red stain spreading out on the concrete beneath him.

  BlackJack grabbed his son’s limp body and clutched him to his chest. “No!”

  His keening cry sent shivers down my spine. He moved and rolled Josh over onto his back, his hands searching his son’s body.

  I couldn’t see the gunshot wound, but too much blood had spilled on the floor.

  BlackJack yanked his belt free from his pants. He wrapped the leather band around Josh’s leg, forming a tourniquet. With a yank, he pulled the free end of the belt through the buckle and tightened it down. He looked at me, fury deepening his expression.

  “You’re going to die a most horrific death, cunt.”

  I gasped at the promise of death brewing in BlackJack’s eyes. He raised himself off the floor. I could barely see the shadows shifting in the room or hear Lily’s low, strangled sobs over the pounding of my desperate heart.

  Wait.

  The shadows were moving.

  Shifting through the edges of the building, men clad entirely in black advanced with the silent tread of professionals. My heart thundered, and a roaring filled my ears. A smile nearly cracked my face with the relief of rescue, but I schooled my expression so as not to alert the murderer standing less than a yard from me. BlackJack had regained his feet and was coming toward me.

  My gaze shifted. A mistake because BlackJack’s followed mine, alerting him to the advancing SWAT team.

  He yanked me toward him. My arms wrenched in their sockets, protesting the movement. He freed my arms and pulled me tight against his chest.

  Men rushed forward, shouting, revealing themselves.

  Sound exploded all around. BlackJack’s men scrambled for their guns, crouching down on their knees and surrounding their leader.

  Men screamed at me to get down, but I was helpless, held in Blackjack’s grip. Arms numb and on shaky legs, I could barely move.

  Red beams of death danced over my chest, snipers trying to get a bead on BlackJack as he used me as a shield.

  Josh groaned on the cold concrete floor, grasping his leg and coming around. I couldn’t help the surge of relief flooding my body with the knowledge he wasn’t dead. His gaze latched on to me, and an expression of horror bloomed in his face as he took in the scene. Red dots skittered across his torso as well.

  Slowly, he raised his hands and choked on a coarse laugh. “My brother always did get the girl.”

  My pulse pounded as BlackJack pulled me toward his son. “Get up, Josh. Get up.”

  His men bracketed us, forming a circle of protection around BlackJack, Josh, and me, their guns pointed outward.

  “Stand back,” yelled BlackJack into the room. “I’ll kill her.”

  I tried to fight, but with my arms having been suspended above me for hours, they’d turned into dead weights. BlackJack half lifted, half dragged me over to his son.

  “You said you ditched that fucking bracelet. How’d they find us? Did you forget her phone as well?”

  Josh’s face pinched against the pain as he struggled to his feet. “I ditched them both.”

  BlackJack fished in his pocket, his movement so fast I missed it until he pressed something cool an
d sharp against my neck.

  “Nobody fucking move! I’ll cut her throat.”

  I didn’t want to die like this. My bound hands hung uselessly before me, and terror swept through me. I dared not move with the cold steel pressed against my throat. I barely breathed. If anyone had a shot to take, I willed them to put a bullet in BlackJack, preferably someplace between the eyes, where it could tunnel deep in his brain.

  Josh’s eyes widened. He took half a step forward, staggering against the pain from his wound. “Father,” he pleaded, his hand stretched out. “Don’t…”

  “God damnit, shut up!” BlackJack screamed at his son.

  Red dots flickered across Josh’s chest. He didn’t have a human shield like his father.

  Not a single sound could be heard in the warehouse as steel bit into the soft flesh of my neck. Warmth trickled down my skin.

  A deep male voice called out from the dark. “Release the girl.”

  “Get those damn things off me, or I’ll kill her.”

  The disembodied voice spoke in a commanding tone. “Step away from the girl.”

  “No, you move away from the van.”

  If BlackJack got me inside that van, I was certainly dead. But I took comfort that Lily would not be with me. She would survive.

  “Father…” The agonized plea surprised me. “Let Kate go.”

  “Shut up, Josh.” He stepped away from his son, moving toward the van with his men bracketing us.

  Only Josh hadn’t spoken. I’d been staring right at him. My frightened eyes peered into the darkness, searching for Jake, wondering how he’d found me.

  Jake stepped beyond the ring of SWAT team members, eliciting a harsh intake of breath from the faceless man who seemed to be in charge. I understood the team leader’s frustration. Jake should be behind their lines. Hell, as a civilian, he shouldn’t even be here.

  Even knowing the danger he placed himself in, my heart surged upon seeing him. His gaze latched on to mine, and the expression on his face hardened with fury.

  BlackJack hissed. “You don’t deserve to be happy when you abandon your blood.”

  The knife pressed against the gooey wetness at my throat. A sharp sting followed, the slow dragging of metal against flesh.

  Warmth spilled down my front. The coppery tang of blood filled the air, my life’s essence spilling outward.

  Jake screamed and lunged forward. One of BlackJack’s men swept the barrel of his gun toward Jake’s chest.

  A shot rang out.

  Each beat of my heart poured out my life in pulsatile waves down my chest. Sounds muted, and a great weariness settled over me. I felt light and insubstantial.

  “Kate!”

  My eyelids fluttered, seeing a man hovering over me. The warmth of his palm encircled my throat. I struggled to lift my hand to cup his face, a face so similar to my Master’s, yet so very different. Light bled away as darkness engulfed me.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jake

  I tried to reach her as I rushed forward. Bullets zipped through the air as Kate crumpled before me. Her eyelids fluttered, then closed. Time slowed down. Blood oozed out of the cut, turning to a crimson rush down her chest. A primal roar squeezed at my chest as I watched her dying.

  My father jerked. Shock passed over his face a moment before the bullet between his eyes snuffed out his life.

  The fucker went down.

  Standing in front of armed men had been stupid and dangerous, but my need to reach Kate overrode all reason.

  Every detail of the knife parting Kate’s skin replayed in my mind. The light in her eyes fading shredded my heart. My beautiful slave gone in an instant.

  I wanted to kill my father, but someone already took care of him. I paid him no mind. He’d been dead to me for years, and I prayed he’d roast in hell.

  My brother caught Kate, easing her path to the concrete floor. “Oh my God. Oh my God.” His fingers pressed the edges of her skin together, stemming the tide of blood. His tortured gaze found mine. “She’s still breathing.”

  Was she? I grasped on to a scrap of hope she’d survive.

  I hadn’t seen Josh in years, and the first words out of my mouth were, “Don’t you fucking let go. Don’t you dare let her die!”

  “I won’t.” His promise filled me with hope. There were many things hanging between us, things we needed to sort out, but I trusted him not to let go.

  My father was dead, but I wasn’t taking chances. I kicked the fallen knife away. Josh held pressure over Kate’s wound while I shrugged out of my jacket. Before I draped it over her naked body, I searched for the telltale rise and fall of her chest. My heart soared when she took a breath. I knelt by her side to help Josh hold her skin closed.

  All around us the Special Response Team moved with lethal efficiency. They cuffed the man who’d tried to shoot me, then did the same with the other two who had thrown down their weapons. Beside me, one of the cops rolled my father’s body over and cuffed him as well. Men in body armor lowered their weapons, except for the ones standing over Josh and me.

  My stomach sank, thinking I might lose Kate, but it seemed Josh had stopped the tide of blood.

  My fingers brushed the side of Josh’s hand as I helped him to pinch together the edges of Kate’s wound. The touch of twins, the slight contact sent a jolt through me. We’d once been inseparable, willing to die for each other. Now, I wanted to kill him.

  There was so much blood, so warm and sticky. It covered our fingers as we desperately tried to keep her alive.

  “I need the fucking EMTs in here,” I yelled to the cops. “Now.”

  I didn’t know their protocols for this kind of thing, but the scene appeared contained to me.

  The man pointing his gun in my direction called into his radio. “Send them in.”

  A few seconds later, Kevin rushed by, desperate to reach Lily. He hadn’t breached the perimeter like I had. His gaze brushed over Kate, then moved through the gloom searching for his bride-to-be. “Keep holding pressure,” he called over his shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

  “I know.” As much as I needed him, I could never ask him to ignore Lily. Had our positions been reversed and Lily lay on the ground, I wouldn’t have hesitated to check on Kate.

  Men surrounded us. SWAT members with guns trained on Josh. Some of those guns pointed at me.

  A confused expression filled the face of the officer who had his weapon pointed at Josh. “Hands in the air.”

  I gave the cop a look. “Our hands are fucking busy.” We were the only thing keeping Kate from bleeding out. “Where the hell are the EMTs?”

  Two ambulances had driven up with the task force and were waiting just outside. I’d been told the EMTs couldn’t enter until the area was secure, but all my father’s men were cuffed. How long did it take to secure a scene?

  I turned my attention back to Josh. It had been a long time since I’d looked into my brother’s face. So odd to see myself staring back.

  We pressed our hands against Kate’s neck, and I rocked on my knees, my insides twisting with the thought of losing her. “I can’t feel her pulse.” And I’d covered her with my jacket, hiding the rise and fall of her breathing.

  “It’s there,” said my twin with a grimace. “I feel it.”

  The blood beneath our hands began to congeal, cooling against my skin. Her face looked so pale and lifeless, almost serene and restful. I wasn’t a doctor, but I knew that wasn’t a good sign. She had lost a lot of blood. I didn’t know if it was too late to save her, but Kevin would.

  My voice trembled as I called out to my best friend. “Kevin, I’m losing her!” I wanted to fold her into my arms but settled for pressing my lips to her mouth, wondering if I would ever kiss her again. If I would ever hear the challenge in her voice or the sweet sounds of her surrender. We hadn’t had enough time. I pressed my forehead to hers and begged her not to leave me. “Stay with me, love. Stay with me.”

  The tiniest puff of air escaped
from her lips and had my heart surging with hope.

  “That’s it, darling. Stay with me.” Glancing up, I stared into Josh’s eyes. “She’s fucking alive.”

  More cops gathered, circling around us, aiming their guns. I counted five men, but another shifted behind me, his boots scratching against the concrete. They all wore black masks, making them indistinguishable from each other. All I could see was the color of their skin framed by the eye holes of their masks.

  “Jake Davenport,” said the man to my right.

  I stared at him, my fingers pressed tight over Kate’s throat. “Yes.”

  The man gave a nod, and the other four shifted the aim of their weapons to Josh.

  The SWAT member standing next to me knelt beside me, a grim expression on his face. “I’m going to take over.” He reached toward Kate’s throat.

  “The hell you are,” I said with a growl. “She’ll bleed out. Neither of us is letting go.”

  He exchanged a look with the one who appeared to be in charge.

  They seemed to come to some sort of agreement because he didn’t force the issue. Trained to take down criminals, they clearly struggled with leaving Josh uncuffed, but he wasn’t going anywhere.

  Although a lifetime of poor choices separated my brother and me, the agony in his expression drew me toward him. “Why?”

  He choked out a sob. “I’m sorry.”

  “You fucked up,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “I know.” He cast his gaze toward our dead father. “He told me you abandoned me.”

  I shook my head. “I fought like hell to get you out of there.”

  Beneath our hands, Kate’s throat spasmed with her struggle to breathe.

  I jumped at the fragile sign of life. “Fuck! We’re choking her.”

  Josh and I looked at our hands holding the long slit across her throat closed. Slowly we eased up, but a fresh upwelling of blood poured past our fingers. Hemorrhage or choking, she wasn’t going to make it.