“The little innocent act isn’t going to work on me; your mask has slipped. I see you for what you are: ugly, rotten, depraved at your core.”
“You fucked that,” Caleb chortles in the corner, shoving Cooper with his elbow.
“So did you,” his brother barks back, seemingly offended by the clarification that he dicked down the crazy woman currently strapped to the table.
“Desperate times and all that. I would have fucked Snoopy to get out of this place.”
“Odd choice, but I’ll put it down to you being forced to fuck the devil incarnate,” Ezra states, giving the brothers an out.
“You won’t get away with this,” Lenora wails, her bottom lip trembling for effect as she squeezes out a tear.
“Definitely will,” Caleb snickers.
“Already have,” Cooper adds.
“And fuck you, lady, for thinking anyone gives a shit what happens to you.” Ezra grins, finishing their statement as though it’s a rehearsed play—each guy adding another slice of truth to the Lenora annihilation party.
Weakly, she continues to goad Ezra. “If you’re going to kill me, do it already.”
“Oh, I’m not gonna kill you, Lenora; death would be too humane for you, even taking into consideration how much I’d enjoy making it hurt first.”
“I wonder what this will do if we keep going?” Cooper rubs the paddles together, and a blue spark fizzes between them as he pulls them apart. The crazy in him is present in the wicked glint in his eyes. “I’m pretty sure this could also be interesting. Up for a little psychosurgery, Lenora?” He selects a tool that looks like an ice pick.
“Live, laugh, lobotomy—has a nice ring to it,” I remark with a wicked smile.
“I’m getting that on a t-shirt,” Caleb chuckles as he ramps the electrical charge up two notches.
Lenora screams as her body jolts, and I decide it’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. For what she did to Ezra, she deserves to die a thousand deaths, each more painful than the last.
Looking around at the bloody mess we’ve made of the room, Caleb and Cooper slip into their own conversation out of earshot. I jump up and lock my legs around Ezra’s torso, revelling in the feel of his strong, muscled body beneath mine, pushing aside the dark thoughts of what might have happened if he hadn’t woken up. They have no place here between us. It’s right now that matters.
“You were meant to run. That’s why they left you the key,” he says, nuzzling into my hair as he breathes in a lungful of my scent. I pull back to meet his eyes.
“I couldn’t leave you. I’d rather have died in here by your side than existed out there without you.” My truth slips easily from my lips as I trace a finger over his jawline, the phantom pulse of my missing fingers reminding me that my hand is bare as I enjoy the feel of him without my gloved prosthetic.
“If the world ends, we burn together—because even the afterlife won’t keep me from you, sweetheart.”
“I think we make an excellent team, Mr. Wolfe,” I softly respond, planting a featherlight kiss on his lips, sealing the promise he’s just made me.
“The best Miss Morgrieves,” he gruffly replies, his hand wound in my hair and tugging me closer before he crashes his lips against mine, swallowing the groan of pleasure that doesn’t have a chance to break free from my lips.
Devouring me.
Worshipping me.
Claiming me.
Just how I like it.
EPILOGUE PART ONE
CARA *SIX MONTHS LATER*
“Well, hello, light of my life, master of torture, giver of orgasms.”
I watch as he stabs his axe into the tree stump as he approaches me. I’ve requested the interior designer include working fireplaces in practically every room just so I get to watch this man chop wood—who knew I had the makings of a lumberjack kink.
You have an Ezra Wolfe kink; he could be wearing a sack, and you’d still harness your inner squirrel and climb him like a tree.
