“I have torches,” he says, standing straighter. “Ready?”
“Fuck yes,” Otto growls.
I tighten the straps of my backpack and give Max a determined look. “Let’s go get our Prince and Princess back.”
CHAPTER 32
Lottie
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
That’s the word that continues to circulate in my brain when I think of our predicament. Lachlan is tied to a chair on the other side of the room, and we’re both gagged with rope. They moved us from the dungeon to another part of their home base. This room is more like a lounge–sofas and small tables make up the room, and there’s a large window overlooking the countryside to my left. From what I can tell by the dark blue sky, it’s very early morning–probably close to dawn.
I’m on my knees being held down by one of the Citadel members, and his hand is fisting my hair.
I hate to say it, but Charlie was the nicest of the lot. These guys? They’re ruthless and cruel in a way that makes me wonder if we underestimated them completely.
“I’m trying to decide if I should have fun with you before we kill you,” the man holding my hair says.
I let a low, threatening growl sound through the room. Cocoa whines in the corner while she paces.
The man chuckles. “You’re a little firecracker, aren’t you? Small but deadly?”
I glare at him, hoping he can feel just how much I hate him–how much I hate them all.
“No one’s going to save you. Not the man over there or your fucking dog,” he adds, and Cocoa barks at that.
My eyes well with tears.Good girl.
“We have no intention of taking down the Lords of Darkness. But that doesn’t mean we can’t weaken your order by ruining you before we snuff the life out of you. Just like your friend. What was her name again? Her pretty face was blown to bits.”
A tear snakes down my cheek, and he laughs. He’s a large man–black hair, icy blue eyes, long beard. His name is Andrew Campbell, and he’s notorious for being a member of the East Glasgow gang. I study him, watching for any weaknesses so that I can fight my way out of this. Running through a list of facts, I let my eyes wander over the other members of Citadel. Like Andrew, they’re disenfranchised by the monarchy and want change.
However, instead of going about it the proper way, they’re set on terrorizing the very place they claim to want to protect.
I hear Lachlan grunt as he tugs against the rope wrapped around his body. He’s yelling and his eyes are wild as he fights the restraints. His words aren’t coherent, and I can tell from the vitriolic tone that he’s threatening them all within an inch of their lives.
“One less whore in the world,” the man muses, yanking my neck back.
I cry out because it fucking hurts–my scalp burns, and my neck aches. He couldsoeasily overpower me and break my neckin this position, and that thought has me breathing heavily to calm myself down.
One of the things we’ve learned during training is how to keep calm. For example, I’m terrified of spiders–something I’ve tried to work on but can’t seem to conquer. During one of these emotional regulation sessions, Sterling brought in a case with different kinds of spiders. The first exercise was easier–it was a smaller house spider I had to let crawl all over me while meditating. But as the days went on, the spiders got bigger. The worst of it was when a tarantula sat on my face while I had to breathe and relax like it wasn’t about to sink its fangs into me.
I shudder every time I think about it–but it helped me learn how to be in control of my emotions.
One of the other guys laughs as he kicks Lachlan in the shin. Lachlan barely flinches, and my heart aches when I think of everything he’s endured. He must sink down somewhere deep when he’s in pain, because he was the same way when he got branded and even when he got shot. He acts like hedeservesthe pain.
“Should we make him watch?” Andrew asks.
Lachlan screams, and the rope around his body whispers against his determined fight to free himself. Cocoa barks loudly, the hackles on her back raised as Andrew tugs hard on my hair. I whimper in pain, and more tears leak from my eyes.
“Will someone shut that dog up?” Andrew growls.
My eyes go wide, my whole body begins to tremble, and dread fills me when one of the guys walks over to her with heavy footsteps.
“I never liked this fucking mutt anyway,” the man says, reaching for the gun in his back pocket.
