“And he is causing her pain,” I snap. “I want to be with her, but this is the only way right now.”
“She is strong, Zev. She will fight every second of how primal you will become once the connection is confirmed,” he says. “You are only riling yourself up, and that will lead to her resistance.”
“I will accept rejection if it means that I was able to comfort her, even from afar,” I say simply.
“Okay,” he sighs.
We are currently across the road from Vinny Black’s house in a home where a spy resides. Nero has the ability to manipulate thoughts, so this allowed him to navigate his way into a police position. We stay in his attic to keep an eye on this section of the city. I can’t say I picked this location to set up without Astra in mind.
I go to the window and watch from a distance. Vinny never closes his curtains, so I can see everything he is doing to her. She never fights him because she only becomes more injured. It’s already bad enough that she unwillingly has an orgasm, which directly leads to her being beaten before being raped again. His anger always leads to him seeking pleasure, but in actuality, heseeks power over her. He senses her strong nature, and he hates it. Luckily for Astra, he is not able to force anything out of her but tears this time. He still hits her for a while, but he is not nearly as violent as when she had climaxed.
Her thoughts tell me that he has left the room now, and Lyra is tending to her wounds. He did worse damage to her this time, so it’s taking Lyra a bit longer to heal her. Once she does, she gets Astra to lie down. The very moment that she is asleep and Vinny has left the house, Lyra hastily makes her way over to us.
“Hey,” Lyra says sadly as she walks into the attic.
“This time was worse,” I say.
“He is doing more and more damage every time he touches her,” she says.
“What all have you explained? She doesn’t think much about your conversations,” I ask.
“I have explained that there are people who are trying to get people like her to safety. She understands that someone will bring her to freedom, but she knows that there are risks involved,” she explains. “I told her just now that I will try to speed up the process of extracting her.”
“Why?” I ask. “We need to make sure that we are ready because the moment I have her, she is going on the boat. She is the chosen wife of a very powerful individual; her absence will bring uproar.”
“He is trying to breed her, Zev. I have been giving her something to prevent pregnancy; if I am even a minute too late giving that to her, she will get pregnant. Vinny had her supplement modified to include something to aid in breeding,” she says. “If she is not extracted soon and she gets pregnant, she will be put in a vault for the remainder of her pregnancy and then killed immediately after birth. Vinny’s genetic line only produces males, so that is the only offspring that he needs.”
“Fuck,” I sigh. “Vinny has a meeting this evening to talk about the transition of power from his father to him. Can we make it happen?”
“Yes, but you are not going to like how,” she says.
“Explain,” I sigh.
“The only way to have her extracted is by creating a distraction. The only way to create a distraction is to piss him off. He’s very attached to the idea of breeding her, so he has only raped one other woman when angered,” she explains.
“Dear God, Lyra. He will kill you,” Ren says. “The last time he raped you, he refused to let you heal yourself, and you had internal bleeding. If it weren’t for us giving you a slow-acting healing supplement, you would have died.”
“I know, but I knew the risks when I joined this movement,” she says. “My entire goal is to help save those who are imprisoned in this awful society. Our entire goal as the people of Torvex is to free them from mind control so that they can make their owndecisions. So they can be free. I want my death to have meaning in freeing that woman from the cruelty Vinny gives her. An honor that I cannot even begin to explain to you. I want this.”
“Okay,” I say. “I trust you, so do not tell us your plan. Just get her to the north guard tower. It is a one-mile journey that she can easily make if she pays attention.”
“Yes, sir,” she says happily. “She will be there.”
Chapter Four
Astra
“You have lost yourfucking mind,” I deadpan. “If I run, I die.”
“Astra, honey. I need you to trust me,” she says. “You have a two-hour window and one mile to reach freedom. Every government official will be at this meeting, and the police will be entirely focused on maintaining their safety. Guard patrol will be minimal for that two-hour window.”
“And if I get caught?” I ask.
“You fight,” she says. “You do whatever the fuck you have to to get to the guard tower.”
“Even murder?” I ask, testing just how serious she is. She is nonviolent in nature, so I don’t think that she would encourage me to hurt someone unless necessary.
“Absolutely. I will send you off with a hunting knife. If anyone tries to stop you, you do what you have to do. Aim for the throat or anywhere near the heart. You put every bit of your strength behind it, and you don’t stop until you get to the north tower,” she says.
