Laurann Dohner - Wrath

The man’s hands suddenly fisted in the material of her skirt and yanked hard. Alarm tore through Lauren as it was ripped from her lower half and the destroyed thing was thrown to the floor. Cold air from the room hit her thighs, hips, and bared lower stomach. Her mouth opened to scream.

His icy gaze locked with hers. He shook his head, warning her not to scream. She was so petrified that nothing came out and she couldn’t even draw breath. He gripped her shirt next, tore it wide open and spread it apart. The man had bared her to her panties and bra. He backed up enough to run his gaze down her body to take in every exposed inch of her.

He was just trying to scare her, Lauren hoped. She stared in horror as the man reached up, ripped the vest off his chest and dropped it. The sweater-type shirt was torn over his head next to reveal bare skin, lots of it, and enough muscles to assure her the guy probably had spent years in a prison yard pumping iron while he’d served his time.

“Oh God,” she finally got out, able to breathe again, since fear made her pant. “Don’t do this.”

His head lifted, enraged blue eyes glared at her, and his fingers began to unbuckle his belt. “Where is Bill?”

“I don’t know!”

He growled. “Your loyalty to him is over. You will tell me what I want to know. He is no longer your male. I am. My name is Vengeance and you are mine.”

He tore the belt off. She wondered if he’d hit her with the black leather but he dropped it on the floor. She screamed when he unfastened the front of his pants, no doubt left that he’d rape her. She tried to roll away. Sheer panic helped her find the strength to ignore the pain in her wrists caused by the frantic motion that made the handcuffs dig into her skin.

A hand gripped her hip, shoved her down flat, and her head turned. His pants were undone, they’d lowered when he’d lunged forward and he wasn’t wearing underwear. She saw his cock, something she couldn’t miss since it was hard and large. Another scream tore from her throat and she lifted her knees, tried to kick at him.

His free arm forced her thighs flat as he used his weight to pin her down. Those icy-blue eyes drew closer as he bent over her until only inches separated their faces.

“Don’t fight me. You no longer belong to Bill. I won’t cause you pain but you will learn to enjoy my touch.”

She closed her eyes and screamed.

The door was thrown open hard enough to hit the wall. “What is going on?” The words came from a harsh, deep voice, and Lauren’s eyes flew open as she twisted her head. The dark-haired guy had barged into her worst nightmare.

He moved fast, grabbed Vengeance, and tore her attacker away. Lauren lay there unable to do anything but watch as the two faced off. The taller one, still wearing the sunglasses, put his big body between her and the other man.

“Get out, Wrath. She is no longer a concern to you.” The bald man tried to step around him to return to her.

“You aren’t going to do this.” The dark-haired man had a name—Wrath. His fingers curled into fists at his sides as he moved to stay between them. The gloves were gone and she could see tan skin. “I won’t allow you to harm her. We aren’t like them. We were only willing to frighten her into talking but you have gone too far.”

“She isn’t going to protect him any longer,” the bald one snarled. “She won’t talk but she will change her mind about helping us find that monster. Leave. She’s his female and he owes us a life. Vengeance is mine, Wrath. I claim her. She will take the place of my murdered female.”

Wrath didn’t budge. “She isn’t our enemy. You can’t take her to replace the female you lost. You aren’t thinking right in your head. I hate them as well. I can’t look at her without reliving what was done to me. She has pale skin, a soft body, and I remember the hours of being drugged while they forced me to give them samples. The images of ones who look similar to her were used to obtain them. I know she isn’t responsible and I won’t harm her for what others have done to me. Calm down, Vengeance.”

He snarled in response.

“I know the rage inside. I suffer it too. She knows nothing of who Bill really is or she wouldn’t be protecting him. He is pretending to sell property and she believes we are hired males who beat on people who owe money. He sent her in his place, believing we’d kill her. That is not something he would do if he cared for her in any way.”

“I want her. She is mine,” Vengeance demanded harshly.

Wrath inched closer. “You do this and she will hate you. I won’t allow it. I already suffer guilt from watching her be fearful when Shadow tried to scare her into submission. Remember the female who held your heart?”

The bald man lowered his head and pain flashed across his face. “Yes.”

“This one will never be her. She will never look at you the way yours did or welcome your touch. You can’t force her to feel what you once had with another and she can’t replace what you lost.”

Tears streamed down Vengeance’s face when he lifted his head. “I miss her.”

“I know.” Wrath reached out and gripped his shoulders. “We will find all of them but this is wrong. We don’t hurt females. It’s one thing to use their own fear to make them talk but force breeding them is something our enemy would do. Take a walk, let your rage cool, and tend to your needs. It will help.”

The bald man bent, grabbed his discarded clothing, and rushed out the door. Lauren was confused, terrified, and in pain. It was apparent that the thugs were insane. Wrath slowly turned and she was not sure what he’d do.

“Are you all right?”

“No.” Hot tears poured down her cheeks now that the danger had passed. She’d come close to being raped. Nobody would be okay after that.

“Easy.” His voice lowered to a husky tone. “I will take care of you.”

She didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. Was that mobster talk for he’d kill her? She wouldn’t put anything past them now. He strode closer and a soft noise came from his parted lips.

“Your wrists are bleeding.”

He gripped the slanted table and leveled the thing until her weight no longer pulled against the cuffs. Gentle, warm fingers carefully touched her skin near where they ached. He unlocked the cuffs and freed her.

Lauren jerked her arms down, covered her bra with her hands and stared at the face hovering above hers. She flinched when he touched her again but his hand only cradled the back of her neck while he helped her sit.

“I’m going to take my shirt off to give to you. Stay calm. Your clothes are destroyed and you must be cold.” He hesitated. “I have a first-aid kit inside my room. No harm will come to you there.”

Lauren sniffed, trying to fight back tears.

The guy hesitated. “I am so sorry.” His voice came out raspy, almost sounded sincerely apologetic, though she knew better. “This went too far. We were just trying to frighten you. You believed the worst of us and we needed to locate Bill. No one was supposed to harm you in any real way. Even Shadow was careful not to bruise you when he flipped you over on the table. His hands braced you to keep you from hitting your head or landing too hard. It still worried me enough to call a halt to your interrogation when I saw your reaction. I nearly hit him because I couldn’t stand to see you that terrified. You’re little and I am just very sorry. That is why we left. We were discussing how to get you to work with us without using fear.”

He backed away and she noticed for the first time that the vest he’d worn earlier had been removed. He worked the shirt over his head, managed to keep the glasses on, and she wondered why he wore them inside. Maybe it was so she couldn’t identify him later and that gave her hope once again that at some point she might survive her ordeal. Of course she’d seen the bald man’s face so that probably was a bad thing.