Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 145(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 145(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
The brand Dutch picked up and showed me was exactly the way he’d described. The letters on the top formed the rocker, “Property of.” The bottom spelled out my name, the type set replaceable with the desired name.
“Once she’s branded, everyone who sees it will know the bitch belonged to you. When they see me fuckin’ her, they’ll know I was the son of a bitch with balls big enough to take her from you. Every brother who fucks her will see that brand and know I took her from the biggest badass of them all.” He got right up in my face then, baring his teeth with every word. “And they. Will. Fear. Me.” We stared at each other, each of us hating the other.
When Dutch stood, he handed the branding iron back for his man to put it back in the flame. Then he turned to Rose. “Well, bitch. This is your time. Feel free to scream all you want. I know Atlas forbids it, but you’re going to be mine soon, and I love the sound of women’s screams. Only I like them to scream in pain. Something you’re about to find out.”
Rose’s frightened, wide-eyed gaze clung to mine. I’d never felt more powerless in my life. Never been so powerless! Dutch moved out of her line of sight and she tried to follow him with her eyes. No doubt not wanting what was coming to sneak up on her. This was way more than she’d signed up for. And I’d failed her. I’d let her down. We’d walked straight into danger without even questioning it. Every single bit of this was on me.
“Rose! Eyes on me!” I snapped my command, expecting to get a beat down. Surprisingly, the men around me only chuckled, obviously not considering me a threat now that they had me on my knees on the floor. “You keep your focus on me. Do not look away.” She tried to nod but couldn’t move her head. So she blinked at me, the muscles in her jaw tightening as she gritted her teeth together.
The moment seemed to stretch on forever. Her frightened gaze focused securely on me. I saw one tear leak from the corner of her eye and trickle over the bridge of her nose. Then the fear changed to resignation, then hardened to fierce determination. I knew my woman had a spine of steel, but there was no way to fight this. The pain she was about to feel would break her.
Dutch chuckled as he picked up the iron once more. He waved it in the air over her back. To her credit, Rose didn’t flinch. She kept her eyes fixed firmly on me. Her hands were in fists, and she fought to twist them free to no avail.
“Oh, to mark this lovely skin…” Dutch looked and sounded like a crazy man. There was a maniacal gleam in his eyes, a combination of his personality and whatever drugs he’d taken. “You will be my greatest masterpiece, my lovely little bitch.” He leaned over her, kissing her cheek tenderly. “I look forward to seeing this brand on your skin. Even if it has that bastard’s name on it. I was the man to take you from him. Never forget that. You’ll be my whore. You’ll obey me as thoroughly as you obeyed him.”
Then he stepped back and, without further warning, pressed the iron to the skin of her shoulder blade. The sizzle and stench as her flesh burned made me want to puke. Not because I had a weak stomach, but because this was Rose! She was a woman who deserved gentle and tender. All I’d managed to bring her was pain.
I roared, doing my best to break the hold these men had on me. Whatever they had used to secure me to the floor snapped, and I struggled to my feet. I lashed out with everything in me, doing my best to fight them off long enough to get leverage to break the zip tie still around my wrists. I’m not sure how I managed it, but one second my hands were bound behind me, the next I’d broken them free. Then I unleashed carnage.
* * *
Bellarose
The pain was indescribable. Never had something hurt so fucking bad. But I kept my jaw clenched. Instead of keeping my gaze on Atlas, though, I shut my eyes tightly against the pain. Somehow, shutting out the sights around me helped me keep in any sound that wanted to break free. My jaw hurt, and my teeth felt like they were going to splinter with the pressure. The fiery brand on my shoulder faded quickly as the nerves deadened where it seared my skin.
I was aware of a struggle going on around me but couldn’t open my eyes to see in case it ripped off the Band-Aid I had holding my control together. Atlas said I wasn’t to make a sound, and I wouldn’t. Not a cry. Not a whimper. I would be silent because it was what he told me to do.