In Her Heat - Ainsley's Story

In Her Heat - Chapter Thirty Six

“Something the matter, Ainsley?” Irina asked. Her demeanor was pleasant, as though we were eating scones while watching cricket. It belied the iciness in her eyes and the wicked glint that hide there. She smiled slowly at me, and her scar shifted, which was more than disconcerting. She looked feral and dangerous and I didn’t doubt that she truly was. But I wouldn't let her get to me. I forced myself not to react, but to meet her steady gaze head on. Sure, my heart was being agonizingly demolished, but there were always heart transplants, right?

“I can see you’re going to be as difficult as your Alpha was. Sawyer, I think we’re going to skip the pleasantries this time.” She said it as though she was planning on having a knitting session with me.

“Irina,” protested Sawyer.

She didn’t face him, but her eyes went dead cold at his disobedience. “Would you like another stay down here?” Stay? Was this a resort? Sawyer absentmindedly brushed over a ragged scar on his neck. He stayed silent. “Good.” Addressing me again, she said, “you’re going to love this.”

Somehow, I doubted it.

***

I screamed bloody murder.

As the pain suddenly subsided, I slumped, my breathing harsh and ragged. My body convulsed slightly and no matter how badly I wanted to, I couldn’t stop. My skin was slick with sweat, tears and my humiliation. I closed my eyes. I couldn't look at Irina. I didn’t want to see her obvious glee at my pain.

Sawyer had tied my wrists to the bars of my cage. They were tied tightly, digging into the flesh there. What I hadn’t realized before – which I knew all too well now – was that the cage was electrified. For the past half hour, I’d been shocked, just barely hanging onto the fringes of consciousness. Irina held a small dial lovingly in her hand. She was violent and ruthless in using it. I’d ask if she was raised by wolves, but it didn’t hold the same insult in her world.

“I hope you’re feeling more cooperative, Ainsley. This toy is beginning to bore me, and seeing as you don’t enjoy it either, you probably wouldn't take kindly to the others.” No kidding.

I didn’t answer her, as much as I wanted to. She responded by cranking the dial the highest yet. On a gasp, my body stretched taut and I struggled to breathe. It felt like every nerve in my body was burning alive and on the verge of combusting. Just when I thought I was (finally) going to pass out, the pain came to a sudden stop. Tears leaked down my face as I struggled to catch my breath and shudders ravaged my body.

“It’s quite simple,” said Irina. “All you have to do is join our pack.”

I spoke for the first time, my voice hoarse from my tears and my screams. “So you can get rich of the victory of the war.”

“You make it sound like a bad idea,” she chuckled. She rose from hr chair and approached me, tossing the dial to Sawyer. She knelt. She gripped my chin, her nails digging deep as she forced me to look at her. “This is going to go one of two was. I will either use you, or abuse you. It’s your choice.”

“Well then I suppose I’m a sadist.”

Her slap was quick and harsh. I bit down on my tongue and tasted the copper sting of my own blood. Another slap came, more vicious than the last. My eyes grew damp with new tears, which only added to Irina’s pleasure.

“Don’t cry now, dear. This,” Slap“Is what you” Slap “Wanted. Right?” My cheek was aflame with pain. No, of course this wasn’t what I wanted. But what I wanted even less was to betray my pack – to betray Damon, but more importantly, Cade.

From her side, Irina whipped out an ugly dagger, ragged and sharp. She tenderly stroked the wicked blade as though it were her lover. “We’ve had some good times, haven’t we?” She was speaking to the dagger. When it made a thin slice in her finger, she didn’t even blink. I shuddered.

“You see this scar on my face?” Irina asked me. How could I miss it? “A long time ago, when I was barely a teenager, your Alpha put it there.” Gently, she dragged the dagger dow the long of the scar. “This only seems like karma, right?”

Oh my gosh. She wasn’t seriously considering giving me a matching scar, was she?

Irina leaned in and grabbed my chin again. “Now hold still,” she sneered. “I want to do this right...”

The tip of her knife pressed into the skin just above my eyebrow, piercing it. I closed my eyes tight, determined not to scream. She pressed it deeper and my eyes flew open on an anguished gasp.

“Keep them open,” hissed Irina. “I didn’t get to close mine.”

Slowly, so slowly, she dragged the knife downward. Blood slid down my face, around my eye and nose and down my cheek. I could feel her hand just barely trembling as she exacted pain on me. The pain radiated from my eye, causing more tears to well up. When the burst free, they mingled with my blood; the result of my pain and the evidence of it combining together. Irina’s dagger lay on the fragile skin of my eyelid. I choked on another gasp, the pain furious. As she dug in to slash through my eyelid, a loud rap sounded at the door. I could feel her body go rigid.

“Sawyer,” she snapped, her voice tight. From my good eye I saw Sawyer open the door. He spoke in hushed tones to whoever had knocked before gesturing for them to wait just inside the room. From my angle, I couldn't see the man. When Sawyer relayed the message to my torturer, she smiled devilishly. She nodded once to him and he left with the person at the door. Irina moved the dagger from my eye and I let out a wet sob in relief.

“I wish we could have finished this, but it would appear we have new guests.”

I would have frowned if it weren’t for the throbbing pain around my eye.

“Guests?” I croaked.

“Yes,” she dragged three more cages to form a square with my own and opened their doors. “I think you’ll quite like them too.”

The door banged open. Sawyer and two men entered, half carrying half dragging three unconscious forms covered in massive amounts of blood.

“No,” I whispered. “No, no, no.” Kat, Declan and Cade were each shoved into separate cages. “Kat! Declan! Cade! CADE!” Over and over I screamed their names but none of them stirred. “Please, no.” I sobbed. Irina slid her dagger through my wrist ties and I fell backwards in my cage, crying.

“Don’t be sad,” she cooed. “I’ll be back later. Oh, Sawyer? Keep the cages charged.” She then proceeded to glide out the door.

A gentle hum filled the room as Sawyer did as he was told. Crying, I kept calling the names of my friends, my mate, my family, but with no luck.

They were far gone.