Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
“Is she awake?” Ben forced the question out of his mouth.
A pause and then a quiet reply from Tasha. “She is aware of what’s happening to her.”
Then he felt it. A hand on his shoulder. It wasn’t Big Tag. It was Kala.
He was still for a moment, letting the emotion between them settle, and then he turned. “Let’s get her out of here.”
Kala nodded. “Let’s do this thing.”
The moment her mother was in place, Kala took off and Ben followed, ready to get his girl.
Chapter Eighteen
Kenzie was dying.
She was fairly certain of it. In a lot of ways, death was welcome. The pain was… She’d thought she was tough, but this was fire in her veins. Unrelenting waves of pain, and there was nothing she could do because the devil had paralyzed her.
“You remember this, right?” he’d said as he stood beside her bed. There was a “nurse” helping him. A young woman with hollow eyes. She’d placed the IV while guards held Kenzie down, though she hadn’t struggled at the time because it seemed such a useless thing to do. “You’re quite brave. I appreciate that in a female. When the time comes, I won’t disgrace either of us with animal rutting. I’ll do it like the civilized men do. I’ll harvest your eggs and then find a broodmare to carry our sons.”
She should have fought, would fight if she ever got off this table because dignity be damned, this was hell.
Not being able to move was part of the horror. She was aware, her eyes wide open, but she couldn’t scream now, couldn’t do anything but endure.
And the worst? Huisman was still fucking here hours and hours later. He sat just out of her view, which was straight up staring at a gray ceiling.
Not how she thought she would go out.
The cycle ended, and she could breathe for a moment.
How long had this one been?
“Milena, I need a printout of her vitals for the last hour.” Huisman’s face appeared in her line of sight. He stood there with his clipboard and glasses perched on his nose. He wore a white coat like he was a big-boy doctor. “She’s surprisingly steady from what I can tell. I expected heart damage from previous sessions.”
Shit. She wanted to spout shit, but she couldn’t talk yet. This was the second go-around, but she was already learning the schedule. The drug would leave her system and then the paralytic would take another five minutes or so. Maybe longer, since this was the second time.
She tried moving her left hand. She managed to rub her thumb and forefinger.
Breathe. Survive. That was all that was left now.
“I should have done a baseline EKG, but I was overly eager to get back to our fun.” Huisman gave her a grin like they were playmates.
She wished she could spit in his face, but her mouth was dry and nothing seemed to work anymore.
What had Kala told her? She and her sister had gone over everything she could remember about her time with Huisman. It was a ritual they’d done for the last few years when something important happened. In case one had to take over the role, it was necessary to try to remember every detail so throwbacks could occur. He was faltering, wondering if he had it wrong, and she didn’t want to know what happened if Huisman figured out she wasn’t his favored egg donor.
Though her eggs were fine, thank you very much. She was pretty sure their eggs were similar, though Kala’s were coated with an extra veneer of sarcasm. Maybe that would help since any kid of this man’s was going to go through some things.
Yes, she remembered. Kala had been able to do one thing.
She concentrated hard and forced her middle finger up.
He chuckled. “Yes, I believe that was your response last time. Your heart is a remarkable thing, Kala Taggart. You can handle pain in a way I didn’t imagine. I would have expected you to have at least one cardiac episode. I even tweaked the drugs so they would damage your heart muscle less. Can’t have you dying on me before I get what I need.” He frowned, and a look of distaste came over his face. He reached down and moved her gown back, exposing her clavicle. “I suppose your husband gave you those. He’s an animal, you know.”
Her bruises. The bite marks where Ben set his teeth on her and sent a thrill across her skin.
A flash of him moved over her brain. Ben’s gorgeous face smiling down at her when he thrust up and joined them together.
And then she heard him saying he couldn’t love her.
She wished they’d had a shot, a real shot.
Her teeth chattered, and she realized she could talk again, though her mouth was so dry. Her body felt heavy, but she wasn’t giving in. “I thought you liked ’em submissive, asshole.”