Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
She took another breath. Her heart felt like a fist in her chest. She didn’t want to go on…but she had to. Had to get it all out.
“But that wasn’t…wasn’t the worst part,” she whispered.
She could feel their attention sharpen, feel their bodies tense beside her.
“Tell us, sweetheart.” Bright’s voice was gentle. “What else did that bastard do to you?”
“The worst part was after I finally got out of the pool. When he—Lupin—strapped something to my leg. A kind of silver collar. It locked tight around my thigh. And then he strapped me to the chair and there was this silver tentacle and it…it…”
Her voice broke completely and she buried her face in her hands.
“It went inside me.” Her sob was muffled but she could still hear the raw pain in her own voice. “I couldn’t stop it. It pulsed and throbbed and I couldn’t make it stop—couldn’t even move. I just had to lie there while it… while it did what it was programmed to do. It went so deep…Lupin said it was…was mapping my womb.”
Bright’s hand slid to the back of her neck, warm and anchoring. “Noelle…”
“I feel dirty,” she choked. “And the worst part was it…it made me…”
“What, sweetheart?” Bright asked gently. “What did it make you do?”
“It made me come,” Noelle confessed in a small, shamed voice.
“That wasn’t your fault,” Bright said at once, frowning. He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. “Look at me, sweetheart—that thing was stimulating your body—you couldn’t help having an orgasm. Coming doesn’t mean you liked what was done to you—it just means your body was being manipulated and stimulated against your will. That’s all.”
“But now I can’t stop feeling it inside me,” Noelle whispered. “It’s almost like…like it’s still there.”
Burn surged to his feet and began to pace. His big hands were clenched at his sides and his dark eyes blazed with fury. She could see the bruises across his knuckles, the rawness of torn skin. What had the Dark Twin been doing while she was undergoing torture in Lupin’s spa? Punching the walls?
“That little fucker!” he roared, his fists flexing. “I want to kill him. Fucking kill him!”
“Settle down, Burn,” Bright said, frowning. “Going into Rage won’t help. Noelle doesn’t need our anger right now—she needs our sympathy.”
Burn turned to grip the bars of the cell. His arms trembled with tension.
“Sorry,” he muttered, looking away. “I’m just so fucking angry that little orange bastard hurt her and we couldn’t do a damn thing about it!”
Noelle looked up at him—at the fierce, broken fury in his face—and felt something tighten around her chest. Something warm and painful.
“I won’t go with him again,” she said hoarsely. “He said… said this was only the first half of the treatment. But I won’t go for the second half, no matter what he says or does.” She winced and put a hand to her lower abdomen. “I still ache inside from that weird fertility machine.”
“Gods, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.” Bright’s hand covered hers. His palm was so much larger—warm and gentle and strong. “So sorry we weren’t there to protect you. But from now on… just stay between us. We’ll keep you safe.”
Burn came back to sit on her other side. His arm wrapped around her shoulders, solid and grounding.
“Bright’s right,” he said gruffly. “We’ll kill that little orange fucker if he tries to hurt you again.”
Noelle let out a shaky breath.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
She leaned into them, into the warmth of their arms and the steady beat of their hearts and the two of them wrapped her in a strong, steady embrace.
Noelle had never felt this protected before. Never felt so… loved?
Was that what this was?
She didn’t know, but it was good. And right now, good was everything.
So she let herself rest between them, lulled by the low murmur of Bright’s voice and the steady weight of Burn’s arm around her.
She didn’t know what tomorrow would bring…but for now, she was safe.
22
NOELLE
After their questionable meal and the raw flood of emotions that came with reliving her time in the spa, Noelle thought they would finally be left alone. Instead, the harsh, mechanical clang of the cell door opening again made her flinch and jolt upright from where she’d been half-dozing against Burn’s warm side.
“Bathroom break,” one of the guards barked. There were three of them—all Skow this time. The one in the lead was baring its finger-length teeth in a menacing grimace as it glared at them through its metal half-mask. “One at a time. Let’s go!”
The directive was met with immediate tension. Burn surged to his feet in a heartbeat, his massive body looming protectively in front of Noelle like a living wall. Bright was on his feet as well, shoulder-to-shoulder with the Dark Twin.
“Easy,” the lead guard snapped, leveling a blaster rifle. The other two followed suit, aiming not at Noelle, but at Burn and Bright.