Sin of Fury (7 page)

She glanced at the clock, flipping her
hair over her shoulders as she started on the other side. In only a
couple of minutes, room service would be there. She started smiling
again, running her hand through her now fluffed hair. Wrapping the
towel tighter around her body, she turned off the blow dryer and
started getting dressed.

The tender bruises on her arms failed
to bother her. If anything, they made her more aware that she was
finally free. Exhaling excitedly as the doorbell rang, she
practically skipped to the door. She had on sweatpants, the rest of
her money shoved in the pockets so that she could pay the food
upfront, and a soft short sleeve shirt with a Columbia jacket loose
around her body. It had been forever since she had been able to
dress so comfortably. Chris liked it when she looked at least neat,
and sweat pants were an abomination to him.

She forgot to look out of the
peephole. With her good mood came unawareness, her guard dropped
completely. She opened the door quickly, excited for a burger and
some freshly baked fries.

Except that wasn’t what she got. Two
men stood on the other side, looking like convicts. Large hands
wrapped around her upper arms, yanking. She cried out, shocked,
feeling her shoulder wrench. A man came up behind the other two, a
thinner, more frailer image. Feeling her face start to pale, she
thought that maybe Chris was behind this.

At least, until, she saw the red
eyes.

Then she started screaming.

Lyne waved his hand, signaling the man
holding her to silence her. By the look on his face, the man could
have cared less as his hand came down hard on the small woman’s
head. In less than a second, the echoing scream ended and Lyne was
making them haul her down the hall.

All day long he had been waiting,
waiting for the chance to grab her. Of course, as soon as he
realized the situation she was in, it had become slightly more
complicated. He had left last night, intending to just take her and
go. But then, he had heard shouting.

Looking into the window, it had become
apparent that her current situation was going to be no different
than her new one. That saddened him, he thought, watching the man
lift a hand to her already yellow-with-bruises face. The sharp
sound of the strong hit had made Lyne angry.

He should have been the one to harm
her, he thought, lip curling. As he had observed the modern times,
it had become apparent to him that it was rare for a woman to
suffer from abuse as this one so obviously did. The blond man’s
hand came down rather hard, he thought.

The woman,
Jamie
, had sobbed and
turned away, making him catch her shoulder. Shortly after that bout
of violence the man had left. Later, he had come back inebriated
and falling all over himself. The small woman’s strength as she had
attempted to drag him to the couch had impressed him, as much as he
wished otherwise.

Lyne had felt a token of mercy for the
woman, one that he would make up for at a later time. She had gone
to sleep shortly, and he had waited with his men till she woke. The
men that worked for him were escaped convicts, men who took
pleasure in dealing pain as much as Lyne and Auro did. It had been
these men that he had sent on trips to find information, and he was
quite proud of their work.

He looked down the hallway to make
sure no one would see them depart with the woman. She looked so
delicate, he thought, glancing at her. Overnight her fading bruises
must have healed because they were no longer there. Although, if he
were to pull back her shirt, he was sure to find a dark print in
the size of a male’s hand.

Lyne snorted, a jealous action. It was
one thing to hear the pained shouts of a man—it was another to hear
the terrified cries of a woman. He smiled toothily, waiting for
when he could feel her soft hair between his hands as he took over
her.

She was limp in his man’s arms, head
lolling to the side. As an elderly couple came around the side, his
man shifted her in his arms to make like he was cradling her
lovingly, giving a convincing smile as he touched her
cheek.

They might have glanced at him and his
other man suspiciously, but they smiled nonetheless and walked on,
holding hands. Lyne’s lip curled as he looked at his man with a
raised brow. He said nothing in reply, just shifted back to where
she was flopped over his arm.

They were just inside the car when she
started to awaken, hands fisting and eyelashes fluttering. Lyne
narrowed his eyes on her, smelling the slow drip of blood as she
awoke. Her small movement had caused her a wound, he realized. A
smile graced his cracked lips.

Jamie’s eyes opened as clarity reigned
in, a scream bubbling in her throat. A car door slammed right near
her head and she jerked, arms wrapping around her waist as she
struggled to sit up. Looking around herself, horrified, she
realized that she was in a car, two men on either side of her, with
two others in the front.

Her heart stopped in her
chest, then quickly rose to her throat. Tears welled in her eyes as
fear started to course through her, the feeling almost making her
faint. “What…”
Oh, god…
“What’s happening?” Her frail voice cracked,
earning the indifferent gazes of several men at once.

She shrunk back as the smallest of the
lot turned to look at her. Jamie gasped, the unearthly eyes
scarring her worse than a gun could have. Just staring at them,
Jamie knew that her life would never be the same. Her face paled
dramatically, another scream rising as terror overcame
her.

“
Silence her!” the thin
creature commanded, glaring at her as if her terror annoyed him.
“Her screams are annoying in this small confinement—I would much
rather listen to them as they ricocheted off of our bloody
walls.”

The cry escaped her before she could
stop it. The way he spoke, the accent, the wording…she knew that
this was not Chris’s doing, knew that this was real and she was in
true danger. The blood seemed to quickly leave her body, or at
least fall to her feet. The scream and fear seemed to make her
lightheaded. Slapping a hand over her mouth, her body hunched as a
hard hand connected with her already pulsing shoulder.

Pain exploded, the hot rush as burning
as a volcano, not only in her shoulder, but in the back of her
mind. Feeling the breath rush out of her body, her scream was
nothing but air as she fell limply with pain. A dark aura shrouded
them. The car turned deathly silent, as if the slightest sound
would emit the largest of catastrophes.

Frightened, she shoved her hand in her
mouth to keep from making a sound as tears rained down her cheeks.
Her body trembled with heavy jerks, heart stilling as his next
words penetrated her mind.

“
The woman would make a
good addition, wouldn’t she? My toys have been needing some new
material to play with,” he murmured to the man beside her. His dark
head bobbed, yet no words came from him.

Shrinking against the seat, her mind
screamed at her to escape, to flee from them. Her soul was doing
the exact thing, the knowledge that she was going to die deeply
ingrained in her mind. What had she done? she thought frantically,
mind racing for a way to solve the question.

The brief thought that her mother had
planned this made her heart jerk. She denied the thought, shoving
it away from her. Her mind mulled it over with intense turmoil and
panic. Jamie forced herself to reason, even as the men around her
radiated menace. She was being incoherent, she told herself,
forcing a shuddering breath past her lips. Her mind was full of
nonsense that didn’t matter.

The only thing that mattered was
escaping and getting to her mother.

Surely, she told herself, looking at
the dark men that crowded around her, she was not behind this. It
was a dumb thought--her mother loved her, wanted the best for her.
Her father was long gone and she had no use in staying away from
Jamie anymore--her mother just wouldn’t do that.

Pale blue eyes looked
around frantically. The door was locked, the small button pushed
down all the way. The man next to her had a scar down his cheek
that led to his chin and wrapped around his jaw. She shuddered, the
tattoo on his arm revealed by the short sleeved shirt he wore.
Inanely, she thought,
shouldn't he be
cold?
A nervous laugh bubbled in her
throat, sounding more like a cackle.

Jamie bit hard on her hand, drawing
blood. She was so terrified, she barely noticed the new
pain.

The man on the other side
of her was bald, a tattoo on the back of his head.
Did all thugs have tattoos?
she asked mentally. Jamie knew that if she tried to talk, it
would only turn in a close-throated squeak. Her heart thumped
wildly in her chest as soulless black eyes turned to look at
her.

“
What are you looking at?”
he growled, his hand fisting in his lap. Jamie’s face paled worse,
her life flashing before her eyes.

Jamie shoved her shaking hands in the
pockets of her Columbia, trying to hide that she was about to piss
herself. A chilling numbness settled in her bones, sliding down her
back, and penetrating her stomach.

Jamie gasped, leaning over.

The vomit she spewed landed all over
the man on her left.

Chapter 4

The car ride was long and tense. A
blizzard soon started, blocking her sight from anything past the
men beside her. Snow melted against the car windows, the soft
flakes dissolving into liquid drops that slid down the pane, just
as tears were sliding down her cheeks. The need to escape had
quickly turned to despair.

They had stopped briefly to clean up
the mess that she had made. A new bruise was showing up on her jaw,
the fist that had connected with her face a deadly reminder of how
ruthless these men were. Unlike Chris, they packed heavy muscles
and it had felt like a hammer connecting with her cheek. Eyes
downcast, trying to get past the sickness in her stomach, she
watched from the corner of her eye as men piled out of the
car.

The bald one, the one she had puked
on, grabbed her shoulder in a tight grip. She gasped, pain coiling
in her shoulder and neck. His look of appeasement had her hands
curling with the urge to tear his face off. Jamie held back from
making another sound, and as he let go, the final squeeze he gave
her made her shoulder throb worse.

“
Come, dear one. I shall
introduce you to your new cohort after a short meal and a meeting
with my brother,” the thin man said, his voice a rasp. His crimson
eyes burned into her, bidding her to follow. She did just that, the
panic draining from her body.

A sigh whispered past her lips as her
mind filled with soft praises. Everything seemed to swirl around
her, a type of delirium filling her mind. The floating voice that
held her blank, held her silent, captured her. With a new sadistic
beauty, the man held his hand out for her. Jamie obediently put her
hand in his.

Serenity filled her. Nothing would
happen to her, she thought as she followed him. The coldness of his
hand tingles up her arm, perceived as the touch of an angel. Jamie
wished to reach out, to place her hand on his neck, to feel the
heartbeat of purity. As he pulled her to the house, a grand estate
that was suited for a king, she felt boneless.

This ethereal creature would let no
harm come to her, she was certain of it. A smile graced her full
lips, and she followed closer behind. She didn’t want to displease
him, she thought, gazing up at him with adoration.

Lyne smiled down at her, the glowing
happiness of her face a pleasant sight—and only because he knew she
wanted to please him. The entrancement she was under would last for
as long as he wished, and he planned to use it to his fullest
abilities. Lyne felt revulsion slide down his spine as her delicate
hand held even tighter on to his.

He almost pulled away, but decided
against it. So soon was the glamor placed, it would surely break if
he stopped guiding her now. The threads between them bound tighter,
sturdier. Invisible hands wove between them, tying them together as
surely as a knot. Her warmth, the feel of her soul, poured into his
body.

Like the woman, his men were bound to
him the same way. It was a pleasure, to have such doubtless
loyalty. If only he could place it on Talon, too, he thought with
bitterness. At the frown covering his face, Jamie made a plaintive
sound, pressing her forehead against his arm.

He stared at her, shocked. Then he
started to chuckle. He took his hand from hers, the binding
complete. The utter look of devastation that covered her features
made him smile mentally. It was a cruel, salacious smile, one that
his men were wearing openly on their faces.

Lyne pulled her behind him, the muted
crunch of the newly falling snow echoing around them along with the
soft sounds of distress that Jamie was making as she caught up to
him. He should have done this earlier, he thought as he dodged her
reaching hands, nodding toward the man closest to her. As his huge
arms wrapped around her to keep her back, Lyne recalled why he
hadn’t with a shudder.