Theirs To Take(23)

And that confusion irritated him.

Annoyed at himself, he tugged her closer, raising her arms, wrapping a cuff around each wrist. Between the height of the post, and the shortness of the cuffs, she had to rise onto tiptoe.

Once she was secured, he stood back to observe his handiwork, taking in the lines of her body, her arms stretched up over her head, pulling her taut, the muscles of her back and shoulders tight, the small waist, the slightly wider hips and soft buttocks, perfectly proportioned legs, the muscles of her thighs and calves tensed.

Gabriel joined them and the determination Syn saw in his brother’s eyes made him question what was about to happen. He wondered at the circumstances that had landed her here at camp. Had she been betrayed by her fiancé? Could Gabriel be right, that perhaps she was — or at one point had been — an accomplice? Everything inside him screamed no, screamed her innocence. But he knew his brother well enough to know he needed to do what he was about to do. He needed to do it to know for himself, even if Syn questioned if Eva even knew who was behind her kidnapping.

Gabriel moved into position and lined up the strap against her ass. Eva’s wide-eyed, frightened face turned to look over her shoulder, her expression serving to harden Syn’s cock, even though he doubted Gabriel’s reasoning, doubted why she was about to be whipped.

“You’re getting thirty for lying about who you are. We can stop there, or we can continue,” Gabriel said, his eyes intent on hers as she craned her neck to look at him over her shoulder. “I’ll ask you once before I begin. I don’t know what you did that get you put on that truck, but I want to know if you were you a part of this, a part of Gallaston’s organization?”

Syn watched her face, saw the confusion there. Her eyes flitted to his for a moment before Gabriel continued.

“Well?” Gabriel asked.

“I… I don’t understand what you’re asking me. I didn’t do anything. I don’t—”

Gabriel shook his head and cut her off. “I’ll ask again after your thirty. Face forward, and think of what lying earns you. You’ll count it out.”

All was silent around camp, the eyes of the guards on them. Syn turned to the tent where the girls had been sent and saw them peering out from between the flaps, watching. The first stroke landed, the sound loud. A moment passed before Eva made any noise at all, her hands curling around the chain that held her cuffed wrists in place.

“Please!”

“The count, Evangeline,” Gabriel said, laying on a second stroke.

“Two!”

The third stroke came, followed by the fourth and Eva began to dance around the pole, trying to avoid each one.

“Count or we start at one. And be still. Last time I’m reminding you.”

“Four!”

She screamed when the next one landed and when she tried to dodge around the pole, Gabriel lowered the strap as Syn loosened his belt from his pants and stalked toward her. Grabbing hold of her arms, he moved her to stand where he’d first placed her with her back fully to Gabriel, and wrapped his belt around her waist, pulling it tight around her and the pole, securing her to it so she couldn’t move more than an inch or two. He then looked at her, meeting her teary gaze with a tenderness he did not expect to feel. He wiped the moisture from her face with his thumb. “Be still and take it. You want this to end at thirty, understand?”#p#分页标题#e#

“Help me.”

The unexpected words made Syn stop. He looked at her, at her reddened eyes, at the fear there, and something inside him shifted.

Help me. The words echoed in his head.

“Please, I’m begging you.”

It took all he had to break eye contact and walk behind her to where his brother stood with the strap ready in his hand.

Gabriel nodded in thanks and picked up where he’d left off, landing three in quick succession. She cried out with each one, the numbers she spoke muffled by tears and begging.

Gabriel was laying into her hard, harder than Syn thought he would or should. He stood by and watched the next two strokes fall before speaking. “Easy,” he said. “You’ll break skin.”

Gabriel looked at him, and in his eyes, Syn watched emotions collide. Gabriel’s usual control was gone, replaced by a hot anger.

“Gabriel,” Syn said, his tone brusque. He gripped Gabriel’s forearm, halting the next stroke. “Give me the strap, let me finish it.”

“No.” Gabriel raised his arm, but Syn gripped harder.

“You don’t want to do this, Gabe.”

“I want the truth.”

“And you already know it. She is here a prisoner, a victim, just like the others. You and I both know she had nothing to do with this. He chose it for her. Punish her for lying, but don’t punish her for his sins.”