Her Guardian Angel (Fire and Snow)(53)

He dragged her through the house and down a flight of stairs. As they went through the door leading down, she said, "Basement," as clearly as she could, hoping like hell Dominic could hear her and he wasn't far away. She had a sinking feeling she wasn't destined to be coming back up these stairs alive.

"Shut up, bitch. Fuck, I think you stuffed my jaw again. It had only just stopped hurting. Damn it." Good. She hoped it was hurting like a bitch. Her hand certainly was.

"Only fair since you shot me," she bit out before she really thought about how dumb it was to back-chat a psycho. He tightened his grip on her arm, digging his fingers painfully into her flesh as he dragged her down the rest of the stairs. Yeah, that was definitely going to leave a mark.

As he threw her forward into a room, she froze as her brain momentarily shut down. Kelly was bound with her hands above her head hanging from a hook. Her head hung down but the tears dropping to the floor were easy to see. The most disturbing thing was all the red around her. The walls and floor were heavily stained with old blood. Adele's vision blurred as she thought about how much of that red was Kelly's. She snapped to attention as she realized Cole had turned his back on her to grab some rope from a nearby table. He really wasn't the brightest man on the planet. She steadied herself and landed a solid kick to the side of his knee. When she heard the crack, she spun and ran for the stairs. She was about half a dozen steps up when he grabbed her leg and pulled. She landed with a thud on the stairs. Her hands took most of the impact. As the pain shot up her arms, her brain began to short circuit; she vaguely felt him drag her back down the steps. Once he had her on the floor of the basement hall, he delivered another backhand. Adele's eyes wouldn't focus anymore, she blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision.

"Try anything else and I will start putting bullet holes in you, bitch." He spat the words at her then bound her hands above her head and dragged her back into the room. He lifted her up and hung her from another hook in the ceiling not far from Kelly.

As Adele teetered in and out of consciousness, she watched Cole lay out various weapons. Her stomach rolled and she felt sweat bead all over her body, Mon Deiu, was that a metal rod? A whip? She had seen Kelly's injuries, but she hadn't really thought about what would have been used to cause them. The reality of what was about to happen fired adrenaline through her system, rousing her to full awareness. He laid out a couple of knives next. Her chest tightened as fear froze her breathing. Bile rose up her throat as he checked his gun and tucked it into the back of his jeans.

"Now, slave, like I told you in the car, you did not have permission to leave me, yet you did. You. Are. Mine. Forever. Now, before we start your punishment, there's one thing I need to do."

He reached over the table and Adele heard the rattling of chain. Adele's heart rate went through the roof when he turned around to reveal a blood stained thick brown leather collar complete with padlock and chain attached. She followed the chain with her eyes and it appeared to go out the doorway and up the stairs.

Adele tugged on her arms as he stalked toward Kelly. Her chest tightened further as Kelly's sobbing grew louder. Kelly pulled at her hands to no avail. Unlike Adele, who'd been tied with rope, Kelly's delicate wrists were secured in locked leather cuffs. The loud snap of the collar being locked brought a whimper from deep within Adele.

"There. Now that's never coming off again. Not even down here. You will never escape me ever again, slave."

As he walked back to the table, he pulled his shirt from over his head. He carefully selected a knife from the table before he headed toward Kelly. Adele struggled to get free. She screamed as loud as she could for him to get away from her. Tears burned her eyes as she pulled on the ropes holding her. She didn't care about the pain that ripped down her arms with renewed fire or that her fingers had gone numb. She was not going to let him hurt her! She'd promised, dammit! She stared at Kelly as he approached her with the knife. The look on her face broke her heart. There were no more tears streaming down her face, and her eyes were glazed over as if she'd left herself. As if this was an every day occurrence and nothing to get worked up over. Just something she needed to block out to survive. Her rage took over as she thought about the abuse Kelly must have suffered. She pulled harder on her hands and finally felt the ropes loosen.

"Hmm, keep screaming bitch. It makes a lovely sound track, and soon we'll be adding to them, won't we slave?"

Kelly's monotone response of "Yes, sir" made Adele's vision turn red.

Where the hell was Dominic and the boys?

~ * ~

Dominic was literally vibrating. Being stuck sitting in a car--in human form--having to listen to his mate being beaten was not something he was dealing with very well. They pulled into the drive behind Adele's Corolla. Jake turned the engine off then faced his son.