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“You’re glowing yellow,” Callum says hurriedly. “Stop, Lilith. He’s going to come in here.”

“Do you trust me?”I ask.

“Of course,”Daemon says.

“Then relax and just trust me,”I say. They stop distracting me and let me focus. I go back to focusing on my injuries and all of the pain. I can feel my wounds healing when the door opens. I glance up when my concentration is broken and see Zypher storm into the room.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he growls at me as he grabs me by the hair and drags me up to my feet. Right away he notices that the gashes are almost healed and the bruising is gone. He shoves me against the wall and wraps his hand around my throat. He doesn’t cut my air off, but he squeezes. “Answer. Me.”

“Healing,” I say calmly.

“How?” he asks. I don’t answer right away as I think of an excuse. He slams my head against the wall again, and I wince in pain. “I swear to the gods, I will whip you again. Answer me.”

“I’m the High Witch. My powers are stronger, so the collar only dampened my magic. I can still heal myself,” I say cautiously.

“Did they know this?” Zypher asks, pointing to my mates.

“No. I only just figured it out when I tried,” I lie. “I’m sorry. They hurt me, and I was in pain.”

“Lilith. We didn’t…”Kael starts.

“Hush and trust me,”I say.

“Yeah,” Zypher says. “They did hurt you.”

“I just wanted to feel better. I’m sorry I broke your rules,” I say with feigned remorse.

Zypher pulls a pocketknife from his jeans and flips it open. “Give me your arm,” he says. I do as he says, and he grabs my arm. I wince when he cuts into my arm and steps back. “Heal yourself.”

“I need space,” he says.

“Go ahead,” he says as he backs up more. I resume my position on my knees and sit back on my heels. I close my eyes and focus on my arm and the cut closing. After a while, I open my eyes and look at my arm. The wound is completely healed. I look at the rest of my body and everything else is healed also.

“Is this how you were able to take everything I gave to you?” he asks, motioning for me to stand.

“Yes,” I say.

“Why didn’t you just say I was hurting you?” He asks, tilting my chin up to look at him.

“Because I didn’t want to disappoint you,” I lie. My face is expressing submission, but this moron doesn’t have the slightest clue about what I am doing. His grin is wicked and he is going to take it a step further, just as I hoped he would.

“So you want to be my good girl after all,” he says with the same wicked smile.

“Yes, sir,” I say softly. “I don’t like it when you’re disappointed with me.”

“This is your chance to show me just how much of a good girl you really are, Lilith,” he says before reaching around me and unhooking the collar from my neck. He tosses the collar to the metal table before pulling the knife out again. This time when he takes my arm, he cuts deeper. I cry out in pain, and he steps away from me. “Heal.”

I go through the same practice of going to my knees and sitting back on my heels. I close my eyes and picture the wound healing. Without the collar, it takes just a few seconds to heal myself. I smile up at him proudly, and he chuckles.

“Stand up,” he says. I get up, and he grabs me by the back of the neck, then pulls me against his chest. “I’m going to have fun with you, little girl.”

Zypher shoves me to the table before bending me over. He grabs a tight hold of my hips and buries himself inside my ass with enough force that it causes me to scream out in pain. I could very well have my magic protect me like it did all of those years with him, but it has to be genuine. He has to actually hurt me so that he will then tell me to heal so he can do it again. The more I let him hurt me, the more practice I get.

By the time Zypher gets done raping me, hours have passed. I made sure to never once allow myself to show how repulsed I am by him. Although I was screaming in pain nearly the entire time, I didn’t beg him to stop. I remained calm because I have a plan now. I am done wallowing in self-pity. My mates have their own trauma to deal with right now, so it’s not fair for me to make them deal with mine also. They stayed silent the entire time per my request because I needed to concentrate while I turned as much of that energy back on him as I could. Even though he managed to last just as long as he has in the past, he is utterly exhausted by the time he pulls out of me.

“Heal yourself and go to sleep,” he says with clear exhaustion in his voice. He walks to the door, and I stand up from where I was bent over the table for the last several hours. When he shuts the door behind him, I kneel to heal myself. I bow my head to keep the camera from seeing my smile. I can’t help but be happy. Zypher is a fucking imbecile.

“Are we allowed to talk to you now?”Daemon asks.