Page 40 of Monsters Carve Thrones

But they weren’t expecting me to move.

They thought I was broken.

I waited until the one at my left adjusted his grip, and I lunged–wild, reckless, pure adrenaline. My shoulder slammed into his ribs, and he staggered. I drove my elbow into the face of the one on my right, felt something crunch beneath the blow. Blood sprayed across my cheek, not mine.

I bolted down the corridor, around a corner. Another. A flicker of moonlight slashed through a barred window high on the wall. I didn’t think. I didn’t breathe. I just ran.

Footsteps thundered behind me. Shouting in accented voices.Russian? Slavic?

Didn’t matter.

I hit a door at full speed, rattling the handle. Locked.

Fuck.

I turned, fists up, heart slamming against my ribs like a warning drum. One of them came first–the one with the busted nose. He tackled me hard, driving my back into the wall. The impact stole the breath from my lungs. My head snapped back,vision flickering. I screamed, clawing at his face, digging my nails into his skin. He roared, slamming a fist into my ribs. The next blow caught me in the jaw, and everything flashed white.

I dropped to my knees.

He grabbed my hair, yanking my head back. “You littlecunt,” he spat, blood running from his nose onto my chest. “You think you can run?”

Another one stormed down the hall, boots echoing off stone. “She’s not supposed to bemarked,” he snapped, voice sharp. “The boss wants herclean.You want to explain that shit when he shows up?”

“She broke my fucking nose!” the first one shouted, kicking me in the side. My ribs screamed. “She’s not a doll, she’s a goddamnanimal.”

I coughed, spat blood, and hissed through my teeth. “Still hit harder than you,” I rasped.

His hand raised again, but the one near the door barked, “Enough. Leave her. Chain her up. You’re lucky she didn’tkillyou.”

“Shewill,” I growled, laughing bitterly through the pain. “The moment she’s given the chance, she’ll rip your hearts out.”

Anger twisted in the man’s face above me, and despite the demands of the others, he lifted me by Rafe’s shirt and slammed me back onto the floor.

“Jesus, man–”

“Shut the fuck up!” he yelled over his shoulder.

I didn’t stop fighting. Not when the boots hit my ribs. Not when his fist collided with the side of my face. I angrily screamed until my throat burned, until someone shoved a hand over my mouth and growled something in a language I couldn’t understand.

I caught bits of English threaded between, just enough to realize something horrifying.

I was far, far from New York.

From Rafe.

A steel door slammed behind me, and I was thrown into a concrete room with no windows. My knees cracked against the floor, but I pushed up instantly. My body was sore, shaking, but my rage was wildfire.

They tried to chain me again.

Tried.

I kicked, twisted, and bit the hand that grabbed my arm. One of them reached for my ankle, and I reared back andspatin his face.

“You fucking bitch–!”

He lunged, and I met him with a kick so savage that my heel slammed straight into his knee.

Somethingsnapped.