Page 46 of The Ecstasy of Sin (Brutal Brotherhood #1)

Wren

Pain explodes behind my eyes, dragging me out of unconsciousness. A fist slams into my stomach, and an agonized scream leaves me as acid crawls up my throat.

“Rise and fucking shine, bitch.”

My eyes flutter open, blurry and unfocused. I groan, slumping forward in the chair I’m tied to, my belly cramping from the strike.

My head swims, followed by a wave of nausea. I swallow against the urge to vomit, trying to make sense of everything through the brain fog still gripping me.

Blinking rapidly, I lift my gaze and lock eyes with a pair of brown ones looming in front of me. They’re set in a face that’s contorted with hatred, and I can’t understand why.

I’m no one, I’ve done nothing bad to anyone in my twenty-five years of life. I have no idea who this man is, or why he hates me so much.

I wince, and my mind tries to reorient itself. Memories come flooding in.

Dominic. The fight. Dimitri’s promise .

My head aches, and I squeeze my eyes shut, but the memories don’t stop coming. It’s like my brain is waking up, playing catch up with my body.

Serial killer. Danger. Running. The SUV. A scent, sickly sweet. Then Dominic, running, screaming my name.

I groan and lower my head, only for the man who kidnapped me to backhand me across the face. My head snaps to the side, pain settling into the bone of my jaw. I know my lip is split when the metallic taste of blood flows into my mouth.

He strikes me again in the stomach with a closed fist, and the wind rushes out of me as pain flares bright.

I open my mouth, working it until it pops, trying to relieve the pressure.

The man leans in closer, his breath rancid. “Fuck, I hate women,” he spits, his jaw clenched. “Weak and pathetic. Good for nothing but taking cock. Dimitri should have let me shoot you the second we got here.”

I stare at him, and for a moment I imagine smashing my forehead into his. I’m not the type to resort to violence, but the urge comes from somewhere deep down in my soul.

He’s not going to kill me without a fight.

“Dimitri is going to be on his way soon,” he mutters, “and he’s going to have fun with you. He likes to fuck women with knives and listen to them scream.”

His hand lashes out to grab my jaw, bringing our faces inches apart. “That doesn’t mean I can’t fuck you first though,” he sneers.

I’d rather die .

I narrow my eyes, and spit directly in his face. He flinches, his expression turning murderous.

“You stupid fucking cunt,” he snarls, before cracking his fist across my face. He hits me so hard I rock back, the chair I’m sitting in toppling over. My head hits the ground, and my vision darkens.

Next thing I know, I’m being hauled upright again. My stomach lurches and my head swims, my head throbbing viciously.

He starts pacing in front of me, his breathing ragged like he’s pissed off, pulling out his phone and typing a message furiously.

I breathe through my nose, deep and even, and take inventory of my body. I start with my aching head, then bring the awareness down to my wrists. They’re tied behind my back and secured to the chair. I flex my fingers, testing the strength of the scratchy rope. Then I keep going.

Turns out, my wrists are the only part of me that he anchored down. My feet aren’t tied up, and I shuffle them to be certain. The movements are subtle, and small enough to avoid drawing his attention.

He shoves his phone back into his pocket and steps up to me, the back of his hand shooting out to strike me across the cheek. The skin at my cheekbone splits, blood trickling down.

Tears gather at the corners of my eyes, and they sting with the salt of my frustration and grief.

The regret of leaving Dom’s bed haunts me with every breath. I wish I had the chance to thank him for making me feel seen, and cherished for the first time since I was a child .

He made me feel human in a world that all but stripped my humanity away.

Dominic tried to give me a home, when all I had was wreckage.

And I tried to throw it away. Now look at me; crying and bleeding as I await a different monster who will take it all away.

My tears are no longer silent, and I hate that. I turn my face away from him and cry.

“Fuck your tears, you stupid whore. I’ll fuck you until Dimitri lets me put a bullet between your eyes.” He spits the word whore like a curse, foul and dehumanizing.

The rise of panic has my body tensing. His grimy hands reach out for my shirt, gripping the neckline and yanking it violently until the material tears.

A sob escapes before I can stop it, and he jerks me closer, the chair scraping across the floor with a screech.

His odour makes me gag. A noxious combination of body sweat, cigarette smoke, and cheap booze.

When he leans in closer, I try to pull away. “I hope you like pain,” he breathes. “I’m an ass man.”

The thunderous boom of splintering wood fills the cabin, and I flinch as the front door explodes inward, shards of wood flying toward us. The bulk of it crashes to the floor in two fractured pieces.

There, standing in the threshold, is Dominic.

Dressed in black, soaked in blood, a look of ruthless fury carved across his beautiful face. He is wrath made flesh .

The relief that follows is instant and overwhelming. A sob rips from my chest as my lungs finally remember how to breathe.

My captor straightens, a look of confusion on his face as he whips his head toward the door Dom just kicked in.

I don’t hesitate. Lifting my leg, I slam the heel of my shoe between his legs so hard that the chair rocks back, nearly toppling over again.

The howl of agony that comes out of him is music to my ears.

Before I even register the movement, Dominic is on him. With the Russian still doubled over, clutching his dick, Dominic drives his knee up into my captor’s face.

The crack is loud, his nose shattering on impact. A strangled cry breaks free as his body stumbles backward. Dimitri’s henchman crashes into the wall, knocking a painting off its nail.

There’s a maniacal grin on Dominic’s face as he stalks forward, eyes locked on his target. My captor staggers upright, his hand pressed to his face. Blood falls in fat drops, splattering across the dirty carpet at his feet.

“We should’ve shot you dead at the club! Ty yobanyy ublyudok! ” He spits what I imagine is a hefty insult in Russian, before pushing himself off the wall.

“I’m glad you didn’t. Now I have the pleasure of torturing you until you beg me for death,” Dominic seethes, still wearing that wicked grin.

With a roar, my captor charges forward, blind rage in his dark eyes. Dominic dodges him, the movement effortless .

When the man turns to face him again, Dom punches him so hard in the face it sounds like his neck breaks when his head snaps back from the impact.

He’s out cold, hitting the floor like a sack of flour. His jaw hangs at a grotesque angle, as if the joint shattered when Dominic’s fist connected with it.

Tears spill down my cheeks, for an entirely different reason this time.

Dominic rushes over to me, his bloodied hands cradling my face as he inspects me for damage.

I want to collapse into him, let him fold me in his arms so tightly that the rest of the world disappears.

My body starts shaking, the sobs coming hard and fast, tremors born from adrenaline, fear, and overwhelming relief.

“I’m here, baby. I’m here. I’ve got you.” He repeats those words like a sacred vow, his voice deep and soothing.

He reaches around me to untie the rope, and I rest my head on his shoulder. I fill my lungs with air, breathing in his intoxicating scent. The warmth of his body, and the smell of his skin, calms my central nervous system.

He’s covered in blood. Blood that he spilled for me, risking his life yet again. My heart aches with a need so deep I don’t know how I’ll ever live outside of his arms again.

The rope slips free, and my numb, trembling arms rise to wrap around his neck. He gathers me into him, nearly crushing me to his chest as he sinks to his knees. I slide into his lap, thighs bracketing his hips, my face buried in his throat.

I breathe him in, even through the sharp tang of blood and sweat .

“You came for me,” I whisper, clutching him like the lifeline he is.

“I’ll always come for you, little lamb. There’s nowhere you could go that I wouldn’t follow.”

Pulling back, I stare into his eyes. Those mesmerizing, dark forest depths, so full of madness and obsession. I wouldn’t have him any other way.

His mouth descends on mine, kissing me like I’m the air he’s been starving for. I kiss him back, matching his need in equal measure. My tongue seeks his, sweeping into his mouth, desperate for the taste of him. His fingers dig into my back, pulling me impossibly closer.

I taste him, and the blood of the men that took me away from him. And it thrills me.

When I don’t pull away from his blood-soaked sins, when I thread my trembling fingers through his hair to hold him to me, he groans against my lips.

Shifting his body, he makes sure I feel the bulk of his hard cock, straining behind the blood-slick fabric of his pants.

I moan into his mouth, and surrender. I let his sickness infect me. I welcome his darkness as it sinks in deep, and settles right into my soul.

Our kiss is transcendent. It shatters whatever walls I tried to keep between us, burning away my doubts and tethering us together in ways I never imagined possible.

I understand him now. I know all of Dominic’s inner demons by name. Each one, wickedly divine, part of a man more perfect for me than I could even think to conjure myself .

To be loved by a monster of a man… it’s exactly what a ghost of a girl like me always needed.

He pulls back, panting against my lips, his voice ragged from lust and need. “You’re fucking mine, Wren. Only mine.”

A pleasured sigh escapes me as I grind myself against the hard ridge of his cock. My entire body aches from the way my captor beat me, but it’s nothing compared to the love rushing through me now. “Yes,” I gasp. “I’m yours.”