Page 28 of Unholy Gambit: Checkmate in Blood (A Paranormal Halloween #5)

Axel and Ruby both insisted Aury didn’t need to see him whipped, but she wouldn’t listen to reason. And so, when Axel put his hands into the steel restraints high on the whipping post, the love of his life was forty feet away. Watching.

Axel rested his forehead against the post. The cool metal grounded him, indifferent to the room full of eyes and judgment. He didn’t look back, but he figured Ruby still stood like a statue against the wall.

But it was Aury’s presence he was keyed into, her scent threaded with anxiety, her pulse unsteady. She was trying to be brave for him, but he could feel the tremor behind her ribs from across the room.

He was doing this for her. To improve his chances at being given permission to move here permanently. To oath into the coterie.

For the right to live in her city. For the life they were building.

Humphrey needed a way to save face, a way to feel vindicated, if they were to coexist in the same city.

And so, he voluntarily placed his wrists in the shackles, knowing once they were locked, there was no turning back. No way to stop what was coming.

The chains tugged against the shackles around his wrists, an unseen motor pulling them into the post, trapping his wrists on either side without so much as a quarter inch of give.

Marco stepped forward, his voice low but resonant.

“ Exigere .”

Axel exhaled once, silently. Readied himself.

Humphrey drew it out. Slow, theatrical. Either milking the moment or staving off his own fear. No matter. Axel didn’t move. Didn’t flinch.

The first lash landed with a crack that echoed. The knots on the leather tore into him. A white-hot line seared across his back — the hate of a man who’d waited centuries for this moment.

Axel’s jaw clenched. He’d ripped the arrogant prick’s left arm off. Should’ve grabbed for the other.

The motherfucker had fixed his spine. Had tucked his bowels back in and wrapped his torso to keep it all from falling out again.

It would take the bastard a day or two to grow the arm back and repair the rest, but Marco had rightfully insisted the terms be seen to immediately. You only need one good arm to whip someone, after all.

The second stroke landed atop the first. The third sliced across both, a cruel X that deepened the burn. Each strike rang through his bones, through his breath, through his vision.

He made no sound. He thought of the city he hoped to make his own. Thought of his Aury’s laugh. Her hand in his.

By the tenth, blood was running down his ass. Down his legs.

By the twentieth, his breath came fast and sharp. But he stayed upright, muscles coiled tight, control absolute.

By the thirtieth, the pain had a rhythm, a drumbeat of violence against his spine. He could feel the crowd’s discomfort settling in, heavier than heat. Some looked away, but most stared, mesmerized.

The older vampires had seen worse. Many had experienced worse.

Everyone was glad it was someone else and not them.

At forty, he stopped his silent counting. There was no need. Pain had its own clock. Time stretched out. The lashes came like a demented tune, ripping at his skin, muscles, sinew.

A longer than expected pause, and Axel heard the Latin behind him, denoting they were finished with one stage and heading into the next.

“ Mutatio .” Marco’s voice again. Calm and clear. Precise. A clear vibration altering the energy of the ritual he presided over.

The last dozen were to be with silver barbs on the whip.

Axel felt the shift in the room. The hum of expectation and unease. Even seasoned vampires tensed. Everyone knew what came next. Vampire skin doesn’t heal cleanly after the insult of silver.

Karma .

Humphrey’s back bore the scars of the same whipping. Now Axel’s would match.

The metallic bane of vampires leaves behind stories carved in flesh.

The first barbed strike tore into his skin and ripped out , hooked spines dragging meat and muscle with them. Barbs designed not just to strike, but to take , to tear away skin and muscle when withdrawn.

More than a mere lash . A harvesting.

He grunted, low in his throat, and held still.

The second tore lower. The third crossed the spine.

Each lash a claim. A line he could never erase.

By the fifth, his vision blurred at the edges, and he tasted blood. Had he bitten the inside of his cheek? Or had it slammed against the whipping post? He couldn’t be certain.

By the ninth, he felt air on bone.

Ten. Eleven.

Twelve .

The final strike landed just below his shoulder blade, and when the barbs tore free, they took a strip of flesh the size of a palm, as if the bastard meant to scoop out a piece of him to keep.

Silence reigned.

Then Marco’s voice rang out, crisp and final: “ Peragere .”

The chains released. Josef stepped forward to unlock the steel shackles.

Axel held onto the whipping post for balance, but he didn’t fall.

He stayed standing, upright, blood streaming down his back.

He took several seconds to work his hands down the pole, and then stepped away from it, his hands hanging at his sides.

Pain radiated outward like electricity from a shattered transformer — violent and uncontrolled, arcing through every nerve with nowhere to land.

But this pain wasn’t punishment. It was penance. It was price. And he’d paid it.

His voice was hoarse when he spoke, but it carried.

“I owed him that. The price is paid.” Tariq stepped to his side, unsure of how to help him.

Axel wrapped his arm around the leopard shifter and let him help him out of the room, and he telepathed Adelaide.

Please give me at least ten minutes with my meal before you allow my companions to come to me.

The favors are piling up, dear brother.

I’m aware, and you know I’ll pay up.

An inscribed ring-hilt sword was dug up in the vicinity of the Oseberg ship burial.

I was in the process of trying to acquire it when everything went to shit during the Second World War.

If you can acquire it for me, we will be even.

If you’ll promise to try your best, I’ll send one of my pets to feed you once you’ve drained your leopard.

I know who owns it and can attempt a negotiation for you to purchase it, but we’ll be better off stealing it without approaching him, since he isn’t likely to sell for any amount. I’ll help you steal it, but it’ll be at least a four-person job — the two of us and your pets.

Done. Which pet would you prefer?

Dane, please.

It wouldn’t do to drink from a beautiful woman and make his Aurélie jealous.

* * * *

Aury held Ruby’s hand when someone finally took them to Axel. He’d been so broken, so weak, when he’d miraculously, unbelievably managed to walk out on his own two feet.

He was in the shower when she entered, someone helping two men out of the room. Had he fed from both of them? They looked, well, drained . Half-dead. Dazed.

And her Axel stood with his back to the flowing water, steam rising around him, soaping his front with a bar.

No cloth. Just running the bar over his chest, his stomach, around a large flaccid cock, under his balls.

He bent to run the bar down the fronts of his legs, and she got another look at his back.

A gasp tore from her, and Axel’s hand paused.

“It will heal.”

She didn’t trust her voice, but it felt cowardly to telepath, so she took a breath and spoke out loud. “Ruby says the last twelve won’t.”

“They’ll leave scars, but they’ll heal.”

He stood back up. Met her gaze. “He bears scars from this exact sentence, given from my lips. He deserved them for his crimes, I did not, and yet…” He shrugged. “I was cruel in other ways. It’s a fitting recompense. He could’ve asked for more.”

“He did ask for more.” He’d wanted Aury and Ruby for nearly five fucking months.

Axel’s gaze sharpened. Face resolute. “You will never be a bargaining chip.”

* * * *

Aury woke in her bed at Ruby’s apartment late the next morning, and looked outside to clear skies. It’d rained a little on the drive back to Ruby’s the night before, as if Mother Nature herself was crying.

She smelled bacon and realized what’d woke her — Ruby was cooking.

Bathroom first, then she brushed her teeth, moved her hair from bun to ponytail, and went out to help with breakfast.

“Please tell me last night was a nightmare that didn’t actually happen?”

“You know it wasn’t,” Ruby said, “but speaking of nightmares, have you had any since your vampire showed up?”

Aury froze. “Fuck. I haven’t. Why didn’t I realize they’d stopped?”

“You notice what happens, not what stops happening.” She worked with the bacon, turning it. “Word got back to my parents that you and I were present last night.” She rolled her eyes. “We’ve been summoned.”

“Oh, wow. Is your dad pissed?”

A sigh. “He isn’t happy, but mom’s the one truly pissed. Mostly, they want to talk to you, verify the oath, all of that.”

“I love your parents. They’ve always done right by me, I mean, except for making you hide this big thing from me.”

Aury stopped beating the eggs. “Wait, their house. On the ridge. Because they’re eagles?”

“Yeah. We like being high. It’s why I’m on the top floor here.”

It made sense. “When are we supposed to be there?”

“Dad will be home by three, and he expects us to be there and have smoothed things over with Mom by the time he arrives.”

Aury blew out a breath. “We have to go shopping. What gift is appropriate for, “I’m sorry I dragged your daughter to a big vampire fight and whipping?”

Ruby laughed, and that made Aury smile. The whole thing was just too ridiculous, and yet, this was apparently her life now.

“I’m not banking on finding an appropriate card,” Aury said, “but maybe a spa day for the three of us. What’s the one in North Georgia she likes?”

“A friend took her to one in Nashville, something like One Hotel Nashville? See what that pulls up. She said it was beyond luxe.”

Aury found it, rattled off the spa name, and Ruby nodded. “Yes, that’s it.”

She wasn’t happy with the packages listed on the website, so she called and talked to someone, figured out how to put together what she wanted, and didn’t let the woman off the phone until her confirmation email arrived.

“Mom will appreciate a day with the two of us more than the spa stuff,” Ruby said.

“Honestly, if we just promised to hang out with her all day, and set a date on all our calendars, she’d be happy.

” She pulled the bacon off the eye, forked it on a plate.

“But while we’re sucking up, the spa part can’t hurt.

I’ll transfer half the cost over while we eat. ”

“No. You were there to support me. You shouldn’t have to pay for being my friend. It’s all good.” She paused, tilting her head. “Do you like blackberry preserves because of the eagle thing?”

“No. I mean, my grandparents have a big blackberry patch that rabbits lived in, and as eagles, we eat the rabbits. As humans, we pick the blackberries and then Gran turns them into preserves.”

Aury could only stare at her friend while her mind recategorized everything . Her friend killed and ate raw rabbits. As an eagle. Talons digging into it. Beak tearing it apart.

She had to blank her mind before her stomach revolted.

“Okay. That’s… completely normal for an eagle.”

“You’re freaked.”

“Only for a minute. I just hadn’t wrapped my mind all the way around the whole I shift into an eagle thing. I’m good now.” Mostly .

“You’re on your way to being good, and I appreciate that.”

“So, what have you heard on your super-secret supernatural grapevine?”

“A lot of respect for your badass vampire, some fear in there too, which is to be expected with his rep, but he didn’t have to agree to be whipped, and what he said after, about owing it to him, and the debt being paid — he earned a lot of respect from that.

Not just for taking the hits, but for the way he handled the whole fucking thing.

Forcing recompense instead of just brutally beating the fuck out of him, and then the way he…

fuck , Aury. Most shifters and vampires cry and beg after the first dozen strikes, and he stood strong and quiet all the way through to the end.

Even for the silver, and for those of us allergic to silver, that’s a feat. ”

“I’ve always known silver makes you break out. I guess it’s more than that, huh?”

“Oh, yeah. Serious burns. But it weakens me, too, can even give me silver poisoning. Bad news for predatory shifters. The prey shifters, not so much. Some are sensitive, but mostly, it’s the predators. Like nature gave us kryptonite.”

Aury thought of Axel, silent under the whip, blood running down his back, pooling on the floor around his feet, and realized she’d never once wondered whether he’d break.

She could feel his strength — she understood it when she was five, and she could feel it in her bones now, as an adult.