He cursed, stumbling, shock widening his eyes.
“FUCK—you didn’t tell me she’s a goddamn animal!”
“That’s what you get,” I spat, already turning toward the door.
But the second man caught me around the waist, hauling me back like I weighed nothing.I flung my head backward until my skull cracked against his nose.He yelled, grip faltering.
I dropped to the floor, rolled, and kicked out.My heel connected with a shin.
Someone cursed again.Furniture crashed.My tiny table flipped.
But there were too many of them, too many hands, too much brute strength.One man tackled me down, his knee pinning my chest so hard I couldn’t get a full breath.Another grabbed my wrist, slamming it against the floor until my knife skittered away under the bed.
I twisted my head and sank my teeth into the closest thing I could reach.Flesh.Warm and human.I bit down hard, past the surface, past restraint, tasting copper.
The man howled, his voice high and wild, the sound of someone who had never imagined pain could come from the thing he thought would be easiest to handle.
“FUCK—she bit me!She fuckingbitme!”
“Don’t mark her!”another shouted.“Boss said not to touch her, you idiot!”
A fist crashed into my cheek.Pain burst behind my eye; hot, searing, nauseating.
The world flashed white, then black, then exploded into a spray of stars.My head whipped sideways.My vision swam.But my hands didn’t stop.
They were still moving on instinct—scratching, clawing, grabbing at anything I could reach.Flesh, fabric, hair… whatever my fingers closed around, I tore at it.My nails raked skin.My knuckles cracked against bone.I was still fighting, still refusing to go limp, even as my arms felt like they were filling with sand.
The room tilted.My breath stuttered and my knees buckled.
Three against one.Three bodies pressing down, blocking light, blocking escape, draining every last ounce of strength I had.
My limbs were still swinging, but my body… my body was starting to fold.Betrayed by exhaustion, by pain, by the brutal math of being outnumbered and outmuscled.
I kept fighting until even my fury couldn’t hold me upright.And still, I didn’t stop trying.
One of the men grabbed both my wrists, twisting them behind my back.Another bound them with zip ties that cut into my skin.The last clamped a hand around my ankle as I kicked, dragging me across the floor like a rag doll.
I thrashed until my muscles burned.I screamed until my throat tore raw.
But it wasn’t enough.
Not against three men who knew exactly what they had come here to do.
“Bitch won’t sit still,” one muttered, breathless.
I tried to twist out of their hold.A boot pressed into my stomach, pinning me down.I gagged, sucking in air that refused to reach my lungs.
“Enough,” the leader barked.“Bag her.”
A rough cloth dropped over my face before I could pull away.Darkness swallowed everything.
Three sets of hands lifted me, rough and hurried.My shoulder hit a doorframe.Then I felt cold air whisper against my skin.
“You hurt her face,” one man hissed.“Boss is going to skewer you alive for that one.”
“He wants her pretty,” stated another.I had no idea who they were or what they wanted, but there was no ignoring the menace in their thick accents.If I had to guess, I’d say they were Eastern European.
Pretty.