To the big mutt standing nearby, Jacques snarled, “Larson! Her thirty minutes are up.”
“Don’t you fucking touch her!” My shoulders burned. I drew them down anyway, pulling violently against the chains. “Get back here and fight me, you coward!”
Jacques froze, his back to me. He glared over his shoulder, eyes flashing with his beast as he warred against it. His control was solid as steel, but I knew how hard it was to resist a challenge.
“If you want her, fight me for her.” I spat a mouthful of blood. “Or do you think you can’t take me? You always were the smallest Barbeaux.”
Jacques roared, turning back to me and lifting the stick. He swung. Again and again until pain swallowed everything. Red coated his white shirt, his hair falling out of place, and still he continued.
“This—" I groaned. “Doesn’t—" My head whipped to the side as the stick hit my face. “Make—" Another blow to my temple, and suddenly everything was fading again. “You—" My chin fell to my chest, and the last word barely made it over my lips before I lost consciousness. “Powerful.”
Chapter 24
Don't Look Back
Tara
Therewasoneloudrap on the bedroom door before it opened. I huddled in the bathroom beside the sink, my hands shaking where they clutched the hard edges of plastic.
“I’m here for the test,” a gruff voice said from the other side of the bathroom door. “Now.”
I cracked the door, offering the pink pregnancy test with my free hand. “Sorry. My aim wasn’t very accurate.”
Larson pinched it between his fingers, making a face at the very wet pregnancy test. “Aw, what the hell?”
He glanced down at it in disgust. I whipped the door open, lifting my other hand and squeezing.
A cloud of bleach spritzed from the bottle in my hand, hitting Larson directly in the eyes. He stumbled back a step, rubbing his face with a growl. I ripped the sprayer out of the bottle, splashing the remaining liquid all over his face and chest.
A guttural sound tore from him. The muscles in his arms rippled and swelled.
I didn’t wait to see what happened next. My bare feet skidded down the hallway, moving as quickly and quietly as I couldmanage. A twisted feeling of deja vu hit me, and I prayed that I made it out of this house a second time.
The hallway was empty and dark. So was the garage when I swung the door open.
I didn’t know where Isaac was or what they’d done to him, but I had this feeling that this was the right way. A subtle pull to the side of the house.
The exterior door to the garage was unlocked, and I froze when I saw a bloody handprint on the white paint. There was no window to the outside, no way to see who was waiting on the other side.
I turned the handle slowly, letting the door fall open as the wind caught it.
Shadows greeted me. Trees swished back and forth, pine needles hissing as they rubbed together.
I could barely hear them over the blood rushing in my ears. Any moment Larson would come after me. I didn’t know how badly the bleach would hurt him, if at all.
I had to assume he was chasing me. That he would come roaring after me at any moment. I was scared to imagine which version of him it would be.
My feet moved on their own, skidding over the rough ground.
I broke into a run, my legs pumping hard beneath me. I stumbled to a halt when I saw him.
Isaac was unrecognizable where he hung limp from a tree branch. His arms strained above his head, pulled taut by a thick chain. I couldn’t see him well in the dark, his form obscured by the shadows of the trees.
I moved closer, gasping when I realized it wasn’t shadows covering his skin. It was blood.
So much blood.
“Isaac?” What did they do to him? “Isaac, can you hear me?”