CONTENT ADVISORY / TRIGGER WARNING
THIS NOVEL CONTAINS DEPICTIONS/STRONG IMPLICATIONS OF THE FOLLOWING THAT SOME READERS MAY FIND OFFENSIVE OR DISTURBING:
~ VIOLENCE
~ RELATIONSHIP ASSAULT AND/ABUSE
~ SEXUAL ASSAULT AND/OR RAPE
"Please!"
Who? Urgh, my head is pounding. What happened? Why is my vision all red and blurry?
Opening his eyes, Eskil squinted in the darkness of the cellar. His vision clouded with the blood that stained his vision. More dried blood clung to his skin, and his wounds caused him great pain as he forced himself to look around. He could remember what happened, faintly.
Gaalin had taken him by surprise and struck him on the back of his head, and he'd taken the moment while Eskil lay on the ground with his mind becoming hazy to start beating him into the dirt floor of the cellar. "That damned grey skin," he snarled.
Blinking, he forced his vision to focus and looked down over his body. He had been tied up to a wooden pillar, his arms bound behind it with tight, itchy rope, and another band of rope restrained his neck. He was bleeding all over and a pool of blood surrounded him as his wounds oozed painfully onto the ground.
"Eskil!"
The shrill voice pierced his mind and he groaned, his ears ringing as the screech echoed through his head. Why was someone screaming?
"Please!" The voices cried out, "Please, I don't want this."
Eskil's head snapped upwards. In an instant, his head cleared and the voice became familiar. Libelle, lifemate! I am here, what is wrong?
He reached out to her, knowing his physical voice would not reach her, but if she would let him, she would hear his inner voice in her thoughts. They had completed their vows, so there was no reason why it wouldn't work, but she had to let him in first. He waited for what felt like an eternity before he heard her reaching out to him.
"Eskil!" she wept. "Y-you..."
I'm here beloved, are you hurt?
He felt her hesitation as he reached out to her thoughts, and he could sense her coiling emotions, her sadness, her terror, her pain; they all flooded into him.
"Eskil..."
I'm here beloved. It'll be alright, that bastard grey skin, he—
"I know."
Eskil froze. Libelle, what has he done?
Again he felt her hesitation, she was suffering.
Libelle, open your eyes. Let me see what you see.
Slowly, she obeyed. Her vision was clouded with tears, the room was dark, and she was staring into wrinkled sheets. Wrists bound, the torn fabric tied tightly to the posts of the bed. She blinked and turned her head even slower than she had opened her eyes. She stared at the glow of a single candle, and a flash of lightning burst through the glass window. His heart skipped a beat and his blood froze to an icy current.
Looking over her shoulder, Libelle stared at Gaalin. The bastard grey skin was digging his fingers into her hips with his head rolled back, moaning as he thrust into her like a wild animal. Eskil felt pure rage welling up inside him. He had never felt so much fury boiling within each individual cell before. He was going to kill him. I'm going to kill him.
Libelle, I'm coming. I'll break free of these bonds, I'll be there. Wait for me.
He snarled and pulled desperately against his restraints. He could feel his lifemate's spirit being broken at the hands of a man he loathed; it was completely inexcusable for another man to touch a dragon's lifemate. She was trembling in fear, her body jerking with her tears; all of the emotions she was feeling, he felt as though they were his own.
I will snap that bastard's neck!