| |
“FUCK. LET ME OUT OF these chains or I swear to all that is holy, I will fuckin’ rip you apart!” I woke up in shackles, very much alone in the basement. I knew the room, my father kept enemies here, tortured them in the earlier days looking for those who opposed the integration. In its infancy, there was much bloodshed and fighting, riots over allowing Otherkind to roam freely and openly without hiding who and what we were. There are many who can cast a glamour to hide our appearance, horns, skin color abnormalities, scales the shape or color of our eyes and ears, things of that nature. Those who were most violent were part of a group known as the H.O.R.D. or Humans of Real Descendants. They thought that we were some kind of aberration on society, an abortion that man forgot to have, that had been allowed to run amok far too long. Now here I was, chained to the very walls those traitorous fiends had been shackled to. Was I ever pissed.
“Damn it! Let me go!”
“Easy there, boy,” Jarod spoke straightly. “You’ll do yourself no amount of good cussing up a storm and screaming. It’s no use. You’re gonna get good and dried out, just like that pretty little fiancé of yours.”
“Ryane?” My thoughts of her still in the room where I’d left her threw me into a panic. Making me struggle harder against my bonds. I could feel the manacles digging into my wrists and forearms.
“You’re not going anywhere, so just stop. Please.”
“Uggh. Is she okay? At least tell me that much.”
“She kicked your father’s ass and needed some correction, but yes, otherwise she is just fine.”
“Define correction.” The idea that someone put their hands on my woman made my blood boil.
“I did what was needed,” my father’s voice echoed in the room like a cannon going off. “You will deal with it, and that is how it will be. She requires a far firmer hand than you have shown.”
“You’ll not touch her.” I gnashed my teeth so hard I ripped my lip open, spitting blood on the concrete floor.
“I have no intentions on bedding my soon to be daughter in law. What kind of monster do you take me for?” He shook his head. “But she will be upended, bled and pumped full of synthetic until she doesn’t crave you anymore. Just as you will be. Then, once that happens you two can start fresh. I have no delusions of your bond. But she must become dependent on the synthetic or she will hunt Pureblood and Half-bloods alike. The Hunter in her will demand it and there will be no stopping her. What if H.O.R.D. were to catch wind of her? Hmm? Have you considered that, son?”
I dropped my head, swallowing down the blood in my mouth, I was thirsty but it wasn’t satiating me. “You know the synthetic doesn’t work well for me, Father.”
“We’ve come up with a new prototype, a fifty-fifty blend of plasma and synthetic that seems to be working in the intolerant amongst us. The Ferals are responding... Well, some are.”
“And if I don’t?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”