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Paige’s knees screamed almost as much as her shoulders. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep for the next ten years. Hunter promised her a long life of misery, but she had the distinct impression that was just a farce. She also knew Austin wouldn’t just sit around and leave her at Hunter’s mercy, and he was betting on that.
The men who had accosted her had drifted back into the shadows like mindless sentries, but Hunter crossed the room to stand in front of her. He crouched down and lifted her chin, studying her swollen features with a critical eye.
“I hate you,” Paige whispered, issuing a deadly glare.
He didn’t speak; he just stared until the silence encompassed the room.
Paige wanted to shift under his gaze, but she didn’t even have the strength to yank her chin from his grasp.
“I’ve dreamed of this for months,” he said, his voice no louder than a whisper. “But outside of screwing with you at the museum, this has not satisfied my need for revenge. You banished me.”
His eyes flashed with enough anger to layer another set of chills over her already freezing form. His fingers dug into her cheeks, and she kept her teeth clenched against the pain and fear ripping her insides to shreds.
“You will scream for mercy before I am done with you.”
“Promises, promises,” she uttered. She wondered just when she had lost her mind, but it had the desired effect.
Hunter blinked and dropped his hand, sitting back on his haunches.
The door on the far side of the room creaked, and Paige’s gaze moved from Hunter to the tall man stepping into the room. Even from this distance, his blue eyes radiated in the darkness like beacons. His gaze locked with hers, and she almost heard the “shhh” as his finger covered his lips.
Unfortunately, Hunter turned toward where her eyes had been drawn. He stood and turned, crossing his arms as the stranger halted after another step into the room. Austin stepped next to the stranger, and Paige’s heart sank.
Hunter uttered the same ancient words he had before. But the stranger’s brow knit, and his hands started to move. Austin focused on the movement and shrugged.
“You brought a deaf mute as backup?”
Austin chuckled and nodded. “I figured it was safer than being at your mercy.” His gaze moved beyond Hunter and landed on her. His wince at her condition was visible to both Hunter and her.
Hunter just laughed.
“Kill the deaf mute,” Hunter ordered. “And bring that idiot over here,” he added.
The men hidden in the shadows moved into view. Every man in the room carried a sharp object from knives to axes.
Austin’s jaw dropped open. The first traces of fear filled his eyes as they locked with Paige’s.
Two large men hauled him toward Paige but stopped halfway across the floor where he was turned to witness his friend’s death.
The stranger assessed the threat surrounding him before he traded a glance with Austin. The complete absence of fear in his eyes shocked Paige, but there was remorse. He sent a nonchalant half-shrug like this outcome had been expected. As the men got closer, the stranger shifted his stance into one that was vaguely familiar.
Hunter’s laugh rang out, pulling the stranger’s gaze his way. There was something hard reflected in his blue eyes, something that made Paige swallow the hope that flared.
Austin struggled to escape from the grip the men had on him, but it was useless. He was not equipped with the rugged muscles that tensed under the stranger’s shirt. Paige couldn’t place where she had seen that particular look before, and she just stared.
The first clod lunged and the man parried, knocking the blade from the attacker. He threw him into the line that had closed in behind him. In one move, he took out three attackers, but he didn’t have time to recover before an axe swung. He jumped out of the way, but the blade left a clean slice in his shirt. He fought valiantly with only a scratch here and there. Until the entire group attacked as one.
The man fell in the middle of the mêlée, and a couple of the weapons appeared bloody before they plunged in again.
“You bastard,” Austin whispered, still struggling while the men holding him turned him in Hunter’s direction.
The roar that came from the center of the attack zone snapped all their gazes, and each and every attacker fell like a blast had gone off in the center of the group. Each, and every, one was out cold, and standing undamaged in the center of them was the stranger. He gave Hunter a tilt of his head, and then his gaze landed on Austin.
He snapped his fingers, and the two men holding Austin fell in an unconscious pile as well.
Hunter remained stunned and blinking as Austin’s fist connected with his face, knocking him down. Hunter got his bearings quicker than Paige could have foreseen, and he was on his feet and behind Paige before any of them took a step.
Cold steel pressed on her throat.
“Don’t you dare,” Austin said.
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I please,” Hunter growled, but the knife flew out of his hand, clattering on the floor as the stranger approached.
His glare was intimidating and hauntingly familiar.
“What the fuck are you?” Hunter asked with his hand still balled in Paige’s hair.
“Your worst fucking nightmare.”
Paige heard the words as clear as day in her head, but the words from his mouth were just a jumble of non-articulate sounds. The venom that came with the words, along with the righteous anger in his eyes, tripped her memory, and she recoiled as much as possible in the chains.
His hand pushed out like a stop sign, and Hunter’s grip on her disappeared just before the thud. The man’s gaze dropped to hers, and he waved his hand like he was knocking a gnat out of the way. The chains holding her in place disintegrated.
Austin caught her before she face-planted on the ground.
“He’s mine,” Austin growled, and the man turned his hard glare in his direction.
“Not yet,” he signed and said at the same time. He walked over to the table of dark toys and scanned the horrifying contents before reaching out and picking up a simple pair of scissors.
When Austin went to set her down, Paige grabbed hold of him, keeping him in place.
“Don’t become him,” she said, her voice cracking with panic.
His murderous gaze softened. He slowly scanned the bruises traversing her skin, and his expression turned cold like his heart turned to ice. “He has to pay,” Austin said in a tone she had never heard from him.
The high-pitched scream pulled their attention to Hunter, and all she could see were his hands gripping air at his sides. The man stepped away, tossing the bloody scissors to the side along with the fleshy stub of a tongue. He turned and started to walk away, but Hunter’s scream turned into a growl and he launched through the air. A quick sidestep and Hunter landed face down. The man didn’t even glance at where Hunter fell. Instead, he approached Austin and Paige, unbuttoning his dress shirt as he crossed the distance.
He stopped in front of them and peeled the silk off his back, handing it to Paige.
“Thank you,” Paige whispered as Austin helped her slip into the fabric, covering up her naked and bruised form.
The man turned his head toward Hunter in time to catch a flying blade an inch from his face. The air rippled, and a burst hit Hunter, tossing him like a rag doll into the far wall. Then the man pulled a phone out of his pocket and tapped a few keys before taking a seat next to Paige and Austin.
“If he wakes up before the cops get here, you can knock his ass out,” he signed. Blood dripped from the hand that had caught the knife.
Austin gave him a simple nod.
“Who are you?” Paige whispered.
He extended his uninjured hand. “Tom Ryan,” he said when she tentatively accepted the handshake. His voice in her head was clear, unlike the words tumbling from his mouth. “Jackass over there won’t be able to control anyone ever again. It’s kind of hard to cast a spell without a tongue.”
Paige stared in confusion and then looked at Austin. “How come you weren’t affected by his spell?”
Both men pulled out elaborate medallions from under their shirts.
“His wife knew how to counteract his spells,” Austin said.
“Is that... bloodstone?” Paige asked, mesmerized by the ancient stone symbols hanging from simple silver chains. The Celtic knots made her gaze bounce to Tom’s.
He nodded.
She blinked a few times at his sheepish smile, and then the familiarity clicked once again.
“You starred in a movie...” Paige whispered reverently.
“No.” He shook his head but the wry smile remained. “Can’t act without a tongue.” He opened his mouth showing the stub.
“I swear, you look exactly like the actor in...” She trailed off, searching her memory for the title of the horror movie.
He chuckled, glancing in the direction of Hunter before signing. “I get that from time to time,” he said and kept his gaze glued on Hunter. A crease appeared between his eyes, and he scanned the unconscious bodies littering the floor.
“This isn’t over yet.”