3. ~Caleb~

My head was plunged into a sink full of ice water.

Three sets of hands held me steady, two confining my arms behind my back, another holding my head still and immersed.

The ice burned my skin and lungs alike.

Holding my breath was futile and within moments I was choking and spluttering, my body twisting and writhing in desperation to escape the coming blackness.

My hair was suddenly yanked on and I was pulled from the water.

I'd only just sucked in a ragged breath, my throat red-raw from the freezing temperature, before I was shoved back under.

Again and again.

The constant struggle, the lack of oxygen, and the strain on my body had me weakening.

It felt like hours, right when I was on the verge of blacking out, before they finally wrenched me out entirely, then tossed me down onto the concrete.

I was panting and convulsing as I spat up water violently all over myself and all over the floor.

And then they were on me.

The shadows.

So many hands pulling at my clothes, ripping them from my body.

They stepped away when I was completely stripped naked and I struggled to see through my blurry compromised vision.

It was too late then as a blast of water assaulted me.

A high-pressure hose of some sort, it seemed like.

It was like taking a beating all over with the intensity of the blasts, battering my exposed body.

I fought to move away from it, managing to crawl onto all fours.

Before I could get anywhere, though, a set of hands bore down on my back and then the water was directed to my ass, cock, and balls.

"Fuck!" I roared, my voice rough and cracking.

I bucked as something was pushed inside my ass.

I realized what all too quickly as a blistering freezer burn sensation tore through my sensitive walls. An ice cube from the sink.

Another was pushed inside and another.

Instinctively, I moved to rub my cock along the ground in a desperate move to counter it.

But then a hand wrapped around my shaft, squeezing brutally hard and making me jolt.

"Such a pain slut," a voice growled at my ear.

I felt a hard flick to my crown.

Another and another.

Over and over again.

The other hands holding me down prevented me from moving away, making me take it.

It stopped suddenly.

And then that hand was back, fisting my shaft. "Thickening."

The hand remained as fingers probed my ass, pushing roughly at the ice cubes burning me from the inside out.

"Thickening and thickening," the voice sounded in my ear. At a grunt from me, it taunted, "What's the matter? Don't want to come by the hand of your tormentor?"

The hand started fisting my cock wildly then and I shuddered all over as it wrenched pleasure out of me, colliding with the pain and the degradation in one hell of a mind-fuck.

Right when I was on the verge, it released my cock.

A nasty laugh rang out. "Aww, my bad. Were you close?"

The hands released me and I collapsed onto my stomach.

And then I was wrenched onto my back, boots stepping on my hands and feet, basically immobilizing me to the ground.

I blinked hard and looked out to see somebody crouching down beside my head.

Salt-and-pepper hair that was spiked with a lot of product and empty gray eyes—like Jett. The resemblance was undeniable. This fucker was in his forties at least, clad in a pair of gray dress pants with a matching waistcoat over a white shirt that was rolled up to his elbows. He was bigger than Jett, maybe an additional fifty pounds of muscle. Judging by the veins all over the place, he was roided up beyond belief.

"Elijah," I choked.

"In the flesh," he said, grinning nastily.

He reached out and stroked my hair.

I moved to jerk away, but one of his guys grabbed my face, forcing me to remain still and endure it.

"Hmm, you're such a pain slut that I can't use conventional means to extract information from you. Consider yourself special. What you'll endure here is tailor-made just for you."

"Conventional means?" I rasped.

"You don't remember. You weren't meant to, boy. That's on account of the drugs you've had pumped into your system for the last couple of days. That's over now, so you will soon. For now, I'll give you a little reminder. You didn't respond normally to my shock baton, nor to the beatings. In fact, you were laughing through all of it. Don't worry, though, we'll get there via other methods."

"Get where?"

"You're the closest being alive to Caspian King. You've been privy to his plans even more so since you've returned. You'll tell me everything you know. And then the tide will turn in my favor."

"Not telling you shit."

He dug his fingers into my jaw. "You'll tell me or you'll break."

With that, he pushed off me, then commanded his guys, "Secure him."

In the next moment, cuffs were slapped to my wrists behind my back, then to my ankles, forcing me into a fetal position, just before a boot slammed into the side of my head, knocking me out cold.

I joltedawake at the sound of screaming.

My head was throbbing, my body aching and freezing.

It took me several moments to get my bearings.

And then I saw that I was now bound by ropes spread-eagle to a four-poster bed with golden sheets and drapes in a different room than before. It looked like a master bedroom. But instead of furniture, as I strained to take in everything around me, bright lights making it more difficult, I saw that the three walls around me were covered in massive screens playing various videos.

What was… what was going on?

I peered closer at the screens and a shudder rolled down my spine at what I saw, the screams and sounds of utter terror and desperation swirling around me like a toxic cloud.

They were the women and men I'd rescued through my facilities. And this footage, it was what had been done to them before I'd liberated them.

Horrific things.

Being assaulted, degraded, beaten, and used, taken against their will.

No. No!

I tried to turn my head away, but I was stopped by resistance.

It took me a moment to strain enough to see the cause.

There was some sort of contraption secured around my skull and down to my throat, preventing me from moving my head even a single inch. Forcing me to watch.

I squeezed my eyes shut, but a violent buzzing started up between my spread legs, making them snap open again a moment later.

I strained again to figure out what was happening.

And there, strapped to my cock was a buzzing vibrator. Before I could wrap my head around that, the same intense buzzing started deep in my ass.

Fuck.

"Stop, you sick fucks!" I roared out into the room.

The door flew open and Elijah strolled on in, grinning in sadistic satisfaction, clutching a remote in his hand.

"Turn it off," I ordered.

He gestured at the remote. "This isn't for the video footage." He pressed a button and then the vibrators started pulsing.

"Fuck." I shuddered as the intensity wracked my body.

"Feels good, huh? Let go, let them please you."

"Burn in hellfire."

He merely laughed at that.

"Turn them off," I gritted out.

"Not until you come."

"What?" I choked, straining in the binds.

He came around to the side of the bed, his gaze running all over my spread naked body. "I want you to come while watching the video footage that I had so painstakingly put together for you."

What was his sick game?

He eyed his watch. "I want three orgasms out of you in the next hour. Then I'll turn it all off. But if I see you attempt to close your eyes and look away, I'll have Sebastian dragged in here, held down, and used as a fleshlight to make it so."

A chill rolled down my spine.

Bastian? Bastian was here? He'd been taken too?

I'd been here for hell knew how long but I hadn't seen him once, hadn't heard him. I'd thought he was home safe with Caspian and Skylar.

"No," I growled. "Leave him the fuck alone."

"I have been."

"You haven't touched him?"

"The opposite. He's been left bound in a dark room, much like that which you first found yourself in. He's received no water, no food. And he won't be either. At least, not until you start to cooperate." His eyes flashed. "He'll wither away from dehydration and starvation if you continue fighting my efforts."

"Sick motherfucker," I seethed.

"That's right, I am. I'm glad you're recognizing that. And sick motherfuckers like me? We have no limits. None." He stroked my cheek, grinning as he told me excitedly, "I'm going to turn you into the very people you hate." He gestured at the screens. "Those who did this." That malicious grin of his widened. "Those who abused your sister."

I thrashed on the bed. "Piece of shit! I'll kill you! I'll fucking destroy you!"

"Aww," he crooned, trailing his hands over my lips. "Don't worry, that rage will pass. Soon you'll need me. Once you become that which you hate, your brothers and that cunt bitch who killed my pest of a brother won't recognize you. Worse, actually. They won't be able to stomach what you've become. The only one who will is me. And that will be King's punishment for destroying everything I've worked for. Taking you from him forever. Simple death is far too quick and easy, wouldn't you agree?" He shoved his fingers into my mouth, putting the remote down so he could hold my jaw open with the other so I didn't bite them the fuck off, then he stroked my tongue sensually, sending shudders of revulsion through me. "And another plus for me is that I'll have a special boy like you as my new plaything."

He stabbed them down my throat, choking me out.

When I was on the verge of blacking out, he wrenched them free, making me cough violently and spit all over myself.

He slapped my cheek and stepped back, rounding the bed toward the door. "Enjoy yourself. I'll be watching."

With that, he walked out, locking the door behind him.

I roared out into the room.

Over and over and fucking over until my throat was raw.