Chapter 1

“Step into my office.”

Quiet, rough around the edges, the voice cut through the din. Smothering the shrill laughter, muting the too loud music. Everything faded away as the scent of leather and oil permeated the air.

Beau’s hands grabbed her. His cruel touch yanked at her hair, shoving her through a space filled to overflowing with smoky darkness and the scent of violence. Beneath it came the harshness of chemicals she had no name for, motor oil, cheap liquor and even cheaper perfumes. An undercurrent of brazen wildness thrummed along her nerves, twisting her panic higher as Beau toppled her to the floor within a dark room.

“Easy on the goods. Not buying if you break her.” The man Devin assumed was Rip paced through the inky shadows, switching on lights.

Too many of them came alive, their brightness blinding blown pupils. Devin whined low in her throat, arms covering her head. Knees curling to her chin, she had a moment to be grateful for the icy cement beneath her cooling the fire simmering under her skin. She pressed a too hot cheek against it, tears staining it a blackened gray before she lost any glimmer of respite.

Another cramp twisted through her stomach, the rush of slick dripping down her thigh to join her misery darkening the floor.

“How long she been like that?”

“Does it matter? Let’s talk price.”

“All right,” Rip said, lowering his bulk into a wide leather chair off to the side.

Devin could feel his eyes, though she couldn’t see him. The heat of his stare worked over her flesh. A scorching touch from feet away that had her writhing, arching against empty air as if to the caress of his hand.

“Five grand up front, and twenty percent for the next six months.” The sole of Beau’s boot connected with Devin’s thigh, flipping her over to face Rip.

Rip laughed. Deep, rich. A heady belly laugh bursting from full lips as he snatched the golden warmth of his eyes from Devin to give Beau his full attention. A slap of a broad palm against the arm of his chair added for good measure, he gave a shake of his head.

“She’s not one of your street girls, Rip. You can charge whatever you want for her. Just think of the margins.”

“Charge what I want, huh? I know my clientele, and they aren’t about to pay enough to make her worth that price.”

“Three and thirty percent, then.”

“What’s wrong with her that you’re trying to unload her on me,” Rip asked with a cant of his head, stretching long legs out. He smiled as Devin whimpered and stroked the arch of his boot. “Other than the fact she looks like you stopped about five minutes short of killing her.”

“Just getting bored with her.” Beau gave an abbreviated shrug. He circled Devin, giving her a wide berth to lean against the far wall.

“I’d be throwing money away getting her patched up enough to spread for the cheapskates. By the looks of her, you’ve kept her strung out however long you’ve had her. Takes its toll.” Rip waved Beau off, giving another shake of his head. “You want to know what thirty percent of nothing is?”

“Try her out, Rip. You’ll see what I’m talking about. She can take anything you dish out and beg for more.”

“Please,” Devin keened, knees and elbows scraping across the rough cement to get closer to the warm sage and darkness teasing at her senses.

“You smell real sweet, baby, but I’ve got something a lot nicer in the other room.” Rip bent down, swiping a rough hand over Devin’s hair. He wasn’t cruel at all, letting Devin nuzzle his palm before pushing her away.

“No way you have anything better,” Beau said through a low growl, twisting Devin’s hair in his fist. Pulling her up on her knees, he displayed her to the other male as Devin panted, hips swiveling to find some source of friction to ease her pain.

“Yeah, I do, and she’s not a hot mess like this one.” Rip stood, stretching his spine with a loud crack and a gratified sigh. “Listen, man, we’ve done good business in the past, so I’ll offer you two for her, but that’s it.”

“That’s not even going to cover the hormones I’ve used on her!”

“Why do you think I get mine the cheap shit?” Rey laughed and started for the door, clapping Beau on the shoulder as he passed. “Final offer. Yes, or no?”

“Fuck.” Beau bared his teeth at Devin when she twisted in his hold, small fingers tugging at his belt. “Fine. Just get her out of my sight.”

“I’ll tell you what, might could add a bit onto it. Let me see what’s out there and I’ll split it fifty-fifty with you. Might as well see what she’s capable of, and shame to waste this.”

“She’s got hours left,” Beau said, releasing Devin to follow Rip towards the door. “And she can take two if you can charge enough for it.”

“Two? Really now.” Rip made a considering noise, opening the door and holding his hand out for Beau to precede him.

Devin fell to the floor when she tried to follow. Legs giving way under another vicious cramp, she sprawled across the cement. She didn’t feel the cut at her lips, the abrasions on her cheek. The emptiness and frustration were her only thoughts.

Beau’s phone rang, the piercing noise rattling around her skull as Devin beat her fists against the floor. Rip watched her, one dark brow rising as she screamed, a watery curse spiraling from her lips to land on Beau’s broad shoulders.

“I gotta take this.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll get someone to watch her.”

With that, both disappeared behind the closing door. A lock slammed into place, echoing through the room full of Devin’s shrill wails. Bones crumbling, flesh turning to fire, she fell back onto the floor. She clawed at her skin, digging at the excruciating pain. Tearing at her hair, the momentary tug was nothing like what she craved.

Time slipped through her fingers, an intangible thing that flowed around her. Wearing away her sanity one second at a time, ripping away her soul with each minute. Nothing she did would ease any of it. No amount of pinching and rubbing could calm the ache. Each pitiful attempt served to drive her more insane.

“Gods, look at you.”

So lost in her turmoil, she hadn’t noticed the door open or the man who stepped inside. Some part of her registered the closing of that panel of wood, the heavy lock engaging as he turned a key. That piece of her still aware, still screaming in rage. It fell away as Devin held out a trembling hand and the male came to her.

He grinned as he took her fingers, his sharp tug pulling Devin to her back. She didn’t care about the scrape of the floor against her shoulder and hip, ignored the open cuts on her back as they ground into the gritty surface.

“Rip’s getting a deal on you, honey.” The man crouched over her legs, petting at the squirming limbs.

Devin bucked and whined, trying to entice the man. Reaching for him, he batted her hands away. He was being careful of her, not touching her anywhere she was desperate to feel a firm hand that wasn’t hers. Frustration rumbling through her chest, she voiced a vicious growl. Grabbing at the male’s legs, Devin pulled herself up his body. Tugging at narrow thighs, gripping smooth biceps, her fingers threaded through limp brown hair to scratch at his neck. Stretching that last inch to press her lips against the bare line of his throat, she cried out when he shoved her away.

“Gods, you want it, don’t you, honey? You don’t even care.”

The door slammed against the wall. Busted lock clattering to the floor, a hinge went flying in the opposite direction. The man above her stopped his teasing, scuttling back so fast his ass hit the ground. Hands held up, he began whining, smeared syllables tumbling over his lips as Alphas poured in. What had seemed a vast expanse of emptiness to Devin moments before became crowded with hot ash and smoke. Choking on their violence and rage, some part of her snapped.

“How much,” Rey shouted, shoving past Beau’s restraining hands, pushing him out of the way when Beau didn’t give ground fast enough.

“Six grand,” Rip said, remaining close to the doorway. He kept himself inconspicuous despite the dark figures crowding the open space beyond the busted door.

“What the hell,” Beau snarled, rounding on Rip to twist his shirt up in a fist. “You only paid me two.”

“Just thinking of the margins, man.”

“Deal.” Rey swooped down on Devin, plucking her from the floor to cradle against his chest. He slapped her bloody fingers away when they tried to stroke his cheek. Gave her a warning growl when her nose came up to nuzzle his neck. “I’ll send it over within the hour.”

“Good doing business with you, Mr. Rey.” Rip headed back down the narrow hall, ushering his men before him. Staying well out of the way of the furious Alpha.

Rey’s grip tightened, crushing Devin against the breadth of his chest as he made his way through the wide path the others opened for him. Drowned her in burnt coffee and hot ash when his hand covered the back of her head and pulled her face close. People crowded against the wall, watching with excited interest as the drama unfolded. More than one male scented the air as candied sweetness wafted by them, but Rey’s growl thundered through the space. A warning and challenge both that no one dared answer.

“I can’t believe this shit,” Beau hissed at Rey’s side, jogging to keep up with the long, purposeful strides as Rey carried Devin out of the sprawling building.

“Shut the hell up.” Rey didn’t turn his head, keeping his dark gaze locked on the black sedan waiting at odd angles with the curb. He stroked the back of Devin’s head, faint praise for not squirming once he had her in the passenger seat. Giving up on the belt when Devin arched and moaned at every glancing touch, he hurried to get the door shut before she could tumble back out to follow him.

“You’re not really going to pay that much for her, are you?”

Rey didn’t answer as he lowered himself behind the wheel. He bit out a curse as Devin tried to crawl over the console, his growls and demands falling on deaf ears as coffee and strawberries, the sheer power of an Alpha, flooded her senses.

“Sit down!”

“Just put her in the back.” Beau appeared at the driver’s window, pale brows drawing low as he watched Rey struggling with Devin. “Better yet, I’ll get in the—”

Whatever else Beau might have said became lost in the engine”s roar. Rey dragged Devin’s upper half over the console, pushing her head in his lap. Throwing the car into gear, the tires shrieked in protest as he slammed on the gas.

Devin lost the thread of everything. Nose smashed against the strength of him, every inhalation redolent of smoky espresso and tartness no matter the rage filled overtones, she knew a measure of peace. It wasn’t what her body craved, but that angry, terrified part of her calmed. Closing her eyes, Devin’s arms wormed their way around his waist. She ignored the grumbling spilling down her back and simply breathed him in.

An impression of pale walls, the music of an elevator, vibrant colors swirled around her. The apartment he’d first brought her to. Knowing where she was, Devin relaxed further. Melting against the Alpha as he carried her towards the massive bed, she hummed her pleasure. It had been good there. Nothing had hurt, at least not too much. He might be kind once more.

“You’re out of your mind.”

Caressing the back of his neck, she added a light scratch of her nails. Moaning, she stretched up to catch his lips, to soothe away whatever tension pulled their fullness to a thin line.

Rey muttered under his breath, turning on his heel to angle towards the gaping maw of a dark doorway. Disentangling her from his arms, pushing her from his legs, he settled Devin upon the cold tiles and disappeared. Abandoning her yet again.

Something spattered her hand. The shock of sensation drew her arm back with a gasp. Devin touched the wet spot with her opposite fingers, feeling the thinness of the fluid, losing herself in the timid caress until she brought the back of her hand to her lips. Licking at the salty liquid, she groaned. Rivulets slid down her face, marking her chest. Fingertips touched her cheek, the cool slide of moisture sending a shiver down her spine.

“Gods,” Rey breathed.

So close she felt the heat he exuded, Devin startled, clumped lashes flying wide, though she couldn’t stop dragging the salty misery to her tongue. The desperate need for something, anything, to give her any kind of sensation was too strong to deny. Dim light from a far-off source cast him in shadow, turning his dark features to midnight and pitch. He gathered Devin into his arms, crooning and shushing her plaintive whines as he lifted her into the low basin of the shower stall.

Water pounded down around her, hammering against the tiles. Biting, clawing at her skin. Though her heart raced, panic tightening her chest, he kept her from vaulting from the echoing cage. His loud growls and barked demands refused to be heeded. This wasn’t what she wanted!

“I have to get them off of you, sweetheart,” he groaned against her ear. Climbing into the shower with her, his clothes soaked in seconds, Rey wrapped Devin in his heat. Let her shelter in the darkness of his body as he crowded her into the corner. She shivered and whined, overwhelmed and distraught.

Then he touched her. Too soft at first, his palm skimmed down her back. Devin rounded her shoulders, shoving her face into his chest. Slippery hands grabbed at the wet folds of his shirt, twisting it in her fists. The second pass was firmer, abrading the small wounds on her back, but it thrilled down her spine. Legs worked to find his hips, to climb the mountain of muscle and intent before her.

Rich as expensive wine and dark as the espresso that was his scent, the purr echoed through the small room. Ricocheting from the tiles, slamming around her skull to seep down her back. It vibrated through her bones, melting them in one rough swipe. Other sounds flowed around her, meaningless as she went limp against the wide breadth of him. The worthless camisole came free, sodden fabric torn right off in his fists. Devin’s shattered hum joined the darkness of his purr. Pleased to be free of such constraints, she tugged at the soaked length of his shirt. Wanted him to be just as she was, for him to give what he promised.

Rey gathered her hands, putting them around his neck. The deep resonance pushed into her chest as he tucked her in close, running both hands along her back. Rocking her back and forth with each hard pass. Something flat, laden with citrus and herbs, billowed through the steam. It wrinkled her nose, ruining the perfection of earthy darkness and sweetness. He didn’t stop there. Her neck, legs, shoulders, arms. A systematic attack that coated her in the awful stuff. Muting the spun sugar of her scent, it destroyed the thing that would show him her readiness, to entice the Alpha to begin.

His purr somehow grew louder, stronger. A demand she had to answer, going limp as it loosened her joints. Unable to fight, to beg, to do anything but lie there as he scrubbed at her skin until she felt the warm sting of pink skin. At the first hint of a whimper, he tossed away the washcloth, purr growing all the richer as he pulled her back under the water. Awkward fingers tangled in her hair, attempting to undo the helpless knots and snarls. A vicious growl tried to ruin all his efforts before he leaned close and inhaled deep. Rey nodded, seeming satisfied despite the curl of his lips.

Water silenced, the purr still raging, he bundled Devin up in towels. Her body, her hair, another draped over her shoulders. Bringing her out into the bedroom, he stood between her and the lone lamp burning. Shielding her eyes from its brilliance, he blotted away the water trickling down her shins. The barest tremble of her shoulder brought a heavy comforter, leaving Devin swaddle head to toe.

One glance at the array of pillows and sheets in indigo and rusty red, and Rey grabbed her up. Crushed against his chest once more, her eyes drifted shut as she lost herself in the fathomless resonance. It wasn’t to the bed that he took her. Sitting sideways on the couch, he deposited her between his long legs. Back to his front so he could push that glorious calm into her every breath with his arms pinning her within the downy confines.

The small, crazed part of her, the bit that would always be Devin, raged all the harder. Naming it a lie, spitting her curses. Clawing at the dark recesses of a mind gone soft as the Alpha gave every illusion of being a protector.

It couldn’t last.

Beau didn’t bother to knock, key dangling from the ring as he pulled it free of the lock. The plain paper bag clutched in his other hand a harbinger of all the awful cruelties he’d visited upon her.

Devin tried to scream, to get away. She managed little more than a pathetic squeak, heels sliding over the silken fabric of her lofty prison. It was all the fight she had as Rey’s purr turned into a vicious thing. Twisting around her spine, forcing her shoulders to round. Demanding her submission couched in the sounds of comfort.

“What are you even doing?” Beau sneered at Devin, arrogant strides bringing him to the end of the couch. He reached for the shifting lump of her feet.

Rey’s growl was pitch black and brimming with the dark promise of far more than pain. As if it hadn’t been clear enough, he curled a leg over Devin’s, smothering her in his embrace. Covering much of her body with his to deny the other Alpha who stumbled back with wide blue eyes.

“Tell me you’re joking.”

Without the purr to sap her will, Devin latched on to the shimmering thread of rage shrieking in the darkness. Willed her muscles to move, limbs to fight. Feet kicked, heels finding purchase to shove against the plump cushions. She jostled in Rey’s hold as layers of fabric slipped against each other. They loosened enough she dragged an arm free, though it fell back in useless splendor as a shiver sped through her from scalp to toes. Icy shock crackled through bone and sinew, locking every cell in crushing cold. Freezing the breath in her lungs, her heart skipped far too many beats before she sucked in a gasping breath to choke on.

“Just leave it and get out. I can give it to her myself,” Rey ground out between clenched teeth.

“You have no idea how to give an injection, Rey.”

“And you apparently don’t know how to use them!”

“She’s fine.” Beau didn’t sound convinced. Blue eyes narrowed beneath the line of his brows as he crouched between sofa and table, rummaging in his bag of horrors for a new way to torture her.

Devin flinched with his every careful movement that sought to calm the Alpha holding her. Beau’s hands holding a syringe meant nothing good, no matter she didn’t recognize the clinking vials. Terror sizzled through her veins, panic sluicing away any last vestige of the scorching heat from the chemicals Beau had pumped into her earlier that day.

“You have to relax, Rey,” Beau murmured, the fingers of his unburdened hand brushing along Rey’s blanched knuckles where they gripped Devin’s arm. “I can’t do it if you don’t let me.”

“I can’t,” Rey whispered in a voice gone rough and thick. Growling when Devin shoved and kicked, the punishing hold became unseated for a mere second before he crushed her against him once more.

Seizing cold grabbed her around the throat, choking the wheezing gasps she managed. Her spine stiffened, pulled into a painful arch. Bowing her back away from the Alpha, lifting her into the air with limbs too stiff. Mouth opening on a silent scream as her body refused the painful weight of the over muscled cage of Rey’s limbs.

Devin would have shrieked, clawed out the icy blue eyes as they rushed towards her. The scalding cinnamon of Beau suffocating her as his body slammed into hers. Knocking her aside, he made room against the Alpha’s chest. The brush of stubbled cheeks crackled down her nape. Arm covering her face, smothering her under thick cotton and spices, he ran careful fingers down the opposite side of Rey’s jaw.

“C’mon,” Beau husked, a teasing lilt in the low rumble of his tone as he pressed closer. “You can do it, Danny boy.”

She couldn’t see any of it, but what she heard was more than enough. What she could feel was even worse. The wet slide of a tongue against skin, the quiet moans, a soft rumbling growl of pleasure resonating through her bones. Beau shifted them all, his touches and grinding hip knocking Devin aside again and again until Rey’s hands loosened. Squeezed between the back of the couch and the hulk of Beau’s body, something Devin had never felt before scattered through what little sanity she hung on to. It wasn’t relief as the liquid sounds of lips and tongues battling rose and fell behind her. Not the fear that was her constant companion all this time.

Something slimy and thick coiled low in her belly to gnash its teeth, howling into the darkness of her heart. Murky tendrils of it tickled along her shoulders as one of them voiced a hoarse moan. Teeth bared, snarl silent, Devin was more confused than ever. She needed away, to be out of the crush of their bodies.

Thoughts sluggish, movements even slower, Devin grasped the back of the couch and tried to peel herself free. She managed to sit up, twisted in their bulky forms, before the next wave of cold seized her. Threatening to break, shattering under their combined weight as they came on top of her. Pulling in every direction.

The needle slammed deep into her thigh. It gave Devin her voice, throat opening on a bitter cry. Rage and fear were paltry words for the sounds given to the sky and Gods beyond. The viscous sludge still lurking deep inside her chest refused to be set free. It clung all the tighter, digging its hooks in deep as Beau voiced a quiet call.

Not to her.

To Rey.

Devin tumbled to the other end of the couch, Beau taking her place. He evaded Rey’s lopsided blows, ignored the low snarls as he straddled Rey. Using his larger size to keep Rey below him, his fingers carded through the dark strands of Rey’s hair. Tugging his head back so Beau’s searching mouth could find the hammering pulse at his jaw.

Violence and sex were two sides of the same coin.

Splayed over the arm of the couch, Devin would have crowed in victory as her knees pulled to her chest at her command. Slow and fitful, her body became her own as the Alphas continued to ignore her. She tried to disregard the darkness pounding out a frenzied rhythm beneath the hard pounding of her heart, but found her gaze drawn back to them again and again.

Two Alphas were an unnatural thing, yet despite Rey’s weakening resistance, they moved as if this was the latest in a long line of such moments. Beau knew the shape of Rey, and so Rey knew the lines of Beau. Where to touch, to scratch, where each needed the bite of pain to ratchet their pleasure that much higher.

Devin felt even dirtier than she had at the beginning of this hell as clarity seeped into her thoughts. With it came the painful rush of true relief.

Now was the perfect moment.

Beau, so determined to keep Rey’s attention, seemed to employ every trick he knew against the male. Rolling his hips, grinding against the thick fullness Rey held aloft to give him access. He drew blood against Rey’s lips when he thought to look away at the soft creak of the sofa arm beneath Devin’s weight as she slid over it. Crawling across the floor, hope dared to flutter beneath the insidious darkness as she neared the door. Shuddering as she recognized their sounds for what they were, knowing them both too well, Devin folded her fingers over the knob.

A single glance back was the biggest mistake she made yet.

Rey’s wide eyes found hers. Pupils narrowing down to pinpoints from the softness of pleasure in a snap almost audible beneath Beau’s continued moaning. Beau ignored the first shove, the second push answered with a snarl of denial. Beau would not be turned away so easily. His larger frame worked to his advantage, Rey seeming unwilling to hurt the excited male above him.

Until Devin threw open the door, refusing to be stalled by their abhorrent, yet somehow fascinating, play for even a moment longer in her escape. Rey’s roar followed her racing feet, tangling them up as she slammed into the doors of the elevator. Slapping at the button, she couldn’t look back as heavy thumps and cracks exploded out of the open doorway.

The Gods smiled on her as the elevator panels slid open, revealing an empty cage of brass.

Not until they slid shut, the gaping threshold still empty of either male, did Devin realize her personal hell was not yet over. Not a stitch of clothing covered her. The scant protection of the citrus and herbal soap Rey had doused her in faded with every droplet of cold sweat that trickled down her neck. Staring at the wild-eyed female in the warped mirror of the shiny wall, Devin smacked the button for the lobby.

She couldn’t go back.