Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
Nodding, Devin moves over to the cabinets. “I just need to sedate him.”
“No!” a guy barks out.
Devin turns to face the room. “I can’t help him unless he’s sedated. I have to cut him open-“
“You’ve got two choices.” The man interrupts him, moving the gun and pressing it into the side of Haidyn’s head. “You either cut him as is, or you give him a shot of adrenaline.”
Devin looks at Haidyn and then at the guy and nods. He begins to rummage through the cabinets and drawers, tossing items he needs onto a metal tray. Then he grabs more restraints from a cabinet underneath the table.
“What the fuck is that for?” one of the men asks.
“What you have on him now won’t be enough,” Devin explains, connecting a leather belt to the side of the table and throwing it over Haidyn’s waist. “Once the adrenaline hits, he’ll be hard to keep down. I need him as immobile as possible, especially if I cut him open.” He tightens the belt and then places two more across his legs. He pulls a mouthpiece out of a drawer and turns to Haidyn. “Open,” he orders.
Haidyn’s eyes find Devin’s, and what he says makes the hairs on my neck stand. “Ash-tyn?”
One of the guys laughs. “That bitch is as good as dead. You’ll be lucky to join her.”
Haidyn opens his mouth to say something, and Devin shoves the mouthpiece into it, not wasting any time. Then he takes the needle, plunging it into Haidyn’s bloody chest.
FIFTY-SEVEN
SAINT
We’re landing and in the car within an hour and twenty minutes. Way too long but as fast as we could get back. We enter Carnage when my cell rings. I answer on speakerphone. “We’re here…”
“We found her. Sending you a pin now.”
I hang up and look down at my cell. We race to the back of Carnage and run through the woods. My heart hammers in my chest.
Voices come from deep within the trees, and I’m sucking in breath after breath as I watch the guys grow closer. Ryat stands next to the broken box, shovel in hand. Tyson is down on his knees next to a body.
“ASHTYN!” I scream, running faster, not sure where I got the rush from, but knowing I have to get to her.
“Saint.” Tyson stands and turns to face me. He moves in front of me, hands on my chest, bringing me to an abrupt stop.
She lies on her stomach, head to the side, dark hair hiding her face. Her arms are still tied behind her back and secured to her ankles in a hogtie position. “Untie her!” I bark at them as they just stand around staring.
“Her neck is broken.” Sin whispers, kneeling beside her while looking up at Ryat.
“No!” I shove Tyson out of the way and drop to my knees next to her.
“Saint?” Tyson places a hand on my shoulder, and I push it off.
“Someone give me a fucking knife,” I demand.
“Here.” Ryat kneels on the other side of her and opens his pocketknife. He cuts the rope that binds her wrists to her ankles, and they fall to the ground. I pick her up in my arms, and her head falls to the side. Sin was right…her neck is broken. My shaky hand pushes her dark hair from her face, and I take in a deep breath, pulling the body to me.
I drop my head to hers and let out a cry of relief. Dropping the body, I stand and look at Kashton who also stares at the dead woman. When his eyes meet mine, he frowns. “Where the fuck is she?”
“So this isn’t Ashtyn?” Jenks asks. He, Alex, Finn, and Colton stand quietly to the side.
“No!” I growl, my shaking hand pushing my hair off my slick forehead. “How the fuck did you find her?” I point at the dead woman. I’m not sorry she’s dead. I’m just glad it’s not my wife. But the fact that this was a setup makes my stomach knot more than it already was. What was their plan? Did they think I’d find her so quickly? Was this just a ploy to keep me busy for however long while they took my wife out of the country? It hasn’t even been two hours since they sent the videos, but they had been pre-recorded. How and when did they switch out the bodies?
“After watching the video, I decided to try to track the vibrator…”
“Excuse me?” Kashton asks, frowning.
Finn holds up his cell. “The vibrator is linked to an app. Anything linked to an app requires some sort of Wi-Fi, which allows me to track the signal.”
“Can you track the cell it’s coming from?” Kashton asks.
He shakes his head. “I tried, but it’s no longer in service.”
“FUCK!” I take a step back from the woman.
“We’re not going to give up.” Tyson steps in front of me. “We’ll find her.”
But the question is, will she be dead? I don’t ask that out loud because we’re all thinking about it.
“It has to be an inside job.” Kashton is the one who speaks next. “We’ve got to find out who the fuck got access to Carnage and how.”
As much as I hate it, he’s right. I need to find her, but I also don’t want to be looking blindly. I need answers, and I’m only going to get them if I know who has her.
“But where do we start?” Sin is the one who asks.
I look at him, and I’m thankful that we didn’t kill him when he gave us the chance. And the fact that he showed up to help when he knows I was using him as bait. My eyes drop to the dead woman at our feet, and I get the first glimmer of hope. It makes the corners of my lips twitch. I love a good bloodbath. “I know just where to start. Bring her.”
ASHTYN
They say death is peaceful. They say there’s a white light and that you have this sense of serenity. A calmness washes over you as you accept that it’s all over.
Is that only if you go to heaven?
Because I’m pretty sure I’m dead, and everything hurts like hell. I’m freezing. Like a bone-chilling coldness that has my entire body shivering. My jaw is sore, my teeth locked down tightly on the ball shoved into my mouth. Lips cracked and face swelling.
I hear voices and music in the distance. It takes everything I have to lift my head. A light shines ahead of me, and I can see through the back of a house. The floor-to-ceiling windows allow me an inside view of the three-story mansion.
I’m not sure how I got here or how long we’ve been here. But I woke up like this what seems like hours ago. From the looks of the trees that surround me, I’d say I’m in the woods. My wrists are tied together with rope and secured above my head to what looks like a metal pole that runs between two trees. It pulls my torso tight.
My legs are spread wide open, rope wrapped around each ankle and secured to cinder blocks that I’m standing on. I try to pull free, but all it does is feel like I’m tearing my muscles.
I whimper as drool runs from my gagged mouth, and I sniff, trying to breathe, but my nose is stuffy. Something crawls up the back of my leg. For all I know, it could be a snake or a spider. I’m praying for the snake. Maybe it’ll make its way to my neck and wrap itself around me, suffocating me. The thought makes me think of Saint and what he watched on the tape that the guys recorded back in that room at Carnage. Has he seen it yet? Was it live? Does he even know that I’m no longer there? And Haidyn? Where the fuck is he? Did they kill him? He had been shot and wasn’t talking much when they separated us. God, I hope not. I’d hate to be the reason they hurt him.
A back door to the house opens, and two guys step outside onto the porch. I tremble as they walk down the concrete steps, passing the Olympic-size swimming pool, heading right toward me.
There’s not a lot of light where I’m at, but the back of the house gives off enough that I can see enough. They’re dressed the same as before-black pants, black long-sleeve shirts with matching gloves and masks. They’ve got their voices altered so I can’t tell if they are the ones from earlier or not. I hate that the most, that they’re hiding who they really are. I’d prefer to see their true faces. Only a coward chooses to hide himself.
“I say we let her go, and we play a fun game of hide-and-seek,” one suggests as they come to a stop in front of me. I don’t have to see their eyes to know they’re running over my naked body. “First one to catch her gets her mouth. The other gets that sweet cunt.”
The other man laughs. “Why chase the bitch when we can have her right where she is?”
“You’re no fun.” The first one pouts.
My hair is grabbed, and my head yanked back, making me cry out into the gag. My spit flying out around it. Hands dig into my already sensitive cheeks squeezing painfully and tears fall from my eyes.
“No. I think we’ll fuck her right where she is.” He lets go and lowers his hand to his black jeans.