Page 70 of Making the King

“Whoops. My bad.” Cain shrugs as Munroe fists the man’s graying hair and drags him into the center of the room.

The sobbing of the young girl has quieted as she sucks in shuddering breaths, hopefully realizing we aren’t here to hurt her.

“I’m ready.” Cara hisses, facing me, her hands balled into fists at her sides.

Reaching out, I brush her dark hair back over her ear. “I know you are, but first, can you help get the girl free? I think she will feel more comfortable with you doing that.”

Cara nods, as Cain and Stretch scuffle with the other two men, subduing them and forcing the three men to their knees in a line.

Knowing the men can’t get to her, Cara darts across the space to untie the poor girl, while Cain binds the assholes’ wrists and ankles with zip ties, and throws a few punches into each man’s gut before Cara speaks up.

“The girl has something to say.”

Turning back, I see that the young girl is now sitting on the daybed, a blanket wrapped around her as she trembles.

“T-these m-men, they b-bought m-me from some other m-men who c-call themselves the C-cali Reapers. They ride m-motorbikes and they k-killed my gran,” a loud sob escapes as her face contorts with the internal pain she is suffering from that loss. “A-and when my m-mom tried to save me from them, they beat her up and t-took me.”

Fuck. The Cali Reapers again. They are becoming a bigger fucking issue than we originally thought.

“How long have you been with them?” I ask, and her tear-filled eyes shift to me.

“A f-few weeks I g-guess.” She shrugs. “When I m-met Tina, I t-thought I’d be okay. That she’d t-try to protect me,” she sobs again, but this time, there’s anger in it. “But that w-woman is worse than the m-men. She made s-sure I was clean and p-pretty looking, before she brought men i-into the room they kept me in, a-and made me…” She cringes, and a shiver of revulsion makes her shudder. “S-she made me suck t-them. She t-told me it was p-practice for the big event, when I’d m-meet my new owners.” She sobs again and Cara turns her glassy eyes to me.

“Tina?” she asks, looking back at the girl. “As in Martina?”

Fuck. Cara’s mom.

The girl nods, tugging the blanket tighter around her naked body. “Y-yes. How did you know?”

Cara shakes her head, dropping her chin to her chest briefly as her breathing quickens. I want to step up and hug her and tell her that everything will be okay, but it’s not what she needs, and I know I’m right about that a moment later when Cara lifts her head and stands tall before rolling her shoulders back.

There is no sign of the young girl she once was. She’s nowhere to be seen. This person in front of me is all woman.

A warrior.

“It doesn’t matter how I know.” Cara finally answers as she steps toward the girl. “Was the big event tonight?”

The girl starts to sob again, nodding. “Y-yes. They took my v-virginity.”

All five of us growl in unison, turning our eyes to the three men who look nowhere near as cocky as they did when we entered before.

“She’s of age.” The pompous banker pipes up. “Dolly is legal. I have the paperwork to say as such.”

I scoff right as the girl screams.

“I am fourteen! And stop calling me Dolly! My name is Rose!”

Cara’s top lip twitches with the urge to slay, something I know she needs. Not just to take out her anger on the type of people that she was meant to be sold to, and not just because she knows that her mom is involved, as well as the Reapers.

There’s something carnal brewing inside her. It’s dark and consuming and something I’m all too familiar with.

She needs to punish.

Unsheathing my blade from my boot, I step up to my wife and offer it to her.

“Make them suffer, Killer.”

The courage and resolution in her nod nearly sits me on my ass. She’s never done anything like this before, yet she faces it with determination, not letting any fears she has get in the way.

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