Page 44 of Their Blood Rite

My father abandoned me to my fate. My fiancé stabbed me and fucked another as I watched on, bleeding and being cut by our family and friends.

I have nothing left and I had so little to start with.

I press the glass into my wrist, forcing the jagged point through my flesh, and drag it along, ripping myself wide open.

Blood spills quickly from the wound, and a cold wash of fear ripples through me.

I don’t want to die. But I want to live this life even less.

I take the shard in my other hand, ready to cut myself open again.

The bedroom door shatters. From beneath the bed, I see three sets of feet charge into the room.

‘Where the fuck is she?’ Archie demands. ‘WHERE IS SHE?!’

A pair of boots head this way, and Dorian kneels. His eyes meet mine.

‘She’s under here.’

I scream, desperately trying to end my life before they can reach me. The bed is fixed in place, both to the floor and the wall. So Dorian reaches in to grab me, wrapping his hand around my ankle before I can pull it away. Still screaming and trying to finish what I started, I’m yanked from under the bed. I skid across the room, stopping at Shaw’s feet. He looks down at me, rage radiating from him. The veins in his neck are throbbing, and his fists are clenched as he sees what I’ve done.

I move quickly, stabbing my other wrist with the glass.

He roars so loud that Archie, who is standing beside him, covers his ears and steps away. Shaw, moving so fast he’s a blur, hauls me to my feet and bellows furiously in my face. His teeth have sharpened, and he grips me so tight my bones crunch.

I scream, utterly filled with horror and fear, looking at those lethal teeth and the murderous rage behind those eyes.

He stops and says in a low warning.

‘Drop. It.’

Terror has me transfixed into a rigidness that means I can’t. I fucking can’t!

He bends my hand back. The bone snaps with a crunch.

The glass falls, and I wail in agony, looking at my wrist bent so far back it’s touching my arm and bone sticks through.

‘Y-you bastard!’ I scream.

His other hand secures around my throat, cutting off my screams and insults.

‘Ronan,’ Archie tries. ‘You’re going to kill her, man.’

‘No,’ he growls in my face. ‘She’s not going to be that lucky. Don’t say I didn’t fucking warn you, Pixie.’

I’m like a doll in his grip, dangling from his hand. He pulls me from the bedroom and carries me across the hall to another room. He kicks it open and takes me inside.

‘Shaw! The girl can’t breathe,’ Archie says. ‘Ease up. It’s nothing we can’t mend. She’s not hit any veins. It’s an easy fix.’

Shaw tosses me on the bed, releasing my airway so I can take in much-needed air.

I look up at him, frozen in terror.

He never looks away from me, pointing an angry finger at my face.

‘I warned you. Disobey me, there will be consequences.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I try, clutching my broken wrist close to my chest. ‘I-I won’t do it again.’

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