Page 80 of Act of Passion

Malik ran his hand into her hair and rocked her body gently, feeling her pain as if it were hisown.

“Something was wrong. My contractions weren’t normal. And they were instant and way too close together,” she said, sniffling. “Gram knew that between what I’d endured at the facility for eight months, and Bethany being incredibly powerful in her own right, that she was putting a huge strain on my system. He knew, deep down, that only one of us would make it. Bethany or me. Because without what my body needed, it couldn’t handle theload.”

Malik gasped, holding her tightly tohim.

“He also knew that time wasn’t on our side,” she confessed. “He peeled into a gas station, carried me to the bathroom, laid me down gently. I don’t remember a ton after that because of the pain and the room fading in and out. I just remember him bending over me, asking me to forgive him before his mouth was suddenly on mine. I didn’t understand why he was kissing me and I didn’t have the strength to ask or protest. The longer he kissed me, the less pain I was in, the more alert Ibecame.”

“He was feeding you the sexual lust you required,” said James, easing closer. “It wasn’t in him to let you suffer. I’ve known him a long time, Brooke. He’s a good man. I also know him enough to know it probably killed him to do that. He already had a firsthand look at what you’d suffered through while being held, and I’m guessing its far worse than any of us will everknow.”

She nodded. “Itwas.”

“Brooke, if you’d like to speak to me in private, Malik will leave us to talk,” said James, giving Malik a knowinglook.

Malik’s entire body tensed when he realized why James offered to make him leave in order to speak to Brooke. He wanted to know the full extent of what she went through—and the man suspected it went far beyond testing and physical abuse. Not that either of those wasn’t horrible in their ownright.

Brooke clung to Malik. “Haneez tried to touch me in the van after they’d taken me from the resort. Something happened that I couldn’t wrap my mind around. I felt this weird cold feeling and he was suddenly propelled away from me. I also had this huge flash of my mother come to mind. I remembered seeing her do something similar when I wasyoung.”

James rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I had a feeling Malik’s claiming was what triggered your dormant supernaturalabilities.”

Malik held his wife tighter, hating knowing she’dsuffered.

Brooke’s hand came to his chest as she ran her hand over the spot of his “son of the god king” tattoo. “I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. But at the resort when Malik was challenging Haneez, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary with him, other than every time he was close to me it felt like bugs were crawling on me. Then in the van, he was suddenly in the back of it, grabbing me and telling me that he’d warned me. That I was a whore and it was time I learned myplace.”

Malik stiffened. “Wait. Haneez isAsshat?”

“Yes,” she said. “He tried to…hurt me. Then he was suddenly thrust away from me but I didn’t understand how or why. He glared at me and then smiled. He told me that his men were attacking you as he spoke. That they were going to make you suffer and kill you. And if I ever did that to him again, he’d kill me. I didn’t understand then what he was saying. I was terrified for myself and Edee and felt like my heart was breaking because I’d sensed at the nightclub that Haneez was going to hurt you in some way that would be devastating to you,Malik.”

“Brooke, he never touched me,” said Malik, rubbing her backgently.

James cleared his throat. “That’s not true, Malik. From what the other men have told me, knowing she’d been taken and that she’d not left of her own free willdiddevastate you. It killed a piece of you, and from what the guys said, you weren’t the same man afterthat.”

“I wasn’t,” he said. “I felt like I was going through the motions of life when all I wanted to do was die. But that wasn’t an option because deep down I knew she was still alive, despite everyone else thinking she wasdead.”

“They tell me that you never stopped looking for her, but as time went by you did it in secret.” James stayed close to them. “And they said they couldn’t understand your obsession with a human female. That you were acting like she was yourmate.”

Brooke kissed hisneck.

“Brooke,” said James softly. “What else happened while you wereheld?”

Malik rubbed her backmore.

“When we got to the place, the men who took us dragged us in. It was then I saw who I thought was Garth. I was too stunned to the point I couldn’t speak. How could a man who had been funny and caring hours earlier look so sinister and be so cruel?” She twisted in Malik’s arms, facing James. “He took a weird interest in Edee. One I didn’t notice him doing at dinner or theclub.”

“Because he wasn’t really Garth,” addedMalik.

She nodded. “He grabbed Edee with one hand and me with the other as he dragged us into the facility. He threw me at a man with long white-blondhair.”

Malik fought the urge to growl, already knowing who that man was.Elm.

Brooked caressed his thigh, as if sensing how on edge he was. “The man, Elm, sucked in a big breath and when I looked up, his eyes were swirling. I screamed and he dragged me against him, licking his lips. Then the same thing that happened with Haneez in the van happened again. I felt cold all around me and then Elm was suddenly thrust away from me. He looked up at me with this hungrylook.”

“He figured out you were of his line,” Malik said, wanting to hunt the man and killhim.

“Yes. Over the next few months, he began to spiral from bad to monstrous. He hated that I was pregnant and that the people in charge wouldn’t let him hurt me or the child.” She took a deep breath. “But that didn’t stop him from trying. He’d hit me with so much power that he’d leave me broken for days. The doctors there changed up the tests they were doing. One day, they came into my cell and strapped me down to the bed. They started injecting me with stuff and hooking me to IVs. Cody, who was in the cell next to mine, wentnuts.”

James met Malik’sgaze.

“He shouted at them, banging the bars like a crazed man. They laughed and told him they’d figured out who I’d come from. Who my parents were. And they informed him they’d see to it I was as powerful as my father and my mother. About an hour or so later, I was still strapped down and Cody was still there, clutching the bars, his gaze never leaving me. His eyes widened and hegasped.”

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