Page 56 of Unholy Gambit: Checkmate in Blood
He grunted, low in his throat, and held still.
The second tore lower. The third crossed the spine.
Each lash a claim. A line he could never erase.
By the fifth, his vision blurred at the edges, and he tasted blood. Had he bitten the inside of his cheek? Or had it slammed against the whipping post? He couldn’t be certain.
By the ninth, he felt air on bone.
Ten. Eleven.
Twelve.
The final strike landed just below his shoulder blade, and when the barbs tore free, they took a strip of flesh the size of a palm, as if the bastard meant to scoop out a piece of him to keep.
Silence reigned.
Then Marco’s voice rang out, crisp and final: “Peragere.”
The chains released. Josef stepped forward to unlock the steel shackles. Axel held onto the whipping post for balance, but he didn’t fall. He stayed standing, upright, blood streaming down his back. He took several seconds to work his hands down the pole, and then stepped away from it, his hands hanging at his sides.
Pain radiated outward like electricity from a shattered transformer — violent and uncontrolled, arcing through every nerve with nowhere to land.
But this pain wasn’t punishment. It was penance. It was price. And he’d paid it.
His voice was hoarse when he spoke, but it carried. “I owed him that. The price is paid.” Tariq stepped to his side, unsure of how to help him. Axel wrapped his arm around the leopard shifter and let him help him out of the room, and he telepathed Adelaide.Please give me at least ten minutes with my meal before you allow my companions to come to me.
The favors are piling up, dear brother.
I’m aware, and you know I’ll pay up.
An inscribed ring-hilt sword was dug up in the vicinity of the Oseberg ship burial. I was in the process of trying to acquire it when everything went to shit during the Second World War. If you can acquire it for me, we will be even. If you’ll promise to try your best, I’ll send one of my pets to feed you once you’ve drained your leopard.
I know who owns it and can attempt a negotiation for you to purchase it, but we’ll be better off stealing it without approaching him, since he isn’t likely to sell for any amount. I’ll help you steal it, but it’ll be at least a four-person job — the two of us and your pets.
Done. Which pet would you prefer?
Dane, please.
It wouldn’t do to drink from a beautiful woman and make his Aurélie jealous.
* * * *
Aury held Ruby’s hand when someone finally took them to Axel. He’d been so broken, so weak, when he’d miraculously, unbelievably managed to walk out on his own two feet.
He was in the shower when she entered, someone helping two men out of the room. Had he fed from both of them? They looked, well,drained. Half-dead. Dazed.
And her Axel stood with his back to the flowing water, steam rising around him, soaping his front with a bar. No cloth. Just running the bar over his chest, his stomach, around a large flaccid cock, under his balls. He bent to run the bar down the fronts of his legs, and she got another look at his back.
A gasp tore from her, and Axel’s hand paused.
“It will heal.”
She didn’t trust her voice, but it felt cowardly to telepath, so she took a breath and spoke out loud. “Ruby says the last twelve won’t.”
“They’ll leave scars, but they’ll heal.”
He stood back up. Met her gaze. “He bears scars from this exact sentence, given from my lips. He deserved them for his crimes, I did not, and yet…” He shrugged. “I was cruel in other ways. It’s a fitting recompense. He could’ve asked for more.”
