Page 112 of Claimed
“Who’s going to stop me?”
I signal to Venom, and with a nefarious grin, he moves to one of his boxes in the corner. He wrangles a snake out of the box and moves toward Leather. The man starts to squirm then probably remembers the spike beneath him and goes still.
“Black snake. Appropriate, right?” Venom says as he stands before the fucker. “Got him all the way from Australia.”
He handles the snake expertly, keeping the fangs in check while the body coils around his arm. I never understood his fascination with the reptiles, but it’s come in handy on many occasions.
“They eat frogs, birds, lizards…other snakes,” he continues. “Again, quite appropriate.”
As he places the snake on the trembling man’s leg, I nod to Razor. He and Motor lower the other bastard closer to the spike. Venom’s snake slithers up Leather’s leg, his forked tongue flicking out. It stops at the hip and heads straight for the man’s dick. Shit. Even I couldn’t have planned this better.
Laughing, I turn to Venom. “Looks like he thinks it’s another snake.”
“A tiny one.” Venom joins me, our laughter mixing with the Snake’s screams.
He begins to jerk around and his head falls forward.One down, two to go.I watch the blood running down his neck from where the knife pierced him. Venom retrieves the snake and places him back in the box. I stand in front of Ram, wondering if I should make this quick or not.
“Lower.”
They drop him until the point of the spike is touching his ass.
“Please. Don’t do this,” he begs.
“Yeah. That’s probably what Raven would have said.”
I imagine her lying on that bed as Super Head violated her. I snap my finger and Venom moves to the other box. This time, he comes back with a huge Boa constrictor. Ram starts to squirm, begging us to stop. With a nod, I seal his fate. Venom allows the snake to wrap himself around the terrified man. It slithers up, going straight for the neck. As it coils and starts to squeeze, blood begins to drip down. That’s the knife being forced into his throat. I grab one of the axes leaning on the wall and move toward the ropes. E does the same, taking the other side.I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. The words tatted on my left arm—that I strangely got from the Bible—echo in my mind. The sound is intensified by the call from the letters on my knuckles. Raven. This is all for her. I signal E and we slash the ropes at the same time. Ram’s scream is short-lived as he’s dead before I can even turn around. The sound of the spike running through his body calms me. It’s almost over.
“New name?” E chuckles. “Gage the Impaler?”
I walk out without a word, heading upstairs to find my woman. She’s riding around in a slow circle on one of the Ninja bikes while Ron gives her instructions. I should have known she wouldn’t be sitting around waiting for me. Spotting me, she stops, kicks down the stand, and shuts off the bike. She hops off, giving me an expectant look.
“Come with me.”
I lead her downstairs to the room I have Super Head in.
“Where are the Snakes?” she asks.
“Not an issue anymore.”
She steps into the room and her manner immediately changes. She’s on the offense, ready to strike. Super Head is watching cautiously. She must have heard the screaming next door and I can see all the scenarios running through her mind. I release the ropes on her wrists and ankles then pull the chair from under her. She falls to the floor but scrambles to her feet and scurries to the back wall.
“She’s all yours, babe.”
***Raven***
All mine.My fingers are twitching and I shiver at the electricity crackling in my veins. For every step I take toward her, she takes two backward, shuffling against the wall.
“What’s the matter? Not so brave now without your goons? Or is it because I’m not tied up?”
“Wha…what are you going to do to me?” she stammers.
“I thought about doing the same thing you did to me…then I thought it would probably be a little tickle for you.”
Gage leans on the wall, blocking her. She glances nervously between the two of us, no doubt trying to figure out which direction the attack will come from. She lingers on Gage just a bit too long, so I use the opportunity to grab her and drag her away from the wall. She stumbles but regains her balance and spins to face me. All these months of pounding on that bag has been preparing me for this moment. I don’t need to visualize a face now; I have the real thing in front of me.
“Get her, babe.”
The first punch knocks her off-balance. I didn’t put too much power behind it, though; I want to play a bit. She screams and holds her cheek, staring at me in shock. I land one to her stomach, then an uppercut when she doubles over. She falls to the floor, making no attempt to get up, so I kick her leg.
