Page 10 of The Magic of Eternity
Sweat ran down my face as my body jerked from the torture. I’d have lost count of where we were if it wasn’t for the crowd counting. He hadn’t split my skin yet, but if he increased his force, it wouldn’t take much at this point.
“You’re welcome, by the way. Imagine what you’ll be capable of now that you can do such a thing. You became more. You became better!”
Thwack.
“Thirty-six!” the crowd shouted. I was still standing. My ears were ringing, my heartbeat so loud that the shouts and cheers sounded like whispers.
“Shift!”Thwack.“Now!”Thwack.His pace picked up through the next barrage of lashings and he moved down, hitting the backs of my thighs now. Fucking hell. They just kept coming.
“Your mate wouldn’t want you to fight this, shifter!” I growled at the mention of her. “Ah. So you are listening. Good.”
Thwack.Sweat poured down my face, mixing with the tears I wasn’t able to hold back. I had no idea where we were in the count. I’d blocked it out, picturing my Cub. The way she’d smile at me.Thwack.How she loved when I’d make her homemade snacks.Thwack.How much she loved me.Thwack.
“Shift and I’ll allow you to see her.”Thwack.
‘He’s a liar,’Bagheera growled in my mind.
‘I can’t shift anyway! He’s going to kill me,’I shouted, anger setting in now. Dangling my woman like that in front of my face—how dare he?
I knew the moment my skin split under the whip. The crowd gasped. And Asrael didn’t stop. He was careful not to hit the same spot, forcing me to endure this torture for as long as possible.
“SHIFT!” he roared.
“IT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” I screamed, as he brought the whip down so hard and fast that all I saw was a flash of bright white light behind my eyes.
The crowd was quiet now as he worked. He’d turned his attention to my ass now, leaving no part of my body untouched by his cruel methods. My arms were shaking so badly; it was getting harder to use the binds as a way to help myself remain on my own two feet.
The whip cracked again against my back, this lash the hardest yet, and I screamed. My feet slipped in the puddle of blood beneath me. The heat of the sun rained down on my shoulders as I hung there, trying to find the strength to rise again. The whip never let up.
‘Let the darkness claim you. It is the only way this madness will end,’Bagheera pleaded. It wouldn’t be hard to give in. The pain was so visceral at this point that I felt as though I was floating above this scene, looking down at myself.
“You’re so strong. Look at you taking my whip so well. We’re closing in on one hundred. By far the strongest man I’ve had on my cross,” Asrael praised me. Like this was something to be proud of. He was turned on—I could hear it in his voice and I’d seen it earlier in his eyes. The thought made me fucking sick.
Another lash. More blood. I couldn’t stand. I hung limply and hoped I’d pass out soon. I wasn’t going to shift like he wanted. It. Wasn’t. Possible. I heard him swearing and breathing heavily, felt lash after lash on my skin until everything became too much. Oblivion finally came for me, and I welcomed it.
The first thingI noticed when I regained consciousness was a thrumming pain across the entire back of my body. I blinked groggily; my mouth was so dry, I would’ve lunged for a glass of water. Slowly, I tried to move and was halted immediately by a burst of debilitating pain. I couldn’t believe that motherfucker had whipped me publicly... and gotten off on it.
I remembered the husky and breathy tone his voice had taken, the more I broke beneath his whip. It was at that moment I felt movement beneath my cheek, and I was horrified when a hand slipped into my hair, caressing my head. My heart was pounding. Jesus, he was actually following through with his threats. A whine slipped out, thanks to a mixture of the pain I was in and the fear of being used like this.
“Kai?”
I was so fucked in the head that I’d started hearing things. Cam’s voice. Wouldn’t that be a dream come true?
“K, are you awake?”
His voice broke something in me. Tears built in my eyes, for myself, for my family that I’d lost. I sniffled and took a deep breath—leather and fresh rain.
“Cam?” I whimpered softly.
The person beneath me shifted, gently setting my cheek on a pillow. This had to be some kind of dissociation moment. Imagining that he was here like this, my subconscious was clearly trying to protect my mind from a complete break.
A calloused hand cupped my cheek. “Look at me, Kaito.”
I clamped my eyes tighter and refused. His thumb rubbed my cheekbone gently, so soft it was just the barest whisper of a caress.
“Why won’t you look at me?” he asked, his tone full of pain.
“Because,” I whispered, “if I open my eyes and confirm that this is all in my head... I’m done. If I open my eyes and you’re not here, I don’t want to be here anymore.”
