Page 66 of Black Onyx
“No, no, no, no, no,” I beg, “please, no.” Sobs are clawing their way from my too tight chest, and I couldn’t control any of it if I fucking wanted to. I have well and truly been triggered.
Burying my head may not have been the best idea because now that I’m completely in the dark, the memories seem to gain more purchase. I find myself sitting on the dusty red floor as a grotesque demon towers over me. None of them seems to wear clothes, at least not in this dungeon, but this one is worse. He gets off on my terror, as evidenced by his hard dick. I will not let myself be abused by him like I’ve seen him do to the others. I know he’s strong enough to take what he so clearly wants from me, but for some reason, he doesn’t. I’m hoping it's an order, and he just enjoys my prolonged terror, but I can’t bank on that. I’m getting tired, my strength is starting to wane, and I know this time it’s going to take all I have to fight him off. He pulls me up off the floor by my hair and shakes me, plunging his claws into my stomach and grinning at my scream as he lifts his bloody claws to his mouth and licks them clean, his eyes practically rolling back in his head.
Whilst he’s distracted, I try to summon my magic, willing a spark or something to come to my aid, somehow Father has stopped my magic from manifesting, he called it a training exercise, and I highly doubt he expected me to end up here after all I’m his best assassin.
Done with his snack, the demon turns his attention back to me; I strike out, grateful for my enhanced strength. He grins, grabs my arm and snaps it like a twig.
I scream.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Loki
Ihear her scream, and I’m gone, following the sound as the others follow behind me. The fact that we’re all using our true speed rather than tampering it down like we usually do says a lot about how much we all care about Farren.
What I see when I get to the changing room has me freezing in shock, the guys nearly crashing into me. I step further into the room, allowing them to see what’s going on as I study the scene in front of me. Farren is curled up in a ball on the floor, rocking back and forth as sobs wrack her body, and she repeatedly says no. I glance toward the only other person in the room. I thought Storm had decided to apologise for the shit he was pulling today, but clearly, something went very wrong.
The unflappable and stoic Storm is staring at Farren with absolute devastation clouding his features. This looks really bad, and if it were anyone but my bond brother in this situation, then I’d instantly assume the worst, and he’d be dead. There’d be no question about it. But he is my best friend, teammate and brother, and I know for a fact that he wouldn’t physically hurt her. With his words, sure, he’s got a sharp tongue, and Farren seems to like verbally sparring with him even if he does take it too far sometimes, but he would never physically or sexually hurt her, which is what this looks like.
Before I can react in any way, Reaper charges past the rest of us, who are still frozen in the doorway, a deep and threatening growl echoing around the changing room as he rushes Storm and has him pinned to the lockers behind him by his throat within seconds.
“What the fuck happened?” he growls, his voice part beast.
I share a worried look with the guys. It’s a testament to his friendship with Storm that he didn’t immediately shift. The good news is that he is talking, so he’s not so far gone that we have to worry about him completely losing control. Of course, that depends on what Storm says to him.
“Start talking, brother.” He demands, his eyes flashing with anger.
“I-I-I don’t know,” Storm stutters, which makes us all pause and really take him in. He hasn’t stuttered for well over a decade. He continues, “I was just going to give her shit like I have been all day. She usually fights back, and I fucking love it, but this time,” he cuts his own sentence off as he clenches his fists by his sides, not even trying to remove Reapers hold on him, “why won’t she let me help her? Why was she in the Shadowlands? She shouldn’t have been there. She could have been hurt, a-and she can’t be hurt, she just can’t. I knew she didn’t like my wings, b-b-but I was p-p-panicking, and they came out. They aren’t used to being bound.” His ramblings are extremely telling.
“That’s why you’ve kept your wings hidden? Because you think she doesn’t like them?” I ask, he nods, and I add, “I think they remind her of something.”
Reaper loosens his hold on his throat. It’s easy to see the delicate state he’s in right now, “What happened, Storm?”
His eyes haven’t left her once as he’s been talking, “Her eyes glazed over like she wasn’t really here anymore and then she screamed and dropped to the floor.”
“You fucking triggered her,” Killian growls, not pulling any punches when he tells his brother exactly what he’s fucking done to her. His hands clenching at his sides as his tail whips back and forth and stabs the air.
“No n-n-no, I fuck!” his face crumples, showing more emotion than he has done for as long as I can remember.
It’s at that point that I realise I was wrong. I thought that Storm was fighting his feelings for her, that because he hadn’t given her a chance, not a real one, he was behind the rest of us in what we feel for her and what she means to us. I was so wrong. He’s been pushing her away and acting like an arse because he’s already fallen, and it scares the shit out of him.
Fuck.
Mayhem slowly moves further into the room and then stops immediately as Farren’s cries increase at the sound of his footsteps, and she makes this horrendous keening sound, then adds softly, “She’s having a flashback.”
At the sound of the keening, we all stop moving. Holy fuck, how do we fix this? I feel utterly helpless. There is absolutely no hiding that I have feelings for her; we all do. I think the only one who doesn’t realise is Farren herself. We’re gone for her, and seeing her like this and not knowing how to help or what could make it worse is killing me. Somehow, even though she’s in the depths of a panic attack, I’m not getting anything from the bond, like she’s automatically closed it off. I glance over at Killian questioningly, and he nods that he’s not feeling anything either, a deeply concerned look darkening his features.
Storm drops to his knees, shocking the shit out of all of us as he crawls towards her. When she doesn’t make the keening noise again, we all follow his lead and sit our arses down, making ourselves as small as possible. I can’t help my shocked stare as Storm is literally brought to his knees.
When he gets just over a metre away, she tenses again, and he immediately stops advancing. The words that come out of his mouth next are almost shocking enough to convince me that we’ve slipped into an alternate reality, which is entirely possible, although very rare to do so accidentally.
“Shhh, b-b-baby, it’s me, I’m not going to hurt you, sweetheart, I promise. I’m so f-f-fucking sorry.” He keeps his voice soft as he talks to her, and it seems to be getting through to her because her tense shoulders start to loosen, and her rocking slows down. Seeing this, he painstakingly slowly starts to move forward again, still crawling.
I can’t even begin to comprehend the words that just came out of his mouth. Any barrier that was holding his emotions back and ensuring they remained hidden has been completely obliterated. A quick look around at the others shows the utter bewilderment they’re feeling as well, and I’m relieved that it’s not just me.
My attention goes back to Storm and Farren just in time to see that he’s managed to get within reaching distance of her, and she is calmer than she was, rocking slower and not quite as tense. I watch with bated breath as he slowly reaches out and gently lays his hand on her folded arms. She flinches hard and lets out a whimper as she starts to tense again, and he immediately lets go, but he doesn’t back up.
“Baby girl, it’s me. Come on, d-d-darling, look at me? Whatever you are seeing right now isn’t real. You aren’t there now, Baby girl, you’re at the academy, with me, Loki, Killian, Rival, Mayhem and Reaper, do you remember? I can prove it to you, Baby. All you’ve to do is look at me. C—c-come on, look at me,” our stoic, unfeeling, and emotionally closed off leader pleads with Farren.
