Payne had mocked, laughed, and hurt her. Pinching her flesh, pulling her hair. Showing everyone that would listen just how weak she was. How useless. He’d even clawed at her neck where Liam was supposed to have marked her.
She placed a hand to the skin. It burned to the touch, and she wondered if wolves had infections. She was human, and if it was dirty, she’d be sure to die.
Death sounded all right now.
She’d rather be dead than have to deal with the truth that Liam had lied to her. He wasn’t human, not completely. Half man, half wolf, and he’d lied to her. The mark on her neck, his need to take her. It hadn’t been because of her. Well, it had and hadn’t. He’d done so because his stupid wolf had told him to.
She wasn’t attractive.
Or worthy of such a mate.
Payne had told her that.
Liam as an alpha needed someone strong.
Someone who could be worthy of his affections.
She was nothing.
In that moment, she missed her small apartment, her laptop, her authors, her work. She wanted to go back home. To forget about Liam, and the way he smiled or looked at her. It was all a lie, right? He didn’t really have any feelings for her.
No one did.
“Aw, are we still alive?” Payne asked, giving her leg a nudge.
She flinched and tried to curl her body into herself, to make herself as small as possible.
It didn’t work. She cried out as he grabbed her hair and pulled her up so that his cheek was against her own.
He’d stripped her of her clothing, and he’d made a point of sneering at her full body. Poking and prodding at her cellulite legs. Laughing at Liam’s choice.
She couldn’t handle much more pain or humiliation.
“Leave me alone. Please. I have nothing to do with this,” she said.
“You have everything to do with this. You’re the very reason we’re here now, dealing with it. You’re all the reason I need. Liam will come for you.”
“He’s not arrived. I’m not his mate.”
“You are his mate, Rebecca. No matter what you say or how you try to hide it. You’re his mate. He’s a wolf, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t tried to breed you yet.”
The unprotected sex.
Payne burst out laughing. “So he has. Well, I have a good mind to keep you alive. Let’s see if you have his baby. That would be fucking amazing. I kill Liam, take his pack, take his kid, breed you to bear my own children.”
“I don’t know who you are. Leave me alone.” Her old anxieties were coming thick and fast. She wanted to run, but they had her chained up. She’d never been a fighter.
All she wanted was for Liam to come and save her, but he still hadn’t shown up.
“You want to see the magic again?” Payne asked.
The sneer in his voice was clear even though she didn’t look at him.
She shook her head, but that didn’t stop him. Before her eyes, his arm changed from that of a human. She watched the skin split, disappear, and then in its place was that of a wolf. Dark black hair, long claws, and thicker than his human arm.
Screaming, she pushed at him, trying to scramble away, but she didn’t get far. He grabbed her thigh, and she yelled in pain as his claws sank into the flesh. Glancing down, she saw the claws digging into her thigh. If she moved, he’d tear her leg to shreds.
“I’ve heard that human flesh is so damn easy. It’s like cutting through paper.”