Page 162 of Jace
He gives me the most tender kiss, his palm caressing the promise in my belly before he says, “One round. One minute to be sure he knows the truth; you won, so don’t ever fuck with us again.”
One minute of what?
I watch as they drag David to a metal table, his kicking arms and legs no match for the force of my kings: Nick, Axel, Sire, and Grant hold him down, while Loch covers David’s face with a wet towel.
Jace clutches a gallon of water, poised over David’s face, warning, “It’s gonna feel like you’re dying, but you won’t. You’ll live to tell the truth.”
While he pours and pauses, flooding David’s face with water, Nash stands beside me, his lips at my hair, assuring, “He won’t die. He’ll be okay. This’ll make him give you answers. He’s not trained to endure it.”
“Trained?” I glance up at Nash. “Are you all?”
The look Nash gives me reflects the band of brothers Jace has told me about. Years of brutality, bloodshed, and bonds formed. The kings can’t be broken, and their queens can’t be conquered.
“There’s only one thing the Bratva gave them,” Nash shares stoically. “Only one way you escape torture; you’re trained to survive it.”
I marvel at what I’m witnessing. Through David’s gasping sputters, Jace slurs every violation that could’ve been done to me, torturing David into keening denial after denial.
I could be abhorred, but I’m aware. I asked for this. Jace never lied to me. He warned me that he’d be a monster to protect me.
Torture: that’s his imprint.
But he’s also shown me the kind of man he is. The one willing to lie down for me, to open for me, to share with me, to take me as much as he’s claimed me too.
Love: that’s his instinct.
Jace stops, his chest heaving like the kill is complete. It didn’t take him long as Nash mutters protectively to me, “You’re okay, our queen. No way he could lie through that. You got your answer.” He pecks my hair. “You’re having your king’s baby.”
Nash sounds as relieved for me as I feel.
Though an ounce of me feels remorse until I watch Jace remove the towel over David’s face, then carefully sit him up as the kings let him go.
David coughs while Jace pats his back hard and confirms, “You ever gonna hurt a woman again?”
David splutters, “No. No, I swear.”
Nick gets in his blubbering face. “You ever gonna tell anyone who we are?”
“Never,” he hems.
Axel joins Nick. “Are you going to drop your frivolous lawsuit against Vivian and her father’s trust?”
“Yeah. Yeah, man. As soon as you let me go.”
Axel threatens, “I know how to find you if you don’t.”
Loch saddles up beside Axel, his voice as menacing as his body. “You gonna stop being a little fucking snowflake, and go get a goddamn job that actually helps people?”
David nods sheepishly, and Grant thumps his head. “And move so far away from Charleston that you forget what Vivian looks like?”
“And start going to church and pray.” Sire sermonizes. “Because only God can save you from us now.”
“Goddamn, y’all.” Nash huffs, marching toward them. “Is this an interrogation, an intervention, or a baptism?”
But Jace turns and slowly marches my way, leaving David behind.
The beast drains from his glare while the man with warm blue eyes returns to me.
Cupping my face. Nuzzling my forehead. Swearing to my eyes.
