Page 154 of Specter Bred

“You tased me, you dumb fuck,” I slurred, still fighting through the fog in my head. “Couldn’t even fight me like a real alpha.”

I let out a weak, humorless laugh.

“Not surprising considering what a pussy you are.”

My head snapped to the side as his palm cracked across my cheek, the impact sending another burst of pain through my skull. My vision blurred all over again, and for a few seconds, the world tilted sickeningly around me.

“We needed to get you out here without a fuss,” Redwood said, wiping the spit from his face with obvious disgust. “Couldn’t risk someone wandering in while we…” His mouth twisted into an ugly smile. “Well. You’ll find out what comes next.”

As my vision finally stabilized, I forced myself to take stock of my surroundings. My wrists and ankles were bound with rope, leaving me curled awkwardly on my side in the dirt.

They had moved me. The shooting range was nowhere in sight, and the trees pressed in thicker around us now. We were somewhere deeper in the forest.

Redwood crouched in front of me.

“Did you know my cousin was a Specter?” he asked. “KIA north of the border. A wraith ripped him apart.” His expression hardened. “He trained seven years ago. Graduated the same year as that other female alpha bitch.”

My eyes narrowed.

Stephanie Graves.

“He told me all about her,” Redwood continued. “Cocky. Arrogant. Convinced she belonged here, just like you!” His mouth twisted. “But my cousin and the other recruits showed her exactly what happens when women forget ASOG isn’t a place for them.”

He pulled something from his pocket and held it in front of my face.

A polaroid.

“My cousin gave me this a long time ago. He had quite a few of them. That’s what gave me the idea for how to handle you,” Redwood sneered.

For a second, my mind refused to understand what I was looking at.

A woman lay bound in the dirt much the same way I was now. Her face turned away from the camera, but bruises covered her exposed skin even in the washed-out photograph. She lay naked, vulnerable, and someone had preserved the moment as if it were something to be proud of.

My heart ached for her.

For Stephanie.

And suddenly, the ropes around my wrists felt impossibly tighter.

Redwood crouched even closer, his rank breath hot against my ear. “This is what we’re going to do to you, Teacup," he said tapping the polaroid.

A flash went off.

I flinched, blinking against the burst of white, and when my vision cleared, Alec Teller was standing a few feet away, shaking a picture between his fingers with a wide, ugly grin.

“We’ll take plenty of pictures. Preserve the moment.” His grin stretched wider. “And if you don’t quit ASOG tomorrow and take your ass back to wherever women belong, we’ll make sure everyone knows exactly what happens to women who forget their place.”

"I won't keep quiet. I'll tell Command what you did to me," I said through seething teeth.

“Who the fuck would believe you?” Teller asked. “Everyone already knows you’ve been sleeping your way through the ranks, fucking Graves just to keep your spot in ASOG.” He flicked the developing polaroid between two fingers.

“We’ll tell them you tried the same shit with us. That you offered, we said yes, and then you cried assault when you didn’t get what you wanted.”

Redwood’s laugh rumbled beside my ear.

“Your word against ours, Archer.”

I lowered my voice until it was barely more than breath; the words disappearing beneath Redwood’s laughter.