I went into the bathroom and ran the water, adjusting the temperature just right. I added her favorite bath oils, anything to soothe her, even just a little. When I turned back, she had already started undressing.
And then I saw it.
My whole body froze.
There were marks on her back. Whip marks. Still fresh but already beginning to heal.
“What the hell…?” I breathed, walking toward her slowly. I couldn’t stop staring. “Liana… what’s this?”
She turned her head to look down at her skin, as if just noticing them. “They were worse before,” she murmured. “I don’t know how, but… they’re healing on their own…”
I clenched my fists so tight my nails dug into my palms. “Who did this to you?”
She hesitated.
“Liana,” I said again, my voice cold.
She finally looked up, and her lips trembled as she said the name I’d been dreading. “Cynthia.”I snapped.
My fist slammed into the tiled wall, cracking it from the impact. My chest was heaving. I could feel the beast in me rising, violent, wild, furious.
“She whipped you?” I asked through gritted teeth.
She nodded slowly, wrapping her arms around her chest. “Please… don’t do anything rash.”
I looked at her, really looked at her, this woman I loved more than anything, standing there with bruises and whip marks on her skin, still trying to protect me from doing something crazy.
But it was already too late for that.
“I’m sorry, baby,” I said quietly. “Take your bath. I’ll send my mom in to help you.’
She grabbed my wrist gently. “Killian, where are you going?”
“I’ll be back. Just stay here. Don’t leave this house. Don’t even step outside, you hear me?”
“Please don’t do anything reckless,” she begged, but I was already moving.
I picked up my jacket, my keys, my phone, my mind completely focused on one thing.
Cynthia.
She was done. This time, she wouldn’t walk away. This time, I was going to find her. And when I did, she was going to regret ever laying a hand on Liana.
I slammed the door so hard the entire hallway shook. My mom and Liana’s dad were standing outside the room with Ryan. All three of them looked startled.
“Killian?” my mom called. “What’s going on? What happened to Liana?”
But I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. My blood was boiling. All I could think about was Cynthia’s face and all the pain she had caused.
She was going to pay. She was going to beg for death.
Pre
KILLIAN’S POV
It didn’t take long for me to get to the warehouse. My chest was tight the whole drive. I didn’t even realize how hard I was gripping the steering wheel until I pulled up and saw my knuckles had gone pale. The second I stepped inside, the place reeked of blood, sweat, and tears, but I didn’t care. My eyes immediately found Logan and Steve, standing over the three bastards who had dared to lay their hands on Liana.
Their wrists were tied together, hung high above their heads, stretched out by thick ropes fastened to an iron ring bolted deep into a concrete pillar. Their clothes were torn, blood already soaking parts of their shirts from the beating they had taken. Logan had a leather whip in one hand, while Steve used a rusted metal rod he’d picked from the floor.
I didn’t say a word. I just walked to the chair in the corner, pulled it up slowly, and sat. Crossed my leg. And watched. I wasn’t in a hurry. I wanted them to feel every second of what they were about to go through.
“Start talking,” Logan barked, slamming the whip hard against one of the men’s backs. The sound filled the whole room. The man groaned.
“Who sent you? Why Liana?!” Steve demanded.
No response.
Another crack.
“ANSWER ME!” Logan yelled, hitting again, this time with more force. One of the men, the one with a scar across his face, spat out blood but kept his mouth shut.
“You think you’re tough? You think you’ll get out of here alive if you don’t talk? Huh?!”
They groaned. But still, no answers.
Logan looked over at me. “Should we keep going?” w
I gave him one nod. That was all he needed.
The next forty minutes were hell for them. Logan whipped across the chest while Steve smashed the rod across their knees and backs. The sound of skin breaking, bones cracking, filled the warehouse. They screamed. One tried to bite his own tongue off, maybe to stop himself from talking, but Steve slapped him back to consciousness.
“Talk!” Logan barked.
The man with the scar finally broke.
“I’ll talk!” he wheezed, blood dripping from his mouth.
Logan stepped forward. “Then start. Talk fast.”
“We… we used to be Alphas,” the man gasped, “Back when a
Alpha Emilia was alive before she destroyed us.”
Alpha Emilia…
My body went still. That name…I knew that name so well…. Everyone knew that name.
She was a legend, a powerful female Alpha. Her story was one I heard whispered growing up. They said she died violently. Her enemies beheaded her while she was still alive, burned her body after slicing it to pieces. She married a human, which caused division in her pack. That split allowed her enemies in. They slaughtered everyone.
But there had always been a rumor, that she was pregnant before she died.
“So you knew her?” Steve asked, panting, whip still in hand.
The man with the scar coughed. Blood spilled from his mouth. “She destroyed everything we had. Our packs. Our power. We lost everything because of her.”
“So what the hell does that have to do with Liana?!” Logan roared.
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply