Forbidden (Blood Ties #7)

She just stared at him, then closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against his touch. “Obey.” She whispered. “I obey.”

She obeyed alright. The only problem was…which one of us?

Jealousy flared, seething and corrupting. I’d wanted nothing in my entire life like the way I wanted it to be my hand she rubbed herself against.

“Then it looks like I have my work cut out for me.” I said carefully. “We’d better get started.”

* * *

The air scrapedlike a blade against my skin when I stepped into the training room. The Daughters were lined up, looking washed-out and vacant, just what I expected when we pushed them too hard. Nurses moved between them, piercing the crook of their arms with the drugs designed to make them more susceptible to the techniques we used. They didn’t even flinch with the injections anymore, just stood there unmoving…even Helene.

Coulter and his guards stood in the shadows, watching with their beady, hawk-like eyes. Hale had never been so hands-on, leaving me to have complete control. But with this asshole, we were under the goddamn microscope.

Then a gap in the line of Daughters drew my focus. I headed toward it, scanning the unblinking stares as panic rose.

A scream came from the corridor, shrill, filled with terror. One that grew louder the closer it came. Riven turned instantly, then jerked his head toward Walker, who strode from the room. But he was barely out of sight before one of Coulter’s men dragged the missing Daughter into the room by a fistful of her hair.

“This one.” He shoved her hard, causing her to stumble toward me. “Refused to cooperate.”

I grabbed her shoulders, holding her steady as I scanned the red palm print on her face. “And did you need to beat her into submission?”

Fear was the one emotion we tried not to use. It was unpredictable…and it spread like the damn plague. It was the main reason they were showered and fed as soon as possible after inserting the tracking device. These women already came conditioned to a degree, you add in additional fear stimuli and it could turn toxicfast.

The guard never said a word. But the hate in his eyes said it all.

I lowered my gaze to the yanked down strap of her bra, then to the stretched elastic of her panties at the crotch. It didn’t take me long to understand what had happened. “You were explicitly told the Daughters were off-limits.”

I jerked my gaze to his… “unless you wish to pay?”

He said nothing.

The bastard needed to be taught a lesson.

I turned to the Daughter and the wide, panicked look in her eyes before I motioned for a nurse to come forward.

“Easy now.” I brushed my thumb along her shoulder as the nurse gently turned her arm, swabbed the injection site, and pushed the needle in.

Seconds, that’s all it took, before the crease smoothed between her eyes and her breathing deepened.

“That’s better.” I murmured, keeping my thumb brushing the same spot on her shoulder over and over.

Coulter’s guard might’ve tried to have a taste of what a million dollars could buy in The Order, but force took that taste and it wasn’t at all whatcouldbe explored.

I fixed my gaze on her, ignoring the bright red mark on her face and instead, I murmured. “Undress.”

She never hesitated, reaching up to slide the strap of the bra down, showing a level of obedience that hadn’t been there a second ago. Pale, full breasts were revealed. I risked a glance toward Coulter, standing in the shadows.

Every other male’s focus was on the Daughter in front of me, except for his.

His stare was directed to Helene, the one woman he couldn’t have.

Desperation trembled inside me as I turned back to the woman in front of me. I didn’t care about her, not about her fate or her happiness. She was a tool to me. One I’d wield to keep the woman I loved safe.

“Keep going.” I urged. “Take it all off.”

She did, sliding her thumbs into the waistband of her panties and dragged it all the way down. I barely saw her. Vacant eyes, perfect tits, a shaved, tight pussy.

“Kneel.” I commanded.