Scars of the syndicate

CHAPTER 6

She was alone on the path. For the first time, there was no one holding her arm or watching her neck.

She looked back at the house, then at the forest. She knew it was a trap. She knew Silas was probably watching her from one of those high, dark windows. But the thought of staying in that house, waiting for one of those men to "get bored" of her, was too much.

She took a breath and ran.

She ran toward the western fence, where the trees were thickest. Her boots thudded against the wet earth, her lungs burning in the cold mountain air. She pushed through thorns that tore at her new sweater, her heart screaming in her chest.

She reached the fence. It was ten feet high, topped with coiled wire. She looked for a gap, anything she could use to climb.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The voice came from directly above her.

Bianca froze, she looked up. Silas was crouching on top of a massive boulder that overlooked the fence. He wasn't wearing his shirt anymore. His bare chest was covered in a light sweat, the scars on his skin gleaming in the grey light. He looked down at her with a look of pure, cold disappointment.

"The fence is live, Bianca," he said, jumping down. He landed silently, not even bending his knees. "Five thousand volts. It wouldn't kill you, but it would stop your heart long enough for the hounds to find you."

"Let me go, Silas," she begged, backing away until her back hit a tree. "Please. I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ll help you take the money. Just let me go."

Silas walked toward her, his movements slow and deliberate. He trapped her against the tree, his hands resting on the trunk on either side of her head.

"You still don't get it," he whispered, leaning in until his forehead touched hers. "I don't want your money. I want the Moretti line to end. And I’ve decided that you are the one who's going to watch it happen."

He reached down and grabbed her hand, forcing her fingers against his chest, right over his heart. It was beating slow and heavy, like a war drum.

"Feel that? That’s the heart of a man your father tried to break. Every beat is a reminder of what I owe him."

He leaned down and bit the side of her neck, leaving a stinging, red mark. Bianca gasped, her body arching against his.

"You’re not going anywhere, Bianca. You’re the Syndicate’s prize now. And I’m a very greedy man."

He picked her up over his shoulder like she weighed nothing and began the long walk back to the house. As he walked, a dozen wolves emerged from the shadows of the trees, falling in line behind him like a royal guard.

The sound of the iron bolt felt like a death sentence.

Silas had dropped Bianca onto the center of the bed like a sack of unwanted grain. She scrambled backward, her breath coming in ragged, terrified hitches, until her spine hit the cold wooden headboard. Her neck stung where he had bitten her, a hot, throbbing reminder of the predator standing at the foot of her bed.

Silas stood there, his bare chest heaving, his amber eyes vibrating with a light that wasn't human. The room felt smaller with him in it, the air thick with the scent of wet earth and raw, masculine aggression.

"You tried to run," he said. His voice was no longer a growl, it was a low, dangerous purr that made the marrow in her bones ache.

"I won't stay here and wait for your 'brothers' to kill me," Bianca snapped, though her voice trembled. She clutched the grey wool sweater, trying to hide the fact that her heart was trying to leap out of her chest.

Silas moved. He was so fast that Bianca didn't see him step, he was simply there, looming over her. He grabbed her ankles and hauled her toward the edge of the bed. She shrieked, her hands clawing at the silk sheets, but he was immovable.

He pinned her wrists above her head with one hand. His grip was agonizing, the heat from his skin feeling like a brand. With his other hand, he reached out and gripped her jaw, forcing her to look up at the golden fire in his eyes.

"Listen to me, little Moretti," he hissed, his face inches from hers. "My brothers want to tear you open. They want to hang your skin from the gates as a message to your father. The only thing keeping your blood inside your body is me. And you just made me look weak in front of them."

"I don't care about your people!" she cried out.

Silas’s eyes narrowed to slits. "You should. Because tonight is the full moon. And when the change comes, I won't be able to protect a woman who doesn't know her place."