Author: Lora Leigh
Category: Paranormal
Go to read content：https://readnovelfree.com/p/23990_2
“Taber.” Callan kept his voice low. “None of us like it, but it has to be done.”
“Then let’s get to the damned point,” Seth demanded coldly, his voice sharp, brisk. “I’ll assume this is about Dawn?”
Callan almost snarled. Taber jerked his head to the side and Kane rubbed at the back of his neck.
“Mr. Lawrence, we’ve only met briefly.” Jonas Wyatt, with his weird silver eyes and savage features, stepped forward to lean against the front of the desk, a television remote control in his hand.
“I remember you,” Seth answered, his voice clipped.
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“Dawn concerns us,” he said then, his voice gruff, arrogant. He was one of those men that other men naturally never get along with. They might respect him, might admire his power and cunning, but he wasn’t a man others could be comfortable around.
Seth knew the type. He was the same way. Control and power came with an innate arrogance that naturally didn’t fit well when it came in contact with those who were similar.
“Dawn concerns me as well, Mr. Wyatt,” Seth informed him. “For some reason I’ve been barred from seeking her out, and no one wants to talk to me about her. Damned inhospitable, if you ask me. Considering the aid Lawrence Industries has offered to the Breeds.”
“Dawn isn’t for sale, Lawrence,” Callan growled then, the sound rumbling in his throat.
“I didn’t ask to buy her.” Seth sent him a cold smile. “I believe I made my intentions clear to you, Lyons.”
“And that’s why we’re here.” With a flick of his hand toward them, two silent enforcers slid the heavy curtains over the windows, leaving the room in shadows.
Seth noted the movement, a part of him, an instinctive part of him, warning him that what was about to come was something he didn’t want to know.
“I’m out of here.” Taber’s growl was more animal than man and had Seth tensing for action.
Seth caught the other man’s arm as he passed, ignoring the flash of dangerously sharp canines as Taber turned to him.
“What the hell is going on?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.” Taber jerked away from him and strode to the door. He jerked it open then slammed it behind him.
Callan turned his back on him. Kane shook and lowered his head.
“Dawn’s the same as his sister,” Jonas said then. “You’ve made your intentions clear where Dawn is concerned. We’re going to show you, Mr. Lawrence, the battle you have ahead of you. Every soldier should be prepared for the war he’s going to face. Wouldn’t you agree?”
He pressed the remote, and the viewing screen on the wall behind the desk flared to life. Jonas kept his back to it and watched Seth.
There was no need for an explanation. He saw the number that flashed on the screen, the date, time, subject. Cougar Breed Female, six years of age. Listed number 7.036. They held the child to a cold metal table and branded the numbers on her hip.
The screams that filled the room had Seth stepping back, his fists clenching, rage shattering through his head. But if that was hard to watch, what came later would scar his soul for life.
He couldn’t turn away. He wouldn’t turn away. She had endured hell and he loved her to his last breath. She had lived through it, he could do no less.
He loved her. He already knew he loved her. He ached for her. He would kill for her, and he would have given his own life to have saved her from the dark brutality the monsters that created her had taped.
Number 7.036. Age six. Age ten. Ah, God. Ah, God. Age thirteen. So tiny. So fucking tiny she looked like a doll as those bastards raped her. Sweet merciful Jesus. His guts cramped with pain, everything inside him howled with rage, and hopelessness filled him.
They strapped her to a cold, steel table. Metal restraints at her neck, her arms, her thighs and ankles. She strained against them, she fought them until blood seeped from beneath the edges and ran down her fragile limbs.
She screamed. She begged for God, and they laughed at her. Laughed at her and told her God didn’t care about Breeds, and then they tore into her helpless, fragile body.
The images flickered through those first thirteen years of her life in a matter of minutes. A collage of brutal, horrifying flashes. Of abuses that should have killed her. Twenty minutes of the most horrific nightmares that could be inflicted on the female body. On a child.
When they winked off, no one moved. No one spoke. Seth continued to stare at the now-dark screen, seeing the child she had been in the woman she was now. The dark eyes flashing with nightmares, with pain each time she looked at him, each time she realized what he wanted from her. What he needed from her.
He tried to swallow, and couldn’t. He blinked back moisture. Fuck, tears. He hadn’t shed a tear in more years than he could remember. And he hated his father more than he ever had in his life.
His father and Lawrence Industries had helped fund those monsters before Seth took over. They had helped pay for the brutality committed against the woman who held his soul. The woman he could never have.