Tall, Dark & Furious (Pyte/Sentinel 6)

“I need a shower,” he bit out, heading towards the bathroom as his words sank in and when they did, she shot the large shifter that she’d been hoping would feel obligated to help her after she’d shared her pie with him a pleading look only to find him lying on his stomach with his head propped up on pillows, watching TV with a wistful sigh and a, “I fucking love The Goonies.”

Realizing that she was going to need a new backup plan, not that her first plan had really been much of a plan, Indie thought as she was placed on her feet and found herself staring when Ethan ripped his shirt off, tossing it aside and-

“What was your plan?” Ethan asked as she stood there, watching as he pulled off his boots before he shoved his pants down and she suddenly found the off-white grout and tiles very interesting.

“I don’t want to go back,” Indie said, telling herself that it was wrong to look, but…

Definitely wrong to look, Indie decided when she got her first glimpse at the reason why the movie channels had been blocked and parental controls had been placed on her computer. Well, there had been other reasons for that, Indie grudgingly admitted, turning her head when she felt a blush burn a path up her neck when she caught a glimpse of the appendage that didn’t look anything like the diagrams in the anatomy books that she’d read.

Was it supposed to be that big? she couldn’t help but wonder only to frown when it…twitched? Definitely twitched, Indie thought only to watch as it started to get bigger. Fascinated, Indie watched as it continued to grow until it was pointing at her with a slight curve with veins standing out around it and couldn’t help but wince because that actually looked like it hurt. There was a sigh as she felt his fingers gently pinch her chin and tilt her head back so that she was looking up at him.

“Why don’t you want to go back, mo stoirín?” Ethan asked, giving her chin a gentle caress.

“What does mo stoirín mean?” Indie asked, noting the way he suddenly went still and dropped his hand away as though she’d burned him.

“It means pain in the ass,” Ethan said evenly as he stepped into the shower and yanked the shower curtain shut as far as their handcuffed hands would allow.

“Oh,” Indie mumbled absently, as she replayed the words in her head as she leaned back against the wall and had to admit that they sounded pretty.

“Tell me why you don’t want to go back,” Ethan said as she glanced around the bathroom, looking for somewhere to sit only to settle for leaning against the wall when she realized that her only options were the toilet and…

That was pretty much it.

“Why would I want to go back?” Indie asked as she glanced down at her handcuffed hand and sighed.

She really needed to escape only she’d kind of been hoping to negotiate with the large shifter in the other room to take her to Boston. Now that he was free, she didn’t have anything to bargain with. She could try to stick him with the needle again, but…

Doing it the first time had made her feel sick to her stomach. She didn’t like hurting people, but he hadn’t left her with much of a choice. She couldn’t go back to that house, not when she knew what would happen. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t left on her own. They would still punish her.

They’d take the board across her back and legs until she passed out, careful not to break her skin. Before her body had a chance to hit the floor, they’d drag her to the bathroom and submerge her in ice water. They wouldn’t wait until she had a chance to take a breath. As soon as she opened her eyes, they’d shove her underwater and hold her there until she thought her lungs would explode.

Then they’d let her go.

But she wouldn’t get far. They’d make her stay in that tub until her skin turned bright red and the shivering stopped as her breaths became shallow and she struggled to remember why t

hey were doing this to her. She remembered quickly once they dragged her out of the tub and carried her downstairs to the cells they sometimes used during the full moon when her guardians needed to stay close by.

They also used the cells as punishment.

She remembered when she was little, waking up to the screams, the pleas for mercy that quickly turned to pleas for death, and knowing better than to look outside her bedroom window, afraid that she’d see the terror on their faces as they were dragged down to the cells that she’d been forbidden to talk about. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she’d grab her old blankie and crawl into her closet where she would curl up in a corner with her hands covering her ears, waiting for the screams to stop.

That was the worst part about being locked in one of the old cells, not the cold metal floor, the hunger, the dark, or the pain, but the screams and knowing what came next. When her door cell finally opened to let her go, that’s when the real terror began. That’s when she would finally break down, cry and beg them not to do it, but they didn’t listen.

They never did.

Knowing that her freedom came at a cost, Indie would sit in that cell, hugging her knees to her chest for as long as she could hold out. When she couldn’t take it any longer, she’d send up a silent prayer for whoever was about to pay for what she did and crawled out of her cell, hating herself every inch of the way. The moment she emerged from that cell…

She’d wish that she hadn’t as she was forced to watch as they dragged someone from one of the other cells and punished them in her place as a warning. It was the reason why she’d never made it off the property before because she was afraid of what would happen if she actually did escape and now that she had, she knew that she couldn’t go back.

“Because it’s your home,” Ethan said, sounding curious as Indie glanced at the black bag filled with all those terrifying things that she’d been tempted to leave behind, but was afraid that they were going to need and wondered if she could actually do this only…

She knew that she couldn’t do it.

“It’s not my home,” Indie said because that was the last thing that came to mind when she thought of that house.

“Then, what was it?” Ethan asked as she watched the large shifter walk into the bathroom, frowning as he shoved the rest of the Butterfinger candy bar that she’d been saving for later in his mouth as he glanced around the bathroom.

“A prison,” Indie said absently, as she watched him pick up the black bag and hold it up to his ear only to toss it aside with a sigh.