War of Hearts(99)

“There’s not much that can hurt me,” Thea announced to the quieting room. “But Ashforth found a way.”

Conall’s stomach knotted as Thea turned her back to the gathering. She looked at him and he wished like hell she didn’t have to do this. Not for him. “Thea,” he begged. “This is too much.”

“Do you trust them?”

“Even then,” he said, his voice gruff, “I dinnae … I dinnae want you to look back and resent me for this moment.”

Her smile was sad, weary, far too weary. “Never, Chief MacLennan. Never.”

Then she drew her shirt over her head, exposing her bare back.

There was an inhale of breath and then utter silence.

Conall knew what they were seeing.

The crisscross of raised scars that covered the entirety of her back was evidence of not just a lashing, but of a brutality that horrified. It was obvious that the whipping she’d taken had torn her apart.

Conall saw tears in some pack members’ eyes, anger in others, horror in the rest.

Finally, Conall could take it no more and he covered Thea with his body and gently helped her pull her shirt back on.

“I’m okay,” she whispered as he turned her in his arms and pulled her into his side to face the pack. Still, there was a brittleness to her expression as she looked around the room, and her fingers dug into his waist she was holding on so tight. “I was thirteen years old when Ashforth took me in after my parents died. Not long after he realized I was … different. By the time I was fifteen, he was holding me captive in the basement level of one of his properties, guarded around the clock by armed supernaturals. Every now and then he’d pull me out of that room to be examined by his lab rats, and some days he’d force me to fight supernaturals to see how much of a beating I could take and how much of a beating I could give.

“I tried to escape a few times, unsuccessfully, mostly because the property was on an island. But one night, a few months before I turned nineteen, while I was under the effects of a drug Ashforth used to weaken me, one of his men tried to violate me.”

Conall pressed his fingers into Thea’s hip. He felt his energy expand outside of himself at the mere idea of any man touching Thea against her will. Thea froze in his arms, bringing him out of himself, and he realized the whole room was crackling with the pack’s collective energy.

They were unwittingly affected when their alpha projected.

Pulling himself together, he watched the pack relax marginally.

“I had to kill him.” Thea was blunt. “And I knew that I had to escape. Unfortunately, I was caught and to break me, Ashforth had a vampire take a cat-o’-nine-tails to my back.”

There were murmurings, gasps, horror as Conall saw the wariness on his pack’s faces give way. It was hard not to believe Thea and not just because she was his mate.

No one could look into her eyes and not see the terror she’d experienced. Not one of them could look at her back and say she was lying.

“Ashforth’s wife, Amanda, cared about me, but she had her son to protect and she feared her husband. But … the whipping was the last straw for her. She arranged my escape.” Conall looked down at Thea’s face and saw her eyes were bright with emotion. “One of his men shot her as I was getting away. There was nothing I could do. I didn’t kill her. I loved her.” Her gaze dropped to the floor and silence filled the room. Conall was about to speak when Thea continued, “I’ve killed humans and supernaturals he’s sent to kill me. It was kill or be killed.” She looked back up at them now, defiant. “I won’t apologize for that.

“And I never usually explain myself. As Conall will attest to.”

He gave her a grim smile.

“But I explained myself to him when I realized”—she looked up at him, the love in her expression making his heart pound—“what he meant to me.” Thea reluctantly turned her head toward the room. “Normally I wouldn’t care if you believed me. I know the truth. I know what a sick son of a bitch Ashforth is. I’ve been on the run from him for six years. He stole my life from me.” The air thickened a little as her anger filled the room. “But I need you to believe for Callie’s and James’s sake. You have to understand you’re dealing with a man who will do anything in his pursuit of power.”

When she finished, Conall looked around the room, saw partners exchanging questioning looks, other pack members staring at Thea in concern.

“I’m sorry, lass.” Hugh was the first to speak, his expression haggard. “For not believing and for what has been done to you.”

“Thank you,” Thea answered graciously. “I appreciate that.”

The older man turned to Conall. “What do you need, Alpha?”

Conall responded to the entire room. “We need a plan. Ashforth is holding Callie and James in Castle Cara. I was supposed to take Thea there, Ashforth would use her blood to heal Callie, and then we’d leave … and Thea would be left with Ashforth.” The thought chilled him to the bone. “Ashforth doesnae know we’re in Scotland. As I explained, we had some trouble on the road back and we used it as an excuse to avoid checking in with the bastard. But we must act soon before he gets too suspicious. We must find out what defenses he has in place at Castle Cara. How many guards, their race, and the best strategy to get in. From there we plan our rescue.”