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“Please…” I whispered. I hated his inspection. He was
too quiet, making me detest my body and wishing he would at least just walk
away if I repulsed him.
    He walked round me until he was stood before me. His eyes
narrowed on me before he gripped the hem of his shirt and yanked off his own
top. I licked my lips as my eyes feasted on his ripped body, his abs sleek and
defined.
    But then he turned around and it was my turn to gasp.
“Mirror images darlin’.”
    I stared at his own welts, hundreds of them tore across
his back, their angry red marks defacing his otherwise perfect body. He hissed
when I reached out and followed each of their pathways, gently determining what
instrument had caused which blemish.
    My head tilted and I frowned when I noticed the poker
burns. “Oh my.”
    He nodded, “See Ava, we’re replicas of each other.” He
turned back round to face me. “So don’t ever be ashamed of your body. You are
fucking stunning. You make my dick so hard that I’m scared to death of coming
before I’m even inside you.”
    He cupped my breasts and I closed my eyes, fighting the
pain that tore through my heart at another man’s hands on me.
    “On your knees,” he whispered against me, causing me to
jump in surprise to his closeness.
    I nodded frantically, clenching my teeth at the agony
tearing through me at what I was about to do as I slowly got down on my knees
before him.
    I felt him crouch behind me and I fought back the tears
that rimmed my eyes. I needed to do this. I needed to move on.
    I wanted to do this.
    I wanted to move on.
    I wanted to die.
     
    “Shush,” Steed soothed as he pulled me back against him.
I hadn’t realised I was sobbing until he lifted me onto his lap and wrapped me
tightly in his arms. “Good girl,” he soothed into my ear, his warm breath tickling
the chill in my tears.
    My heart broke as each sob tore me to pieces. “I can’t,”
I cried into him as I clung onto him.
    He took every sob, every cry and every agonising scream
from me, making them his own as he sat silently letting me release and use him
for support while he rocked me gently in his arms. “I know, darlin’.”
    “You know?” I hiccupped as I lifted my face to him.
    He nodded and swiped at my tears with his thumb. “Your
man has been ripping the city apart looking for you, how could I not know.”
    “I don’t understand?”
    He looked at his watch and smiled at me. “Prepare to be
stormed in around thirty seconds, darlin’.”
    “What?” I scrambled off him, shaking my head desperately.
“What have you done?”
    I fell to my knees again when I heard the wood splinter
in the door and then heavy footsteps on the stairs. “What have you done?” I
repeated just as my glorious bastard kicked my bedroom door open.
     

Chapter Nine
Wrath
Mason
     
    I stared at her. Fuck, she was so damn perfect, so
fucking beautiful. I felt like I had come home. My body shot to life as my eyes
drank her in, each fibre in my system electrifying at her closeness. My soul
sobbed with relief as my heart found the regular rhythm that had abandoned it
six weeks ago, six – long – torturous – fucking – weeks.
     
    She remained on her knees looking up at me, her face red
and blotchy from her tears. It was then I noticed she was just in a skirt and
bra. Panic and anger overtook then as I slowly turned my head to see Steed
topless and watching us serenely from the edge of the room.
    I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes on him, my wrath
just bubbling under the surface. “Did you touch her?”
    He didn’t need to answer. His expression told me all I
needed.
     
    “MASON!” Ava screamed as her tiny hands pulled at me.
“Stop!”
    I blinked, pushing her away. She fell backwards, her
backside hitting the floor with an oomph. Life seemed to slap back at me suddenly.
    What the hell?
     
    Steed was curled in the corner, bleeding and desperately
trying to protect himself. Ava sat sobbing on the other side. And my