Chapter 60

West

“You have got to be kidding me!”

My voice roared through the room as I stared at my wife holding the gun. Everything kept happening so damn fast. I couldn’t focus for a second. First, with the starved girl clinging to me. Then, with the shots. My mind was a spinning mess of clusterfucked shit.

“Did you not just hear me tell him what a fucking mess I was going to have over Master Max? Then, you decide to bring on more for me by killing another master? Wife!”

Eli jerked the gun from her hand, easing from where he had her pinned to the door. Had I been able to remove the girl from my legs, I would have throttled Everleigh. As it was, the damn child was stronger than she looked, and like cement around me.

“Get off!”

“Please, come here. Don’t be afraid. I’ll help you.”

The soft coo of my wife’s voice grated my ears. Any other time it wouldn’t have bothered me, but now … now that I had two dead masters and a room full of witness to what she’d done …

Pressure and weight disappeared as the girl let go and rushed to Everleigh’s waiting arms.

“I know you’re very angry with me for what I did. I know I deserve to be punished. But I beg you, allow me to take her to Medical first. She’s not well. I know the role of slaves here, but this …” Everleigh held tighter to the girl, cradling the slave’s head in her chest and almost appearing to cover the girl’s ears with her hand. “Husband, I beg your mercy. Not for me, but for her. She’s just a child. Barely a teenager, if that.

She shouldn’t even be here.”

“This has been her life now since she was old enough to walk,” I yelled. “This was all she knew and you took it from her. I can’t sell her. Look at her!” I shook my head angrily at the disgust that infested me. “This is what’s going to happen, wife. You are going to let go of that slave. She is going to the White Room for a peaceful death, and you will be lashed five times for inflicting death on a master.” “W-what?”

Her voice cracked, but I wouldn’t look at her through the rage I felt.

“Eli, take her to the apartment. You,” I said, pointing at another guard.

“Take that one to the White Room and put it out of its misery.”

“No. No!” Everleigh thrashed in Eli’s arms as he tried to pry her away from the little girl. Both began screaming, infuriating me even more. “I beg you! Send me to the White Room. Send me! Don’t hurt her, please!

Please!”

“Get them out of here! And someone called for clean-up. Both master’s bodies go to holding. Burn the dead slave.”

Further away the screams sounded and with the distance came a calming. Even an enjoyment. My wife would be upset after the lashing. After what I’d done. She’d need to calm down. I knew how to calm her. And when I oiled her up, she’d break a little more. But come morning, she would see. She’d know not to cross me. The consequences of what she had done would be a lesson. One, her little slave mind would detect. And there, she’d learn. 

A sigh left my mouth as I turned, taking in the butchery and death around me. What a fucking mess. Some people couldn’t take humiliation. I should have known Master Gilpner would want revenge against Master Max. Appearances were everything here. More so than the outside world. Here, no one had to hide who they were. There were no restraints. No consequences. That had to change. This was a lesson for me too.

Two guards shifted off to the side, waiting for clean-up to arrive. I shook my head, heading past them. Everleigh. The damn woman was so unreadable. So unstable in her passion for the youth. Enough to have shot a master. It blew my mind, but should it? She helped skin her only friend alive. What was pulling the trigger? Maybe it wasn’t the significance of her actions, but to whom. I kept putting her in the role of a slave. The more violence she seemed to experience, the less obedient she was becoming.

I headed down the hall, taking in the mass of bloody bootprints tracked along the white floors. The further I got down, the more they lightened. I liked the color. The more white I saw from these halls, the angrier it made me become. All my life here, I’d had to endure the white maze leading me through this stone fortress. I would have them paint the walls. I’d do away with the white once and for all. Whitlock would become mine in every sense of the word, and not only would I make my mark by changing the ways, but I’d change the look too.

I took the stairs two at a time, quickening my pace as I got closer to my room. The evil in me churned, brewing deep within, heating my stomach and warping my thoughts until I was pushing through my door. Eli stood over Everleigh’s sitting frame. She was perched on the edge of the sofa, glaring at him. When her head snapped to me, she held no more tears. No more sadness over the slave girl she’d offered to trade places with.

“You think you can go around killing off masters? You think you can show me up in front of my guards?”

She jumped to her feet, barely staying balanced before my hand gripped around her throat. I held firmly, but I didn’t squeeze no matter how much I wanted to.

“My weakness won again. I apologize, husband. I deserve my punishment. You were right to end her life. She’s better off that way. She deserves peace.”

I paused, feeling the anger ignite in the lack of fight she was giving me.

“What you did cannot be so easily erased in my mind. Or in theirs! They follow my lead. I give the orders. I kill people if it has to be done. Not you. Never you! You are meant to be by my side—strong, obedient. You don’t overstep me,” I yelled in her face, squeezing my hand tighter.

“You’re right.” Tears rolled down her cheeks and she reached up with both her hands to clutch around my wrist. “I don’t know what’s happening to me. I try to be who you want. Who you need. But she … the slave keeps coming back. Punish me. Show me who I’m to be.”

Her head turned and lowered. At my loosened grip, she kissed against my fingers, sobbing even more as she held tightly to my hand. The action, her pleas … they fucked with my head even more, softening the sadist in me. Making him want to punish her, but not to the point of breaking her like I dreamed.

“Take off your clothes and stand at the foot of the bed. Place your hands on the mattress and keep your head down. Don’t you dare look up or move? I’ll be in there shortly.”

Wetness slid over my fingertips as Everleigh snuggled her face into my hand. The action only lasted seconds before she pulled back and left me alone with Eli. The moment the door shut, I cut my gaze over to him.

“How the hell did she get your gun away from you? Her? She’s a woman, barely over five feet tall, who can’t weigh more than a sack of fucking potatoes.”

“She took me by surprise. I was watching the damn master, who by the way, kept getting closer to you. How was I to know he wasn’t going to attack you, too?”

“It would have been hard to protect me without your damn gun! Ridiculous. My wife shoots a master against my orders and shows up as my high leader by disarming him. Maybe I should give the fucking title of

Master over to her. She seems to be wearing the pants around here.”

Eli shrugged, leaning against the wall. “It might be interesting to see the roles reversed. How do you think she’d do?”

“Not funny. You think things are bad now. If she was suddenly placed in my role, Whitlock would go to shit faster than you could blink.

There’d be no order. No one would listen to her.”

“Women have ruled kingdoms before. I think if she took control, the guards would follow her.” He paused, cutting his stare up. “I would.”

“You’d follow her over me?” I stepped closer, closing the distance between us.

“You said if she ruled here. You said nothing about your role. I’m just saying if she got the position, I’d serve her.”

“Watch it, Eli. You’re treading very deep water right now, and you have no idea what’s lurking below. If you turn your back on me—if you so much as look at her the wrong way—I’ll gouge out your eyes and make you eat them. What comes after that, you couldn’t even imagine.”

He smiled, pushing from the wall. Our faces were so close, that seeing anything but his eyes was almost impossible.

“I once told you not to forget your friends. I am your friend, West. But don’t you dare threaten me again? You forget that the bait that treads the water is usually the hook that kills the prey. Remember that.”

The weight hit my shoulder as Eli stepped around me and headed for the bedroom.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“You threatened her in front of my guards. You said she’s owed five lashings. That offense isn’t between a husband and a wife, but between the high leader and the person, you, as Main Master, are punished. If you want to keep things running smoothly here, you’ll go by the laws we’re all sworn to protect. Unless you plan to change those, too?” “He reached up to his radio calling in two names. Before I could so much as argue, the door opened and the men came marching in. Eli opened the door, pausing as he turned to the men. “Stay.” His attention went back inside. “Panties on, Mrs. Harper.”

He pulled the door back shut, but I wasn’t having it. I walked forward, slamming my hand into the barrier. The crash against the wall had Everleigh jumping, but she didn’t move as I continued to the closet, grabbing the flogger from the top.

“If the high leader wishes to give you an extra five, so be it. These are from your husband.”

Everleigh gripped the panties in her fist, spinning back to the bed to grab the comforter tightly. I jerked to a stop, already having my hand reared back. The leather strands slid against each other and I struck forward with a force I knew was enough to break her skin.

Whack! Whack! Whack!

“Who do you take orders from!”

Nails clawed into the cover as she fought to catch her breath. When she inhaled it was so deep and broken up with sobs that it stirred all parts of me. Blood poured open from her lacerated skin, slowly running in streams down her back as her legs fought not to give out.

“Answer me!”

“You, husband. I t-take o-orders from you.”

“That’s fucking right. You better remember that.”

Whack! Whack! Whack! I paused, rearing back and hitting her across the ass to make seven. When I turned to face Eli, the rage on his face gave me even more pleasure.

“High Leader. Your turn.” I bowed my head just the slightest amount as I offered the flogger. Everleigh tried to push to stand straight again but collapsed to the floor as her body shook from the heavy cries. She kept jerking through the pain I knew was shooting through at her movements.

Eli walked forward, lowering to crouch beside her. “Shh. We’re finished here. Stand and thank your husband for the punishment.” He eased her to her feet while she tried to stay steady. When he let go, she turned, throwing herself forward and falling into my arms. “I’m s-sorry. I’m … so … s-sorry.”

I smiled, raising my eyebrow to Eli. “You are forgiven, wife. You know better than to let it happen again.” I brought my palm to rest on the back of her neck while I held the other at her lower back for stability. The warm wetness left me hard and there was nothing I could do to stop my arousal. “Leave,” I ground out to Eli. “I do believe my wife needs a relaxing bath. Aren’t you, love?”

The crying turned heartbreaking at her slow nods. “Yes.”

Hatred met me as Eli narrowed his lids and stepped back. I knew the look. I’d done it so often with Bram that the extent of the rage he held for me couldn’t be mistaken.