Chuck lay at my feet on the filthy floor of the basement, his face one enormous bruise from the beating he’d taken from Marcellus’s thugs. He wasn’t moving anymore. They’d taken me down here once we got back to the house and forced me to watch as they relentlessly pounded him. He was tough, but when they took out the pipe, there was only so much more he could take.

He was still breathing, but my heart ached for him as I sat in the chair on the other end of the one large room beneath the house, a single bare bulb casting a sickly green light across the bare cement walls. The basement was an odd contrast to the elaborate house above.

And then I heard the footsteps coming down from above. I knew instantly who it was – before he came into the light.

Marcellus.

His hulking frame was unmistakable and as usual, he wore a pinstriped three-piece suit, complete with a set of gold rings on each hand. They were a sign of his enormous wealth, but also functioned as a set of brass knuckles if he ever actually had to fight his own fight.

He took each step down the stairs deliberately, as though actually walking was somehow beneath him, or maybe he just wanted to draw things out and make me really sweat. Either way, I was on the verge of total and complete panic.

“Billy, Billy, Billy,” he mused, almost to himself as he stood at the edge of the light, his face still hidden by shadow. “Whatever have I done to you to make you treat me with such disrespect?”

Finally, he took a step into the light. His hulkish frame barely fit into his expensive suit. Marcellus was a massive, massive man but it wasn’t just his threatening physique that terrified people.

He kept his head bare of all hair and always had a look in his eye like an unpredictable beast. It was never clear if Marcellus was going to smile or break someone’s fingers.

“Didn’t I take you in?” he asked, taking another step, his designer leather shoes tapping threateningly on the floor. “Take you out of that orphanage and give you a home? And this is how you repay me? By running off to ruin yourself with some sleazy alpha at The Love Knot? A disgusting place like that? Why would you give up your purity?”

He took a quick step forward and was right in my face. His scent invaded my lungs and made me cough. Terror rippled through my body. I was terrified by the way he moved, like a snake ready to strike.

“Don’t you know how much that’s worth to me?”

He waited for my reply. I knew if I didn’t answer there would be consequences. Clearing my throat, I managed to mutter, “Y – yes.”

“And don’t you think I deserve a little something for my time? For the life I gave you?”

Marcellus sniffed the air and made a face like he’d smelled something horrible.

“You gave it away,” he sighed, casually driving a fist into my gut. All the breath escaped my lungs as I doubled over and toppled out of the chair to the floor. I coiled up, expecting a kick or another blow, but none came. Gasping, I looked up as Marcellus paced the room.

“Temporary pheromone blockers,” he said to himself, tossing the bottle he must have taken off Chuck. “I’m not even going to bother asking you how you got these. What I am going to do, is thank you.”

As I braced myself and struggled to my knees, Marcellus turned back to me. I scurried away, getting my back against a wall as he approached. His enormous hands swung with a heavy weight, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off his rings – those rings that could break bones if he chose to.

“Because with this, I can still sell you,” he said with a smile. “A couple of sprays with this shit will mask your heat, I’ll sell you as an untouched little omega, and with those good looks, you’ll fetch a fortune.”

My mouth must have been hanging open, because Marcellus grinned and slid his thumb under my jaw. He examined my mouth like a dentist, or some cruel doctor admiring a specimen.

“Mmmm,” he nodded. “If only that bastard you gave yourself to knew how much money that mouth of yours would fetch at auction. Then he’d know how lucky he was!”

Marcellus roared with laughter, causing me to flinch back against the wall. He slapped his hands together and twisted his head like he had a kink in his neck.

“I know you’re wondering what will happen to him,” Marcellus said without bothering to turn and face me. “Whether we’ll kill him or not. We won’t. He didn’t know what he was doing, and I don’t feel like paying off any more police. But you better pray he doesn’t come looking for you. Because then we will have to do something. And he, and you, won’t like it. Not one bit.”