As soon as his boys voiced their approval, Norman’s fist made contact with her face. Dawn hardly had a second to call out when her world went black. Moaning as she felt her body lifted from the ground, her head lolled closer to her chest when she felt the ground passing under her captive form. As she narrowed her eyes, the way ahead seemed clear enough. But she cringed at the feel of an unwanted arm around her waist.

 

“Relax, honey,” Norman said, his voice mingling with the sound of his motor. “This is the only peace that you’re getting all night.”

 

Wanting to ask him what he meant by that, what she had to be ready for, Dawn stayed silent as the branches hanging overhead traced lines of crazy shadows on the grass, the dirt moving below his tires. She thought of Cade’s shortcuts out in the middle of nowhere, and it made sense that the Panthers would follow suit with their own detours, tracking from one place to the other and beyond.

 

But she knew that these paths had to have been cleared for pleasures far from her deepest desires.

 

“Wait,” Dawn moaned, her nerve kicking in as they moved further and further away from Cade, from the Alphas, from any kind of help. “I…”

 

She wanted to jump off his bike. Let the fall kill her. Maybe she could brace her body and lean into the turns without the benefit of any bike. Find her way to her feet. Run back to the clubhouse and just fall into Cade’s waiting arms. Let him be angry. She would take his rage in place of whatever the Panthers might---

 

“What the hell?” Norman barked. “No death wish here unless it’s on my say so!”

 

Stunned and clawing at the earth, Dawn tried to crawl into the shadows. Feeling as if she was swimming through the night air, moving faster than she had any right to believe, the way ahead seemed so clear, when Norman fell on top of her. Dawn tried to break free of his hold, and she cried out like a wild woman when Norman lifted her off the ground and held her tight in his angry arms.

 

“Party ain’t even started yet,” he said. “And after all, you are the guest of honor.”

 

He carried her back to his bike, and Dawn kept struggling when he smacked her face again. Somehow, strangely, the blow hurt more without the cigarette pressed between his fingers, and Dawn was dazed as she found herself trapped on his bike again.

 

“Norm? Maybe… maybe we should…”

 

Registering the sound of Atticus’ quaking voice, she met the Panther’s green eyes. If anyone was going to help her before Cade arrived, this boy might be her best bet, and Dawn prayed that he would read her mind and grow some stones along with wings in ten seconds flat or less. That he would race her back to the Alphas, switch sides, or at least let her off so that she wouldn’t have to…

 

“Maybe you shut your mouth, kid,” Norman said. “Or you want your ass on the hook?”

 

Atticus visibly shuddered, and now Dawn saw his thoughts like bold words on a single page. Stained with blood and sweat and tears. Just what were they going to do to her?

 

“Keep up,” Norman called to the others as every bike roared to attention and kept moving deeper into the night. There was no way that she would try leaping away again; Norman’s teeth nipping at her neck told her that he might get the games started right here, and she needed the time to recover her senses. Once they reached the destination, there might be another chance to break away.

 

“We’ve made some improvements since the ginger bitch,” Norman said. “Think you’re going to like it.”

 

A dark house came into view. It scared her at the first sight, and she tried to kick away from him again when Norman wrestled her back to his chest and cruelly kissed her hair.

 

“Now that’s no way to be,” he said. “Maybe a drink first to loosen you up. Even though you don’t really need it.”

 

They entered a foul smelling room. Cigarette ash coated the floor like the devil’s shag carpet, and the unmistakable odor of urine wafting through the air gave her the impression that there was not one working toilet in the entire place. Compared to this hell, the Alphas’ clubhouse was a luxury resort, and she whimpered lightly when Norman forced her to a creaking chair and pulled back on her hair.

 

“Whiskey,” he said as he snapped his fingers and extended his arm into the air. In short order, he had his hand around a flask, and he poured the stinging liquid down her unwanting throat. Trying to spit the liquor into his eyes, Norman clamped his free hand over her mouth, giving her no choice but to do anything but swallow. The whiskey hit her stomach and just as quickly rushed to her brain. On some level she was grateful for the buzz. Better for the room to be hazy when she had no idea what was…

 

“Feeling no pain now, right?” Norman teased. It wasn’t entirely true, but thinking it best to play along, she nodded softly. Was it possible that he had a soul buried in his burly chest that would take some pity on her? There was no mistaking that she was their prisoner. But wasn’t a bargaining chip better intact?

 

“I… you don’t have to do this to me,” she started. “Think of… think of what you could get if you just offer to give me back?”

 

“What would we get?” Norman asked, his finger curling under her chin and stretching towards her burn. He pushed down on her singed flesh and slowly knelt at her side. “Upper hand is already ours. All we’re after is putting the fine point on it.”

 

“And you really want that to be messy?” Dawn asked. “Just keep me liquored up or whatever until he comes. Cade…he’ll go with the flow.”

 

“Really?” Norman asked, as he loosened her buttons and started to probe her breasts. “You that good a lay, bitch? You make a man like that forget whatever principles he has and act like a little girl?”

 

Dawn felt her cheeks blush even as she started to shake her head. No. No he didn’t care about her that much. Chances were that he might leave her to her own devices and tell the club to pull up stakes and try to make another stand where he might find an old lady worthy of the title.

 

“I… I don’t…”

 

Norman forced her to her feet, and Dawn felt dizzy from the blows and the booze when his rank breath flooded her eyes.

 

“You ain’t that hot,” he said. “But I’d still like to take you for a ride.”

 

And she knew that he wasn’t talking about his bike.

 

“Please,” she murmured. “You don’t have to do this.”

 

“But I want to,” Norman said. “And the Alphas are bound to bow down when they see what we’re about to do to you.”

 

Norman forced her down a dark staircase, and Dawn stumbled into a dank room. Shielding her face with nothing but her hands, she looked up to see an oblong piece of metal that meant nothing but pain and fear.

 

“Told you we had some new tricks up our sleeve,” he said. Norman released his hold, but Atticus and several other Panthers barred her way when she tried to flee.

 

“That’s not happening,” Norman said. “Take off your clothes.” Dawn shook her head and worked to hold her opened shirt against her body.

 

“I’m not going to make this any easier for you,” she said.

 

“You’d rather I do it?” Norman threatened. “Maybe let some of the other boys here in on the action?” All of the Panthers save for Atticus cracked their knuckles and licked their lips. Just the thought of them shredding her clothes and pinching her flesh brought the bile from her stomach close to the roof of her mouth, and she choked the traces of whiskey back as she followed his orders.

 

Dawn’s eyes burned with tears as she lost her shirt, her jeans. Her mind flashed to Cade’s hands, his smile if he was here now to collect her into his arms. But she could only shiver against the chill, and she started to fold her arms across her chest when Norman snapped his fingers again.

 

“Don’t be like that, honey,” he said. “We want a look at the big picture.”

 

Dawn tried to leave her body, to see herself with Cade. Anywhere but here, and she closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to turn the fantasy into reality. For one moment, she thought she could smell him. Hear Cade’s harsh voice tinged with sweetness, and she started to lean into the arm that slowly circled her waist.

 

“Cade…”

 

Lifting her lids, wanting it to be him, her heart sank at the sight of Norman leering at her. She endured his kiss and the feel of his hands crawling up her back. He was going to take her against her will. Go first and then give his boys a chance at a taste.

 

“Relax,” he crooned. “Give into it. You might just like it.”

 

“No,” she whispered. “I won’t.”

 

“Then that’s on you,” the Panther said. “We’ll still have a good time.”

 

Norman lifted her into the air, and he thrust her body into the darkness. Carrying her closer to the strange looking device, Dawn’s fear-filled mind started to connect too many dots at once. He’d said that they made improvements since the days that Nicole was under their power. This had to be meant for her, to break her for good and all and sponge any thoughts from her mind about coming back for revenge. But Dawn’s body was a fresh canvas for their perversions. Maybe it would take longer with her, but Cade still had some time to…

 

“Get ready to see some stars, bitch.”

 

The metal made contact. At first it seemed like a nightmare that would end with nothing but her back at Cade’s side as he folded her into his embrace, like she had never left. It wasn’t until he pushed her deeper, lower, the pain radiating towards her brain that her anguish rang true, and Dawn screamed for all that she was worth as she tried to escape the metal’s excruciating thrust.

 

“Oh my God!” she wailed. “Please. I can’t---”

 

“Now she has second thoughts!” Norman laughed as his boys followed suit. “Dumb slut.”

 

Norman smacked one side of her face and then the other before pressing his cruel palms into her shaking shoulders. It was… it was worse than rape. As if such a thing was possible. Through her bleary eyes, she saw Norman light another cigarette, and she almost welcomed the fresh burn as it made contact with her breasts. Better to focus her mind there and feel the burn ebb and flow. Anything other than the unending suffering starting at her cunt and pouring out of her skin in streams of sweat and violent trembles.

 

“Let me…off,” Dawn breathlessly pleaded. She didn’t care if she sounded weak or like the bitch Norman pegged her for. It couldn’t have been more than one minute, maybe two, and Dawn was already feeling as if she was about to burst. Wishing that she could go numb, pass out, but there seemed to be no end in sight as Norman bound her hands over her head.

 

“Wouldn’t want to make it easy for you,” he said. “But you’ll still try.”

 

Dawn fitfully tugged at the ropes around her wrists, but they were too tight to give way. Her bare chest heaved, and she blinked back her tears, longed to wipe the sweat from her brow when she saw him smoking and laughing. Forget the pain and the damage being done to her body with every flinch. She choked her fear down and let it come out as a raging fury.

 

“You son of a bitch!” she screamed. “You sick fuck!”

 

“You pretty little thing,” Norman said, his voice thick as he burned her again. Lean into the turns. Wait for him to slip and maybe singe the ropes. Anything for a way out.

 

“Think I’m getting a real read on you,” he said. “And this one said that I should just smoke you where you stood.”

 

Blinking wildly, grateful for somewhere else to place her focus, she saw Brian’s body moving down the staircase. The wayward Alpha sneered at the sight of her, and Dawn worked to catch her breath as he moved to Norman’s side.

 

“I still think that,” he said. “She’s trouble. And Cade is kind of into her.”

 

“Not right now,” Norman laughed. “Stop trying to play every side against the middle. You’re with us now.”

 

Glaring at the traitor in her midst, she spit into Brian’s face and shook against the post.

 

“You… you better… you better hope that he doesn’t get his hands on you,” Dawn managed. “He’ll kill you for this.”

 

“Didn’t do it for Nicole,” Norman said. “So I think we’re good.”

 

Norman slapped her face hard and laughed into her hair. She kept trying to alleviate the burning between her thighs. But every push forward only seemed to bring her two steps back. She writhed around the pain and tried to loosen her wrists when Norman’s hands surrounded hers, making every move a transition from one form of pain to another. Her eyelids began to flutter, and her mind strained toward unconsciousness when Norman snapped for Brian to come closer.

 

“Yeah, man?” Brian asked.

 

“Mark her,” Norman said. “Right where he can see it.”

 

Brian seemed to hesitate, but Norman wrestled his arm around his shoulders as he gnashed his teeth.

 

“You always said that you wanted to hit him where it hurt,” Norman said. “And it ain’t the redhead, right?”

 

“No,” Brian said. “That one’s Lenny’s bitch.”

 

“Bet the midget bled out by now.”

 

Dawn wanted to tell them all the ways in which they were wrong, but she held her tongue. Let it keep until the moment was right. Let it…

 

“You bastards,” she muttered. “I’ll write it all down. You won’t be able to hide from it.”

 

“What’s she talking about?” Atticus nervously asked.

 

“Thinks she’s the source,” Norman said. “But we know how the story started. And how it stops.”

 

Wanting to know what the Panther meant by that, she started to speak when Norman swirled a single finger into the air. Brian smirked as he pulled out his knife. Dawn’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the blade, and her words made little to no sense as she started to plead.

 

“Mark her!” Norman ordered again.

 

Brian’s eyes sparkled against the gray, and he tilted his head one way and then the other as he studied her sweating face. His eyes honed in on the burn that had not had a chance to heal, and he…

 

“There you go, boy!”

 

Norman slapped Brian’s back, and Dawn felt the blood pouring from her injured cheek as it dripped towards her trembling breasts. Every inch of her burned with pain. Even if she could find a way out to write this all down, there was no way that she would ever want to do anything but push this behind her. Try to forget. Hope that…

 

“Stop it!”

 

Brian cut deeper into her open wound, and Norman just laughed as he forcefully fondled her breasts.

 

“Now that’s a real scream,” he said. “You do an even better job than the little sister.”

 

Dawn understood Nicole’s pain, and just the thought that she was willing to go back into the breach for her crew, for the little man whom she truly loved gave Dawn a second wind. It would pass; it had for Nicole. She could play it strong. Be strong.

 

“I… I…”

 

“Slut’s trying to say something,” Norman said, as he tore her head away from her breasts and made her meet his eyes.

 

“Thinking of your so-called boy?” he asked.

 

It was all she could do to get through it. Think of Cade. Hope that he would save her.

 

“Wonder if he’ll still like you with scars,” Norman said. “Took him a long while to come after the redhead.”

 

She started; she wanted to tell him that he had it wrong. Cade would always come after any girl in distress. One way or another, he’d get them out the other side.

 

“You—”

 

“You better get ready for round two.”

 

Norman mashed his lips to hers and started to lift her away from the perfect point of pain. She reeled in the relief even as he untied her hands, and she was nearly ready to fall into his arms, anything to feel better, when he drove her back to the post and lit another match.

 

“No one’s coming for you,” Norman said. He burned her sides, and Dawn released a weak scream as she started to shake her head.

 

“You’re…you’re wrong,” she said. “He…he will come for me.”

 

“Don’t see him here now,” Norman said. “Alphas always hope that it’ll work out alright. Never take action.”

 

Norman slammed her down and turned her into the metal. It was pain like nothing she had ever known or even imagined. She tried to scream when her jaw went slack. Nothing but a wordless moan left her lips, and Dawn feared that her body would be ruined for all time when Norman’s hands left her shoulders. She struggled to catch her breath when the Panther grabbed her chin and gave her no choice but to look into her eyes.

 

“Even if it’s him, he can’t save you.”

 

“Can’t he?”

 

Norman’s voice rang out, and Dawn blinked to see Atticus hovering over her enslaved body. His eyes flashed with rage, and the lone Panther battled his brothers back. Threatening to make good with his gun, Dawn heaved a small sigh of relief, and she wanted him to smite all of them where they stood. The boy barely looked up to the task, but he still kept his aim true.

 

“Kid, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Norman asked.

 

“It’s too much,” he said. “We need to stop messing these girls.”

 

“And why is that?” Norman asked, as he struck a fresh match and brought the flame to Atticus’ eyes. “You sweet on this one?”

 

Atticus snarled as he shook his head, and Dawn smiled as he blew the match out.

 

“What’s that about?” Norman asked. “Someone else switching sides?”

 

“Maybe,” he said. “But you need to leave her be.”

 

He fired into his chest, and Norman’s blood poured through his shirt as he fell to the floor. Good. Let this be the way out. She thought of nothing but moving back to bike and hurrying back to Cade, and she fell away from the post when her legs gave out from under her.

 

“Not so fast, cunt!”

 

Sadly, somehow, Brian was still there. Dawn wanted anyone else but him to touch her. She begged him to be kind. Brian laughed as he slammed her into a dark patch of crumbling wall. Dawn shot forward to keep her head from shattering the surface. The impact still came, and she blinked fast when he drew her face to his.

 

“You are just one more piece of tail,” Brian said. “Supposed to send them in the other direction.”

 

Dawn could just picture the Alphas running scared. To see, to know Nicole and how she had lived with them and fought to get back might have been enough. And the move was supposed to be Nicole’s when she wanted nothing more than to go after them. But Dawn was left alone in a darkened space and even as one thigh cradled another and she tried to erase the feel of the pain, she still saw Brian crawling closer. He grabbed her face and nearly forced her to his lips. He shoved her freed body into a shadowy corner. Dawn still tried to break free when Brian pressed her to the ground and started to tug at her thighs.

 

“Like you’re not ready, able, and willing,” he said.

 

She tried to avoid his eyes when Brian scraped his nails across her skin. He stopped short of drawing blood, and even as Dawn was grateful for that, she still didn’t trust Brian’s arms curling around her body. He forced her bare body to his lips and started to kiss his way down her sides. What was worse? The pain or the cold? She settled on the latter as Norman’s spilled blood mingled in her hair. Turning away from the crimson, her soul started to sink at the reality of him losing his only chance to be a good guy. Another shot rang out, and Dawn sobbed into her shoulder. That was it. Her last chance going and gone. The Panthers that were left might make her want the post back, and Dawn curled her knees to her chest. She wasn’t cut out for this, and she tried to drown out the noise flooding the room. More bullets. More blood. She hoped for one of the bullets to enter her brain. Let it be quick. Let her leave this life free of the supreme violation.

 

“No! No! Don’t make me—!”

 

“Dawn!”

 

She blinked fast to find Cade’s eyes peering down at her. His face was wracked with rage. She started to tell him that she was sorry when he gathered her close to his chest and tenderly kissed her neck.

 

“You’re alright now,” he said. “Just please don’t go away from me again.”