Free Demon Untamed by Kiersten Fay Page B

out.
    He could have easily healed himself. Instead, he kept his inconsequential wounds open to keep from revealing the nature his gift. Darius had already noted his pointed ears with a keen eye, but that didn’t stop the asshole from torturing Ethan with the same enthusiasm he showed the demons.
    However, something told him that if Darius ever grew tired of his newest toys, Ethan would be the only one to survive for future study.
    Aside from the physical abuse, sleep was deprived of them. If any of them nodded off, an electric current would run through their bindings, choking the air from every cell in their bodies and reopening old gashes. Each of them was coated in a generous amount of dried and fresh blood.
    Ethan didn’t know how many days had passed, but his exhaustion told him it had been more than a mere few. He worried what had become of Anya. They had not been given any evidence that she even lived.
    He found his mind drifting to Sonya with increasing frequency. Fatigue-induced stupors brought on figments of her large violet eyes, flashing with imagined concern—the way she would regard her kin if she were here to see their pain.
    The fantasy vanished. Sonya hated his guts, and if her brothers weren’t with him, she wouldn’t bother with his predicament at all.
    Darius entered the room with a threatening gleam in his eyes that brought them all to attention.
    “I’ve got a little treat for you,” he muttered.
    Ethan stifled a curse. He could read Darius loud and clear, and was instantly aware of the plot. Darius was going to add a new player to his game.
    Anya.
    Darius smiled at them. The lunatic was practically giddy over the prospect of showing her what he’d done to them, as though she would applaud his work.
    Ethan’s mind reeled. How could he spare her the pain of seeing them like this? And Sebastian? What special kind of torture would the Edge bring him when he laid eyes upon his mate? When he was unable to reach her, to keep her safe? A demon could go mad from something like that, and Sebastian had already been on the Edge for days.
    Ethan spotted a dagger in Darius’s hand and mentally cursed. Without even the slightest change in expression, Darius sank the blade into Sebastian’s gut. Sebastian didn’t flinch. He just continued to meet the bastard’s unwavering gaze, as if giving some unspoken guarantee that Darius was looking into the eyes of death itself.
    A hint of fear etched its way across Darius’ expression, eradicated a moment later.
    Ethan couldn’t help but to indulge in a taunt. “You do realize you’ve just signed your own death note.”
    Darius focused on him. Then, with a blindingly swift movement, he slammed the hilt of his blade into Ethan’s temple. A deafening ring vibrated his skull before he blacked out.
    When he came to, muffled sounds echoed through his head. He opened and closed his eyes a few times and shook away the vertigo. His vision was blurry, but he got the sense that Anya was now in the room and was fighting Darius.
    Sebastian and Cale were madly struggling against their bonds. Adrenaline spiked in Ethan’s bloodstream, and he tried to pull free, but it was no use. All he could do was hope Anya was able to fend off the much larger male.
    Ethan’s vision dimmed again. He called up a bit of his magic to heal himself. He looked up just in time to see Darius stab Anya with the same dagger he’d used on Sebastian. Despair ate away at him, darkening his mind and carving out a place in his chest.
    I couldn’t even protect one girl .
    The dagger plunged again. Anya’s expression was pained, exhausted. She lifted her arm toward them as if reaching out for something. Then she gave them each one last sorrowful look before closing her eyes.
    The bindings that held them began to shake. Magic pulsed through the metal, and he realized what she was doing. Their restraints were mechanized, and Anya could manipulate them just as she had the lock to the cell on Ethan’s