Free Highland Son (Highland Sorcery: A New Dawn) by Clover Autrey Page B

maybe the entire group didn’t know what Sheppard had been up to in the name of their survival .
    Ethan’s head rocked back with another punch.
    “Hey!” Dez shouted.
    Richards shrugged. “He’s too far out of it to feel it. Come on, hero, wake up and take your hits like a good little punching bag.”
    “You’re wasting your efforts,” Sheppard said.
    Hank looked at Dez. “Want us to start on him?”
    Sheppard shrugged. “Nah, a man like him, I could beat on all day with no results. But going after one of his own—“
    Dez’s heart squeezed hard. He had to get Ethan out of here.
    Sheppard walked to the door. “Truss that one back up. Give them the night to think things through and we’ll begin again at first light when they’re both fully alert.” He exited without a backward glance, king of his domain, expecting everything to go his way.
    “You heard Sheppard.” Richards let go of Ethan, leaving him supported by Hank alone who seemed reluctant to let him go.
    Dez held his breath as he glared up at Hank.
    Feeling his gaze, Hank turned from staring down at Ethan and met Dez’s eyes. A slow smile twisted his features. It’d be so easy for him to accidentally twist Ethan’s head a little too forcefully. Dez had never felt so helpless in his life. He’d prefer facing off with the Sifts or that damn wolf again.
    The wolf was hungry, but it wasn’t sadistically cruel.
    Eyes on Dez, Hank ran a finger across Ethan’s exposed throat and then simply let go.
    Ethan dropped to the floor in a spineless heap.
    Never looking away from Dez, Hank stood over them as Richards did the grunt work, dragging Ethan on his stomach over to the sink and retied his wrists to the pipes before they exited without another jab at them.
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    Fury pushed Dez to keep sawing through the ropes, even as his fingers cramped around the small blade.
    Ethan could not wake up like that, not on his stomach, arms bound and stretched like that. He’d think…
    Dez swallowed around the bile rising up his throat and sawed at his bonds more fervently, watching the subtle difference in his friend’s breathing. He knew too well what Ethan’s nightmares consisted of.
    Whatever drug he’d been dosed with was wearing off. Ethan was rousing, the lashes of his unswollen eye were moving against his flushed skin.
    Ethan shifted suddenly, trying to lift his head. The muscles in his arms tightened and Dez sawed harder, anticipating Ethan’s reaction.
    Ethan tugged more forcefully on his arms, finding them immobile. He drew in a painful breath.
    Dez knew the moment Ethan came awake and panicked. His face lifted. He sucked in a painful breath and all hell broke loose.
    “No!” Ethan screeched, yanking and yanking against the pipes forcefully enough to make his wrists bleed.
    “Ethan, stop! It’s okay, man. You’re not there. You’re not there.” None of this was okay.
    Ethan was beyond hearing. He twisted violently onto his back, his features pale with terror, chest heaving so rapidly he was on the verge of hyperventilating, body arching and legs kicking out.
    Gloriesdammit! Dez slashed the tiny blade into his ropes, finally feeling the loosening in the fraying bonds. He couldn’t wait, pulled his arms apart with everything he had…groaning as the veins in his neck bulged. Sweat trickled across his neck. Ethan’s leg knocked into his.
    With a burst of adrenaline, one of the ropes gave, fraying apart, and Dez twisted his arms, freeing one hand and was on his knees next to Ethan before he had the rest of the rope off of his other hand.
    He latched onto Ethan’s arms, holding him steady to quit flaying his wrists apart. His arms were twisted oddly against the ropes, one on top of the other from flopping onto his back.
    “Hey, hey, snap out of it.” He curled his hands around Ethan’s biceps, hating to restrain him in any manner while he was like this.
    Ethan was still plagued by the occasional nightmare, but Dez hadn’t seen