Free City of Dragons: Of Flesh and Blood by Adrienne Wilder

reduced to being a punching bag, then forced to let the Male dominate him. Emily would watch while the Male cracked his bones and tore chunks of flesh from his body.
    Mutilated him. Broke him.
    Only when he was destroyed was she satisfied. Then Emily would instruct the half-breed to
feed
him.
    “Last night I came home, and it was…terrible.”
    It was all terrible. Haley had a hard time imagining how much worse last night had been.
    “I’m not healing like I used to.” Deshi touched his arms and then his torso. “Last night I thought I was going to die.” Farley moved closer and pressed his head against Deshi’s shin. The Jersey City Prince stared at him for a long moment before he finally put a hand on Farley’s shoulder. “I told Emily I couldn’t play her game anymore. That…that what she was making me do wasn’t acceptable. I tried to tell her it was like a Human taboo, that half-breeds are animals, that
feeding
him was wrong...I told her I should have been
his
dominant, but she was…the things she…” Deshi bit off his words. “She screamed at me. She told me she was trying to fulfill my
needs
, that I should be grateful, that if I loved her…”
    Yeah, that sounded like Emily all right. Haley sighed.
    Deshi’s baby blues came up. “Last night, I told her I couldn’t do it anymore, and we had to find another way. I even suggested letting Farley come over. If watching me
feed
on or be
fed
on by another Male was what she wanted…”
    Farley pulled himself up and tucked his shoulder against Deshi’s ribs. “I’ll do it for you. I hate her, but if it would make things easier for you, I’ll do it. Whatever you need. Just tell me.”
    Deshi stroked Farley’s head and back. “I know.”
    “But she didn’t want Farley to
feed
you,” Haley said. Deshi shook his head.
    Of course not. What Emily wanted wasn’t about meeting Deshi’s needs. It was about punishing him.
    Deshi clenched his eyes shut as Haley pulled him to her. Because the Jersey City Prince was so much taller, he almost had to lie on his side to put his face in her neck.
    And for a very long time Haley and Farley held him because there was nothing else they could do.

Chapter 7
     
    Orin stood under the blistering spray of water shooting out of the old brass showerhead. He’d been standing there for at least an hour, and if it wasn’t for the godsend of hot water on demand, he would have run out a long time ago.
    He should have been washing, scrubbing. The high velocity spray was doing an effective job of scraping the blood and body fluids from the creases of his skin, but it couldn’t wash the things he done from his mind.
    Lucky for Orin, the two men had been nothing but professional. The first ten minutes had been all stop and start and flinching if they got to close. In spite of the roar in his chest, pounding pain of his teeth, and the heartbeat between his legs, he almost made them leave.
    But dealing with Kin who didn’t want to be what they were, was part of their job. The blonde had serviced Orin before, and Orin, in his desperation, let him try the old standby of breaking past his usual inhibitions. No touching required, which was great. Just breathing. An exchange of scents…
    And as soon as the Lesser-Bred’s taste hit Orin’s palate, all his cultured humanness went on hiatus and the thing he tried so hard not to be took over.
    Hating himself didn’t change the fact his biology had been sated and he felt good. Or at least better than he’d been feeling for the past few weeks.
    But what he
needed-craved-wanted
was his own.
    Beast.
    Orin found the green and white bar of Irish Spring, and he scrubbed it against his skin until he left ugly red welts. From head to toe he hurt himself, assaulting his body because he was powerless to control the metaphysical biology binding him together. Orin lost count of the times he repeated the process, but he eventually rinsed and shut the water off.
    Feeling renewed and abhorring the