Cruel Seduction - Kelli Callahan Page 0,92

my knife at the ready, shoving it into the soft skin of the sick individual’s stomach. A few people try to fight me off, stopping me from getting to Kendrick as he lifts Gabriella’s gown to take her.

During all of this, somehow the fucker is able to get an erection.

“You cannot stop him! It is meant to be. The book says so!” one of his followers tackle me to the ground, but the knife slides into his chest like butter.

Jaxon and Grayson are handling the other cult members on their own, and Owen shoots anyone who dares come close to him.

Which leaves me to deal with my brother.

I hop on stage and sheath my knife, pulling out my gun instead. “Let her go, Kendrick.”

He twists his head back, and the way his hair falls across his forehead and the desperate gleam he has in his eyes along with madness, I know my brother isn’t in there anymore.

“No, this needs to happen! I’ve waited too long for this. She’s mine.”

“She’s no virgin. I took it. She’s mine. What do your rules say about that?”

Kendrick stares at Gabriella, and she spits in his face.

“Your ritual wouldn’t have worked. Step away.”

“No, you’re lying,” Kendrick says, hovering over her.

I do the only thing I can do since nothing will get through to him.

I pull the trigger.

I shoot him right in the back, through the shoulder, a wound that isn’t deadly, but will definitely hurt like a bitch.

Blood sprays across her white gown, but she doesn’t panic. Her breathing is harsh, but she stays calm for someone who was just about to be sacrificed to shit that didn’t exist. He rolls to his side, his flaccid cock hanging out of his pants. He presses his against his shoulder.

“No! You’ve ruined everything. You have no idea what we have planned!” Kendrick screams.

Jaxon gets on stage and points the gun at Kendrick. “Uncuff her, Sebastian. We have him.”

I sink to my knees and don’t say a word. I kiss her senseless.

“I’m so glad you took my virginity,” she says.

“You’re making jokes right now?” I chuckle as I uncuff her.

“It’s the only thing I could think of to say.” She throw her arms around me and hisses when I do the same. “Lashes.”

“He whipped you again?” I pull back and she glances down, lowering her eyes as she nods.

“Chain him to that fucking pentagram. This night is far from over.”

“The whip is in the throne they carried me out on. He wasn’t done with it,” Gabriella says.

“Nothing like this will ever happen to you again,” I promise. After tonight, Kendrick won’t be alive. His soul will descend. I’ll make sure of that. I lay one more kiss on her lips and sigh. “I’m glad you’re alive. I’m so sorry I wasn’t better at protecting you.”

“He would have found me anyway,” she says. “You can’t stop madness in the mad.”

“The hell I can’t.” I stomp down to the red throne she was carried out on like some goddess and grab the black whip. “This? This is what he used on you?” I don’t give her time to answer. I get on stage again and see that Kendrick is tied to the pentagram. “Undress him.”

“Brother! No. I can be better. I can repent. You can have her. She’s nothing to me now. Nothing,” Kendrick begs.

Jaxon takes off Kendrick’s pants and Owen cuts the shirt off, living him bare to me.

Instead of speaking, I flicked my wrist, sending the whip through the air until the tip licks his skin.

He cries out, screaming in agony.

I don’t stop on his account. I don’t care for his begging. I keep whipping him until I work up a sweat. His back and his ass bleed, but I’m not done. “Turn him around.”

“Can I?” Gabriella takes the whip from my hand and gets face to face Kendrick, grinning. “I hope you’ll learn your lesson, my sweet.” The whip cracks in the air, and she roars her victory as she lashes his torso. From the tip of his toes to his face, he is covered in red, bleeding welts.

She wraps the whip around his neck and tightens it. “That’s what happens when you don’t obey, pet.” A tear leaks from the corner of her eye as she takes her own justice.

There is a special place for people like us.

Not heaven.

Not hell.

Just the space in between.

Epilogue

SEBASTIAN

Seven years later

“Sebastian,” Gabriella moans my name and arches her body into the air, her pregnant belly round and heavy.

I hold the vibrating