Page 45 of Reforging Onyx

“Did Dominic put you up to this?” Onyx demanded.

“No.” Shane shook his head. “Dominic hasn’t put me up to anything, or said anything to me about it at all. I’m just asking you to think about what happens in any other scenario. You’re powerful, you’re useful… as long as you couldn’t possibly do anything other than what you’re told to do.”

Shane made a frustrated noise, his eyes on the screen.

“Lucian Moreno is a werewolf. About this time last year, he was caught stealing supplies from his pack for the rebellion, and they decided to make an example out of him. He wasn’t killed; he was sold to a real sadistic fucker. The only way a werewolf scars is with silver, if it's intentional. Lucian is covered in scars. On his back. Elsewhere. One of his feet looks like it was flayed open.

“He’s— I don’t know if he’s ever not showing signs of being whipped, or worse. And he’s utterly devoted to his master. They were at Tartarus during the attack, and Lucian fought for him. As a wolf! When he could’ve easily turned on him, he killed for him instead.” Shane shook his head. “You don’t get that kind of devotion from someone who’s not completely broken, broken to where there’s nothing left of who he originally was.”

Onyx glared at Shane. “The only reason I’m not scarred from head to toe is vampire blood,” he snarled. “You don’t know what it was like at the beginning. Oh wait, yes you do, because you fucked me, knotted me, hurt me, and what did I do?” He let out a bitter laugh. “I called out for Dominic. Do you remember that? Because I do.”

He got up, beginning to pace.

“Do you think I tried to kill myself because I’m a spoiled little brat who didn’t get his way?” Onyx stalked across the room, agitation driving him step after step. “You might think I’m lucky, and maybe I’m lucky now, but I didn’t start out that way, Shane!”

Shane sighed and shook his head. “No, I don’t think you’re a spoiled little brat, but you were able to fight back because he let you. Because he wanted you to. No one else would’ve done that; you’re too dangerous for them to have dared to. So yes, you had months of rape and torture, and I’m not saying that that was lucky, but at the end of it you’re you, which is something you wouldn’t be anywhere else. At the end of it, Dominic still wants you to be you, or you wouldn’t be here, playing games. Having the freedom to do that, even yes, under surveillance. Do you think others get such freedoms? Ever?”

The words hit him like blows, and Onyx turned away, hugging his arms against his chest. “I’m not me. You don’t know who I was before all of this. You think I’d have ever let a man kiss me or touch me or think about letting him fuck me?” He laughed, the sound wild. “It’s really fucking funny, you know that? That either of you seem to think I’m the same person I was when I was caught! That either of you thinks I’m not different!”

Fuck them. Fuck both of them.

They didn’t know the first thing about him at all.

The door slammed open as Dominic strode into the room. “That is enough,” he said, voice ice cold and far too calm. “Shane, out. Now.”

He didn’t spare Shane a glance as he entered the rec room, attention focused on Onyx.

Shane closed his eyes with a tight expression but nodded, putting the controller down without a word.

Onyx hadn’t planned on Dominic coming in, but he guessed he should have.

He hated both of them.

“Leave me alone,” he snapped.

But no. He wasn’t going to be given any sort of freedom at all. He wouldn’t get to be left alone. Not then.

Not ever.

Chapter 20

Dominic

Dominic considered the wild-eyed witch for several moments, assessing the scope of the damage. “Come here,” he said more softly once Shane had exited the room, holding out his hand.

Softening his voice had taken effort. The werewolf was fortunate that Dominic was trying to avoid inflicting further undue pressure on Onyx, or he wouldn’t have exited the room on his own feet.

Or breathing.

When his wards had alerted him to Onyx’s spike in agitation, only the fact that the spells monitoring the witch indicated no physical distress had enabled him to end the meeting and dismiss his visitor with some aplomb.

The fury was still close to the surface, but it was something he would have to deal with later, after he’d determined the scope of the damage that had been wrought.

Onyx started to obey, taking a few steps in his direction, then he stopped short and shook his head. “No. If I’m me, if I’m not broken, if I’m not just lucky, I get to say no. Right?”

“Some would say that wanting to say no at all means that you’re not broken.” Dominic held his hand out a beat longer before letting it drop to his side. “You can say no, can’t you?”

“I can say it all I want, but it doesn’t mean anything,” Onyx retorted. “You won’t listen. I’ll still obey. Maybe I’m not broken the way other people are. Maybe I’m just tamed, domesticated, whatever.”