The guy reeled back, released her, but he staggered back. Red blood dripped from his nose where she’d nailed him but the enraged look in his eyes assured her that she may have just signed her own death warrant.

She rolled again to put more distance between them until the headboard halted her. “Zorus doesn’t want me hurt. I swear I’m not the enemy. I’m his girlfriend. He―”

“Has fooled you,” the man roared. He lifted a leg, one large boot stepped onto the end of the bed, and then he stood on it. “I won’t kill you but I’ll start teaching you the price of being human before he returns. I don’t want to disappoint him from getting his personal revenge by killing you himself.”

“He doesn’t want me hurt!” Pure terror jolted through her.

She tried to avoid his hands when he bent and lunged at her but he grabbed her hair. Another scream tore from her throat. He jerked her hard, yanked her up with the handful of hair he gripped, and then stepped off the bed. He dragged her to the edge and she fell off. Agony shot throughout her body when she slammed hard into the floor and tears blinded her from the pain. She couldn’t even breathe through the intense hurt, to scream again.

A hand grabbed the back of her shirt, jerked hard enough to lift her from the floor, and he just ripped it from her body. He shoved hard, slamming her face into the soft mattress, and her knees collapsed against the carpet. She took ragged breaths but was still in too much pain to even whimper. The sound of ripping material barely registered in her mind. She was too filled with shock and pain to understand what she heard. He’d already taken her shirt but she didn’t register what else he’d torn off her.

Something brushed her face as he yanked her head back and a thick wad of material pushed against her mouth. He pulled her hair, causing more pain, and then she realized what he’d done. He’d stuffed a gag in her mouth and tied a thick strip of fabric around her head to keep it there, just under her nose. She screamed against the gag he’d made with part of the shirt but the sound came out muffled. Bruising hands gripped her arms to lift her limp body. He dumped her onto the bed facedown.

Stunned, reeling from pain, Charlie couldn’t pull it together enough to fight when his hands slid down her arms to her wrists, which he wrenched behind her back. He used another torn strip to bind her hands together, tight enough to hurt. He gripped her shoulders, forced her to stand on trembling legs, and shoved her forward. She blinked back fresh tears that blinded her, just in time to see the dresser loom in front of her. Her hip hit the edge of it hard. She cried out against the gag.

Zorus! She screamed his name inside her mind but knew he couldn’t hear her. His son pinned her on her feet against the dresser. His big body kept her h*ps shoved against the edge of the unforgiving wood furniture, and he released her shoulders. One hand grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her forward until her face touched the wall.

“My father told me what you animals did to him while he remained a prisoner inside the labs on Earth.” His h*ps shifted to the side, still pinning her painfully, and the cyborg leaned over to snarl in her ear as he tore the boxers from her body. “Is that what you did to him when you had him this time? Did you chain him up, drug him, and abuse his body?”

She frantically shook her head, tried to deny it around the gag, but the sobbed words weren’t even something she could understand. He couldn’t possibly understand her protests.

“How does it feel to be na**d and helpless?” Rage laced his voice.

Charlie sobbed. Her head hurt where he’d pulled her hair. She was sure he’d torn out some. Her calf, where he’d grabbed it, throbbed, bruised for sure, and his hip dug into her where he had her painfully pinned. She wanted to scream from the agony coursing throughout her body.

“The women were bad enough, strapping him down to use for their pleasure. They forced drugs into his system and shut off his implants to make him lose control of his own body, but the males were worse. Two of the male guards raped him often as punishment when he wouldn’t comply.”

Charlie turned cold inside at hearing that news, horrified. Zorus hadn’t told her that. She understood why he’d hate humans, after all he’d endured, but that made it so much worse. He was a proud man. Being the victim of sexual assault would have been horrible enough but by men too?

“He told me of the pain. They would strap him down and force him to endure their animal lust. They taunted him, laughed when they made him bleed, and shamed him by calling him nothing but a toy to play with.”

A hand grabbed Charlie’s ass. “Have you ever taken a male here?” His fingers pressed against her anus. “I am told it hurts. They didn’t care if he screamed. They didn’t care if he bled. They enjoyed his suffering.”

He jerked his hand away. Charlie screamed when she heard the sound of his pants being opened.

“You’re going to know his pain.”

Charlie tried to fight, tried to get away from him, but he kept her immobile against the dresser with his hand still gripping the back of her neck. His hot breath fanned her throat, another snarl coming from him.

“I’m going to enjoy every painful moment you suffer,” he swore. “You’re nothing but a toy for me to play with now.”

* * * * *

Zorus smiled when he entered his apartment. The smell of the meal Charlie had prepared greeted him when the elevator doors opened. His gaze swept the kitchen and living area, searching for her as he strode inside. His stomach rumbled from hunger and the tempting scents of something he couldn’t identify but wanted to eat.

“Charlie?” He headed for the bedroom when he didn’t see her.

He froze at the open doorway at the sight of Darius. His son had his pants down to the back of his thighs to reveal his bare ass, faced the dresser, and as their gazes met, he saw blood dripping from his nose down his face. A muffled scream made his heart nearly stop before rage engulfed him. He moved before he even understood why his son had ventured inside his bedroom half undressed.

Darius turned more and in that instant Zorus saw what his son’s body had shielded him from. Darius had Charlie wedged against the dresser, bent over it, her hands tied behind her back, and a red mark the size of a fist showed on her bare body, on her ass. He heard the anguished sound of horrified shock that came from his own lips.

Zorus lunged, roaring in rage, and before he knew it, he’d grabbed his son and thrown him away from Charlie. Her body shook and her muffled sobs tore at his gut. That’s when he realized something was tied around her head. She’d slumped against the dresser the instant he’d thrown Darius away from her but he managed to catch her within his arms before she slid to the floor.

“What did you do?” Zorus roared, his head jerking to glare at his son, while he clutched Charlie’s shaking body inside the cradle of his arms.

Darius lay sprawled on the floor where he’d landed roughly on his side. It only took Zorus a second to see the state of his son’s aroused body to guess what he’d interrupted. He roared out in rage again, watched his son pale and his dark eyes widen with alarm.

Charlie sobbed, her body trembled hard against his, and the muffled noise dragged his infuriated focus to her. He turned her gently in his hold to get a look at her face. Tears streamed from her eyes, hair stuck to her face from the wetness, and a wide strip of torn clothing hid her mouth. Zorus sank to the floor, his legs giving out on him, but managed to cushion her when he fell. The look in Charlie’s eyes tore him apart inside. Her fear and pain was so strong that he could almost feel them himself.

Zorus couldn’t get breath into his lungs. His mind tried to function but the awfulness of the situation made thinking hard to do. He eased Charlie closer on his lap. His hands trembled badly as he tried to free her from the gag. He knew he pulled her hair but couldn’t avoid it. The material had been tied with strands of it tangled into the knot. The second he gently removed it from her mouth, Charlie screamed.

The ragged, gut-wrenching sound tore through the room, pierced not only his ears with her pain but his heart. She sucked in air and threw her face against his chest. Great sobs racked her body. His arms wrapped around her only to realize her hands were still bound behind her back. He reached for them.

“Father?”

Zorus turned his head, fury finally burning through his distress. Darius had sat up and jerked his pants back into place on his h*ps but he hadn’t fastened them. Zorus’ fingers worked the knots that bound Charlie’s wrists until he freed her. Her hands clutched at his shirt while she sobbed against him.

“I’m sorry if I should have waited to start torturing her.”

It took everything for Zorus to get words out of his mouth. He wanted to scream the way Charlie had. “Did you rape her?”

“I was just about to.”

Zorus felt a coldness settle into his soul while he glared at his son. “Did you enter her?”

“I was working on that when you walked in. She’s very small and wouldn’t easily take me.” Darius slowly climbed to his feet. He scowled down at his father and then the woman on his lap. “What are you doing, freeing her?”

Zorus attempted to move Charlie off his lap to deal with his son but she cried out, clung to him tighter, and made it impossible for him to ease her onto the floor next to him. He froze. Emotions nearly overwhelmed him while they tore him in half. His son had attacked the woman he loved. Darius had tried to rape Charlie, had assaulted her, and he wanted to beat on his own flesh and blood so badly that he quaked from the force of desire to kill the son he loved. He closed his eyes.

“Go,” he rasped. “Leave, Darius.”

“Father? What is wrong? Did I ruin your plans for her? Were you still playing the nice game with her?”

Zorus glowered at his son. “You attacked her.” He paused—had to when his voice broke. “I don’t want to kill you. I’m that angry at this moment. You had no authority to touch Charlie.” His voice rose until he yelled. “She means something to me. Do you know what you’ve done? Do you understand I’d like nothing better than to make you bleed? Pound on you until you no longer live? Leave!” He shouted the last word.

Darius gaped at him.

Zorus embraced Charlie’s shaking, small form, trying to comfort them both, but knew it wasn’t possible. He closed his eyes to fight the wrath that threatened to make him take the life of his only son.

Long minutes passed before Charlie’s sobs started to subside. Zorus opened his eyes to realize Darius no longer remained inside the room. He turned his head to make certain his son had left. He and Charlie were alone once again. He forced his numb body to move, to carefully cradle the woman he loved within his arms, and managed to get to his knees, then to his unsteady feet. He slowly walked into the bathroom.

Charlie got control of her emotions when Zorus eased her bare bottom onto the cool countertop and opened her eyes when he pulled away. She didn’t look at his face. She couldn’t. Her body trembled, ached in too many places to count, but Zorus had arrived home in time to stop his son from raping her. She fought another sob that threatened at the memory of Darius pressing against her ass, trying to force his c**k inside her.

“Charlie?” Zorus whispered her name. “I’m so sorry. Where do you hurt? What did he do to you?”

She wrapped her arms around her bare chest, hugged her body tightly, and kept her head down. More tears threatened to spill. She didn’t know what to say to Zorus. She’d heard what he’d said to his son, the threat he’d made to kill him, and how upset he’d sounded.

“Charlie?” Zorus placed his hands gently on the tops of her thighs. She flinched, not meaning to, and inwardly winced when he jerked away. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do this,” she whispered.