Poison Ivy Ch. 10 Pt. 02

Authors Note: We're at the very end of Hunter and Ivy's story! I've had such a great time writing this, and I'm excited to move on to Aella and Trevino's story. I appreciate everyone who emailed me and shared feedback and suggestions, and who waited patiently for the conclusion. You'll notice not everything is wrapped up, and that's intentional... A lot of it will be addressed in future spin-offs, and while they won't be the focus of any future chapters, we'll get to see Hunter and Ivy again. I'll be posting a teaser for Aella and Trevino soon. Thank you!

Soundtrack:

Watch Me Go, by WEDNXSDAY, Sereda

Alpha by Little Destroyer

Appetite for Destruction by Vo Williams

Human by Anavae

Glory Days by The Federal Empire

This Means War by H.E.R.O.

Conscious by Broods

Shoot to Kill by DK-Zero

Safe and Sound by My Indigo

Miracle by CHVRCHES

.............................

The text came through just moments after he'd felt something very, very wrong coming from Ivy's end of the bond.

He was on his feet and racing to the door when the phone pinged, Trevino hot on his heels as they made their way down to the parking lot. Fowler, confused as to what the problem was, stomped down the carpeted stairwell in the main hall after them, grudgingly leaving his beer behind. Hunter ignored his grumbled, "I could have taken it with me."

He heard Trevino unlock the phone to read the text as they half-stalked, half-ran to the sedan, Pyle having taken Annika's car when he left with her and her two young sons.

"Hurry," Trevino said behind him. Hunter's blood ran cold. Trevino was rattled, and when the sniper got rattled, things had already gone way past shit.

"What the fuck happened?" he growled, starting the car as the three of them got in and slammed the doors. Trevino shook his head, glaring down at the screen as his thumbs typed out a message. "Trap," he snarled. "He must've had eyes on Maverick's place and followed us back. The text was a decoy."

"How? We made damn fucking sure nobody followed us that night. There was no tail," Hunter argued.

Trevino was silent for a moment, deep in thought. "Drones," he finally said.

Fuck. How hadn't they thought about that?

Fowler swore under his breath from the back seat as they peeled out of the lot, heading East.

Back to their girls.

Back to Ivy.

................................................

Aella rocked back and forth with Eva in her arms, trying to get her nerves under control and her infant to stay quiet. The last thing she wanted was to draw the attention of one of the four armed men in the house.

She kept glancing toward the bedroom. Cody was huddled in the back of the closet, where she had shoved him before the men had stormed through the door, surrounding her and Reggie. She prayed that they didn't know about him, that he'd be smart enough to stay hidden. They'd gotten lucky when whoever had searched the house had taken just a quick glance into the closet, not seeing Cody behind the hanging jackets as he plastered himself into the darkened corner.

Ivy was still passed out on the couch where they had dumped her, a trickle of blood running down one side of her face from the cut over her cheekbone. Reggie was in even worse shape, his battered face black and blue as he remained strapped to a chair by the kitchen doorway. So far, they hadn't touched her or Eva, allowing her to curl up on the couch by Ivy's feet.

Eva fussed, squirming in her arms as her little face scrunched up and her hands curled into tiny fists. She cringed back into the cushions as one of the men came toward her, scowling. "Shut that baby up," he snarled, even as she rocked the infant back and forth in her arms. "She's hungry," she told him in a quiet voice, worried that Eva would sense her fear and fuss louder.

"Then feed her," he snapped, his eyes narrowing.

Her eyes darted around, counting four men, not including the large Alpha with salt-and-pepper hair she knew to be Hickson, Ivy's father and the Vice President of Lostra, and the tall, skinny man who'd shot poor Kendric. Every so often, Hickson would glance over at her, and the way his eyes flashed with hunger made her skin crawl.

She licked her lips nervously. "She's still... I'm still breastfeeding," she told the man towering over her, flushing at the thought of having to bare herself in front of a room full of hostile men.

The man's eyes softened fractionally. He nodded toward the bedroom door where Cody was hidden, the room she'd slept in with Trev, his arms curled around her protectively as Eva lay swaddled in the crib beside them. Her eyes prickled with the threat of tears at the thought of Trevino, and she blinked them back. "Thank you," she whispered, standing up, the man close behind her as she walked to her room.

She didn't want to bring him into the bedroom Cody was in, but she also didn't want to risk making him suspicious by refusing. She just prayed that Cody would understand he needed to stay down, no matter what happened. She'd die if anything happened to him after so many years of Maverick holding his life as leverage to get what he wanted out of her.

Aella shivered, feeling a pair of eyes tracking her as she let herself be led away. She walked over to the bed and quickly stripped out of her zippered hoodie, angling herself away from the man standing in the doorway before she pulled down her tank top and lifted Eva to her breast.

"My wife is breastfeeding," the man's gruff voice told her. She glanced over her shoulder at him, nodded, and refocused her attention on Eva. Did he expect her to make small talk with him? He'd just towered over her threateningly moments before, angry that Eva was a baby acting like a baby. She didn't give a fuck what his wife was doing with his children. She just cared that he was here now, threatening her family.

And that included Ivy.

"You can go," a deep, gruff voice said behind her, and Aella stiffened. She heard footsteps moving away down the hall as the door to the bedroom closed, the ominous click of the lock making her tremble.

"Seems like we have some free time before my daughter wakes up," Hickson said as she sensed him approach. She was frozen solid, her teeth beginning to chatter from the cold sense of dread that worsened with every inch he crept closer.

"I think we can find something to do while we wait, don't you?" he drawled. She felt him lift a lock of her hair, bringing it to his nose to inhale her scent. He let it fall, gathering the rest of it to sweep the long, golden locks over one shoulder. His fingers trilled over the smooth skin at the base of her neck, where a claiming mark would have been, had Maverick ever decided to claim her.

He'd thought he'd been punishing her by leaving her unclaimed, but she'd sent a prayer of thanks into the universe after every estrous she came out of without a pair-bond, every estrous that passed without his teeth clamping down, tearing into soft flesh, scarring her and trapping her for life.

"Don't touch me," she hissed, shrugging off his touch. He chuckled as his fingers curled around her neck, pulling her head back as a thumb under her jaw forced her gaze up. He leaned over her, pressing his groin into her upper back to let her feel exactly what his intentions were. "You're a beautiful girl, Aella," he crooned, stroking his thumb across her jaw. Her skin crawled at his touch, disgust roiling in her gut. "I can't fathom why Maverick never wanted to claim you."

He leaned the rest of the way down, covering her mouth with his in a brutal, bruising kiss, his fingers tightening around her throat painfully until her lips parted in a gasp. He forced his tongue into her, swallowing her air, ignoring her attempts to pull away until he was ready to let her go.

"Put the pup down, Aella," he growled against her lips, pulling her to her feet with a tight grip around her arm. Spinning her toward the crib, he pushed her forward hard enough to make her stumble. Catching herself, she quickly unlatched Eva, swaddling her tight and giving her a pacifier. Her mind flashed back to Torrin and her time in the Factory, and how it had always started with her begging to wrap Eva up and put her down before they began their abuse.

Her throat worked as she forced herself to stop shaking. Clenching her jaw as he came closer, the heat of him burned into the skin of her back like a brand. She thought about fighting, immediately rejecting the idea, as much as her body screamed its disagreement. Too much was at risk. She'd been through worse. He could do whatever he wanted to her, as long as it kept Cody and Eva safe.

Oh god, Cody. Please don't watch this.

Letting herself be jostled to her knees in front of her infant daughter, Hickson cupped the side of her face as he worked to free himself from his creased navy-blue trousers.

His thumb traced her lower lip as he fisted himself and pumped languidly. "Open up for me, my sweet," he whispered. Revulsion twisted her stomach into knots as she parted her lips, letting her tears fall freely as he shoved two fingers to the back of her throat. Men like this got off on the pain, and she wanted it over with as soon as possible.

"That's it, stay just like that," he said in a low, lust-filled voice. Torturously slowly, he fed his cock to her, inch by inch until the tip hit the soft area at the back of her throat, making her gag. He pulled out, and thrust back in just as slowly. This time, when she gagged, he pressed harder, forcing himself deep as she choked and struggled. Long seconds went by with no reprieve as he fisted a hand in her hair to hold her still while the other pinched her nose closed, depriving her completely of air. She started to panic when he wouldn't let up, digging her fingers into his thighs as she struggled to get away. Just when her vision blurred and she was sure she was going to pass out, he pulled back, letting her gasp and cough and sputter before he thrust himself back in and repeated the process. Over, and over, and over again.

She had no idea how long this went on, with his slow, methodical thrusts, each time pinching her nose closed and holding himself still as she gagged and choked around his cock. The back of her scalp burned from where he held her tightly by her hair, and her chest shook with sobs when he finally pulled out long enough for her to catch her breath. Falling to her side, her palms braced on the floor to support her weight, she could do nothing to still the violent tremors sweeping through her body.

He crouched down and tilted his head, reaching out to graze his fingers down her cheek. When she flinched, jerking away from his touch, he breathed a laugh and wrapped his hand around her throat, using his grip to pull her to her feet and lead her over to the bed.

All the reasons she had used to talk herself out of fighting him fell away, the world itself melting around her as she was thrown straight back into the Torrin Factory she sometimes felt she'd never left. The back of her knees hit the mattress, and she screamed as she was shoved down onto her back, the weight of a large body covering hers. A rough hand clamped down over her mouth, smothering her cries, as her leggings and panties were ripped off. Her lungs worked to pull in air in short, frantic gasps, but it wasn't enough, and she fought, and fought, kicking and scratching, biting the hand over her mouth, but it wasn't enough, was never enough, would never be enough.

Darkness began to cloud her vision, and she wanted it, struggling to get to that far away painless place before she was split open, knowing it wouldn't matter because the pain would come anyway, and it didn't matter if it came now or later, just that it would come, and keep coming. It was never over. Her life was a sick joke, a never ending cycle of cruel men with cold eyes taking everything away from her except for the pain, and she wanted to laugh, because she'd known better than to feel safe, to feel loved and cherished; she knew better than to hope for happiness, because it was always going to end this way. It would always end this way.

Stella meus. Listen to me.

Aella stilled, her body going slack at the sound of that voice. His voice. Dark and rich and deep and beautiful, and god she wanted to hear it again.

Leave him. Leave yourself. Come to me.

Tears streamed down her temples as her eyes fluttered closed, Hickson's hand still clamped over her mouth, and she focused on that dark voice. Falling away from that room, that bed, her body, the rutting male forcing his way into her, his cock still wet from when he'd raped her mouth, and his crushing and suffocating weight. Like magic, she sank to some buried, quiet place, blinking up at the shadowed face watching her with soft eyes. Soft just for her. He was cold and hard, living in all the dark, shadowed places of the world, except for when he looked at her.

Pain sliced into her core from between her legs, but before it could pull her back into her body, Trev cupped her face in his palms.

"No, Stella. Stay with me." Mesmerized by his deep, sable eyes, she nodded, letting even the pain fall away.

"Are you real?" she whispered. His thumbs swept across her cheeks, wiping away her tears.

He nodded slowly. "Yes, Stella meus. I am real. This is real. We are real."

She shuddered as he pulled her into his chest, running his fingers through her hair in soothing strokes. "I'm sorry," she said softly, her voice shaking, heavy with remorse. "I'm just so broken. Too broken."

He pressed his lips to the top of her head and sighed. "You are broken," he agreed, and she thought she could actually hear her heart shattering into tiny pieces.

"I would not have you any other way."

She sucked in a breath as his words registered. Miles away, Hickson grunted over her in time with his thrusts. I might just keep you, he was growling into her ear, but she had no reason to listen. She wasn't there. She was here, with Trev, safe in the circle of his strong arms.

"Will you take care of Eva?" she asked, her hands fisting the deep blue material of his shirt.

"Yes. I will take care of you both."

Something warm and wet hit the cheek of her far-away body.

"What if I don't survive this?" she pressed, ashamed of how desperate she sounded. "I don't think I can."

The suffocating weight lifted.

"You will," his deep voice rumbled as he tightened his arms, pressing her closer. "You are so much stronger than you know, my star."

Aella, a voice, familiar but distant, called from miles away. Aella!

Trev pulled back, pressing a gentle kiss to her brow. "It's time to go back now," he whispered against her skin, sending tendrils of warmth rippling through her. "It's over."

Aella, get up! Please!

"I don't want to leave you," she murmured, sinking into his strength, soaking him in.

Fuck, Aella! AELLA!

"Your brother needs you now. Go, stella meus. I will be there soon."

"AELLA!"

She blinked, the room slowly coming back into focus, Cody's worried face searching hers.

"Cody?" she rasped, the word feeling like sandpaper grating against her throat. Various aches and pains complained as she struggled to sit up.

"Fuck, Aella! Thank god. You were so still, and your eyes... Are you okay?"

She nodded, even though her head felt like it was about to explode and a steady, sharp throb sliced into her core, the deep pain all too familiar. "What happened? Where's Hickson?" she asked in a scratchy, quiet voice, eyeing the closed door, the bolt still locked.

"Um... well..." Cody rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. "I might have sort of... knocked him out with an iron I found in the closet."

Her eyes widened, and she looked down, finding Hickson's body sprawled on the floor behind her brother, passed out cold, blood seeping from a wound on the back of his skull. "Shit!" she laughed, wincing when the movement jostled her pounding head.

A slow, cautious smile spread across Cody's face at her reaction. She touched her cheek, and her fingers came away damp with blood. "It's his," Cody assured her. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't watch him hurt you anymore," he said, dropping his gaze. Her grin slowly fell, and she reached out, taking his hand in hers.

"Thank you, Cody." He nodded, not meeting her eyes. "I would have shot him, but it would have made too much noise," he mumbled. She sucked in a breath, shooting to her feet with a speed that made her dizzy. "The gun! You still have the gun!" she whispered excitedly.

"Well... yeah," he said, shrugging.

"Cody, I think I know how to get us out of this!"

................................................

Ivy came awake in stages, each slow, steady breath bringing with it an increased awareness. She kept still, listening, trying to assess the situation before she opened her eyes. She heard five distinct voices, talking quietly, a clipped word here or there as heavy footsteps stalked through the house. They were nervous, on edge. There was no way these guys were anything other than mercenaries. Legit federal agents didn't talk about potential payloads or discuss political kidnappings.

She didn't hear Aella, Cody or Reggie, and Eva wasn't crying or fussing. They could be in another room, or they could have taken them away from the house altogether. It was impossible to even consider the third option, so she didn't.

She also couldn't hear Hickson, although she did hear Stringbean as he threw out the occasional pointlessly redundant order. "Check the windows." There was no way they hadn't already been checked. "Keep your guard up." Yeah, okay, because that needed to be said. "Make sure he's tied down." Okay, that --

Wait, what?

Make sure who was tied down? Cody? Reggie? Someone else?

She risked opening her eyes a sliver, peeking around at a blurry room. She could only see two men from her spot on the couch, but that didn't mean anything. She had definitely counted five voices. Reggie was knocked out cold, tied to a chair in the back of the room, close to the kitchen. Aella, Cody and Eva were nowhere to be seen, and Hickson was conspicuously absent.

What was their endgame here, exactly? If they'd wanted her dead, she was sure she'd already be dead. The only thing that made any kind of sense would be to keep her alive until Hunter and the other Alphas came back. They would know that Hunter would be able to feel her distress and would come rushing back to her. They would also know that he'd do anything to keep her safe. Including sacrificing himself, the big dumb oaf.

Which was just stupid, and not something she was planning to allow.

Oh, and hey, look at that! She wasn't tied down! She inwardly rolled her eyes. People just kept underestimating her.

Footsteps stomped toward her, and she quickly shut her eyes again, focused on keeping her breaths slow and even. "This is bull shit," someone whispered angrily. She heard Stringbean's voice coming from the front of the house, so she knew it wasn't him. "How long has he been at it in there? That girl doesn't deserve this, Greg."

"Shut up," someone hissed. Greg, presumably.

"I'm fucking serious," the first guy said, his voice one fractional step above a whisper. "I didn't sign up to stand guard while he rapes and beats innocent young mothers."

"Shut the fuck up, Mikey! You signed up to get paid, yeah? So then get out of my fucking face."

A frustrated growl preceded angry footsteps leading away. Ivy's heart raced. While he rapes and beats innocent young mothers?