Shackled (The Lord Series) by Amy T

Mose

Rueben slams the back door of the kitchen as he enters the house. His belt is in his right hand, and his eyes glow red. Clearly,

something happened with Olivia. Maybe he went ahead and strangled her to death with his belt? It wouldn't surprise me, | have

seen him unalive people with his belt many times. The last one was the fat, ugly ba stard who owned Speckles before us. He had

the audacity toe here and demand we give her back to him. Of course, Rueben invited him in for a beer, and that f**king pig

didn’t leave the house alive. He got what he deserved, but we had to change the table as his blood got all over it. | might have

accidentally chopped his fingers for polluting my kitchen with his presence.

The kitchen is usually our gathering place, and in time, we fell into the habit of entering the house through the backdoor as it is

closer to the stable. | prefer the front entrance because it has a porch, and | usually sit there alone with a beer as | unwind from a

long day at the restaurant. As much as | love my job, when | get home, | am almost always exhausted, probably because | suffer

from anemia. No matter how many times | go to the doctor, it always

returns.

Grabbing a beer from the fridge, Rueben sits at the table and slams his belt on top of it.

Tyson, who has his nose stuck in a book with a half-naked dude on the cover and a very cringy title, ‘My hot next-door neighbor,’

glances at the belt. | never understood how he could read trashy romance. Not only that, but he also writes books for women who

lack men to d ick them well and live vicariously through his stories.

A few drops of blood are on the belt. “Did you kill her?” Tyson inquires.

Rueben takes a long sip from his beer. “I would have if not for Jasper stopping me. Again. The b itch tried to claw my

eye out.”

Diva starts howling, and Tyson goes to open the door to Rueben’s room.

“Do you wantto look at those scratches?” | ask Rueben.

“You should, | don’t trust that bi tch to be clean. G od knows what diseases | can catch from her.”

Rueben and | met soon after the death of his sister, and since then, | have been hearing about Olivia constantly. | imagined her...

differently, but | don’t blRueben for thinking she has STDs. Not that he will catch anything from her scratching him, but he can

still get an infection from germs found under fingernails.

From the state of Olivia's pu ssy, | wouldn't be surprised if she f**ked all the Dukes in the city, so getting her tested is the first

thing we have to do. While | like pu ssy, | don’t want to risk my health for whatever twisted plot Rueben cup with to take down

Senator Deymar.

Diva runs into the kitchen and jumps on Rueben, licking him a few times before settling under the table at his feet.

Rueben finally relaxes and leans back on his chair finishing his beer.

Tyson returns only to grab his book and say, “I am off to bed.”

“Night,” | say.

Mose

Rueben mumbles something as Tyson disappears into his office. He usually sleeps there on a pullout sofa, waking several times a

night to take notes on ideas for his books.

After taking another sip of my beer, | stand and go grab the first aid kit from the bathroom next to the kitchen.

“And Ansel?” Rueben asks when | put the first aid kit on the table next to his beer.

Grabbing a pair of latex gloves, | say, “He is checking the horses and Juniper.”

Rueben stays still as | start to disinfect his wounds.

“Looks like she has claws,” | chuckle when he hisses as | clean the scratches with hydrogen peroxide.

“1 will yank out her fingernails with hot pliers if she does it again.”

Once, he ripped open someone's throat for saying something about his mother. | might love Rueben, but he is f**ked up in the

head.

Ansel enters the house and after washing his hands, he too grabs a beer and joins us.

“What happened to your face?” Ansel asks.

“That f**king diseased c unt clawed me,” Rueben snarls. Ansel whistles.

After | finish, | take the kit back to the bathroom, dispose of the gloves and wash my hands before returning to the

table.

After gulping down half of his beer, Ansel asks, “Where are Jasper and Tyson?”

“Jasper is tying that bi tch to the bed, and Tyson went to sleep,” Rueben says.

“So, Olivia Deymar, finally in your clutches. What were the chances of her being one of the women chosen by Malaky for the

hunt?” | wonder.

“Slim to none,” Ansel throws in his two cents.

Rueben goes to the fridge and grabs another beer. “There had been moments when | thought | would never get to see the day |

would find Olivia again, and suddenly Jasper and Tyson decide to buy a b itch for the farm, and my wish. finallyes true.”

Ansel puts his hands behind his head. “You know what they say about karma-sooner or later, everyone gets what they

deserve.”

Throwing a glance at the clock on the wall-which indicated almost one in the morning-I ask, “Are you serious about us f**king her?”

“Trust me, | am not happy about it either,” says Rueben. “But if her disease pu ssy it's what will bring her father down, then so be

it.”

| shrug. “It will save us the trouble of going to the Blood Lodge.”

Mose

| am not inte f**king pornais, but Rueben’s refusal to find a Lady left us with no other choice than to go to the Blood Lodge for a

quick release. Having a woman wait for me, for us, at hwith a smile on her lips as she sucks us good after a long day of work

is what | yearn for. Not that | think Olivia will be that woman. Once Rueben is done with her. be will dispose of her, as he usually

does with people who are of no use to him.

“Besides, if it will help us bring down Senator Deymar, it is worth it,” | add. “It's about d amn twe start teaching

the Dukes their place.”

The front door opens then closes, and moments later, Jasper enters the kitchen.

“Got her settled in for the night,” Jasper says as he joins us at the table. Looking at me, he adds, “You might want to go check on

her. Rueben who oped her a ss pretty badly, and she was bleeding, although | don’t think she realized it. Also, she wasplaining

about chest pain.”

“She is a drug addict, of course, she willplain about pain so that we will take pity on her,” Rueben says. He is probably right.

| dismiss Jasper with a flick of my wrist. “I will check on her later on. We just have to make sure she drinks and eats properly while

she gets detoxed.” | push back my chair and stand. “I will check the cameras before | go to bed.”

We have installed cameras all over our property, not wanting to be taken by surprise by our enemy.

On my way to my room, | take out the phone from my pocket and make sure Olivia is still alive and breathing. | zoom in on my

phone's screen and notice she is sleeping. She shivers, but the light in the room is dim, and it might have been a trick of the

imagination..

Jasper is worrying for nothing. It's probably strauma he still has from losing his first blood-brothers.

Before | unlock the phone, a message arrives from the Elders on the general chat of the Lords, wishing everyone Merry Christmas

and reminding everyone of the gathering two days from now.

Excitement rushes to me.

Maybe snew info about Carlos finally popped up, and we are a step closer to finding him. When the Patriarchs leading the

Celestial Heaven from Veross City died, Carlos took over, but after torturing the woman of another group of blood-brothers, he fled,

fearing he would be held responsible for hurting a hellstar.

Hellstars are the most sacred women both for the Dukes and the Lords, as they are the perfect match for the demons or angels we

host inside our bodies, and harming one can lead to serious punishment and, in svery rare cases, even to death. Carlos is

sought by many, but unfortunately, the Dukes are protecting him.

How long will it take until | find a rat who will leaddirectly to Carlos?

| might be a chef by day, but... | move in the shadows by night. And the shadows hold many secrets.