In Fear of Three Little Words

Chapter 39


Logan smelled Kurt’s and Sabertooth’s scents as he approached the abandoned truck. He ripped opened the passenger door and knew Kurt had laid in the floorboard, still bleeding from the looks of it. Dried blood stained the carpeting, not a lot, but enough for Logan to know Kurt was injured, probably unconscious otherwise he’d have teleported out of Sabertooth’s hands.

And the stink of Sabertooth filled his nostrils, boiling his blood in his veins, threatening to blind him with fury when what he needed right now was a clear head and his senses working for him.

“You’re dead, you lowlife son-of-a-bitch. You touch him----”

But Logan knew it was too late for threats. Too many hours had passed since Sabertooth had brought Kurt this way. And now the scum had a four-wheeler, taking off cross country and Logan had nothint hit his own two feet to cross the same terrain and miles.

Kurt had already suffered. Logan was certain of that. Trask wouldn’t hold back and neither would Sabertooth. The note had said it all, had summed up Trask’s intent, knowing Logan would follow. Knowing he’d be half insane with rage...and guilt.

But Trask wouldn’t understand the depth of Logan’s guilt, of the words never said, deliberately left unsaid because he just wasn’t ready to say them. Because he was afraid of those three little words that Kurt had uttered with such depth of heart and ease of mind.

“Aw, sweetheart...dammit.” A weariness fell on Logan’s shoulders, a momentary weakness and fear.

What if he was too late? What if he was already too late and too much damage had been done to Kurt?

“Don’t die on me, elf,” Logan growled. “Don’t you dare die on me when I’m ready to say it.”

But his fear wasn’t so much of Kurt’s death as it was what Kurt was living through right now and the images took over his mind, of Sabertooth’s hands on Kurt and the threat the note implied. And what of Trask’s own sadism?

He followed Sabertooth’s footprints and hunkered down to examine the tracks heading off north through woods, the mountains ranging in the distance. Letting out a snarl of frustration, Logan drove his claws into the hard earth.

Trask wouldn’t kill Kurt. Not yet anyway. And Logan wasn’t stupid. He knew a trap when he saw one. Kurt was the bait and Sabertooth, as well.

Logan traced a finger over the four-wheeler tracks once more, sniffed the air, and took off at a run with his senses on full alert, determined to find his mate and destroy the men who had taken Kurt from him.

******************

“I’m certain you can take more, little demon,” Trask said, that smug smile etched on his face.

Kurt shook his head, frantically and uttered a muffled moan. He couldn’t manage a swallow around the gag in his mouth, a measure meant to keep him from biting off his own tongue when the electric shock discharged into his body.

“Oh, I think you can,” Trask said and placed the prod low against Kurt’s stomach and pressed the button.

Agony t dot down Kurt’s legs, saturating his torso until his body jerked helplessly in the leather straps that held him suspended from the ceiling, his ankles strapped to the floor.

His vision went black and stars streaked across his inner sight. Somewhere in his head he was screaming loud and clear, but out there his cries fell on deaf ears, deadened by the gag. The light came back with a bang of brightness. Kurt recoiled from the foul smelling salts. Trask’s fingers stroked the hair from his eyes, ever so gently wiping the tears from his cheeks.

“So demons can cry. How touching.”

Oh, but you knew that, you perverted son-of-a-bitch.

Kurt turned a glare on Trask and jerked his head away from the man’s touch.

“Still defiant. Good. We wouldn’t want the breaking to come too easily.”

Trask raised the prod to Kurt’s eye level, searching, Kurt was certain, for some sign of breaking. Kurt squeezed his eyes closed, unable to maintain eye contact and Trask let out a low laugh. The prod touched Kurt’s genitals and his eyes flew open wide, begging for mercy with a glance and another frantic shake of the head.

Trask just shrugged and pushed the button. Kurt bucked in his restraints, unable to escape the agony. He came too again, breathingd thd through his nose and that feeling he couldn’t get enough air sent a wave of panic through him.

“Calm yourself, little demon,” Trask said soothingly. “Relax. No more electric shock. We’re done with that...for now.”

Kurt tried to calm while Trask stroked his hair, hand running down Kurt’s back. Over Trask’s shoulder he saw Sabertooth leaning against the wall, enjoying the show and waiting his turn at Kurt.

“You do understand that breaking you is absolutely necessary, don’t you?” Trask said, gripping Kurt’s face tight at the chin and forcing Kurt to meet his gaze. “I want a pet that doesn’t need to be kept on a leash. So, defiance isn’t conducive to my needs. And if you refuse to break....” Trask reached between Kurt’s legs and squeezed his balls hard. “There are more extreme measures to get the results I want.”

Geld him? Trask would geld him like a horse? Nausea rolled through Kurt’s stomach with nowhere to go.

Trask’s hand moved to stroke Kurt’s hair as if he were petting a dog. “I can see us now, me sitting by a warm fire, you lying on the floor beside my chair, curled up, a nice little collar around your neck,” Trask continued to muse. “But you are more like a cat than a dog, aren’t you. And cats can be so independent and difficult.”

Kurt wanted to spit in k’s k’s face. He wasn’t going to be anyone’s pet. He’d die first.

He tried to jerk away, but Trask’s grip moved to Kurt’s face again, tightening to painful. Trask’s fingers dug into his jaw, sending blinding agony shooting through his skull. Kurt moaned and struggled then went limp with exhaustion.

He couldn’t keep this up, his strength seeping out of him with this constant infliction of pain.

“So strong willed and all you get for it is pain,” Trask said jerking Kurt’s face until Kurt opened his eyes. Trask smiled at him again and such hatred burned in Kurt’s soul. He wondered if God would forgive the hatred he felt for this man.

“I think I’ll let Victor spend a little quality time with you and then...who knows?” Trask released his hold on Kurt’s face and moved back to lean against the wall with his arms crossed against his chest.

Kurt began to shake, his body reacting to Trask’s words.

Oh god, no. Please, not that again.

But Sabertooth strolled forward, smile eager. He circled Kurt a few times, clawed fingers reaching out, running down Kurt’s body and drawing blood in shallow trails. Sabertooth finally stopped before Kurt, grabbed a handful of hair and jerked Kurt’s head back.

“The gag’s a good idea,” Sabertooth growled low, leaning in to bite Kurt’s neck. “Now, I won’t have to listen to your yapping and screaming.”

Something inside Kurt threatened to shatter, cracks forming around the edges of his sanity. For an eternal moment he wanted to succumb, just give up the fight and lie down in the midst of his own mind, perhaps lost forever, safe from this pain and horror. Huld uld hide there from all of it, from Trask’s sadism and Sabertooth’s vicious intent. And when Logan found him, what would he be?

Nothing, came the answer. Empty. A shell of the man Logan couldn’t quite love.

Weakness enveloped Kurt’s limbs, saturating his body. His mind was almost numb with it.

But Logan had told him he was strong. If Logan believed that why couldn’t he believe?

Sabertooth was behind him now. Kurt felt claws dig into his hips, pulling his ass cheeks apart and Sabertooth’s cock pushed at his hole. Sabertooth slammed into him, ripping him further. Kurt forced down another wave of nausea and pushed back at the tears that threatened to fall again.

He fought for a swallow and won, a small victory, but one that fueled a new found resolve. From somewhere deep inside himself, Kurt had to find the strength that Logan saw in him.

Wave after wave of pain assaulted his body, but Kurt dug deep, searching frantically for something to hold onto.

His love for Logan rose to greet him...his love for life enfolded his aching soul.

Yes, Trask and Sabertooth could break his body, they could shatter his physical form, but no one but he could let his mind and soul be lost.

Kurt sucked in a deep breath through his nose and let it out slowly, seeking and finding a place in his mind to wait out this assault.

He would not shatter. He would not break. He would endure. He’d be whole when Logan found him, if not cracked a bit around the edges.

Fangs bit into Kurt’s shoulder and he closed his eyes tight against the pain and endured.