“And you call Adryan evil and dangerous?” I stared at Salvatore and hoped he could feel all my anger. I shook my head and spit out, “You and your fucked-up organization can go to hell. I won’t allow you to use me against him.”
Salvatore’s expression was blank a second before he shrugged. “Hell is just another name for the world we live in, Ms. Monroe. I’m a firm believer in letting all my cards show, and now that we have you here and it’s only a matter of time”—he looked at his wristwatch—“as in Adryan will be coming here very soon, might as well explain the story.”
My heart thundered. “Adryan’s here?” Oh God. Adryan’s here.
“Of course he’s here,” Salvatore said blandly. “He arrived on the property half an hour ago with an army of Otherworlders. It’s only a matter of time before he loses all self-control and storms in.” He grinned slowly. “Which is exactly what we’re hoping for, of course. Makes it easy when the mouse walks right into the cat’s mouth.”
“You were responsible for the break-in at my home,” I whispered, not surprised, but all the pieces were falling in place now, or maybe it was a better analogy that all the pieces were falling in disarray all around me. “Were you there?” My throat was so tight I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.
“I wanted to be.” He took a step closer and let his slimy gaze travel up and down my body. “Believe me, I wanted to be. My plans had been far different in getting you where I needed you.” My stomach roiled. “But I took your decline for my further company like a gentleman and moved to Plan B.”
I kept shaking my head, but there was nothing I could deny. My world kept getting turned upside down, worse and worse until soon I’d be nothing but a shell of the former person I was, my life nothing more than a memory.
I opened my mouth, knowing I’d fight to the death, that I’d never let them use me to hurt Adryan.
Didn’t they know… I was mated to the most dangerous vampire in the world?
I curled my hands into fists at my sides and narrowed my eyes. I’d go down fighting.
I took a step toward Salvatore and watched excitement move across his face. He wanted me to fight back. But before I could move closer, the cell was plunged into darkness for a split second before red security lights filled the interior and a shrill alarm went off.
“Looks like my vampire’s here.”
30
Adryan
We’d made our way into a long, wide underground tunnel, red security lights illuminating the space. The adrenaline was still racing through me, but I felt a drugging sensation start to settle in my bones.
I stopped and looked down at myself—three bullet holes, one in my abdomen and the other two right under my sternum, all steadily seeping blood and soaking my shirt. It wasn’t just blood, but also something darker and almost luminescent mixed with the red.
I grabbed my shirt and ripped it down the center, the two halves hanging open as I stared at my torso and the bullet wounds. I ran my fingers through the dark, inky substance, rubbing it between my fingers, sticky as fuck.
“Fuckers are getting crafty with their shit.” I looked back down at the dark, pearlescent liquid between my fingers. Whatever they were lacing the bullets with had to be of the Otherworld.
I kept moving as I dug my finger into one of the bullet holes, gritting my teeth as I felt around for one of the slugs. I pulled it out and held the chunk of metal between my thumb and forefinger. I tossed it aside and went about doing the same with the next.
“This is a trap,” I murmured. “You know that, right?”
“Aye,” Odhran gritted out. “Makes no difference though. Still going tae take down all these fookers.”
I grinned and cut a glance at him. “Oh, we sure as hell will, wolf.”
We walked for long moments without seeing any humans, without smelling anyone close. It was too easy. This whole thing was too fucking easy.
The Lycans were taking out the security cameras we passed, letting their claws grow long and deadly and swiping out, taking the entire mechanism off the damn walls.
“You boys have even less self-control than I do.”
The hallway forked, and I stopped, looking back at them. “You see any of these Assembly assholes, you take them out in the most vicious way.” A round of grunts and agreements.
I lifted my hand, and we split up, with Odhran and a few of my crew following behind. The alarm grew louder the deeper we ventured. We rounded a corner just as I heard the stomp of feet in our direction.
“Here we go.”
We took out the three humans who came at us, blood spraying the white cinderblock walls and gray cement flooring.