Oh, shit. No such luck.
Outrage bubbled up from Kate’s gut. Surveying the room, she located a high-tech security camera in one corner. Old-looking cell paired with modern surveillance equipment. The vampires had her. Had to be.
Kate glared into the camera. “Let me out of here, damn you. Do you hear me? You have no right.” Her voice rose with each word until she was shouting, the sound echoing off the stone.
Trying the door next, she shouted, “Let me out of here!” Holding a bar to hold herself steady, she looked down at her body. Coat gone. Mace gone. Cell phone gone. Her hand flew to her lower back. Gun gone.
But her clothes…they were the same. And they were covered in blood. Her jeans were red and stiff from hips to knees. Smears of blood ruined her pale blue sweater, and the sleeve of it was shredded. She sucked in a breath. Gauze circled her forearm from the heel of her thumb to nearly the crook of her elbow. Spots of maroon seeped through the layers.
The details of the night flooded back to her in vivid color.
Her vampire.
His attack.
Her acceptance.
The arrival of the others.
Kate slid down to her butt, wincing as her tailbone eased against the stone floor, and sagged against the bars. Eyes stinging and throat tight, a confusing maelstrom of emotions washed over her like rough waves in a storm, swamping, tumbling, turning her round and round.
Fear and bewilderment released her tears onto her cheeks. A vampire had fed from her. And she’d let him. She hadn’t fought, not really.
Worse. In the end, she’d liked it, craved it, wanted to give him everything he needed. She’d wanted more.
How could she have so easily turned her back on everything she’d believed? Sitting there on the dirty floor of a freaking dungeon, Kate didn’t even know who she’d been in those long minutes in that alley.
Rage also flowed through her and tensed every muscle in her body until she trembled. She’d found him. She’d helped him. She’d saved him. He was hers. And they’d taken him away, ripped him from her arms, literally.
The emotions completely contradicted each other, but that didn’t make them any less true, any less real.
And if that wasn’t enough, Kate’s mind struggled with another set of feelings she would rather just pretend didn’t exist. Desire. Hot and torturous. His scent clung to her, concentrated as it was on her clothes, her skin. It made her…want. What? Everything. She thirsted. She hungered. She felt an urgent emptiness between her legs like nothing she’d ever before experienced.
What was happening to her?
Heaving a deep breath, Kate shook her head. No. Enough. She fisted the wetness off her face and wiped the useless tears on her sweater. Shit. If only her head didn’t hurt so bad she could think more clearly.
In the distance, a door clinked as if a lock was disengaged. Footsteps echoed against the stonework.
Using the bars, Kate pulled herself up and stepped back from the door.
A vampire in all black appeared on the other side. Tall, lean, dark blond hair to his shoulders. The left side bore a braid—the mark of a warrior. His features were no less attractive for how unfriendly they were. He had familiar gray eyes.
They stared at each other until the warrior finally threaded his hand through the bars and held out a bottle of water.
Kate crossed her arms. “Like I’d trust that.”
“If we wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already. Besides, the cap is sealed.” He thrust the bottle closer. His voice confirmed he was the same one who had hypnotized her in the parking lot, except it was gentler now. He shrugged and placed the bottle on the floor inside the bars. “Suit yourself.” His gaze looked her over from head to toe, and then he turned.
“Wait,” she said. “The vampire…where is he? How is he?” The questions were out of her mouth before she’d even thought to ask them. But then, she burned to know.
The man’s expression darkened, his eyes narrowed. This look she remembered from earlier. “He is of no concern to you.”
Kate scoffed and stifled the more confrontational response on the tip of her tongue. “Like hell. I saved him.” She held out her arm. “And I’ve got this nice little memento to prove it.” Actually, she had no idea what the wound looked like, but it stung and ached like crazy.
He grunted. “That doesn’t make you special. That makes you convenient.”
His words struck her like a punch to the gut. Wasn’t that the very thing she most feared as she’d once considered the possibility of a future with vampires? Dizziness returned and made her eyes throb, but Kate held her stance. No way she was letting him see how much pain she was in, how much his words had affected her. “When can I go?” she asked, voice softer than before.