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I growled and tried to break free again and again, did a couple of times before Banner had ahold of me once more. If anyone could restrain me, it was this big bastard.
“Even if yer arrogant arse pisses me off more times than no’, I’m here tae help find yer female and Odhran’s. All the Lycans are. Now…” He spun me around and pressed his forearm to my throat, leaning in so we were eye to eye. “Calm the fook down so we can get both of yer females back and level the Assembly.”
I thrashed again, instinct and the primal side of me needing violence and destruction. But with each passing second, I breathed through that rage, knowing what Banner said was true. If I planned on getting Kayla back—because there was no other outcome—I had to be smart. I had to get control and be the emotionless bastard I was known as.
I looked at Odhran, who stood off to the side with a hard, unyielding expression on his face. I swallowed as the last of that bloodthirsty rage left me.
“I understand,” I grated out. “I understand.” I didn’t have to emphasize that I finally understood that hollow, vicious ache in a male’s chest when their female was taken from them, when they felt the most important and vital part of them was ripped away. “Christ, I understand, brother.”
Odhran’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, and he ran a hand over his face. “Fooking hell,” he grumbled out. “Let’s go get our females.”
Dark, deadly solidarity settled in every single molecule that made me who and what I was, growing excited, bloodthirsty. All those things that made me the most dangerous vampire in the world.
“We’ll destroy the fucking world and everyone in it to get our females back.”
Odhran nodded slowly.
Yeah. Yeah, we sure as hell would do just that, and I’d be grinning the entire fucking time.
27
Kayla
Iwas cold, hungry, and thirsty, and this place was dark and depressing as hell. It also smelled like someone had died at some point, a lingering decay that never left, that seeped into the walls and floor, into the stone forever.
My face throbbed, and I lifted my hand and touched my temple, grimacing at the tender spot, feeling the wound, letting my fingers trail along the blood-crusted skin around it and down to my cheek. The side of my face felt swollen, and I was pretty sure my newest accessory was black-and-blue.
I brought my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, resting my uninjured cheek on my knees and staring out the thick metal bars of this godforsaken cell.
When I’d fully woken up, I’d been confused and groggy, in a hell of a lot of pain, and locked in this shithole. I remembered bits and pieces before waking up here, foggy, distressed flashes of sounds and images. I’d been transported somewhere by aircraft. That much I was positive of. I remembered the sounds of the engines, had so much pressure in my head, and felt my ears popping. But I didn’t think I’d been taken too far away. I didn’t feel like I’d been out for so long that days had passed.
Holy shit, I hope I haven't.
Either way, I knew by now Adryan would know I was gone, and the only saving grace I felt was there was no doubt he was coming for me. Now.
My head throbbed harder, reminding me how shitty I felt. That vampire asshole had hit me hard enough I was pretty sure he rattled my brain.
I heard the distant clang of metal on metal and knew these sick assholes—whoever the hell they were—were coming. Was it for me, though? I pressed myself farther against the corner of the wall, made myself as small as possible, and hoped the shadows in this part of the cell would keep me hidden.
The door at the end of the room opened and clanged shut, the sound of clothes rustling seeming overly loud, and the stomping of feet coming closer had my entire body tightened.
I held my breath, praying that they couldn’t hear how hard my heart was beating.
I saw the shadows before their bodies came into view, two large men dressed in what I assumed was their guard attire, dragging a very small body between them. Not a child, since I could make out her slight curves, so definitely a female by the size and shape of her body.
When they came into view, I could see her long black hair was concealing her face. The tips of her toes dragged behind her, the soles of her feet facing upward. I didn’t know if she was unconscious or just too weak to hold herself up.
God, what had they done to her?
Bruises covered her arms, handprint-sized blue and purple marks on her pale flesh.
They opened the cell beside me, dropped her too roughly onto the cot pushed against the wall, and locked her in. It was the first time I watched them securing the cells, and I realized it wasn’t… normal.
There was this hazy look in front of the locking mechanism, this wavy air I found myself actually blinking at a few times to clear my vision, telling myself I was seeing things, because it couldn’t be real.
And then the strange apparition was gone.
The guards left but not before one of them stopped and peered into my cell. I held my breath, tried to be as still as I could, but I knew he saw me. His nasty and eager smile proved that.
