Page 23 of Bitten (The Vampire Legends 3)

“Come on,” Sophia says impatiently. “Wake the fuck up. We’re in deep shit here…”

“What…” Lindsey moans groggily.

Loud, stomping footsteps sound outside the door and then the lock clicks open. Amanda jumps back, startled, and begins to shake beside me.

I tip my head up, focusing on the door as it swings in. Three men dressed all in black march inside and then I feel Sophia beside me.

“No,” Amanda immediately starts to sob.

“Shush,” I hear Sophia whisper. “Stay calm.”

The three of us squeeze together as if we could somehow protect each other. There is strength in numbers. Maybe we’ll make it out of this if we stick together.

I slide my gaze across the three men’s faces, taking in their bad haircuts and smirking lips.

“What the fuck is going on? Who are you?” Lindsey demands with righteous indignation.

“Shush,” Sophia whispers harsher.

Lindsey shoots her a look full of loathing and shakily gets to her feet. As she tugs her skirt down, I notice one of the men begin to chuckle. I wonder if he was the one who lifted her skirt up in the first place.

“So, let’s see what you’ve brought me, Sasha,” a smooth, husky, Russian voice says in the hallway. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about that voice that sends a shiver down my spine.

A fourth man steps into the room, but unlike the other three, he’s dressed in an expensive designer suit and not black combat fatigues. Immediately, I recognize him as the man who holds all the power here. I’ve grown up around these kind of men, I’ve been surrounded by them all my life. It’s not only in the way he’s dressed, his charcoal grey suit is impeccable, it’s also in the way he stands and exudes dominance.

The other three men in the room are bulkier and obviously stronger, but the way they watch this man, you’d think he was an all-powerful giant.

“I can take no credit for these girls,” the Russian voice from earlier says and the man himself appears in the doorway.

“Oh?” Mr. Smooth asks with interest as he lifts a dark brow. He looks at us, his dark eyes slowly perusing over Amanda, Sophia, then me.

When he gets to me, he looks a little taken aback.

“Who the fuck are you?” Lindsey fairly seethes as she stalks forward, drawing his attention.

Mr. Smooth’s head turns towards her.

“Who the fuck are you?” Lindsey repeats when he doesn’t answer.

His dark eyes light up with amusement and he grins a feral grin at her. “I’m your new master.”

“Master?” Lindsey sputters and stops besides Sophia. “Master?” she repeats, and gives us a look like ‘can you believe this guy?’

The amusement vanishes from Mr. Smooth’s face.

Lindsey shakes her head and our new ‘master’ seems to hone in on her. She has his undivided attention now.

The way he’s watching her reminds me of a predator watching its prey before it strikes, and Lindsey has no fucking clue it’s happening. She’s so worked up, so insulted and full of indignation, she can’t see the warnings he’s giving off.

“Do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is?” she asks, her voice growing higher and shriller by the second.

“Shut up, Lindsey,” I hear Sophia whisper-hiss in warning. She must be seeing what I’m seeing.

These men, I have a feeling they don’t give a fuck who we are. If they did, they wouldn’t have just snatched us out of a parking lot.

“No, I do not know who you are,” Mr. Smooth says, taking another step into the room.

He inclines his head to the side and there’s an open, interested look on his face, but in his eyes I can see something cold stirring. “Why don’t you tell me?”

No, I mentally urge Lindsey. Don’t tell him, please. I don’t know why the fuck we’re here, or what these guys want with us, but I’ve got the most awful feeling that they’re not going to like finding out we come from powerful families. We’re probably better off just going along with this while we wait for someone to rescue us.

And someone will rescue us, I know it. Someone had to have seen what happened… they had to. And when our families get wind of this, they’ll find us. They’ll spare no expense to get us back.

It’s better that these guys don’t know who they’re fucking with.

Lindsey narrows her eyes, and she must not see the warning in his eyes, because her lips twist with a mixture of pleasure and disdain. “I’m Lindsey Hawthorne, and my father is Michael Hawthorn, as in Hawthorne Real Estate. Ring a bell?”

Mr. Smooth slowly nods his head and he frowns as if he’s not happy to learn this new information. “Yes, I’ve heard of him.”

Lindsey’s eyes light up and she looks almost excited as she says, “Then you know you’re in deep shit for kidnapping me. You’ll be lucky if my father does—“