Page 80 of Beast

I don’t want a guide. I want that gun Meg carries around.It’s still buried where Kaja hid it.

While everyone else keeps talking, I close my eyes and tryto find her. Acting on pure instinct, I open my mind and call to her.

Nothing. I practically scream in my head, and then a tinywhimper. If I never felt it before, I would blow it off as an incidental sound,but now I grab on to that one tiny sound and hold on for dear life. I focus,forcing away the rest of the noise in my head. Her mind is cloudy, unable tothink in a clear pattern.

She’s afraid. I hear one word play in her drug-addled brainover and over again.

Dante.

She wants me to come for her. My whole body aches at herfear. I want to kill Chalen Palgrave, but more than that, I want to comforther. I brought her to this plane where she won’t ever be accepted. I broughther to this.

Hush, sweetheart. I’m coming. I am going to be there,and you’re going to be fine.

I force my own panic to a much deeper place, one that Kajacan’t feel. She needs me to be calm. She’s alone and scared and has no idea whyshe can’t think straight. I know. I went to enough parties in college torecognize the drugs they gave Kaja. I send out soothing thoughts.

I get a flash of white—so white. All the lights are white,and the man is white, and she is in a cage. The entire vision is disorienting.My stomach churns. Kaja is handling the drugs well. Gods, how much did theygive her?

I open my eyes. And then narrow them because I can’t quitebelieve what I’m seeing. “Meg?”

The queen of the Seelie Fae stands there dressedoutrageously in a red leather bustier and what I worry will turn out to be athong. She’s wearing stilettos that add at least four and a half inches to herpetite frame.

“Does Beck know you’re here? Gods, Meggie, he’s not justgoing to spank you this time. He’s going to go crazy. You go and change intosomething decent right now. Do you understand me? I do not have time for this.You will change, and you will get in the car I’m going to call for you, and youwill go back to my house. You will not step foot outside the Dellacorpbuilding, or Beck won’t be the only one who spanks you.”

Meg’s eyes go wide, and then she falls to her knees in aperfect submissive pose. She turns her face up to Julian, and there’s a placidsmile on her lips. “Oh, he’s lovely, Sir. Is he my new Master? You promised tofind me one. He’s so commanding.”

Roan elbows him with a shake of his head. “Take anotherlook. She doesn’t glow, Dellacourt.”

Fuck him. Roan is right. This woman looks like Meg, but shedoesn’t have Meg’s glow. This Meg is a vampire. It’s odd to see her like this,but it’s only fair. After all, according to Meg, she met my human self when shewas on the Earth plane.

Julian places a hand on Vampire Meg’s head. “Sorry, Megan,he’s taken. But I will pair you with a Master when I find the right one. I needyour help for another reason. I need to know how to get into the PalgraveIndustries building.”

Her familiar face goes blank, and her eyes cast down. “I’msure they’re closed at this time of night, Sir.”

Julian is obviously having none of it. “Yes, and you, youclever and bratty sub, know how to get around that, don’t you? You know how toget in and how to do it quietly, so no one knows you’re coming.”

Her auburn hair shakes. “I’m not allowed to do anythingillegal. I remember everything you said to me after the last time you bailed meout of jail. I am a very good girl.”

No, she isn’t. She’s lying. Even I can see that.

“You’re a masochist is what you are, Megan.” Julian gentlypulls her head back. “If I didn’t already have a couple of beloved submissives,I would take care of your discipline on my own. I’ll leave it to Master Leo.It’s not going to go well for you, but I might tell him to allow you to come ifyou fess up right now. Otherwise, you’ll be on the cross for hours with norelief.”

That threat has her talking. “It was just a little raid. Youdon’t understand, Sir. Palgrave Medical is running horrible tests on bunniesand monkeys. I snuck in and freed a few of them.”

Julian hauls her up from her slave position. “Megan here isa bit of a protester and part-time criminal.”

“I am not a criminal. What they do to those animals iscriminal,” she argues.

“You were in the medical facility?” I ask, makingconnections. “Is it mostly white? With cages?”

Vampire Meg nods. “It’s a terrible place. They keep it socold. They don’t even understand that animals need soothing colors, too.”

“I don’t think soothing colors mean much to animals who arebeing tested on.” Julian sighs as though he’s gone over this with her before.

Tested on. That fucker has my consort in a cage.Chalen Palgrave means to treat her like a beast to experiment on. My heartraces, but something dark opens inside me. If Chalen Palgrave wants a beast—Iwill give him one.

Megan takes a step back. “Is he going to hurt me?”

Julian puts a fatherly hand on the woman’s shoulder. “No.But I suspect I can’t say the same thing about Palgrave.”