“Son, I suggest you talk to me. What you and Ray have done has put our family in jeopardy.”
Noah growled like an animal. “What did those bloodsuckers do to Ray?”
Noah might be a dickwad, but he was perceptive. Then again, he had to have known that once Sam was taken, the shit would hit the fan.
“That’s not your concern right now,” Jack said as calmly as he could. “I understand you’re in Chicago. Are you with your brother? Is Junior involved too?”
Dead silence.
Jack checked his phone. “Either we lost the signal, or he hung up.”
I would bet the latter, which wouldn’t surprise me. For Noah’s sake, he should run. It wasn’t the vampire military he needed to worry about, and it wasn’t his father… it wasme.
5
SAM
Ijolted upright, sucking in a breath. My head felt like someone had smashed it with a hammer several times.
A gloved hand landed on my chest. “Easy,” an unfamiliar female voice said.
I stiffened as I tried to move my arms, but they wouldn’t budge. I blinked, and the room slowly came into focus, revealing the one-inch cobalt cuffs around my wrists. I pulled on the chains locked to the table and the fucking cobalt burned my skin.
I rounded my gaze on a dark-haired woman. “Who the fuck are you?”
She gave me a blinding smile, her brown eyes glinting as though she’d caught the largest bear in the forest.
I gritted my teeth, quickly taking inventory of my surroundings.
Medical equipment—operating tables, IV equipment, and heart monitors set up one by one and in perfect alignment with one another across from me. Then my memory rushed back like a fucking flash flood. The helicopter, Ray Aberdeen running for his life, guns pointed at me, a basket dangling from the helicopter, and Layla. I gulped in air. She’d screamed like a seasoned actress in a horror movie.
Where the fuck is she?
Slowly, I released a breath, scanning the ample space for my gorgeous huntress. No sign of Layla or anyone other than the petite woman and me. That didn’t mean Layla wasn’t in the hands of whoever the fuck these people were.
“Again, who the fuck are you? Where am I?” I jerked on the restraints, and the cobalt singed my skin even more.
She pressed her small hand into my chest. “Lie back, Mr. Mason, or you’ll hurt yourself.”
I bared my fangs at the woman who didn’t have a name tag on her hazmat suit. A wild laugh broke free. “Why are you dressed like I’m contagious?”
She inched back as fear dripped off her in buckets.
I grinned like a starving animal. Fuck, I was hungry and extremely thirsty. My enemy’s fear excited me. It boosted my adrenaline and fueled my powers.
She raked her gaze over my lower body as she wrinkled her button nose.
I sniffed the air. My skin burned like a slab of meat on a charcoal grill. “Smells great, doesn’t it?”
She pressed her coral-colored lips into a thin line. “Mr. Mason, please relax. My work will go a lot easier if you do, and you should be thanking me, by the way.”
I roared with laughter. “I should be feasting on you until your heart stops beating.” I flicked my tongue over one of my fangs as my bloodlust grew stronger.
She shuffled back another step, her rapid pulse music to my ears. The taste of fear smelled so fucking sweet, and I hungered to cool that burn scorching my throat.
She plucked a horse needle off the tray beside her. “I don’t want to use this.” She aimed the syringe at me.
I snapped my jaw shut, and my fangs punctured the skin below my lower lip. I’d been in this position several times when my uncle Patrick used me as his personal lab rat. The first time, I’d been human with no abilities to fight back. Several times after that, I hadn’t honed my elemental powers, so my efforts to escape had been weak. Fast forward five years, and I was a much stronger and fiercer vampire. This woman had no idea who she was dealing with. I briefly closed my eyes, inhaled, and concentrated on each body part, allowing the energy in the room to seep in. A prickly sensation coursed through me, growing stronger with each intake of breath. Once my nerve endings sharpened to pinpoints and rage filled my veins, I pulled on the chains so hard I bent the hook attached to the table.
