“Talk to us, Jordyn,” Sam said.
“Fred Emery from Intech is chasing me,” she said, breathing heavily.
“Where’s Hawk, your bodyguard?” Sam asked.
“I think a vampire snapped his neck,” she said.
“Where are you?” I asked my sister.
“I’m hiding behind a car in the parking garage on the third level. I think I lost that creep.”
Sam pressed on his earpiece again and relayed the info to Olivia. “Can you or Ben get to Jordyn? Copy that? Layla and I are leaving now.” Once Sam ended his communication with Olivia, he said to Jordyn, “Hang tight. Help is on the way.”
I inhaled the musty odor floating in the vehicle as a chill skittered up my spine. Help never came. Instead, Fred Emery and his merry fuckups from Intech converged on the hospital along with Roman Brown and his team of vampires. Maybe the whole fucking world wanted Sam and me.
I knew Harriet Aberdeen, my grandmother, was behind my kidnapping. She wanted to lure me away from Sam. Maybe, if I were in her shoes, I would do the same. After all, the Aberdeen family hunted and killed vampires. They didn’t fall in love with one, and they sure as fuck didn’t have their baby—or rather, babies. Part of me was eager to see her face when her eyes landed on my belly. The other part of me sent waves of fear coursing through me. I would like to think I knew what she would do, but I didn’t.
I rested my conjoined hands on my stomach.Don’t worry, little ones,I told them silently.I’ll gut her if she so much as tries to hurt us.
As if the babies heard me, that familiar tingling in my belly wormed its way into my chest. Ever since I’d learned I was pregnant, I’d been experiencing a fluttery feeling that had begun as a light tickle, and as each day passed, the feeling grew stronger. I was changing. In what way? I didn’t know. What I knew was that the pregnancy had some magical effect on me. I was beginning to believe Dr. Vieira could be right. My babies would be born either witches or vampires or both.
I adjusted my body into a sitting position and leaned against the cold metal wall. “So, are you two men in line to become vampires or shifters?” My throat was scratchy, and I sounded as if I had a ball of phlegm stuck in it.
Carly Aberdeen, my cousin-in-law, was the mad scientist behind the genetic engineering. The company she worked for, Intech, had taken Sam and an alpha shifter, Dane, to extract their DNA for her experiments on humans. These guys were probably hoping to become the next test subjects.
“You know you’ll die if you do. It’s been tried before, and hundreds of humans perished in the experiments.” I wasn’t lying. If they wouldn’t tell me where they were taking me, why not tell them what they were up against? At the very least, maybe I could convince them that they were murderers like Intech. “Think about what you’re doing. Do you have kids? A wife? A family? Do you want to see them die?”
The man in the passenger seat flinched. He had a loved one. I was sure of it. I couldn’t see the driver since I was behind him. Still, I’d hit a nerve.
So I pressed on. “My grandmother wants to use me as a test subject. Did you know that? She’ll kill my baby.” They didn’t need to know I was having four. What I had to drill into them was that an innocent unborn child’s life was at stake.
“Gary,” the driver said to his partner. “Shut her up.”
I stared at the muscle ticking in Gary’s scruffy jaw. “Even if you know what the endgame is, you’ll still find yourself dead. If I were you, I would run fast and as far as you can. Because in the end, you and the people you’re working for will be burned to a crisp.” Sam’s elemental powers would cut a swath of mass destruction in his path in his efforts to find me. Then he would torture anyone who had a hand in kidnapping me.
“Shut her up,” the driver practically shouted.
I laughed. “What’s wrong? Are you afraid of the truth?” I was in no position to be cocky, but I had nothing to lose at the moment. They wouldn’t kill me.
Gary shook his head at his partner. “She’s right, Rick. I didn’t sign up to die.”
Hallelujah.I was getting through to one of them.
“What are you, a fucking crybaby?” Rick asked. “You knew what you were getting into.”
“No one said we would have a hand in killing a pregnant lady or her child.” Gary’s jaw was stone.
“Too late now, dude. We’re in deep.”
Hope sprouted, and I sighed. “There’s still time. You can let me go. Otherwise, you’ll end up dead like your boss, Fred Emery.” I didn’t know if I’d killed him or not. When I’d found him smashing Jordyn’s face into a parked car, I saw red as rage drove my actions. I rammed a dagger deep into his back repeatedly until he collapsed. If he wasn’t dead, then maybe he was paralyzed.
Rick’s laugh sent a shiver down my spine. “That’s supposed to scare me?”
“Maybe not you. But Gary is shaking in his seat,” I said with a smug grin.
Gary glared at me. “Shut the fuck up.”
I rolled my eyes. “Your funeral.”
