Roman grinned and shrugged. “She left me no choice but to drain her to within an inch of her life. She was quite delicious, Mason.”
My stomach was writhing as if a nest of vipers had come out to play inside it. The command to kill roared through my mind like a firestorm. How the fuck could I murder him? I was trapped in an impenetrable prison with no elemental powers. But that didn’t stop me from becoming the vicious bloodsucking creature that I was. I grabbed the cobalt bars, summoning all my inner vampire strength, and pulled them with such force that my skin blistered and peeled as it was roasted by my kryptonite.
The nauseating reek of scorched skin infiltrated the space, triggering a deadly stillness in the grungy basement.
Adam watched with amusement that contrasted with his fear that wafted into my nostrils.
Roman, on the other hand, stood over Layla, watching me with a calculating grin as if he knew something I didn’t. “Maybe this time I’ll taste her here.” He pressed his fingers into her thigh, boosting my ferocity to free myself from the prison.
Images of torturing the asshole brightened before me like the blazing sun in the middle of summer.
In record speed I mangled the bars, creating just enough of an opening for me to shove my big body through. Once on the other side, I charged Adam first. My body hit an invisible wall, and I flew backward and hit the cage.
Motherfucker.
Roman cackled. “I’m enjoying seeing you sweat, Mason. It sucks that Layla is only fifteen feet from you, and you can’t reach her. Again, you have to love a witch and her ability to erect a magical barricade to prevent you from helping your wife. It’s the ultimate torture.”
I had to agree with Roman on the last thing. He was crucifying me. I felt the emotional pain as if he’d nailed me to a wall.
Adam sighed as he laughed with Roman.
“Roman, you should’ve killed me before I woke up,” I bit out. “Because when I get my hands on you, I will chop off every limb on your body while you watch. Then before I whack off your head, I’ll pluck your eyes out and feed them to the wolves.”
Roman’s blue eyes spun to black, lightless pools of glass, as if someone had jammed them into his sockets, dead and deadly. “You’re in no position to make threats.” His fangs protruded from his upper gums, almost dripping in hunger.
If I were human, the sight of him might’ve made me piss my pants. But instead, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You see, Mason, we have the upper hand.” Adam lifted his chin, defiant yet confident. “Your father will do as I ask. Otherwise, I’ll be shipping not only your head and Layla’s, but the heads of each of the SEALs we have in custody.” He briefly looked at the box on the floor.
“I call bullshit.” I snarled the words. “If you have anyone from my team, where are they? I don’t see them here. You have an empty cage beside me.”
Maybe he wasn’t blowing smoke up my ass. I would be gutted if he had the head of Tripp, Ben, Olivia, Kraft, or Conrad in that box. I was tempted to ask him about the shifters, but I had a more important question.
I flashed my fangs at Adam. “Where are my children?”
“As I told Layla,” Roman answered instead. “You’ll never see them again.”
Red stars floated in my vision. I desperately wanted to slice and dice these fuckers.
My fury and trepidation multiplied when Adam bent down and tossed the lid off the box.
“This is proof that I mean what I say.” He dangled Matthew’s bloody head. “If your father doesn’t comply with my request, I’ll be sending him one head at a time.”
Roman tucked his fangs away, and he rejoined Adam. “Who will be next?”
Mere feet separated us, yet I couldn’t do a fucking thing. “You think my father cares about Matthew?” My dad would be gutted that Matthew was dead. Matthew’s mother, Alia Costner, even more so. “And he was working for you. Wasn’t he?”
I’d been confused by Matthew’s actions ever since I’d seen him speak at Adam’s news conference. I’d gotten the impression that Matthew was working with Adam of his own accord until I’d learned that Matthew had sent messages to a secure server on his grandfather Victor’s estate. According to Wyman, Victor’s computer expert, Matthew had detailed three things—he was fine, we shouldn’t think he was working for Adam, and the genetic experiments were failing. Not to mention, there were two shifters helping Matthew free others. We suspected Matthew was referring to Dane Gray’s brother, Ross and Sergeant Rebekah Whyte’s brother, Tucker.
I walked by Agnes’s cage, feeling for an opening in the invisible wall as I eyed my wife in the distance.
Adam dropped Matthew’s head into the box. “Whatever would give you the idea that Matthew was working for me? Ah, the news conference. He did brilliantly that day, afraid that if he didn’t, his family would die. But that ship sailed when we caught him sending messages to his grandfather.”
I returned to stand before Adam and Roman. My brain was fuzzy, and my gut felt as though sharp claws were gouging out my insides.
I really wasn’t in the mood to listen to Adam’s monotonous tone. However, I was curious about something. “Why did you even kidnap Matthew?”
Adam scratched his jaw. “I guess it doesn’t matter if you know. We went through your uncle Patrick’s notes with a fine-tooth comb. He’d outlined Matthew’s genetic-mapping sequence and how it was a success. We realized Matthew was the one for us to study.”
