The bear’s head snapped to the side. He flew through the air and hit the ground, snow spraying in all directions.
Good girl. Hurry.
The bear sprawled on his back, his bare chest dotted with snow. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
A distant scream echoed in my mind. But the sound was so far away…
Come to me, Charlotte.
I turned back to the forest and ran. Snow flew from under my bare feet. Branches whipped at my face and arms, but I barelyfelt them. The master’s voice guided me, a compass needle pointing true.
Good girl. Keep coming. Almost there.
Yes. Almost there.
An anguished roar rose behind me, the primal sound lifting the hair on my nape. But it didn’t matter.
Nothing mattered except getting to the master.
I sprinted deeper into the trees.
Chapter
Twenty
BECK
Charlotte moved through the forest at an unnatural speed, her red hair like a flag behind her. She left bloody footprints in the snow, but she didn’t seem to feel any pain. She couldn’t continue much longer. Henry had her completely under his spell, but not even he could prevent her from succumbing to hypothermia and frostbite.
I followed as closely as I dared, my throat tight and my heart trying to pound from my chest. The clan wasn’t far behind. My senses prickled as they neared, summoned by my call back at the bed and breakfast.
My jaw throbbed where Charlotte had punched me. The taste of blood lingered in my mouth. She’d thrown me like I weighed nothing.
Henry was channeling his strength through the bond, which meant the bond was stronger than I’d feared. Even so, Charlotte had resisted him. The fact that she’d snapped the connection in Anchorage proved her mind was remarkably strong.
But she ran faster now, completely under his control. If I attempted to stop her again, Henry might order her to kill me. So I stayed back, letting her put more distance between us. I wouldn’t lose her, not with my magic to guide me.
She headed north, away from Anchorage and deeper into the wilderness. Where Henry could do whatever he wanted without witnesses.
Fear tore at me. I couldn’t take on an ancient vampire alone. My brothers would come, but would they be enough? They had to be.
Lowering my head, I followed Charlotte’s scent deeper into the trees. Ten miles north of Bear Cove, her trail led to a clearing. I stopped at the treeline, staying hidden behind the thick branches of an evergreen.
Spotlights atop metal poles glowed at four corners of what appeared to be a mobile lab. I’d seen enough of Everett’s equipment to recognize the centrifuges and microscopes. Wires ran from a white truck, which hummed with electricity. A refrigerator stood next to a workspace, the inside stocked with blood collection tubes.
In the center of the space, a medical-grade table gleamed under the lights. Restraints were bolted at all four corners.
My blood ran cold.
Dr. Henry stood near the table, his white lab coat the color of the snow piled around the edge of the clearing. This far from civilization, he didn’t have to pretend to be bothered by the chill. His heart didn’t beat, and blood didn’t pump through his veins. He was a living corpse, and corpses didn’t mind the cold.
Five humans moved around him, setting up equipment and organizing supplies. Even with the distance between us, my magic fed me their scents.
Faint. Two of them—a man and a woman—barely registered a scent at all. Not quite vampires, but not wholly human, either.
They, along with the other three, were Henry’s stable. Humans he’d been feeding from for years, maybe decades. Undoubtedly, he permitted them to take his vein on occasion, slowing their aging in exchange for their service. If they werelike most prey, they waited for Henry to turn them completely so they’d never die.
It was the bargain vampires made with their prey, ensuring their obedience. The blood bond cemented it, lending the humans their master’s strength even as it rendered them hopelessly addicted. It made them desperate. And dangerous.
