This hurts. I try to shout again, body shaking with another sob, but the shaking makes things hurt more and I try to move my legs—maybe I can get out, maybe there’s somewhere nearby I can go—but they’re trapped and the throbbing pain in my arm is no good, either.
Help. The word scrapes against the inside of my throat. I’m done for. My right arm is clumsy and aching but not broken and I struggle with my seatbelt for a minute, but it lies tight and unmoving across my chest.
The world swims before me. I need to get out. I need to—
Something passes in front of my vision. I go entirely still. Is something else out there?
There must be. There’ll be animals. That fucking deer. Birds. Something. But it’s dark, and the moon is high, and I’m on a back road and there shouldn’t be people for miles.
I see it again. A passing shadow. There and gone. A whimper escapes between my pressed-together lips. Tears slide down my face, burning hot against the sudden cold of my skin. There must be something
Chapter Seventeen
Grant
AsherandQuinnarrivebefore Vlad re-emerges from the bathroom, and it’s hard for me to concentrate on anything they’re saying.
Quinn definitely knows. I mean, fuck, they bothknow, but Quinn’s got that wolf nose thing going on, and besides, I see the way his eyes widen slightly when he walks into the room.
I don’t know why. He knows why I told them to leave. I cross my arms grumpily over my chest. Not that we got as far as I wanted when I sent them away. I mean, it’s fine. It’s fine except it’snotbecause all I can think about is Vlad and the fact that he said heloves me.
He loves me. Me!
Asher reaches over and shoves my shoulder, almost toppling me to one side. I yelp. “Hey!”
“I totally get it, okay, but you do need to focus right now.”
Quinn gives me an equally sympathetic look. I sigh. “Yeah, I know. Sorry.”
“No need to apologise. I promise, you’ll have all the time in the world soon.”
I give Asher a sceptical look. Unless he knows something I don’t, we’re well in the thick of it and things may not change for a while. There are still multiple high fae to hunt down. It’s going to take a while.
Asher only shrugs in response. He means what he says, I guess. He can control all this about as much as I can.
Vlad comes out of the bathroom and picks up his phone before he sits beside me on the bed. Quinn is half off his stool, as though to offer it to him, but he gives me a rueful grin and sits back down.
“I will request that Margot and Rachel come here to speak with us,” he says.
“Is that a good idea?” Asher asks before I can.
“They are the only contacts we have in this city. Our fastest course of action is to uncover where Jakob is hiding.”
“What’s to say he won’t be back at the club?” Quinn asks.
“Well, if those bodies I kind of banisheddidgo to Eirian, she’s gonna know something happened.”
Asher pulls a face. I don’t know if he’s disgusted or impressed. Possibly both. “Right.”
“The crux of the matter is that we cannot leave here until we have some idea where Eirian might be,” Vlad says. “She will undoubtedly be after Grant.”
“And why’s that, again?”
Vlad sighs. “She is under the impression that once the fae queen dies, she will be in the position to take her place. She needs a partner beside her and seems fixated on vampires who can withstand the sun.”
“We know that for sure?”
“Most of it. The rest might be an educated guess, but—”
