Ajax walks over to the girl. “Hey, Princess, don’t cry. We haven’t even gotten to the fun part yet.”
The girl starts to whimper, and I can’t breathe. Ajax turns to me. “Strap her down.”
I stare at him. He simply lifts an eyebrow. I don’t look at the girl who’s crying louder now. “You don’t give me orders, Ajax,” I remind him.
“No. I don’t, but Rizo does. And this here is your new job. Better get really good at it. Now watch closely because I’m only going to show you this once.” He straps the girl’s arms and legsto the table and then puts a mask over her nose. “You turn this switch here, and that starts pulling her energy. It will also put her to sleep, which makes it easier to do the next part.” I watch as the girl goes limp. “There’s a port in her arm. She just got it in today, so you’ll be the first to see if it works.” He shows me how to inject a needle into the port. I watch as blood begins to flow through a small line. I watch every step meticulously, so that I might be able to undo it at some point. “When that alarm sounds, that means you have enough blood for today. Don’t want to drain her too much that she can’t recover.” He shows me how to remove the needle and cover the site with a bandage. “So, it doesn’t get infected.” He steps back. “Once you’re done with that, turn down the dial all the way to zero. That stops the energy pull. Then you just wait for her to wake up and transport her back to her room. Room seventeen. It could take a while; this is her first time.” He shrugs. “Sometimes they can walk; sometimes they can’t.” He points up to the corner of the room where there’s a camera. “Don’t forget. Somebody’s always watching,” he says with a cruel smile. He walks over to the door. “Oh, and Sherese,” I turn to him out of habit. “Remember what’s at stake.” My mind flashes to Hunter, but that’s not where he goes. He pulls out his phone and taps on it. When he shows it to me, I go still. It’s a picture of Ava standing at her kitchen sink. I don’t see Bryce anywhere. “She’s what? A few weeks along.” He shakes his head. “It would be such a shame if something happened to her and the baby.” His eyes go hard. “Remember that every time you step into this room.” And then he’s gone, and the other vampire leaves with him. I stagger a moment before I catch myself and remind myself that they’re watching. I try to catch my breath, even as panic races through me. I feel my pockets, but remember I left my cell phone in my room. As soon as I get back, I’ll call Bryce and tell him there’s a vampire watching Ava. I don’t know how there’s a vampire on pack land, and they don’t know. But it’shappened before. Anger burns through me, but I force it back. I can’t lose control right now. I turn to look at the girl on the bed. She looks young; I’m not sure how young. I’m really bad at telling ages. For all I know, she could be fourteen or just a year younger than me. I don’t really know. I’m sure the terror on her face makes her look younger, too. I watch the blood travel through the small, clear line, and I force every emotion from my mind. I can process this all later; right now, I have to get through this next little bit and focus on making sure I don’t kill this poor girl. It’s not long before the alarm sounds. I go through the steps exactly as Ajax showed me, grateful for my instant recall. I turn the dial to zero on the wall for the healer energy it’s pulling from her body, and remove the face mask. Then I stand and wait for her to wake up. I pace for what seems like forever, waiting for her to wake. Finally, I begin to see signs of life. Her hand twitches, and her breathing starts to pick up. Finally, her eyes shoot open. I undid the straps keeping her held down while I was waiting for her to wake up, so when she sits up, she leaps right off the table, startling me. She’s weaker than she realized, though, and her legs crumple under her. I catch her before she can hit the ground. “Just take a minute; you’re still—” She jerks away from me and swings a fist. She surprises me, but I immobilize her in less than a second. She fights like a hellcat, though, and she’s hard to contain without hurting her. “Stop fighting me,” I tell her.
“Never!” she says fiercely.
I manage to get her arms trapped at her sides. “I’m not the enemy here.” But she’s too far gone in her rage. The door to the room crashes open, and two vampires enter. They grab her arms and drag her from the room. “Stop!” I yell after them. “I had it!” I watch helplessly as they drag the girl, still kicking and screaming, down the hallway. I take a deep breath, but it does nothing to calm my anger. I stride in the direction they went.“Hey,” I call after both of them. I watch as they all but throw her into the room and close the door. They blur down the hallway, out of sight. I walk down the hallway slowly. I can hear the girl yelling from here. She bangs on the door repeatedly and calls out for help. I stand there for a few seconds until I can’t take it anymore. I walk away from her, her screams following me. I don’t stop moving until I get to the elevator. It’s times like these I wish I could take the stairs, but they’re locked. Everyone travels by way of these elevators. The elevators open to my floor, and I step out. I can still hear the girl’s screams ringing in my head. I walk faster. As soon as I get to our room, I put my thumb on the scanner. It blinks red, and I stare at it. I put my thumb on the pad again. It beeps this time, still showing red. “Stupid piece of junk!” I yell at it, hitting it. The door opens, and Hunter’s there. I don’t look at him. I can’t. I walk right over to the end table where I left my phone. When I don‘t see it there, I whirl around, searching the rest of the room. “Where is it?” I demand.
“What?” he asks.
“My phone. Where’s my phone?” I nearly yell.
“They took them.”
“What?” I stare at him as everything comes crashing down around me. I push past him and stride for the bathroom.I’m going to be sick.I drop to the floor and heave over the toilet. Nothing comes up, but my stomach cramps painfully. I hear the girl’s screams in my head, and a sob works its way up my chest. I feel Hunter’s presence. “Leave me alone. I don’t want you in here.”
“Tough.” He sits next to me on the floor.
“Get out!” I tell him with all the anger that’s coursing through my system. When he doesn’t move, I lash out. “Can’t you just listen? I don’t want you in here!” He still doesn’t move, and I can’t take it anymore. My stomach cramps hard, and I cry out in a mix of anger and frustration. “Ahhhhh!” I kick the groundand then kick it again. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way!” I shake my head. “I can’t...I can’t do this.” The last word doesn’t even fully form. I drop my head, wishing I knew how to cry. I lost the ability after the vampires captured me, and I’ve never been able to since then. I put my head against the wall and close my eyes. I’ve never felt so helpless and hopeless in my life. Well, except for when I was first taken. I remember those feelings then. I remember standing in the bathroom with the blade I’d stolen. I remember thinking I’d end it all, spare myself the pain and trauma. I hadn’t been able to do that that day because I was weak. I’ve always been grateful I didn’t end my life that day. Always...until today. Today, I wish I had been strong enough because then I couldn’t be used by the vampires. I see the girl’s face in my mind’s eye and see her fear. Knowing that I’m the one who put that fear there guts me. I never wanted this, any of it. And now, I’m the enemy. I’m the thing people fear.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Sherese
I have no idea how long we sit on the bathroom floor. I don’t make a move to get up, and neither does Hunter.
“When was the last time you had blood?” he asks at some point. I hear his question, but I don’t respond. My eyes stay closed, as if maybe if I keep them closed, I won’t have to face my terrible reality. He gets up, but I don’t move. I feel his presence in front of me, but I don’t open my eyes. “You don’t have to tell me what happened, but if you want to, I’m a good listener.” After a beat of silence, he pats my knee. “Come on. You can’t stay in here all night.” Then I feel his arms around me. I could fight him off, but I don’t. He pulls me to my feet. As soon as I’m on my feet, I step away from him.
“I’m going to take a shower.” I don’t look at him, but he leaves a moment later, shutting the door behind him. I turn on the hot water and barely remember to take off my clothes before stepping under the hot water. I go through the motions of washing my hair and body. While I'm in there, a little clarity returns to me. I can’t crumble. There are too many people counting on me. I think of Ava and her unborn baby, and I think of Garrett and Emma and little Daniel and their unborn child. I think of the poor, young healer trapped here. As awful as it is, at least she has me. I’ll help her in any way I can. I remind myself that if it wasn’t me, it’d be another vampire or possibly Ajax. Ajax is so cruel. So, in some messed-up kind of way, it’s good she has me. I’ll figure out how to help her; I swear my life on it.
When I climb out of the shower, there’s a black t-shirt waiting for me. I eye it a moment and then dry off. I wrap my hair up in atowel and throw on Hunter’s shirt. A billow of steam escapes the bathroom when I open the door. I see Hunter over at the kitchen counter. He hands me a blood bag, and I stare at it in surprise. “Where’d you get that?”
“I had one stashed on my person.”
Relief flows through me. At least for tonight, I don’t have to try to track down blood. “Thank you.” I catch it when he throws it, and I down it. Once I do, I feel a little better and not quite so out of control.
“You haven’t eaten, right?”
“I’ll be fine. I ate a lot before coming, thinking it might be a little bit before I ate again.”
I frown in concern. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” Then he walks over to the bed. “Come on. We’d better get some sleep; it’s late.” He doesn’t say what we’re both thinking—that they’ll probably be here first thing in the morning to get me. After he uses the bathroom, I head in there to brush my hair and braid it, and then brush my teeth. When I come back out, I walk over to the bed. He’s already sitting in bed. I don’t think about it and make it something it’s not. “Is this okay?” he asks. I nod. “I can sleep on the floor if it would make you more comfortable.”
“It’s fine.” I climb into bed and roll away from him and pull up the covers. A moment later, the light turns off. “You still don’t have your pack link, right?”
“No.” I stare into the darkness. The bed moves as Hunter settles on the bed next to me. “Do you want to talk about it?” I hear him ask in the darkness.
“No.”
It's silent between us for a while, and I wonder if he’s gone to sleep. “Just remember, you’re not alone this time.” His soft words stay with me a long time after his breathing evens out, and he falls asleep.
We’re awoken the next morning by somebody pounding on the door. My eyes fly open, and I jerk into a sitting position. I’m actually shocked I slept. “Nice of them to stop by,” Hunter grumbles in a low, sexy voice. He starts to get out of bed to answer the door.
“Wait,” I tell him. I motion him back into bed right as I hear the sound of the lock disengaging. I shove him down on the bed and throw the blanket over him. I sit up on the side of the bed, eyeing Ajax as he strolls in looking like he’s been awake for hours. “Is there a reason you came in here uninvited?” I ask him.
