CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
MERRY
I wokeup alone in my bed. It was like déjà vu.
Only the sun was out this time. And my head was splitting open.
I sat up slowly, groaning as the pain in my skull increased and the room swayed.
Holy crap. What a weird dream. I wondered if it was because Marcus bit me the last time we had sex. Had he accidentally taken too much blood?
Before I could figure out if my legs would hold my weight, the door opened on silent hinges and Marcus entered the room. He looked relieved to see me sitting up as he came over to the bed and sat on the edge.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, his voice little more than a whisper.
I appreciated his efforts to be quiet. "Horrible. Like I'm hungover. And I had the weirdest dream. I'm not sure I want you to bite me again if I'm going to wake up feeling like this. And it's strange because I didn't feel this way the last time you bit me."
Marcus winced. "This isn't because of my bite. Did your weird dream include people in black breaking into the house and zapping you with a Taser?"
"How did you know?" I asked. "Ugh. I need some water."
Marcus reached over to the nightstand and cracked a bottle open for me. "That wasn't a dream."
I nearly choked on the water I was sipping. My stomach clenched and threatened to revolt. "What do you mean, it wasn't a dream?"
"Humans broke into the house last night and kidnapped us all."
"What?" I asked. "How? I thought that Ava set wards to prevent stuff like that from happening."
Marcus frowned. "She did, but they were set to allow humans in because we didn't want to risk harming the people that deliver packages or end up here accidentally. But that's going to change today. Macgrath has already called and arranged to have a security gate installed at the end of the drive. Anyone who has a delivery will deposit it into a box attached to the fence. And Ava's working on the wards right now."
"Why did they come here and take us?" I asked.
"That's a long story," he said.
I lifted my pillow so it rested vertically on the headboard and leaned back against it. "I've got time," I said before I took another sip of water.
Ugh. The inside of my mouth tasted bitter.
"When she kidnapped you, Rhiannon managed to catch the attention of a man who works for a defense contractor. They'd been hired to approach you about a job, but instead he followed her here and found us. We've been under surveillance for months and never knew. They'd already planned to snatch us last night when Dumont showed up. If I hadn't spoken with the man in charge of the project and surveillance myself, I would blame Dumont for this entire mess."
"You think he snitched on us?"
Marcus shook his head. "No, I know he didn't. He was being honest with us."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"The man in charge told me."
I sipped more water.
"Okay, what now?"
"Well, Callum is insisting we install counter surveillance equipment and that we monitor this contractor. He said we'll need your help for that."
"Of course."
Marcus studied me for a prolonged moment. "Are you okay?"
