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“Who the fuck are you?” I hiss, banging on the glass. She doesn’t even startle. She just smiles, flashing slightly sharp teeth.

“Why, I’m the collector, of course, and you? You’re my new pet. How exciting.”

The collector . . . This is the collector? This is who has been chasing them? Why?

“You have questions, I see,” she remarks, tapping the glass. “So do I.”

I stare into her strange eyes. They are vertical, and when she blinks, a second lid seems to slide across them. She is not what I was expecting at all when they kept mentioning the collector.

There’s a black, wide-rimmed top hat on her head, and her hair is cut in a chin-length bob and perfectly straight. Her eyelids and lips are coloured black, and her irises are the only colour about her—a startling green. Her coat is a deep black, dusting across the floor, and she left it untied to show knee-high boots covering skin-tight, black trousers and a black blazer. She’s beautiful, in an exotic sort of way, and very clearly a monster, though I have no idea what kind. Winking at me, she turns to my men, cocking her head.

“Oh, how I have missed you, pets, but we’ll get to you soon. For now, you know how I like to welcome newcomers.” She looks at me, her wide grin showing her teeth, but I’ve seen sharper. “Bring her,” she orders.

There’s a whirl, and then something locks onto the glass tube I’m in. Snapping my head up, I see a giant, silver mechanical hand gripping it, and then it jerks me from my place and into the air. Pressing my feet and hands to each side, I stare down as the guys yell and bang on their tubes, but she ignores them, whistling and walking underneath me as I’m brought across the room and placed inside another. I can see the glass surrounding the entire space, so when my tube cracks open with a hiss, I ram into it, trying to find a weakness, but before I can, gas fills the room and it’s all I see. I start to cough, inhaling it, and once more, my consciousness is stolen by her.

The next time I wake up, I try to control my breathing and body to give myself precious seconds to figure out where I am and how to get out.

“I know you’re awake, pretty one,” she sings, so I open my eyes, already knowing I am restrained. My ankles and wrists are chained, and when I glance around, I realise I am tied to a steel table in a similar glass room. Her coat is off, as is her hat, as she peers down at me, fingering my hair.

“Such beautiful colours. Is it natural?” she asks. I don’t answer, and her eyes narrow in annoyance. “I do not like to be ignored. You will learn, just like they did.” When I don’t bother speaking, she runs her hands across something out of my sight. “It took a while to break them as well, my specimens you were with, but I have a lot of time and patience, and when you are cowed, you will be my little pet, won’t you?” She turns to me with a sharp knife. No doubt the sight is supposed to intimidate me. When I just blink, she narrows her eyes and steps closer, pressing it to the top of my shirt.

“Let’s see what you are hiding.” I don’t even wince as she strips me bare. Being naked isn’t a shameful thing. I have an excellent body, so if she wants to see it, she can. When that doesn’t work, she slices across my chest, watching the blood well.

“So you bleed. That rules out certain creatures.” Lifting the knife, she poises it over my chest. “What are you? Answer me and I’ll let you live.”

Death doesn’t scare me. After all, I’ve died numerous times, so she’ll have to do a lot worse than that. She seems to see that, and her eyes flicker repeatedly, that lid crossing them for a moment. “I see. You are strong, but then again, I have broken the strongest, and I like a challenge.”

I just stare into her strange eyes and smile slowly. I can tell it rubs her the wrong way before she slices down my chest with a snap. I let her cut me apart, searching for answers. My eyes remain on the ceiling as she does. The pain builds, but I let it wash through me, not letting myself feel it.

When you’ve been torn apart and eaten, a little bit of knife play isn’t much to fear. Honestly, I’m quite disappointed in this infamous collector they all fear.

“What are you?” she roars in my face, finally losing her cool.

“Your hair is out of place,” I tell her, my voice calm and bored. Someone who clearly craves perfection will hate that, and she jerks back, breathing heavily as she glares at me.

“Collector, specimens 6 through 11 are losing control.” She freezes as the mechanical voice echoes through the room.

“Expound,” she commands, and the robotic male voice comes again.

“They have been since specimen 680 was taken away by you.”

She looks at me. “Interesting. They only care for each other. Their hive mind, you see.” She’s smart. I see her rolling it through her head. “A mate maybe? That is impossible though, isn’t it? Let’s see. Take 680 back.”

The same chains tilt me upright, and the table slides into the glass tube. It locks before the table disappears, and the same crane lifts from the room and returns me, where I see the guys banging and screaming in their tubes. They only stop when I appear. Eyes filled with fury sweep over my naked, bleeding skin.

“It cannot be, can it?” the collector calls, looking between us, her eyes narrowed. “Mated . . . to all of them. That is the only logical explanation.” She turns to me. “You took my belongings away from me. They are mine, not yours.” Despite her anger, I can tell she is calculating how best to use this new information against us. “It will make it harder, but never mind.”

“Collector, the investor is here,” the same mechanical voice announces.

“Saved by the bell.” She giggles, waving at us. “See you soon, pets.” I watch her leave before leaning into the glass.

“She’s a delight,” I joke, and their worry seems to lessen. “So she’s the one after you, huh?”

“That would be the one,” Raiden replies, but his voice is tight.

“Are you okay?” Emrys asks, his voice dark and eyes slightly feral.

“Eh, that was like foreplay to me. You forget, my little mates, that I survived Gehenna.” Settling down on my ass, I drape my arms across my knees. “So tell me about her. Mainly, how do I kill her?”