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Olivia shook her head to clear the cobwebs. “What? Why?”

He stepped back, finally allowing her to catch a breath. “It’s daytime. I can’t have you run back to Zylotech or the police and tell them where we are.”

“So, you’ll let me go tonight?”

He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

“What does that mean?” She grabbed his wrist.

He stared down his blade-like nose at her like a king to a pauper. Olivia clung to her patience and pretended he was just another self-important colleague at work and said in a modulated tone, “Please, let me go. I won’t tell Zylotech anything. My sister needs me.”

“Pity won’t work on me.”

“I don’t need your pity, just your understanding.” It was more and more difficult to rein in her temper. “I’m not the one responsible for imprisoning your friends. Keeping me here accomplishes nothing.”

His lips twisted into a cruel grin. “Maybe not, or,” his voice dropped an octave into velvety wickedness, “I like you. What if I want to keep you here for my personal pleasure?”

His whispered words slid over her like a lover’s caress. Her traitorous body responded. Her pulse jacked up, her breasts turned heavy, and wetness pooled between her legs. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Heat suffused her cheeks because he could definitely smell her reactions. Yet, she greedily drank in his perfect form, not missing the noticeable jut between his legs.

When his eyes opened, an eerie red sheen circled his irises. “Oh yes, I think you might like that, Olivia.”

The way her name rolled off his tongue was sin incarnate. He was using one hundred percent of his vampire allure toward her. If she weren’t careful, she’d fall for it.

Like how she’d fallen for Jacob.

The thought of Jacob, along with a slight burn from her right wrist, extinguished the fog in her head.Run,part of her whispered.Leave here now.

Suddenly, she was filled with a desperate urgency to escape. He was dangerous. Not only because he might kill her, but something else about him threatened her very being. She had to get away from him before it was too late.

“In your dreams,” she hissed, leaped to her feet, and shoved him.

Since he was a vampire, she shouldn’t have been able to move him, but he flew backwards as her bracelet flared a bright green.

Marek grunted as he hit the wall. Olivia made a beeline for the door. It was unlocked. Thank God for small mercies. She entered a small living room with a set of couches before a TV on the wall. Kitchen counter with sink and fridge to her right. A closed door to her left.

Oh no. Her purse. No time now.

She sprinted for the exit and stopped when Marek blocked her way, appearing seemingly out of thin air. His expression was an angry mask, his fangs bared as his entire body bristled with violence.

I’m so dead.

“Stop,” he snarled, a terrifying sound that should’ve frozen her like a rabbit sighting a falcon.

But the same strange power grabbed hold of her. She barreled toward him and shoved him with her arms raised. He braced for the impact. Her mind screamed at her to stop antagonizing him. To stop being so reckless.

Emerald green light, edged in silver, burst out of her bracelet. She grimaced as burning pain traveled up her wrist and arm, like she’d stuck the limb in a tub of boiling water.

Get away, must get away,the voice whispered.

Marek was flung off his feet and smashed into the table with a loud crash. The glass tabletop shattered while wood cracked under the force of his fall.

Olivia’s heart skipped a beat. Killing him hadn’t been her intention. Who was she kidding? That wouldn’t kill a vampire.

She made a mad dash for the door.

He was suddenly there, all hulking six feet of him obstructing the door like an immovable rock. Her bracelet arm burned again, fiery agony lighting up her skin.

When the beam shot out of the bracelet again, it hit an invisible aura around Marek. His eyes flashed red and his body strained. How was he stopping her? And what was with her bracelet? In all her years, nothing like this had happened before. She felt like someone else had taken hold of her body and she only observed it from afar.