Page 17

Everything I owned was gone.

I lifted my knees. My leg no longer hurt with every twitch. Some vampire blood had made its way into my system and healed it enough for me to apply pressure without wanting to tear my hair out from the pain. Pressing my heels into the mattress, I stretched my spine. This position killed my lower back and my cuffed arm pinched with each twitch. My body screamed for release. This was torture, plain and simple.

No-good vampires. I gritted my teeth, glaring up at the ceiling. My eyes burned and it felt like sand coated them.

Asher had to let me go. I’d tried pissing him off enough to kill me, but nothing.

And he continued calling me his Pet. Did he really think I would stay without a fight? If not now, as soon as I had the sliver of a chance, I would bolt. I could never trust him to care for me again. Reality had walloped me good, leaving behind ragged scars.

A low hiss exploded through the room. The metal shutters began to rise.

Vampires equated unreliability and their seductive qualities were a trap. Vampires were made to invite, seduce, then destroy.

These weren’t the fictional, caring ones I’d written; they were death, madness, and danger. I re-learned that the hard way.

My original captor, the Pale One, should have been enough to teach me a lesson.

The doorknob wiggled and I clamped my eyes shut as footsteps encroached. I kept agonizingly still. The soft tap of footsteps neared the bed.

“I know you are awake.”

A lilting accent caressed my ears: Tobias.

My stomach rumbled with the worst timing.

Tobias chuckled and I couldn’t help but tense up. No point in acting asleep, now.

Straightening from my slump, I glared at my lap when all I wanted to do was cry and take off running.

A whoosh of air pushed my hair back. His presence hovered close enough that I saw the edge of his shoe, but I didn’t look up.

I was a bit proud of myself, actually—I hadn’t been startled by their speed this time.

“Asher has not fed you?” Tobias’ words whipped through the room. I kept my head down, not turning to look at the tray Asher had left at the bedside. I’d eaten exactly zero off it.

Giving my clamped arm a wiggle, it sent spikes to my elbow, and I pressed my lips together to hide my whimper.

Tobias gripped my caught wrist in a gentle hold, and he shielded it as he reached over me with his other hand. The cotton of his sweater brushed my cheek. It took everything in me not to turn my face up and rub my cheek into his hard, muscled torso. My mind wandered to when he’d held me against him, and I’d felt his hard cock pressing into my side.

Thinning my lips into a stiff line, I grappled to bring myself back to reality.

His presence radiated calm and urged me to lean toward him, but I wouldn’t fall for the trick again.

The fur around my wrist banded close to my bone. I couldn’t help but tense, expecting the worst, even if I didn’t know what that would entail. The chain clanged, then ruptured and instantly, I pulled my arm to my chest. The fur around the cuff lessened the dig of metal, but the angle still stung. I rolled my wrist, stretching it in all sorts of ways to release the pull on my tendons.

Tobias straightened, and as he retreated, his hand grazed my head, rustling the strands around my face. My pony tail had fallen into a disarray with hair all over the place. I lifted my trembling hand to smooth it back, but could only do so much with an arm in a sling.

“I will help.” He leaned forward with his large hands extended.

“No,” I croaked and jerked my head back. I didn’t want him touching me. Yanking my loose hairband out of my hair, I finagled it onto my wrist. The mass of hair waterfalled around my shoulders.

His eyes lingered on the mess of locks.

Swinging my cast off the bed and using the momentum, I scooted to the end of the bouncy bed.

Tobias pressed a palm to my shoulder, stilling me on the edge.

He hovered with a few inches between us. I craned my neck to look him in the eyes. Boyishness hinted within his angular features. The tall, leaner vampire looked the youngest and closest to my age even though he was the oldest.