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Kidnapping each other, sending murderers to each other’s house—they had an interesting way of pranking one another.

“That’s your entertainment?” I scoffed. “So what, do you even believe it’s the vampire hunting me?”

Bastien banded his arms around my waist and his fangs grazed against my neck, eliciting a shiver from my soul.

“We needed to eliminate every possibility, Catalina.”

I hummed.

“What about vampire hunters,” I said jokingly, but their expressions didn’t change.

“We finished eradicating the vampire hunter bloodline a decade ago,” Ren said, deadpan.

Well there went my joke, whittling away like a deflating balloon.

I cleared my throat.

Just as I thought then—it was the male vampire after me. My stomach dropped and I pressed closer to Bastien. In his arms, I felt safer than I’d felt in a while. I should have come to him sooner.

“So will you release him or what?”

Asher’s head fell back with his laugh.

Ren straightened and he seemed suddenly serious. His attention focused on me, but he didn’t say anything. He just studied me.

“Not cautious anymore, Cat? Did you grow up or have you succumbed to madness?”

I shrugged and picked at my chipped nail polish. Option two.

“You could kill me. Whatever vampire is out there can kill me.” I waved my hands in the air. “At least Asher and Tobias will make sure I go gently if one of you off me.”

Nerves bubbled in my stomach from his perusal, so I returned my attention to Asher. He yanked Bastien’s cuffed hands out and gingerly turned Bastien’s wrist to reach a latch on the underside. The circle had a line in the middle that needed to be turned to line up with the outer section.

Asher shook his hands as if the touch of the metal bothered him. I reached to unhook the other cuff from Bastien’s wrist much faster than Asher would have.

“You understand you will be in charge of him?” Ren interjected, eyebrows slightly furrowed.

I scowled at him in answer.

“Imagine, we wouldn’t have this entertainment if Imogen got her way with Bastien and had us kill him.” Asher chortled again.

Kill him? I mouth, horrified.

“She knows the value in keeping him. She was testing us.” Ren snorted.

Tobias raised a haughty eyebrow. The truth was being stretched if his expression meant anything.

“The ease in which you two speak of Imogen—” Jax stopped mid-sentence and looked at me. “All because of the influence of a meaningless human pussy.”

His words sliced through my heart.

My lungs felt like they deflated.

Even though I wouldn’t be fooled into thinking Jax ever cared for me, he’d been close to looking at me with affection.

I turned my attention to the vampire that actually made me feel safe. Clasping Bastien’s hand, I tugged him past Ren. Bastien easily shouldered past him and forced Ren out of his way.

“Where are we going?” Asher asked as he caught my other hand. Sighing, I stopped fighting him, twinning our fingers together.