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My thoughts slow and sluggish, it takes me a few moments to struggle against his nearly crushing embrace.

“Shit,” he curses more out of vexation than worry. “That crap you gave her, Enzo, already wore off.”

“No way…” Enzo says from somewhere close by in disbelief.

“Yes way,” the leader says in a snide, mocking tone. “Give her another dose.”

When throwing my weight against his arms does nothing, I turn my head and snap my teeth at the leader’s face.

He snarls viciously at me.

I recoil in fear for only a few seconds then begin to struggle again. Acting purely on my baser instincts.

“This is the last I have on me, Sire,” Enzo says with a touch of worry.

“Wonderful,” the leader grumbles before I feel the sharp jab in my arm.

Bliss washes over me, but this time I don’t lose consciousness. Slumping in the leader’s arms, my head falls back and I continue to peer at him with a glassy gaze.

“What the fuck, Enzo?” he says angrily, his blue eyes blazing. “Was that the same dose as the first one?”

“Y-yes, S-sire,” Enzo stammers, clearly nervous and possibly afraid.

I’m so unnaturally calm, I start giggling. Enzo sounds just like the scared attendant in the station.

The leader’s attention snaps back to me and he looks at me curiously. “Well, it’s not working.”

“Perhaps she already has a tolerance for it, Sire?” Enzo suggests.

I giggle again, finding the way he talks utterly hilarious.

“Perhaps,” the leader repeats thoughtfully.

He stares hard into my eyes, and I begin to fall into his piercing gaze. The blue reminding me of an ocean I want to dive in.

Blond head tilting to the side, the leader says, “Wrap your arms around me.”

I wrap my arms around him, my body moving automatically to obey.

“Oh, very interesting.” The leader grins widely, showing his fangs.

Another giggle spills from my lips. For some reason, the way he grins with his fangs reminds me of a cat.

He’s the Cheshire Cat grinning at me!I think to myself.

“Now go to sleep,” he orders.

My memories begin to speed forward again. So fast I only catch a glimpse here and there.

I wake up on my back, finding all my limbs restrained. A few vampires surround me, and the blond leader explains to someone what he learned about me.

That he found my mark between my breasts. And that drugging me gave him the ability to compel and control me.

I’m jabbed again and again, and ordered to sleep or be calm over a period of time I can’t keep track of.

The only time the memories slow down is when someone suggests, “You should try compelling away some of her memories, Nikolaos. We don’t want her bonded getting angry with us for tasting her shitty blood.”

The memories speed up again, moving at light speed. Then screech to a halt when I wake up in Raphael’s arms as he rushes us away from a building filled with the sound of fighting and screams.