Page 4

Mae tried again to pry open the door between her and freedom. It was no use. She couldn’t budge the old, rusty, metal door. Each time it closed she winced, hearing the thud echo around the room, knowing the door was too thick to get through. And she’d heard the noise more times than she could count.

Turning, she surveyed what had become her reality—though just how many days, she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t very big. There were no windows to help mark the passage of time or to help her figure out where, exactly, she was being held. Screaming for help had done her no good. No one had answered. It had only left her voice hoarse with no fresh water to quench her thirst or ease the burn.

She pushed her glasses up more, thankful to have them again. They’d appeared next to the small bed in the cell when she’d woken earlier. Before that, she’d spent all her time trying to focus on who and what was happening. At least with the glasses she could see. Not that there was anything hopeful to look at.

With a groan of frustration, she sank to the floor, its texture rough and unforgiving, her back against the metal wall, her gaze locked on the door. The only contact she’d had with anyone lately had been by way of the small opening in the door through which someone had pushed something that was to pass as food and drink. She thumped her head against the wall and was surprised when a follow-up thump came from the other side of the wall. She twisted and tapped the wall again, crawling towards the small return air vent near the bottom of the wall. “Hello?”

A deep, low growl was the only response she got. It sounded as if someone had a caged tiger in the room next to her. She froze, fearful whatever it was would somehow magikally appear in with her. Stranger things had happened in her life.

There was a scuffle and then the sounds of a commotion coming from the other side of the wall. Shouts followed as well as threats to tranquilize the occupant should he not pull himself together. Mae swallowed hard. She’d been shot up with something that made her sleep for long periods more than once since her arrival. She didn’t wish that upon anyone.

The urge to sing nearly did her in. She knew better than to dare and she’d been sure to avoid speaking when the guards were around as often nerves left her talking in more of a song anyways. She didn’t want crazy and out of control on top of scary. Yet, she couldn’t seem to stop herself as she pressed her hand to the return air vent. She began to hum softly, hoping to help calm the person in the cell next to her. If it backfired, they’d be even more agitated. The only saving grace was that they weren’t in the same cell. A few minutes had passed before a large, male hand appeared against the other side of the vent, startling her. She stopped humming and jerked in place.

“No,” said a deep voice. “Don’t stop. It helps.”

She kept going for a while more, sensing him calming. When she drew to a stop, she leaned against the wall. “Are you okay?” she asked softly, keeping her hand in place.

“Better now,” he replied, his hand still there. “What did you do?”

A shaky laugh escaped her. “I’d tell you, but you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Oh, you’d be shocked at what I’m willing to believe.”

The walls of the cells were thick and the vent was small. She couldn’t have fit through it if she wanted, not that she wanted to, considering how scary the man had sounded only moments before.

“Got a name?” he asked, the hard edge leaving his voice.

“Mae. And you?”

“Brad.”

They didn’t talk for a spell, but both left their hands against the vents. After a while there was a loud noise, and she eased to her feet. The metal in the wall between her holding room and Brad’s drew back in the center, revealing a large, glass window. She found a man standing there in a thin pair of what looked to be hospital-issue bottoms, the kind a doctor or nurse would wear. His dark hair was just past his shoulders and looked unkempt. He had a face full of hair and looked like a wild man. He was big, yet it was clear to see he was malnourished.

His dark gaze locked on her and he glanced around the room wildly. “What is it this time? I’m not going to hurt her. You can’t make me.”

Mae squeaked as she realized he must be Brad. She got the sense he wasn’t speaking to her.

There was a clicking noise and then a voice came from above, leaving Mae turning in a circle trying to figure out where the intercom system was. “We thought you might like a look at your new breeding partner.”

Mae cupped her mouth. His new what?

Brad growled, and she watched as his dark eyes went from nearly black to ice blue. “No. I haven’t bred any of the women you’ve put me in with before. I won’t with this one either.”

“You will,” said the voice from above, sending chills down Mae’s spine. “Soon neither of you will be able to resist the drugs we’ve been administering to you both.”

Brad snarled. “I’ve resisted them just fine all this time, dickwad. I’m not hurting the girl. Period.”

“You’ll fuck her, or you’ll eat her,” said the man over the sound system. “Either will amuse me. Agree or I’ll hold your food and force a change. Will your shifter side be so willing to forego fresh meat?”

Brad’s gaze whipped to her, and he took a step back from the window.

Shifter?

She didn’t want to guess what kind. Unless he shifted into a hamster, she knew it wouldn’t end in her favor. Tears she’d done her best to hold back burst free from her. Brad moved to the window, placing his hand upon it. Mae went to the glass and put her palm to it, feeling a strange bond to him, though she couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it was because he was the first person other than guards she’d seen since being grabbed. Whatever the reason, she felt a connection to him.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said loud enough for her to hear through the shared vent between their rooms.

The slot on the cell door opened and a tray of food appeared through it as had been the case multiple times before. She was hungry and thirsty, but each time she ate and drank anything given to her, she felt ill and tired. She saw through the thick glass that a tray appeared in Brad’s cell as well.

He glanced at it and then shook his head, his gaze landing on her. Was he trying to tell her not to eat from it?

A lone tear trickled down her cheek, and Brad offered a sympathetic look. There was the slightest of clicking from above, and then Brad spoke once more, “The food is laced with drugs that keep us somewhat sedated and sometimes with things that make us want to have sex. I’m guessing something to help make sure you end up with child too.”

“What?” she gasped. “Why? Where are we? Who is holding us? What do they want?”

He exhaled, looking tired. The dark circles under his eyes said he didn’t sleep much. She wondered if she had matching ones. “I don’t really know who has us. I get moved around a lot. One of the places I was at got raided. I thought, at first, it was the good guys coming to save the day. It wasn’t. I’ve been with this group now for a few weeks. I don’t know for certain, but I may have been with the others for months—possibly a year now. I honestly couldn’t tell you. I’ve sort of lost track of time.”

She shook her head. He’d been held for months?

“They got me on a trip to South America. You?” he asked.

“Leaving the Student Union on my campus,” she confessed. Mae had been at the Union waiting for Corbin, who never showed. After giving him an hour, she’d prepared to call Alice when she realized she’d done as Alice had feared, she’d left her cell phone back in the dorm room. Mae had set it down with the intent to apply the lipstick Alice insisted on. She’d remembered the lipstick but not the phone.

Mae forgot a lot of things. Her adoptive father said she lived her life with her head in the clouds, and he thought that was wonderful, always encouraging her to continue to see beauty in all things. And she did—at least until she’d been grabbed leaving the Union.

Had her blind date not stood her up, she would have been out with him and not even near the Union. Nowhere near the creeps who had snatched her shortly after leaving the building. Their grip had been unlike anything she’d experienced before.

She rubbed her upper arms, staying close to the window and Brad. The bruises from her abductors’ fingertips were still visible, even in the poor lighting of the cell. The cold of the floor seeped through her feet. She’d lost her shoes in the struggle with her abductors, and the dress she’d been so worried about wearing had been ripped during it all as well. Plus, it wasn’t made for warmth, and with as long as she’d been in it, it wasn’t faring well.

Cold, hungry, battered and bruised, she wanted to curl up into a ball and let the tears flow freely. Her mother and father wouldn’t realize she was missing until they were back from their extended trip. Her only hope was Alice. Alice would send out the troops. She’d make sure someone was looking for Mae.

“Help will come,” she said, more for her own well-being than anything else.

Brad didn’t comment, but from his expression, he didn’t think so. Believing no one would arrive to end this wasn’t an option.

“What do they want with us?” she asked, unsure she wanted to hear the answer. The not knowing scared her more than anything.

Brad glanced downwards. “When they first took me, they had me strapped down and hooked up to all kinds of machines and medical stuff. They took every sample you can think of and more. From what I could overhear, they were doing something to me, manipulating my genetic makeup.”

“That’s not possible, is it?”

He looked up. “Anything is possible with these people.”

“So you didn’t start out as a shifter?” she questioned, easing forward. “You were human, and they made you one? Like from a bite?”

She’d heard of some people living through a vicious attack and being weres. She didn’t know anyone personally who had. The shifters she knew were natural born.

“I was born with the ability to shift into a wolf,” he said, narrowing his gaze on her. “But I don’t trust my wolf anymore. Something is wrong with it. You?”

“I can’t do anything special,” she confessed.

“Funny, talking to you…hearing your voice and you humming calmed me right away. I think that is pretty special.”

“Don’t get too excited. Normally, when I dare to hum or sing men go batshit crazy. You’re one of the first it soothed.” She sniffled, holding back more tears. “They mentioned breeding.”

Brad glanced away and nodded. “At some point, they’ll dope one or both of us with this stuff they use. It makes you feel like you’ll burn alive if you don’t find sexual release.” The way he spoke said he had firsthand experience with it and that it wasn’t pleasant. “You think you’re strong enough to resist it, but it’s impossible.”

“You said you resisted,” she offered, looking for hope.

When he looked back at her, his expression was haunted. “I only managed to resist because the women they’d paired me with died during it all. They’d given them so much of the drugs that their systems’ overloaded. Two died in my arms. And, Mae, you need to know that during that drugged up state, I still nearly fucked them.”

She felt sick. She bent over, putting her hands on her knees and took several long breaths. This couldn’t be happening. Things like this weren’t real. Evil like this didn’t exist. Did it?

“Something tells me you won’t die from the drugs,” said Brad, drawing her attention back to him. “Mae, I don’t want to hurt you. And I really do not want to touch you like that. I can’t explain it, but it seems really fucking wrong. Like more than it should.”

She stood tall, pushing her glasses up the end of her nose. “I know.”

The sound of footfalls just outside the door reached her, and she stiffened, backing away from the window. She took a few steps back as the door to the room opened. An exceptionally pale man was there, long black hair hanging to his waist. The first thing she noticed was his fingernails. They were long, filed to points and painted black. The next thing she observed was the copious amounts of eyeliner lining his eyes. His entire get-up was very Bram-fabulous. He glanced at the window and grinned.

“Getting to know one another?” he asked, and she realized he was the voice from the intercom system.

“Fuck you,” said Brad, growling again.

“Down, doggie,” said the man.

As she took a deep breath, she caught the scent of something different about him. Something off. Two more men entered, each one armed to the teeth. The long-haired man eyed her. “Tell me why the buyers are willing to pay so much for you.”

She just stood there, unable to answer because she didn’t know what he was talking about. He snorted.

The man to his right, who had a buzz cut and was wearing a muscle shirt, offered a warm look from behind the other man’s back. “The collector who brought her in said a bounty had gone out on her head, but he figured he’d get more for her if he brought her to auction. His finder’s fee is steep, but from the look of the bids coming in online, she’s worth it.”

“What is she?” asked the one with long hair who was clearly in charge.

The man with a buzz cut shrugged. “Not totally sure. The lab results came in and they’re inconclusive. Looks like she has Fae in her and a hell of a lot of different strands of shifter. Small amounts of vampire too. There are notes here about only letting the mated males near her when guarding. Don’t know what that is about but I’ve been sure to only let guys who are mated near her so far. More information just arrived on her. Seems one of our buyers actually supplied it, for a fee, of course.”

“How can she have so many strands of supernatural in her?” asked the man in charge, his gaze moving over her. “The hybrid tests haven’t yielded anything as beautiful as her. Well, and Brad. Brad is breathtaking is he not?”

Brad growled again.

“The collector said she wasn’t part of any hybrid testing. Said she was from some other tests—ones done on babies still in their mothers. We’ve another female at our other location that is a big mix up of DNA as well. From the same testing we think. Guess the babies from those tests have been tracked down, or are being tracked down as we speak. And from what we’re getting feedback-wise, the biggest bidders want her and the other for breeding. That’s why we got the big upfront bonus. If we can get either with child, we’ll get even more money.”

“Excellent.” The man with the eyeliner took a step towards her, and when he smiled she caught sight of fangs. The smell of him hit her hard, and she backed against the wall, unsure what it was at first before realizing he smelled of death. Of rotting decay.

She wanted to scream at him to get away from her, but she was afraid to speak. Afraid her nerves would leave her singing or humming and the already terrifying man before her would be even more so.

“You look like a scared little animal in a trap,” he said, black filling his brown eyes. Mae wasn’t new to the supernatural community, so she didn’t scream, although she wanted to. It wasn’t as if she was totally versed in the world either. She knew enough to know scary things were real, and she knew she’d only just scratched the surface.

“Get away from her!” shouted Brad, only making the guy in charge laugh in response.

“He wishes to protect you,” said the man. “Alpha males are always so easy to manipulate. Threaten a woman and they fold. It really is their greatest weakness. History is full of incidents of great men bending and giving up all for a woman. Pathetic. Beat him until he shuts up.”

“No!” she said quickly. “Don’t hurt him. Please.”

“It speaks,” the man said, a sinister smile tugging at his lips. “If it were up to me a fuck and a suck would be perfect.” He neared her more. He was close enough to touch her if he wanted to. She didn’t want to. Everything about his presence set her on edge.

Brad went nuts in his room, slamming against the glass. He snarled and then began to growl, his expression murderous.

The man before her licked his fangs. “Tell me, woman, have you known the pleasure of a bite before?”

“Get the fuck away from her!” shouted Brad.

Mae pressed her palms to the wall behind her, wanting to push herself through it and disappear. She was the animal in the trap, as he’d so aptly put it.

Reaching out, he nearly touched her, but drew his hand back, his gaze narrowing. “If I mark your skin with a bite, I might get less, and it really is all about the money. And you will fetch a great price. Caesar,” he said, snapping his fingers at the man with the buzz cut. “See to it she’s cleaned and find her a white gown. Something sheer. Get new photographs of her up on the web. We want the buyers to get a good view of what they’ll be getting. We’ll proceed with the breeding tomorrow. Top dollar is our goal.”

The head man and one other turned and left, taking with them the smell of rotting flesh. Caesar remained, his gaze softening somewhat. He put his weapon in his waistband and lifted his hands, looking first to Brad. “Calm down. I won’t hurt her.”

Brad stopped hitting the glass, his nostrils flaring. Skepticism filled his expression.

Caesar focused on Mae. “Listen, I’m not going to hurt you. You seem like a nice girl and I’m sorry it has to be this way. I promise it’s just for a bit longer. Okay?”

She said nothing. What was there to say? The guy was part of what was going on. Therefore, he was part of the problem.

He eyed her tray of food. “Eat. You’ve barely touched the food you’ve been given since you got here two weeks ago.”

She’d been there two weeks? The reality that help wasn’t coming hit her hard. How could Alice not know she was missing?

“There is something in the food,” she found herself blurting to him, tears threatening to fall. Hopelessness settled over her, and she nearly gave up.

He paused a moment and then bent near the tray. He lifted it and sniffed it. When his chocolate gaze flickered to amber she understood what he was—a shifter. He snarled, the sound low and deep. “Drugs they use to increase fertility and a sedative. They won’t hurt you. I promise. If I bring you something, will you eat? I know you have no reason to trust me, but I won’t drug you.”

Her gut said to believe him so she nodded. “I’m thirsty, and Brad needs to be fed. Look at him. He’s wasting away to nothing.”

“I’ll bring you water and then help you get cleaned up. I’ll make sure no one bothers you when you shower. And I’ll bring Brad food and water that isn’t drugged. Okay?”

She eyed him, suspect of his assistance. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

He glanced at the floor. “I see you found your glasses I left for you. I came across them in one of the labs with some items that came in with the newest finds. Took me a bit to realize they belonged to you. They had another woman’s scent on them too. It confused me at first and then I read the files. Makes more sense now.”

She swallowed hard, her throat still burning. She wasn’t sure how her glasses could have smelled like anyone other than her, but she was happy to have them so she wasn’t about to question it. “Thank you.”

“Got a name, kid?” he asked, taking the tray and standing with it.

At twenty-two, soon to be twenty-three, she wouldn’t have called herself a kid, but she didn’t correct him. “Mae.”

He nodded. “I’m Caesar. The guy who was just in here is Felix. Keep quiet around him, okay? He’s not…stable.”

She didn’t need to be told as much. She’d already guessed. “What is he? He’s not a shifter like you. He smells like death. You smell like a forest.”

Caesar squared his shoulders. “I wondered if you knew about supernaturals. Not all the people they bring through here do.”

She didn’t reply.

Caesar took a step towards the door and then stopped, reflecting for a moment. “What you smell on him is vampire.”

She stiffened. “I’ve met a vampire before. He didn’t stink of death.”

With a half-laugh, Caesar glanced over his shoulder at her. “Then the one you met wasn’t evil. There are a lot of them out there. There is no black and white with them normally. Felix is one that there is no question about. He’s evil. No wiggle room there.”

Closing her eyes, her fight with her tears ended, and she lost it. They streamed down her face. In an instant, Caesar was before her, the giant hulk of a man touching her cheek and then patting her shoulder.

“There, there,” he said, and the absurdity of it all nearly made her laugh. “Felix won’t return tonight. A new find just came in who is all emo and a boy. He prefers men to women. And he loves the dark and tortured types.”

She touched his hand. “Thank you. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to let me go.”

“I wish that I could, Mae,” he said, sorrow in his voice as we spoke.

She averted her gaze. “I just want to go home.”

“I know.” He left her alone with Brad standing close to the window.

“Evil vampires,” she said softly and then snorted. “Of course, why not, right?”

Brad’s lips twitched and then he smiled. He was handsome under all the hair. “I call this an average Friday night anymore.”

“With how long you’ve been held, I believe it,” she returned, grinning as well.

He put his hand to the window once more. “We’ll get through this, Mae.”

She wasn’t so sure he was right. Before long Caesar was back, bringing with him a sandwich and a large glass of water for her and then the same for Brad. She was too thirsty to resist the lure of fresh water. Waiting until Caesar left the room, she watched Brad as he lifted his food and sniffed it. He came to the window and tapped, pointing to her food and water.

“Bring it closer to the vent,” he said. “I need to smell it.”

She did as instructed.

“You can eat it,” he said, and then stood.

Mae did the same and eagerly gulped the water, her hand shaking the entire time. Brad drank his as well, his eyes closing as he savored it. They ate their sandwiches, both standing near the window, though neither could reach the other.

When they'd finished, Brad nodded to her. “Tell me more about you, Mae.”

She found herself telling him how she was an art major, all about her roommate Alice, and then about how she’d been stood up on the night she’d been taken.

Brad’s dark brows met. “A guy stood you up?”

“Yep. And then I was abducted by crazy people who have a psycho vampire leading their cause.” As she said it, Mae began to wonder if maybe Corbin had set her up. Had he been behind her capture? Had her mother’s instincts been that far off?

Brad grinned. “I’ve had worse dates.”

She laughed. “Do tell.”

“Once had a woman think it was a good idea to visit a petting zoo with me during a full moon.”

Mae lifted a brow. “End as bad as I think it did?”

“Oh yeah. What do you say we get through this and then I can hunt down the dick that stood you up and break his face?” he asked.

“Sounds like a plan. I’m not one who is normally for violence, but I might break the guy’s face on my own,” she managed, leaning against the window.