Page 101 of Red Fury

I carefully pull the darts from his skin, trying to be as gentle as possible. He winces with each one but doesn’t complain. When I’m finished, I toss the darts into the corner.

“How do you feel?” I ask, cupping his chin.

His eyes open. They are hazy for a few moments before focusing on me.

“Like I’ve been hit by a truck,” he mutters, his voice hoarse and strained. “Dizzy and my mouth tastes funny. What the fuck did they give us?”

He sits up, flinching and putting his thumbs into his temples for a moment. “I feel like hell. Weak, too.”

“I don’t know exactly what it is,” I explain. “All I know is that it’s a drug that suppresses our dragons somehow, making us weak. Even our healing ability is compromised.”

I show him my ankle, which has turned an alarming shade of purple-blue. Under normal circumstances, a twisted ankle would heal quickly. The fact that it’s getting worse instead of better is unsettling.

Fury takes several more minutes to fully come around, blinking away the lingering effects of the tranquilizer. When his gaze finally focuses and he sees the puncture wounds on my neck, his expression turns murderous.

“That bastard bit you,” he growls, reaching out to gently touch the tender skin. His fingers come away bloody, and I see his jaw clench. “They’re not human.”

“Nope, they’re vampires,” I say.

“I thought that might be it. So Roman Kozlov, known arms dealer, mob boss, owner of a business empire, is also a vampire. It’s almost too insane to believe.” He shakes his head, squeezing his eyes shut, pain marring his handsome features for a few seconds.

“That’s about right, although I didn’t know about the mob boss part, but it makes sense he would be mafia…I guess.”

Fury stares at me for a long moment. “Vampires are real. Fuck me!” he whispers.

“It appears so. It sounds like there are a lot of them. They live all around the world.” I lean back against the wall, suddenly exhausted. “According to Roman, wolf shifters are real, too, and they live on the Mainland.”

“He said that?”

I nod. “Remember when Harrison talked about multiple biological threats in the elevator before we had that blackout? Maybe he wasn’t just referring to our two islands.”

“It’s almost too much to take in, and yet it makes a strange kind of sense. Why would we be the only supernatural beings?”

“Well, we’re not.” I move and wince, grabbing my ankle. “Damn, that’s painful.” I look at Fury, feeling sorry for myself. I can’t help it. “Just so you know, Roman plans on auctioning us off to the highest bidder. I think this auction is going to take place tomorrow night.”

“Why?” Fury asks. “What does he—?”

“As food. We’ll be walking blood bags. Apparently, shifter blood is amazing, and dragon shifter blood is the absolute best. He’s talking about keeping me for himself.”

Fury growls low despite his dragon being suppressed. “Over my dead body,” he snarls. Then he calms down, taking deep breaths. “We need to find a way to get out of this.”

I open the heel of my shoe and pull my cell phone out.

“Thank fuck!” Fury mutters.

“Don’t get too excited. I don’t have any signal.” I wave the phone around, but it doesn’t make a difference.

“Let me see that.” He takes it from me and does the same, his arm reaching further. “Fuck!” he finally mutters. “It’s no good down here.”

“In which case,” I make a face, “I’m fresh out of ideas for escape. Not with this shit in our veins.”

“I’m so sorry,” Fury says suddenly, his voice rough with emotion. “I messed up. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have—”

I frown. “Sorry for what? It’s not your fault at all. You didn’t have me abducted.”

“No, but I didn’t save you either. I walked right into his trap. I was supposed to rescue you, and instead I made everything worse.” He scrubs a hand over his face, wincing as the movement pulls at his injured shoulder. “I couldn’t save you. I failed.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I say, though my voice wavers slightly. “You were winning that fight until he called in his men with those dart guns. How could you have known what you were walking into? You thought they were human. You thought it was a fair fight.”