Chapter 37
A musty smell tickled Harper’s nose. Thick and sour, enveloping her like sweat-soaked bedding that hadn’t been changed in weeks.
An eerily accurate descriptor. When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a yellowed mattress; a blanket wrapped so tightly around her that she could barely move her arms.
The smell scratched at her throat. Gagging, she kicked at the blanket, and though she managed to free herself, it came at a cost. Vision-stealing dizziness rushed through her skull, making her groan and grab her head.
Her hands clinked. She was wearing handcuffs. And her shoulder hurt. She had been injected with something. A sedative, going by how heavy her head was, like it was filled with water.
Moving slowly, she sat up. She was in a decrepit warehouse with most of the windows broken, and the only sources of light coming from a few smoldering barrel fires. An awkward-looking chair made of pallets and animal skins sat a few feet from her, and ropes dangled from the ceiling.
It was quiet, too, the only noise being the wind outside. A few people walked past the windows, but the warehouse itself was empty.
If you ignored the body about fifteen feet away, with strawberry blonde hair spilled over the stained concrete floor.
“Evie!”
Harper shot to her feet, dizziness washing over her at the same time as she stepped forward. A sudden pull yanked at her foot, and she crashed down on the mattress again. A short chain was clasped around her ankle, tying her to a nearby support beam.
“Evie? Evie, can you hear me?”
Her hair was streaked with dried blood. She was wearing the same restraints as Harper, of handcuffs and an ankle chain, but she hadn’t been graced with a mattress or even a blanket. Her breath clouded in front of her lips.
Alive. She was alive.
“You aren’t listening!” The warehouse door swung open, and Kieran walked in. He’d exchanged his shredded clothes for fresh ones. “I reconsidered your offer. Your deal. I’m ready to accept.”
A woman followed him. Pale skin, smartly dressed in a dark blue suit and skirt, and with her silver blonde hair arranged into a slightly messy bun. She gave Kieran a cool look.
“I know why you called on me. The desperation in the request was a nice touch.” She looked around the empty warehouse. “It’s a less fearsome crowd than last time. Smaller, too.”
She spoke with an accent. British. Her tone was so soft that it almost came off smug.
Kieran snarled. “We took some losses.”
“Some losses?” The woman chuckled. A chilling sound. “Over half your people are dead, have disappeared, or are crawling back to the very pack you pulled them from. That is not a loss. That is a death knell. What could I possibly gain from aiding you now?”
Kieran glared at her as if equally inclined to plead or attack her. The woman’s composed expression suggested she was ready for either action.
“Ow…” Evie groaned and touched her head with a wince.
Harper leaned towards her, the ankle chain pulling taut. “Evie? Are you okay?”
“That woman… She hit me with her gun.”
Evie got into a seated position. Her cuffs rattled, and she looked down at herself.
She went statue-still.
“Where are we? And Nell. Where’s Nell?”
“I don’t know. They injected me with something, and I passed out.” Harper swallowed. “Back at the cabin, I heard screaming. And gunfire.”
Evie’s hands shook. Her breathing picked up, and she held it in before it could turn hyperventilating.
This was like when she’d been held captive, Harper realized. Those vampires hadn’t bothered with restraints most of the time. They’d just kept her in a cell. A concrete hole with no windows and no hope of escape.
“It’ll be fine,” Harper said. Though, her trembling voice didn’t agree. “We’ll get out. We’ll get rescued. Maya’s probably bringing the cavalry right now.”
Evie’s eyes flicked. Then widened. “Wait… Maya, she… Oh my God. Harper, I’m so sorry.”
Harper’s stomach surged, the image of Maya’s impaled body coming back in devastating detail. All the blood, her gray skin, the snow catching on her dark hair.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. She was moving.”
Evie’s gaze softened. “Harper, she got staked. Do you know what that means?”
“I don’t care what it means! She’s not dead. I saw her move. I’m sure of it.”
She wasn’t, really. Her consciousness had been fading, and it had been so dark. It could have just been her imagination.
No. No, it wasn’t. She’d moved. Harper had seen her move.
Evie looked at her, almost startled. As though ready to disagree again. Instead, she nodded.
“Okay. She moved.”
Her eyes drifted to Harper’s throat. She stiffened again, her mouth pinching into a thin line.
“She fed on you?”
Harper touched her neck. The skin was warm, but it didn’t hurt. Maya had barely pricked her skin.
Harper had expected it to be worse. It had hurt, but only briefly, and then it had transformed into a rush. A similar feeling to when Maya would kiss her neck and let out those snarling moans that made it feel like Harper’s body had been electrocuted.
It was as though their bodies had fused into one. Like nothing mattered beyond the two of them. And when Maya looked at her afterwards, candlelight dancing over her face… Harper had never seen more adoration than what had been present in her golden-black eyes.
“You said you could help!” Kieran’s voice roared through the warehouse.
He was standing nose to nose with the woman.
“We’re not safe here. We need to leave now before the Chains move their forces beyond St. Louis.
You said that, for a favor, you could get us uncontested territory.
I accept that deal. What else do you want from me, Róisín? ”
Róisín didn’t look impressed. “I want you to remember the terms I set. I said that I would get you uncontested territory if you withdrew from St. Louis. But you didn’t withdraw.
You fled. If you had treated my agents with a modicum of respect, I might have been more willing to look past semantics, but you treated them as little more than chew toys.
” Her gaze turned icy. “I’m only here because hearing people beg is rather amusing. ”
She looked to the warehouse rafters, her flawless features tensing for a second before her mask fell back into place.
Until her eyes paused on Harper and Evie. The mask didn’t just drop then. It shattered.
“The small one is my mate,” Kieran said when Róisín kept staring. “The Chains stole her. One of my scouts found out she was brought near the border, to provoke me, no doubt. The Chains were still preoccupied when we pulled out of St. Louis, so I retrieved her.”
Róisín didn’t pay attention to him whatsoever. She strode into the warehouse, heels clicking against the floor, Kieran following right after.
“It can’t be…” Róisín whispered, eyes on Evie. She spun on Kieran. “Have you completely lost your mind?”
Kieran had looked ready to growl, but her sharp tone made him falter.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you know who that is?” Róisín pointed at Evie, though her eyes remained fixed on Kieran.
“Uh…” He shifted his weight. “No? She had fight in her, so we just brought her along. She’ll make a good hunt.”
“You just brought her along…” All the smugness was gone from her voice, astonishment replacing it.
“That isn’t some random woman. That’s Evie Atkins.
She is the Claimed human of one of the Chains Regents, you imbecile.
The demonic one, no less. That fiend will tear you to pieces for this, and anyone she thinks is working with you, me included.
You’ve doomed yourself and every person within a mile of this place. ”
Kieran opened his mouth, closed it, and had just opened it again, when his attention flicked back to the door. A few people had staggered in, most either limping or leaning on one another. Booker was at the front of the group, waving Kieran over.
He gave Róisín a cold stare before hurrying to the door. When it looked like Róisín was about to follow, potentially to flee the warehouse, Harper leaned towards her.
“Wait! Don’t go. Please, you have to help us.”
Róisín stopped. Then turned, glacier blue eyes fixed on Harper. A gaze so chilling it made goosebumps rise on her skin.
“Kieran’s clearly scared of you,” Harper said in a rush. “If he wasn’t, he would have torn into you by now, and he wouldn’t be scared unless you could overpower him. You can help. I know you can, so please. Get us out of here.”
Róisín’s eyes flicked to Harper’s pink hair. “You’re the human of that daywalker.”
Harper took a sharp breath. Maya’s name hadn’t even been mentioned, and it still felt like she got stabbed.
“How do you know that?”
“I know everything. Or most things. She surprised me. People rarely do that.”
She glanced at the door, shoulders tensing beneath her dark blue business suit. Then she sighed—in irritation, it looked like.
“Assisting you would be unwise. That Alpha may be an idiot, but he’s an infatuated idiot. Breaking you out will bring attention. Given that my faction doesn’t even know I’m here, I can’t afford that.”
“Then just help her.” Harper gestured at Evie. “He didn’t even mean to take her. You can get her out of here.”
Evie shook her head. “No! Harper, I’m not leaving you alone with him.”
Harper ignored her. She just stared at Róisín, hoping a degree of compassion would show on the woman’s icy features.
Róisín’s expression didn’t change. She brought a handkerchief out of her pocket, dabbing it against her nose. The white fabric came away stained red.
“This has been a long evening,” Róisín said tightly. Outside, the wind howled. “I’m not at my best. But this storm will persist. It may buy you time.”
Harper opened her mouth to ask what the hell that meant when Booker’s voice cut her off.
“We can’t leave. The snow is too dense. You can barely see three feet in front of you. We’re stuck here until the storm passes.”
Kieran looked like he was close to vibrating with anger. He cursed and started pacing the floor.