The next morning I awoke to the smell of bacon. Abby knelt in front of the pallet with a tray covered in food. French toast, bacon, half a grapefruit with sugar on top (my usual breakfast) and coffee. Precious, precious coffee. At first I couldn't have been happier to see her and the coffee. But then certain things started to register. The sheer chemise she wouldn't have ever worn under normal circumstances, let alone in front of a man. The arm that still kept me pinned even though at some point during the night he must have allowed me to roll over because I was no longer facing him. And of course, the cave I was being held prisoner in.

I struggled to sit up which must have woken Max because he released me and sleepily rubbed his eyes in a way that was so cute it made me ache to know what he really was. "Morning," he rumbled.

"Morning, Kiera, Max." Abby looked back and forth between me and her peace offering. As if bacon could somehow make up for destroying my life.

I loved her too much to stay mad at her for anything, but she deserved to feel bad for what she'd done. I folded my arms. "I'm not hungry."

"Don't be like that. You need to eat." She offered me the cup of coffee while mumbling, "Considering what I had to do for my first meals around here..." She broke off realizing she said something she shouldn't have.

Rage flooded my system as I tried to imagine what that bastard did to her. I tried to keep calm as I asked. "What did you have to do, so that he would allow you to eat?"

She could no longer meet my gaze. "No. It's nothing important."

As if to emphasize how little he cared about any of this Max reached over me and grabbed a piece of bacon.

"So he used food to control you? Abby you've been trained in brainwashing techniques. You're an FBI agent for christsakes!"

She put down the coffee and pushed herself away from the tray. "I'm not brainwashed. I made a promise to him, I was just keeping my word. And he kept his word too. He kept you alive even though doing so could get him and Max into trouble." She stood and started to pace in front of me. Completely oblivious to the fact that for all intents and purposes she was naked. She wore the thin gold collar around her neck as if it had always been there. This had somehow become her normal.

How could she not see how he was manipulating her? I was torn between anger over her betrayal and concern that the person I knew had been stamped out of existence. My Abby wouldn't even wear a low-cut top. What must he have done to get her to change so much? Threats? Starvation? I couldn't see any bruises, so maybe he hadn't tortured her, but that didn't seem likely. A man like that must have tortured her. "If you're given the choice between slavery and the death of someone you love, that's not a choice at all."

Her eyelids fell as if it was too hard to continue. "It's complicated. I could try to explain, but I don't think I could make you understand. We're just too different. So can you just trust me? We can't go back. We have to start new lives and your stubbornness isn't helping anyone."

"Trust you? You just betrayed me less than twelve hours ago. Why would I trust you? There is nothing you can do or say that will convince me to give up. I'm going to get you out of here and if I have to run a stake through your vampire boyfriend's heart to free you then I'm going to do exactly that. I don't know why you can't see it, but you've fallen for a monster... again." I regretted my words the second the passed my lips.

She stumbled backwards as if I’d just punched her. And in fairness, I had. Then she gave me a look that could have stopped my heart. It was as if a stranger was speaking to me. "You act all concerned about how he's treating me, but don't you treat me the same way? Always trying to control what I wear and what I do and now even how I think? How are you any different from him? Really. I don't think it pisses you off that I obey him. I think what really pisses you off is that I don't obey you."

I stared at her in shock as she stormed from the cave. How could she say that? How could she compare me to him? I was about to go after her when a firm hand grabbed my wrist reminding me I was a prisoner.

"Wow, you two ladies certainly don't pull your punches. If Julian and I spoke to each other like that, one of us would be dead already."

Not willing to admit my mistake, I dug in. "What do you know? I'm only trying to protect her. If she doesn't realize who he really is soon, she'll end up dead like the last girl."

"Ah, so you know about what happened in the club?"

"I pieced things together in my search for Abby. For beings intent on preserving humanity, you sure do leave a lot of corpses lying around."

When it was clear I had no plan to run, Max released me and went back to eating my breakfast, grabbing a couple more pieces of bacon. "When it comes to Julian, it's a bit more complicated than that."

"It's complicated. It's complicated. That's all both of you ever say. Maybe it's not beyond my imagination. Maybe you're just making excuses for bad behavior. Ever consider that?"

Max shrugged as he took the plate of French toast and brought it to his lap. "Maybe. Try to imagine being raised in a world where expressing your feelings is a sign of weakness. Where humans are regarded as little more than pets. Now imagine falling in love with one of those pets. Do you think you'd get everything right from the start or do you think you'd make mistakes?"

"Aren't you from the same place? You seem to be able to refrain from torture even though you’re uncomfortably okay with murder."

"Humans aren't food for me. Not to mention, we might be from the same realm, but we were raised very differently. Werewolves are taught to trust their feelings, not suppress them."

I waved away his argument. "Even if all that's true. She's already proven herself. Why is he still treating her like a slave?"

Max finished off the French toast and put the empty plate back on the tray. "He's relating to her in the way he knows how. What's important is they love each other, they'll figure out what works for them, and they deserve a chance to do that without your interference."

He gave me a pointed look that felt a lot like being scolded. And for a second, I was ready to shrink away just from his look of disappointment. But then I remembered one very important fact: I was in the right.