“Always good to see you, too, Hunt,” Riker muttered. He lifted his hand in greeting to the warriors and their mystic-keeper standing silently in the forest.

“Where’s Myne?”

Riker owed the guy a lot of thanks and a lifetime of debt. Riker might have lost his shit to jealousy a few times, but he’d always known Myne had his back.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Hunter gestured for Riker to walk with him toward camp. “He came with us, but . . . you know.”

Yeah, Riker knew. Myne wasn’t one to hang out with Hunter, and he definitely didn’t like to spend any amount of time with a group. No doubt he was nearby, but he wouldn’t be trading ghost stories and making s’mores around a campfire anytime soon.

Or anytime ever.

Hunter adjusted the weapon belt that crossed over his bare chest. The guy had always been more comfortable in battle when he felt unrestricted. Riker was surprised he wasn’t barefoot, too. “Did you see Nicole?”

Riker nodded. “Why did you let her make that idiotic trade?”

“Have you even met her?” Hunter said wryly. “She was going to do it whether I let her or not.” That was probably true. The stubborn female. For some reason, that thought made him smile. “And I hate to say it, but it was a good idea with little risk. If she pulls it off, her company will have actually done some good. Accidentally, but I’ll take it.”

Right now, Riker didn’t give a shit about what Nicole was doing for the sake of the vampire population.

He just wanted her back. “I can’t leave her with them.”

Closing his eyes, Hunter turned his face up to the stars. “I was afraid you were going to say that.” He lowered his head and pegged Riker with eyes as black as the sky. “You always were loyal to a fault.”

“It’s more than that.” Riker pushed down the waistband of the shredded pajama pants and exposed the crimson wing above his pelvic bone.

“Oh . . . damn.” An owl hooted in the distance, distracting Hunter for a heartbeat. “Is that a good thing?”

Good? It could be, but given their last encounter, it could also be a disaster. “I love her.”

“But?” Hunter asked. Riker must have made “I love her” sound like a total downer.

“She doesn’t know.” Riker jammed his hand through his hair. “Fuck me, I didn’t know until today.

All this time, I’ve been so hung up on Terese and everything that happened to her.” An ache pounded inside his chest, right behind his sternum. “I thought I was getting over it, but when Bastien came, the hell he went through brought up all that shit again.”

“Let me guess.” Hunter paused to signal Taggart and Baddon, and the two melted into the forest for a routine patrol. The mystic-keeper, Sabre, rubbed herbs together in his hands and began to reinforce the defensive wards he would have set up around the camp.

“You wanted Nicole but couldn’t commit because of who her family is, what they did to Terese and Bastien, and because she was human. How am I doing so far?”

Right on target. “Like an arrowhead between the eyes,” Riker admitted.

“So you finally got over yourself and decided you can commit, but now that she’s a vampire and you’ve imprinted on her, if you tell her you love her, she’ll

think you only want her because she’s no longer human and because of the imprint.”

Clearly, Hunter had a better grasp on the situation than Riker did, and he nodded sullenly. “After the way I treated her before she turned, she’s not going to believe I’d have wanted her even if things hadn’t changed.”

Hunter considered that. Finally, he shrugged.

“Dude, you’re screwed.”

“Thank you, Chief,” Riker said flatly, “for stating the f**king obvious.”

Hunter shrugged. “I should have been a relationship therapist or some shit.”

Sarcasm aside, Hunter did have a point. Riker was screwed. There was no way Nicole was going to look past the imprint and think he’d want her if he wasn’t biologically linked to her. He’d kicked her out of his bedroom, for f**k’s sake.

Maybe he could beg for her forgiveness. He considered the idea but rejected it almost immediately.

Even if she forgave him for his idiocy, she would always in the back of her mind wonder if the imprint was the reason for his apology and attention.

Somehow he had to convince her that he loved her and that it had nothing to do with the fact that she was no longer human and he was imprinted.

The answer struck him like one of Hunter’s upper— cuts, leaving him stunned and a little shaken. In order to win Nicole, he was going to have to take a huge risk, and while he’d always been comfortable gambling with his life, this was different. This time, he wasn’t just putting his life on the line; he was jeopardizing his sanity and his heart.

--------------------

Nicole spent the next twenty-four hours in hell.

ShadowSpawn’s massive complex was filthy and dark, and those who lived in it were suspicious and brutish.

The males had little respect for females, and while the females didn’t appear to be abused and they certainly didn’t shrink away from confrontation, they were definitely treated like second-class citizens.

She couldn’t wait to get back to MoonBound, but first, she had to analyze the remaining fifteen pregnancy tests from the nineteen females who had taken the conception mixture she’d created.

Well, nineteen . . . plus herself.

Anxiety fluttered through her at the unlikely possibility that she could be carrying Riker’s child. So far, of the five tests she’d checked, only one popped positive. Yes, a percent success rate, especially in a race that rarely conceived, was fabulous, but it also meant that the chances that she wasn’t pregnant were pretty good.

Her hand shook as she used a clean syringe to draw blood from a vial she’d taken from a pureblooded female named White Fox and injected it just under the skin on Fane’s broad back. Daedalus had determined that the males’ bodies reacted to female pregnancy hormones, which made sense, since even before the end of the first trimester, males could taste it in the blood.

Instantly, a silvery patch bloomed in a circle around the injection site. “Positive,” she announced, and kars, lurking with some of his minions near the door, let out a grunt of satisfaction, as if he was responsible for knocking up White Fox.

With Aylin’s help, she repeated the tests over and over. Negative. Negative. Negative. Positive. Negative. Test number nineteen was the fourth positive.

Only one was left.

Stomach churning, she injected the sample into  Fane’s skin. Throat so tight she could barely breathe, she waited. Had the others taken this long to reveal a positive or a negative? She was torn about what she wanted to see. A negative meant she wasn’t pregnant and that she’d failed to get the five pregnancies needed to get herself out of here. A positive meant freedom.

And a baby that would tie her to a male who clearly didn’t want to be bound to her in any way.

She’d be happy, though. She’d always wanted children, even if she hadn’t thought it would really happen. Not with her work schedule. Not when the only men she ever met were Daedalus employees.

Fane’s skin at the injection site darkened . . . and turned silver.

“Positive,” she rasped, and then cut off kars’s shout of jubilation by adding, “I’m pregnant.”

In the sudden silence, she gave herself a moment to recover, but she wasn’t going to freak out. There was time for that later. Right now, she had to push ahead and get the hell out of here.

“That’s five.” She eyed the door. “I kept my end of the bargain. Now it’s time for you to keep yours.” kars came at her like a bull, backing her against the table holding the equipment and supplies she’d brought with her.

“You aren’t going anywhere.”

Anxiety and despair formed a lump in her throat and left her barely able to speak. “The deal was for five pregnant females. Five are pregnant.”

“Not five of our females,” he roared. “The deal is off. We’re keeping you and your child.”

“What?” She shoved against him. “You can’t do that!”

“I can do whatever I want.” His hand clamped around her throat. “You’re ours now.” His nasty sneer radiated malevolence. “Aylin, why don’t you help our newest clan member make herself comfortable in her new home?”

Chapter 32

There was no freaking way Nicole was staying in this hellhole. No way she was going through pregnancy and childbirth in what amounted to a den of wild animals. Of course, childbirth would be dangerous whether she was here or at MoonBound, but the thought of these creatures providing care was unacceptable. And what if she died but the baby survived?

She shuddered at the idea of her child growing up all alone with these monsters.

The second kars and his merry band of ass**les left, she started to plot. By the time Aylin arrived to escort Nicole to the cell Fane had assigned her to, she’d formulated a plan to escape. Unfortunately, it involved tricking Aylin, the one person who had been kind to

Nicole.

But she had to get out of here. She’d do anything to protect her child, even if that meant betraying Aylin.

“Are you okay?” Aylin asked, as they approached the row of cells that unmated females called home.

They were nicer than the “guest” quarters Nicole had been assigned to before, but that wasn’t saying much.

A cot, a blanket, a pillow, and a wooden box for belongings didn’t make for a homey environment.

“I’ll be fine.” Her stomach growled, and the sound vibrated through the dank, tight passage.

“You should visit the feeding room,” Aylin said, and Nicole grew nauseated.

The feeding room was full of humans who volunteered to live at the compound to feed anyone who came to them, but Nicole had no desire to feed from anyone but Riker. She’d have to learn to feed from humans eventually, but for now, she was fine with packaged blood.

“I’ll pass.” She planned to be out of here in about five minutes, anyway.

Aylin pushed open Nicole’s cell door. “I don’t blame you. If I could hunt, I would.”

“Your father doesn’t let you?”

Aylin’s blond hair swooshed around her waist as she shook her head. “I’m not strong enough. He’s afraid I could be captured by another clan and held for ransom or something.”

“Forgive me, but your father is an ass.”

Aylin laughed. “That’s the general consensus.”

Nicole wondered why, if everyone disliked kars, the clan didn’t overthrow him. Not that it was any of her business. She liked Aylin, though, and hated not only what she was about to do, but that she had to leave her here with her bastard of a father.

“I’m sorry, Aylin,” Nicole said softly.

She frowned. “For what?”

Nicole took a deep, bracing breath. “For this.” She shoved Aylin into the cell and slammed the door shut, engaging the lock. The disappointment in the female’s expression devastated her. “I had to. I’m so sorry, but I have to get out of here.”

“I know.” Aylin’s tone was sad, but she smiled. “I’d hoped you wouldn’t do it, but I expected it.” Her smile grew mischievous. “I also expect you to let me out and let me help.”

Taken aback, Nicole blurted, “Why would you want to help me?”

A muscle ticked in Aylin’s jaw, and her eyes glinted with defiance. “I might not be a warrior or a hunter, but that doesn’t mean I’m useless. I can do more than mend clothes and wash ale mugs.” She reached through the

bars, lightning quick, and took Nicole’s hand. Her nails bit into her skin but didn’t break it. “I don’t get the chance to do anything important very often, so I take opportunities as they come. I can get you out of here.”

Breaking out of Aylin’s grip, Nicole weighed her answer, which seemed genuine. But could Nicole bet not just her life, but that of her unborn baby on a ShadowSpawn female’s word? “I like you, Aylin, but—”

“But I’m the enemy, and you can’t trust me,” Aylin finished. “I know. But if you don’t, you won’t get out of here. I promise you that. And once you’re caught,

I guarantee you’ll never get another chance to get out.” She wrapped her hands around the iron bars and leaned in. “I understand why you don’t trust me, but we’re not all bad people.”

Not long ago, Nicole had said something similar to Riker about humans. And she’d learned the same about his people.

She looked around at the cells that doubled as private quarters and weighed the risks of living here permanently versus escape. There was no question. She had to get out of here, and if Aylin could help, she had to take that risk. After all, even if this was a trick, how much worse could her treatment get?

An image of Riker, beaten and bleeding in the dungeon, popped into her head, and okay, it could get worse. But babies were precious to this clan—any clan, really—and while she didn’t doubt she’d be treated badly, she doubted they’d actually harm her.

At least, not until the baby was born.

Freshly spurred more by the fear of what would become of her child than what would become of her, she flipped open the locking mechanism on the cell door.

“Okay,” she said to Aylin. “Let’s get out of here.”

-------------------------