“If you had one ounce of guile, you’d bash him over the head with that when he returns, and then find somewhere to hide until Arion finds you,” she says as her jaw grinds.

“If they’re feeding us, then they’re probably not in the mood to torture us. I have no idea what’s beyond this room, and I’m a one-trick pony.”

“Use your tricks, gypsy. Find a place to hide,” she states in an almost tired tone.

“That’s ridiculous,” I mutter distractedly, as I lift the plate toward her.

“Now who’s not recognizing the shit we’re in?” she asks on a huff, as she slouches against the wall.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m a vampire, Violet,” she says as she swings her gaze to me. “What do all vampires need? Hint: It’s not a turkey wrap.”

Her eyes drop to the turkey wrap in question, and then up to my throat, before they bounce to mine, as she arches an eyebrow.

“They just put you on timer,” she says through a tight, grim smile. “It’s a countdown. When I’m starved to the brink and smell your sweet blood, I’m going to have whatever strength necessary to break these chains and come after you like the true monster I am.”

She crosses her legs at the ankles, staring ahead. “That’s why I’m in these chains and you’re not.” She slowly shuts her eyes, shaking her head as though she can’t believe this. “That pureblood fauxmega is quite the cruel bitch.”

“How long do we have before that happens?” I ask her.

Hopefully I don’t have to rework my entire plan.

I still haven’t even had sleep.

My life sucks sometimes.

“I’m quite hungry already, so I’m going to say we have a maximum of four days,” she says as she picks a loose thread free from her shirt. “Maybe three.”

“So when Arion was underground…and awake…he was the monster full time,” I say in quiet realization.

“Arion’s monster is far different. He’s in a lot more control than all the others combined because he doesn’t feel the torture or the cruelty of the curse. He likes killing things. The work is finding the appropriate targets at the appropriate times, in his case,” she says in a tone barely above a whisper.

“Okay, so I have something to tell you to ease the burden of worrying about—”

“I can’t drink your blood, Violet,” she tells me like she doesn’t want to hear where I’m going with that, deliberately cutting me off, as her eyes meet mine. “I’ll die a painful and agonizing death if I try.”

My brow furrows. “Why?”

“Because Arion told me I would if he ever smelled your blood on my breath. Whether you live or die will not be the issue from this. It’s whether or not I can control my monster enough to not drink from you.”

“Can you control it?” I ask, as the bottom of my shirt starts spilling threads as well.

She goes silent, not answering me for a moment. I’ve given up on getting an answer by the time I hear her breath leaving in a heavy, deflated rush.

Our eyes collide at the same moment, and she gives me a soberly solemn look.

“I think Emit, Damien, and Arion should have split the sentence underground because they were all to blame for what happened that day. Arion overstepped. Emit and Damien let too much go for two separate sets of reasons, and without reasonable explanations. And I think Vance’s punishment should have been to clean up the mess and get things in order before their return,” she tells me softly, giving me the answer to a question she wouldn’t answer when she saw herself walking away from all this.

“When one alpha is failing, it’s up to the others to make them do their jobs without crossing over into a territory where they don’t belong,” she goes on. “It’s the order. So long as order is kept, fewer people seem to die.”

I nod once again, as if that makes perfect sense, and look back at the bars.

“I’m going to need to borrow your clothes,” I tell her as I stand and stretch again.

“I’m going to need more information, because I’m not sure this is the time to do girly bonding things like swapping clothes,” she says with a matter-of-fact and mildly serious tone.

“I’m a one-trick pony, Shera. Get grabbed and kill who you have to while escaping. My mother wouldn’t let me be a badass for reasons I mostly understand. But I’ve been known to work in a few new tricks along the way.”

“Such as?” she asks.

“I staked four vampires. I can learn on the fly.”

The threads from her shirt start unraveling, and she gives me a dubious stare, as mine slowly falls free from the last thread, leaving me in my bra. My jeans start unraveling next.

“Four vampires? There are at least a hundred wolves nearby. I can smell them, even with their weaker scent.”

“Hopefully you’ll be more badass with them than you were with Abby,” I tell her without an ounce of humor.

Her jaw grinds as she narrows her eyes.

“Fauxmega scents confuse the mind. I held back,” she defends.

“So don’t hold back.”

“I can’t take on a hundred wolves, so we need to sneak around,” she says in a very crucial sort of way. “There’s a big difference between Arion and I. Don’t let the arbitrary terms—alpha and beta—confuse you too much.”

“So we sneak around.”

“And if we end up surrounded by them?” she asks me like she’s annoyed with my half-baked plan.

She doesn’t seem to have any plan of her own that doesn’t involve me running and hiding and hoping help comes before I’m found.

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” I say as I move back toward the bars. “Because that will leave us stuck with just plan B.”

“What’s plan B?”

My heartbeat drops slowly and steadily. I’m not strong enough for those bars, but those chains…

Shera looks at my chest, her head tilting, as I lean over and let my heart drop a little more.

This is red-zone territory I’m playing in, but as I pull on the chains, hearing the metal whine and Shera suck in a sharp breath, I realize it won’t be enough.

“Shera, I’m going to need you to pull with me. I’m not an alpha either,” I say on a sigh.

She blinks a few times, glancing from my hold on the chains to my eyes. “What are you?”

“Not important right now. Pull with me when—”

“Tell me plan B before you pull these chains off me. The second these chains are gone, I become a threat in their eyes. If this fails, this is my life we’re talking about. They’ll kill me.”

Her eyes hold mine, her breaths moving a little quicker.

I shrug a shoulder. “Plan B is to find you somewhere to hide until help comes.”

CHAPTER 2

EMIT

Lemon and Leiza hand Vance a drink, while Arion sits at the salt line, swirling a drink in his hand and absently staring at the fire.

“Just let me know when I can flip the sign to closed,” Leiza says quietly, her eyes flicking to and from Arion in an instant, before she scurries up the stairs.

“I don’t think they like me being this far inside Violet’s home,” Arion states idly, as we play the video of Abby taking Violet once more. “I’m glad they decided every store needs good surveillance, though,” he adds as the glass in his hand shatters.

Vance balances a blade on the tip of his finger, letting a single drop of blood drip free, before flipping the dagger and catching it at the hilt.

“Violet’s not letting me find her. Either she’s unconscious or she’s purposely refusing to let me find her. The loop that wolf made is still threading loose and could take me at least five days to get through. Do you stupid sons of bitches tell everyone about the loop?” Vance grinds out, glaring over at me specifically.

Three times she’s been attacked by wolves.

Mine or not, three fucking times she’s been attacked by wolves. By nature, vampires are worse. Only once has she been attacked by vampires.

My eyes flick to Arion, who simply glares at me.

In this moment, I feel like they’re on his side instead of mine. Even Damien is leaning toward Arion at current.

“I remember two of you agreeing that Violet wanted to let the purebloods go until we had more information, and—”

“What Violet wants is irrelevant and an easy out for you to get by without killing more wolves than you have to,” Arion says very bitterly. “We are alphas of small reflections of our monsters. One little show of dominance here and there isn’t e-fucking-nough anymore. At most, Shera has three, maybe four days left before she attempts to drain Violet. It’s likely Violet may rip my favorite beta to shreds.”

He tosses the note down to the table that Abby left behind.

However long your vampire can hold back her monster is how long your sad little gypsy toothpaste-maker has left. Find her if you can, almighty alphas. Dead or alive, depending on how good you are.

xoxo

Abby

It’s dotted with smiley faces at the bottom.

“Violet’s not going to be okay if she panics and kills Shera. Not to mention what will happen once that many wolves find themselves with a new target to latch onto,” Damien piles on.

I didn’t even remember Abby’s fucking name. I sure as hell didn’t recognize her as Ian’s daughter.

“Ian was an infected beta. Why was he organizing a pureblood army?” I ask more to myself than to them.

“Because he could,” Arion spits out. “Who the hell was going to stop him from taking over when he put you under? That’s what he truly believed would happen, Emit. They think you this weak. You’re too busy—”

“Unless it helps find Violet, it can wait,” Damien cuts in coldly, looking down to the drink in his hands.

“Violet can’t die,” Vance says calmly, studying his blade as he begins to sharpen it, “which is the only reason you haven’t all been stabbed. I’m going to need you to shut the hell up so I can concentrate on breaking the loop if you want it done faster.”

“With a gathering that large, they’d need a sizeable central location,” Damien says to Vance. “This is clearly a ploy to draw us in for some sort of trap. I’d happily step right into it. No need to cleverly disguise the bloody thing in a riddle.”

“I’ll get a clearer head if I start on foot,” Vance says impatiently as he stands and darts out.

Arion’s eyes meet mine. “This girl attracts more attention and trouble than should be possible.” His lips tug up in a sadistic grin. “She better be damn glad I know she can’t die.”

“It’s not an open pass. You remember Bobo. He could charge into a room and drop some bodies, sure. But it’s a short burst of rage-filled energy, and Violet’s too young to have too much of it bottled up, even with her empathic levels,” I point out.