I was seeing red as I tore through the hallways necessary to get back to the suite of rooms I lived in.

This was nowhere near OK.

No, I wasn’t naive. I didn’t live in a world where this was something that couldn’t possibly be conceived of. I’d been a prisoner in the cells down below, and I’d been very aware of what happened to some of the women down there.

That was a situation where nothing could be done. That was a situation where we were all powerless to help ourselves.

This? This was nothing like that.

Because I was here, and I was different, and I wasn’t going to allow this to continue.

One of the wolves had brought me my gear the day after I’d been accepted as a thrall, while the vampires were in their deepest sleep, just in case I needed to make a quick getaway. I’d been given strict instructions not to hunt while I was here, but they couldn’t leave me weaponless.

They’d also brought me the potion that was helping me survive here, but it was the gear I was thankful for now.

I was going hunting. I was going to tear that vampire’s throat out. Boil his blood. Destroy him. He was going to regret every moment of his miserable life after I was done with him, and only then would I give him the mercy of death.

It would be a slow, brutal, bloody murder. I relished the thought of it.

I’d have to wait for sunrise, of course, which was eons away, but I needed the comfort of seeing my gear to reassure myself that it could be done. That I wasn’t powerless to help these women.

Lost in my thoughts, I barreled straight into a vampire standing in the hallway. My head smacked against his chest, and I bounced away from him, shocked.

It took me a second to reorient myself, but when I did, I almost wished I hadn’t.

The vampire was leering at me, a venomous look in his eyes.

“Well, what do we have here?” He took a step closer to me and ran a hand up and down my arm. “Such a pretty little thing.”

Little? Even in this dress, it was obvious that I had more muscle than I should. I could take this vamp any day of the week, and I was surprised he hadn’t picked up on that.

I mean, yeah, it was good that I could pass in this society as someone not to be concerned about, but still...it was a hit to my pride.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, but I really am in a hurry—”

“Too much of a hurry to talk to me? Come, now. Where are your manners?”

I stiffened. Manners? Fuck manners. This tool needed to let me go on my way.

My instinct was to slam my foot onto his instep and slam my elbow into his nose, but I resisted.

You’re supposed to be small and unassuming. Thralls don’t defend themselves.

Bullshit. It was all bullshit, and coming on the back end of finding out what had happened to that other woman, I couldn’t stand to let this go.

I inhaled through my nose, slowly, as I tried to get control of myself again.

I could do this. I could be normal, right?

“I really am sorry. I just... I need to go.” I tried to keep my voice soft and girlish, looking up at the vampire through my lashes.

He grinned. “But we’ve only just begun to get to know one another.”

Yeah, and now I’m leaving.

I started to pull away from him, but his hand locked around my upper arm like a vise.

OK, so he wasn’t taking no for an answer. This was going to get ugly, because no way in hell was I going to put up with him being a dick.

Just as I was about to give him a piece of my mind, I felt a calmness come over me.

Grayson was here.

Why did that make me feel calm?

I looked over my shoulder, and sure enough, there was Grayson, coming down the hallway with a dark look on his face. My stomach turned over, and it was all I could do not to rush over to him and reassure him that everything was under control.

Only, that look couldn’t possibly be about my situation, so why did I need to reassure him?

I guessed it could be about me. I was his property, after all. He probably didn’t like it when other people played with his toys.

“James,” he said when he was beside me. The look in his eyes was wholly unforgiving, yet I couldn’t look away from him. “You’ll have to excuse Nina. I have need of her.”

That wasn’t quite the badass showdown I might have secretly been hoping for, but it got the job done.

Vampires. So concerned with being polite when what they needed was to have their asses handed to them.

James dropped his hand from my arm—I was pretty sure I was going to have a bruise—and tilted his head in deference, then walked away.

A moment passed, then Grayson turned to me. Concern had replaced the indignation in his eyes. “Are you all right?”

There was no reason for that to piss me off. None at all.

And yet...

“I was handling it,” I snapped. “I don’t need your help. I can take care of myself.”

And with that, I stepped around him and stormed off to the suite.