‘Yes, of course. All yours.’ The sword twisted under her slippers, tripping her retreating feet. She went down.

He grinned and stalked closer.

Her breath caught in her throat, her pulse racing. If she could just reach the katana …

‘Too late for you,’ the voices singsonged.

Her fingers curved around the hilt as a thundercloud of fangs and muscle lunged.

Chapter Sixteen

Tatiana blinked hard against the artificial light. It stung her eyes, so she closed them again and reached out to test her surroundings.

The sheets beneath her were soft and dry, the bed empty save her. She inhaled a familiar fragrance. Mikkel. She was home.

‘Are you awake, darling?’ Mikkel’s voice played over her like a lullaby.

She opened her eyes to thin slits, and his handsome face came into view. The tension that had tightened her body like a bowstring since the Castus had taken her finally dissipated. ‘I’m home.’

‘Yes.’ The bed dipped as he sat. He curled his fingers under her hand, lifted it to his mouth, and kissed her knuckles.

Contact was the last thing she wanted, but she stopped herself from pulling away when she saw the look of concern on his face. She needed Mikkel. ‘How long?’

‘You’ve only been gone two days.’

Two days in real time, but with the Castus it was hard to tell. Time meant nothing to them. A day, a year, a century … one was just the same as another. ‘When did I return?’

‘Midnight last.’

Three days she’d been kept from the hunt. She sighed in frustration.

‘Darling?’ His eyes filled with concern.

Her lids closed. She didn’t want to see the horrors of her body reflected in his pitying gaze or to be reminded of how they’d used her. Let what had passed stay that way. ‘How long before I’m healed?’

‘Don’t you feel healed?’ He stroked her arm. ‘Do you still hurt?’

The touch made her want to retch. She rolled to her side, using the movement to turn out of his grasp. ‘I don’t know … ’

Taking stock of herself, she found only the softest echoes of discomfort. Her fingers crested the hills and valleys of her body. Her eyes and mouth opened on a gasp. No welts, no crusted cuts, no tender spots. It was one thing to heal quickly from an ordinary wound, but a mark made by the Castus took time. And blood.

Which meant they’d fed her. She’d gotten her reward. She didn’t remember it or much of her last hours with them, but no other explanation could justify her current health. In fact, she felt good. Strong. Full of power. The kind of power only original blood could bring. She still didn’t know what she was supposed to sacrifice to engage the ring, but perhaps this new power would bring the answer with it.

She bolted upright, the sheets falling away from her naked body. She glanced down. Flawless, as always. She grabbed Mikkel, kissed him hard, then shoved him out of the way and leaped from the bed.

He laughed, his eyes hungry on her body. ‘I take it you feel well, then?’

‘I feel better than well. I feel as though I could devour nations.’ She turned before her gold-foiled mirror, checking herself. ‘Not a mark.’ She turned to look at her back. ‘Not a scratch.’ She faced forward again. Her hands smoothed the taut skin of her belly. She almost missed the stretch marks from her human pregnancy. She pushed that memory away and compelled herself to smile. ‘You are a lucky sod, aren’t you, darling?’

Mikkel shook his head and grinned. ‘I am indeed. I take it your time with the Castus wasn’t so bad, then?’

With a snarl, she spun to face him. ‘Hell would have been more enjoyable. Speak of it again and I will rip your throat out.’ She might do it anyway, just to watch him suffer while he healed. See how he liked it.

‘Of course, not again.’ His smile vanished as he straightened. He cleared his throat. ‘When you disappeared from your car, you left behind your locket and a cosmetics box. Octavian brought them to me.’

‘Give me my locket.’

‘It’s in your jewelry drawer.’

She hurried to her dresser and retrieved the locket, fixing the long chain around her neck with a sense of relief. She rubbed the gold oval between her fingers. ‘What of the box?’

‘I took the liberty of doing some research on the cosmetics company since I assumed you’d found it at Algernon’s. Headquarters for the company are in Paradise City, New Florida. The company’s female CEO lives there as well. Does that mean anything to you?’

That got her attention. ‘Oh yes. It means a great deal. It means we’re going to the Southern Union.’ It also meant she hadn’t lost as much time in the hunt as she’d imagined. She smiled. ‘What a good boy you are.’ Mikkel was worth his weight in blood. Speaking of which …

‘Get my comar. I’m hungry. Then send word to ready my jet. I want to depart as soon as possible.’ After she fed, she would visit Nehebkau. She couldn’t leave for the Americas without seeing her precious pet.

‘Yes, my love.’ Nodding, he hurried from the room.

Her gaze returned to the mirror. ‘Let’s see what this new power can do, shall we?’

Tipping her head back, she opened herself to the delicious darkness that owned her undead soul and waited for the surge of something unfamiliar, a thread of fresh ability, that welcome burst of new power.

Her face shifted, her fangs dropped, and hunger wound through her belly like Nehebkau’s twin. She looked into the mirror. Nothing else had changed that she could see. Maybe the power wouldn’t manifest physically.