Chapter 10
Sam sat on a cot in a dingy cell that was much darker and much less appealing than the one she’d been housed in at StoneCrow. Eyeing the space, she had to fight hard to stifle a shiver. It was all dark blocked walls and chilly drafts. Her cell had a cot and a toilet/sink combo in one corner. The whole front of the cell was bars, which afforded no privacy. Good thing she didn’t really care if anyone saw her use the toilet. When Rohm had brought her to the cell, his hold on her arm bruising, he’d shoved her in and then closed the door with an echoing clang. Sam had walked straight to the toilet, hiked up her hospital gown while lowering herself onto the seat. She watched Rohm as she relieved herself.
“You don’t like me,” she accused.
“My Nyree was taken and tortured by your people. So no,” he ground out. “I don’t like you.”
Nyree. Sam knew the human woman. She’d been held with Rohm at the bunker built below the old mining town. Sam knew they were there, but she’d been too busy dealing with freeing Sofia and Harper to check on Dr. Chambers or his “project”.
“I assume, Nyree is safe?”
“She is,” Rohm growled. “If she weren’t, I’d have killed you already.”
Sam stood, the hospital gown hiding her modesty as she turned her back on Rohm to flush and then wash her hands.
“Women have no place in battle,” she muttered to herself.
Rohm heard her though. “You battle. You’re a woman. You belong there?”
With no towel, Sam tapped her dripping hands off the edge of the sink and then used the hem of her gown to dry them the rest of the way. Turning, she frowned as she stared at Rohm. “I am not a woman.”
His eyes skipped down her frame and back up. “Could’ve fooled me.”
“I did!” Sam was pissed now. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go down. She wasn’t supposed to have been shot by her own. She wasn’t supposed to have been forced to drink from a Skin Walker. She wasn’t supposed to have been given to the Keepers. “I fooled you all,” she snarled, pacing to the cot and sitting down, planting both hands on the edge and leaning forward with a wicked grin. “All because you thought I was a woman. Remy thought I was a woman. I’m not woman, Keeper. I’m a fucking Megalya. Don’t you forget.” It was her fallback, always had been. Piss off anyone that got too close and they’d make some idle threat and leave her to simmer with it.
Rohm’s eyes flashed an icy blue and he lifted one hand to grip the bars of her cell. “I will never forget what you are.”
Swallowing hard, Sam tore her gaze from his. The words stung, and she couldn’t blame anyone but herself. She’d incited them, and not just with her words but with her actions. I am a Megalya. She had to fight every single day to remember that.
A door clanged and Sam looked at Rohm who was still glaring at her. On his side of the cell there was just more dark stone walls that led to the secured door they’d entered. She couldn’t see it from her cell, but had to admit she felt relief when Keo approached.
Good. She knew he felt indebted to her because she’d saved Bronx. It was a fissure in his character, a flaw she intended on taking advantage of.
“Rohm,” Keo bit out, staring at his fellow Keeper. His eyes took in Rohm’s stance and Sam could tell Keo was confused. “What are you doing?”
“She’s baiting me,” Rohm accused, eyes still locked on her.
“Go back to Nyree,” Keo ordered.
As if just hearing the woman’s name was a balm, Rohm’s expression relaxed and he released the bar. Turning, he gave Keo an intense look. “She is Megalya and not to be trusted. She is the reason for the attack on StoneCrow. She is the reason we lost Keepers. The reason Nyree was taken. The reason many have died. Don’t forget it, Keo. She is our enemy.”
Keo’s eyes had gone hard and he turned to look at Sam before nodding. “I know.” But his words were quiet, and sounded more disappointed than confident.
“Do I need to have Fatal assign another?”
Keo’s head jerked around. Brows snapping down, he lifted his chin. “I know what she is, Rohmulus! I brought her here.”
“Good.” Rohm shot Sam one last dark look. “Watch her closely. She’s sneaky.”
Sam watched the exchange, but once the two men went nearly nose-to-nose, Sam hiked up the hem of her gown and looked at her side. Her angry red mark was beginning to bruise badly. Worse, she suddenly felt worn. She hadn’t taken enough blood. Her instant healing appeared to have been only temporary, and that was scary. What if her heart stopped again?
When Rohm moved, she dropped her gown and watched as he told Keo that she was sneaky. He was right. She was, but she wasn’t fucking Houdini. She’d need help if she was going to get out of this cell and out of the North Fortress.
Rohm left, and when Keo looked at her, his golden gaze held a hint of sadness. The Keeper was attractive, and it hurt her heart that she’d have to use him as a means to an end. She blamed that on Monroe. He should have met with her, pulled her in like he’d promised.
Swallowing, Sam tried to relax her forehead from the constant frown that kept her brows pulled down. “I protected Bronx.” She shot straight to the heart of the matter. “You owe me.”
“I do.” He dipped his chin in immediate agreement, which startled her. “What do you want?”
Well, that was a loaded question. Her ultimate goal was freedom, but right now she needed to concentrate on the road directly in front of her. Pulling up the hem of her gown she exposed the angry bruise on her side that had gotten even darker in the past few moments. The entry wound where the bullet had passed through her looked like thin tissue paper with black on the other side that was just beginning to seep tiny crimson dots. Her wound was reopening. “I’m injured.”
Keo’s eyes rounded. “The Doc said you were clear.”
“I was.” She licked her lips. “I drank from Bellis. It helped, but it wasn’t enough.”
“What…what do you need?”
“Blood.” She answered simply, not knowing if he’d trust her enough to allow her to drink from him.
Her words seemed to either confuse or repulse him, because his brow furrowed and he took a step back. “You want me to kill myself for you?”
“No.” She held out her hands, wincing at the pull on her wound. She dropped the arm causing the strain. “No. I want you to let me drink from you.”
He angled his head. “Drink?” He eyed her cage. “You want me to come in there?”
“No, and I don’t even have to be in charge. You…you could do what Bellis did.” Her eyes dipped to his hands. “Cut one of your wrists, and feed me.” She stepped closer. “You could just stick your hand through the bars.”
His eyes narrowed and his head canted as he studied her. “What are you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.” It wasn’t a lie. The Megalya scientists had experimented on her just as they’d done with Odium and the others. They’d never told her what they’d done, or what she’d become. She wasn’t Megalya though, and she wasn’t a Skin Walker either. She was something else, something that didn’t have any superhuman strengths or advantages as far as she could tell, aside from the accelerated healing that came with feeding. Feeding was a curse. They’d made her dependent on something that, contrary to their belief, wasn’t easy to come by. It was difficult to get blood without outright attacking a human. It wasn’t at all like the movies where they could look into her eyes and she could mesmerize them into submission and then wipe their minds of the act. She was like some fucked up vampire that lacked any of the benefits she was supposed to have. Well, daylight didn’t bother her, so there was that. As it was, she fed from the human scientists at the main Megalya facility.
“How do you normally feed?”
Letting her teeth punch through at the sides of her mouth, Sam parted her lips to show her elongated incisors. “Your neck,” she spoke quietly.
She and Keo stared at each other for long moments until he sighed heavily and pulled a key from the pants pocket of the gray BDU’s he wore. The uniform was similar to Bellis’, just not as dark, and Keo’s frame wasn’t as massive as the Skin Walker’s either, so his uniform fit a little more loosely. He was still a fine specimen though.
The door swung open and Keo entered, but stopped short to narrow his eyes on Sam. “Do I need to release Bronx, or can I trust you?”
Hell no. “You can trust me,” she lied, and knew he’d never catch it because she’d mastered the art years ago.
He closed the cell door behind him but didn’t lock it. This was it! She’d drink from him, drain him enough to both heal herself completely and put him out. A pang of guilt tore through her, but she quickly tamped it down.
Keo stepped to her and held his arms to the side. “What…what do I do?”
Smiling, she would at least give him something for his efforts. Turning, she motioned to the cot. “Sit, please.”
He did, looking uncomfortable as he gazed up at her expectantly. She knew he was interested in her, it was evident in his eyes every time he looked at her, but they weren’t meant to be. She needed a monster to match her own. Keo was good, hell even his golden eyes and radiant hair spoke of light and beauty. He wasn’t meant for Sam.
Straddling his lap, she grinned inwardly as he inhaled. She’d flashed her thighs at him earlier when she’d turned to show him her worsening wound. He knew she wasn’t wearing panties, and she pressed her hips more firmly against his as she directed, “Don’t let me fall.” The concern of passing out was a real one. She’d never fed from a Keeper before and she prayed he didn’t have the same effect on her as Bellis had.
Like a good Sentry, Keo closed his strong hands on her waist. Sam hissed when he brushed her wound. Instantly, he pulled back, but she quickly grabbed his hand and placed it on her thigh where her gown had ridden up when she straddled him.
Her eyes locked with his, and she saw his darken with desire. She knew the look well, she’d seduced it from many men. When she licked her lips, Keo’s eyes dipped to her mouth. “This’ll sting for just a minute, but it’ll get better. Promise.”
Keo nodded woodenly. Sam grinned as she lowered her mouth to the erratically beating pulse thrumming at the base of his throat. For reasons she wasn’t sure of she felt compelled to offer him something before she followed through with her plan. She knew he’d look incompetent and foolish to his brethren when they found him, and for that she truly was sorry.
“Thank you, Keo,” she breathed against his neck, and when goose bumps rose along his flesh she sunk her teeth into him and took her first pull.
The coppery tang of his blood exploded on her tongue and she drank it down before taking another pull. Keo groaned as his hand slid up her thigh to curl over the round of her hip. Sam rolled her hips against the stiff erection she felt between them. She really wasn’t interested in Keo, but she wanted this to be good for him, because he was going to regret it later.
Another tug of her mouth and Keo’s chest rattled with a growl as his hands tightened on her. It wasn’t uncommon for men to come just from the sheer pleasure of her drinking, and if the way Keo was breathing was anything to go by, he was damn close.
Sam drew in another mouthful and swallowed, but her belly suddenly felt full of acid, and the typical relief that accompanied feeding was absent.
Her body jerked and Sam reeled back, her teeth ripping from Keo’s throat as he snarled with the action, but caught her before she flew back and hit the floor. Their momentum forced him to lunge forward where he caught both their weights with one strong arm as Sam turned and puked all the blood she’d just taken in.
Something was wrong! She had never puked up the blood before! She couldn’t help but wonder if Keo being a Keeper was the reason she was retching uncontrollably. He quickly released her and gripped her hips to steady her as she rested on her hands and knees.
“Sam! What’s wrong?”
“I don’t…” She heaved again, but nothing was coming up now. Sweat coated her body, her limbs were trembling, and the damn wracking of her body was excruciating on her wound.
“Shit! You’re bleeding!”
She didn’t even bother glancing down at where the gown covered her wound. She was too sick to care.
“Jenny’s still here!” Keo scooped her up. “I’m taking you back to the infirmary.”
Her hopes of escape were dashed, but right now she’d never been more excited at the prospect of seeing a Skin Walker in her whole life.