I leaned back from the hug, taking a firm hold on Siro’s shoulders to give her a once-over. She didn’t look any worse for the wear, though her face was drawn with worry and exhaustion. She was also dressed in a variation of what I was wearing, her t-shirt a plain black that was a little looser than mine, as were her jeans. I wondered if we were actually wearing the same size, if someone had just bought an average size and hoped it fit both of us.

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” I demanded, wanting to be sure. Some things you couldn’t see.

“I’m fine,” she said a little shakily. “They didn’t hurt me.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding. “How did they grab you?” I asked. I knew Aaden had people escort Bren and his entourage out after the talks had been such a dismal failure. How had they gotten a hold of Siro?

“I was walking home when someone grabbed me from behind.” She frowned. “I don’t know who it was. They gagged me and put a bag over my head right away. I think there was someone else there too, but I’m not sure.”

Someone had taken her from the heart of our flock’s territory. That wasn’t good. Not at all. Were they working with someone from our own flock?

“I’m sorry you were taken,” I said, feeling sick to my stomach. “They wanted you just to get to me.”

She nodded, her eyes looking older than her years. “That was what I figured,” she agreed. “But it isn’t your fault these assholes took me,” she added. “Besides, now I’ll have a cool story to tell Lugh when I get back.” She smiled, though it was a little wobbly around the edges.

“True,” I said lightly, not wanting to pull her down when she was trying so hard to keep her spirits up. “You could probably add some good embellishments too. Like breaking someone’s nose when you were taken.”

She laughed. “Yeah, maybe,” she agreed. “Maybe I can think about that. I’ve been going crazy sitting here.” She squeezed my hand. “I’m so glad you’re here.” Then she frowned. “Not that I wanted you to be kidnapped… you know what I mean.”

I chuckled. “I know. I’m glad you’re safe.”

I turned my attention away to look around at the simply furnished room. Everything looked new and plain, like a ready-to-assemble kit almost, though I doubted it was. There were two single beds, a night stand between them, and a small bathroom I could see through another door. They’d added a ceiling in, so it wasn’t as high as the warehouse one which would have towered above us.

That was it. No windows or convenient means of escape, not that I was expecting any. The room was situated away from the warehouse walls, towards the center. I was certain that was by design.

“Yeah, there isn’t much in here,” Siro commented when she where my attention was, taking a step back to look at the room as well.

I nodded.

That was all the time we had to talk alone. We both turned to the door as we heard footsteps approaching. Siro tensed, crossing her arms defensively. I didn’t know what to expect, or rather, who.

When the door opened and Eli himself stepped in, I knew they weren’t going to let me leave this place alive.

They couldn’t. Eli had no possible deniability now, which meant they had no intention of letting Siro go either.

I needed to figure a way out as quickly as I could.

“Lovely to have you here, ladies,” he greeted us with a wet smile, rubbing his soft, pale hands together. He was dressed in slacks and a button down shirt, with shiny dress shoes that matched his belt perfectly. No t-shirts and jeans for Eli. The watch on his wrist likely cost more than most people paid for rent in this city. He always had to show off how much money had, probably because he was insecure otherwise.

Eli’s dark hair was slicked back, showing off the doughy contours of his face, his jowls as heavy as ever. Even the expensive cut of his clothing wasn’t enough to camouflage the roundness of his stomach or the softness of his shoulders and arms. A life of laziness and luxury hadn’t been good to his body.

“What do you want?” I demanded. If he wanted to act like we weren’t here against our will, that was his business. I didn’t have the patience or inclination to pretend.

He narrowed his eyes at me, his air of bonhomie dimming as I burst his little bubble. “As charming as always,” he muttered, giving me a cool smile. “You had best mind your tongue, Adara. I do have you at a distinct disadvantage here, in case you have not noticed.”

I stayed silent. Anything I wanted to say would only irritate him more, which would be satisfying but stupid on my part. Eli was the type who liked to listen to the sound of his own voice anyway.

True to character, he filled the silence almost immediately. “We do not want to hurt you,” he continued, showing his palms as if to demonstrate he didn’t have any weapons. About as believable as the color he’d dyed his hair. “Either of you.” He glanced at Siro before looking back at me.

I resisted the urge to step in front of her. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d gotten to me simply with a look.

Eli added, “You do hold a valuable commodity in your veins, after all.”

Siro gasped next to me.

“You want my blood,” I stated, not surprised. “What for?”

He shook his head, smiling, the upturn of his lips not at all reassuring. “Do not worry yourself over that,” Eli said, waving his hands in a dismissive gesture. “I just want to ensure your cooperation with the process. It will make everything easier for everyone involved, you understand.”

God forbid I inconvenience anyone while they were stealing a part of my body.

I resisted saying that pithy comment out loud. Whatever Eli wanted my blood for, it couldn’t be good. Not if he’d gone to such lengths to secure it, risked angering Sven. If it was just me, I might have taken more of a risk, attempted to escape now even.

I could take Eli. He had weight on me, but he was slow and in terrible shape. If I died in the process, it would have been for a good cause.

I felt my heart constrict at the thought of leaving Sven like that, but some things were bigger than the both of us. It wouldn’t be good for Eli to have something as powerful as my blood. Just the idea sent a chill through me.

But I couldn’t try that. The reality was that I wasn’t alone. I had Siro to think of, and I wasn’t willing to take a risk with her safety, not even for something as important as this. I didn’t have it in me to play with anyone else’s life like that.

What I needed was to buy time, time that would hopefully help me figure out a plan of escape. That meant I needed to cooperate, as much as it galled me.

“Fine,” I said calmly.

“Adara.”

Naturally Siro objected. I sent her a quieting glance and she immediately shut her mouth.

“Excellent,” Eli said, his smile widening. “I was afraid we would have to strap you down. The logistics of keeping you healthy would have been a nightmare if you weren’t cooperative.”

“Happy to be of help,” I said dryly as the door opened behind him.

The bald guy and the one with the ponytail had been listening the whole time.

Of course Eli wouldn’t have just walked in here without protection. He’d even stayed near the door just in case, like the weak coward he was.

Eli gestured me out to the hall. “After you,” he said mockingly. He was enjoying this, the bastard. He’d never been a fan of mine, and now he had full control over me.

Since I couldn’t do anything about that, I pushed the thought away. I needed to be sharp, not mired in emotion.

Reaching out, I squeezed Siro’s hand. “I’ll be back soon,” I reassured her, though I wasn’t sure about that, or even whether they’d put me back here, but she needed the reassurance.

She nodded, squeezing my hand back before letting go.

Then I walked out into the hall with my two bookend prison guards as Eli led the way to the area that I’d noticed from before. It was walled off in much the way the rows of rooms were, only this section was much larger.

When he opened the large door that led inside and ushered me in, I saw why.

It was a full laboratory and doctor’s office in one. A bench to the side with a microscope, cabinets full of tubes holding suspicious substances, a refrigerator, some kind of machine I couldn’t immediately identify, and one of those paper covered bed-chair combos next to a sink. There were also various cabinets, two computers, and a curtain at one end of the spacious room that let me know this wasn’t the entirety of the space.

“Ah, perfect.”

I turned at the voice cultured voice. It was an older woman with a chic, graying bob and tortoise shell glasses framing her brown eyes. She was wearing a white lab coat over a pair of slacks and a light sweater, sensible flats on her feet. When she stood from the stool she’d been working at and walked over, I realized she was actually significantly smaller than me, perhaps just a touch over five feet, maybe a hundred pounds.

I didn’t know her. Of course, I didn’t know a lot of Eli’s flock. He’d never been the most welcoming and his flock had been difficult to crack. I still had my informants there, though most of the people I’d seen so far were unfamiliar.

The woman smiled at me and held out her hand to shake. “Hello there, I’m Dr. Erica Fearson,” she said in an upbeat tone that didn’t match the circumstances at all.

I stared down at her hand, not taking it. This wasn’t a regular visit to the doctor’s.

When I looked back up at her without taking it, her smile froze. She let her hand drop, recovering quickly.

“Anyway, I am so glad to see you, Adara,” she continued on as if nothing was wrong. “Now, today is going to be easy. All I’m going to do is take some of your blood.” She gestured to a chair in the corner that had one of those trays that folded down. “If you’ll take a seat, please.”

I nodded and sat down, feeling immediately immediately trapped as Fearson lowered the tray. This was going to suck.

I watched as she grabbed things from multiple drawers and then rolled over on the short, faux leather stool she’d been seated at when we walked in.

“This won’t take long,” she said in that same chipper voice, snapping on some gloves and opening an alcohol pad. “Just rest your arm right here.”

I followed directions and immediately looked away when I saw the needle. I wasn’t the biggest fan of needles.

I felt the cool swab of the alcohol against my skin.

“You’re just going to feel a little prick…” she murmured.

Probably what Eli said to his mistress at night. Yes, I did use stupid jokes to deal with uncomfortable situations sometimes.

I felt the sharp stab of the needle going in, grimacing at the sensation.

“There we go,” she said soothingly, patting my hand.

I resisted the urge to slap her across the face with the same hand. Wouldn’t be a great idea while she was still drawing my blood. I risked a quick glance to see her filling a vial, then looked away again. Better not to watch.

It made me angry all over again.

Since I deliberately wasn’t watching, I couldn’t say for certain how many vials of blood she drew before she was finished, though I was sitting there for quite some time before she finally pulled the needle back out and pushed a cotton ball at the crook of my elbow.

“All done!” she said cheerfully. “Let me just tape that down…” She ripped a piece of tape and stuck the piece of cotton to my arm. Then she simply rolled away on her stool, muttering to herself as she completely dismissed me. She had what she wanted.

I got the feeling I wasn’t even a real person to her apart from my blood.

“Take her back to the room,” Eli ordered, having watched the whole thing from near the doorway.

I stood as the two goons came toward me—and immediately reached out to steady myself against the chair, feeling the world tilt around me.

I felt a hard hand wrap around my bicep and haul me back to my feet and another hand latch onto my other arm. The guards held me upright as I forced my feet to move.

“How much did you take?” I heard Eli ask sharply from behind me. “I want to keep her alive, you know.”

“She’ll be fine,” the doctor said absently. “She just needs some sugar and food.”

Excellent bedside manner.

I stumbled down the hall and made it to the room without throwing up.

Winning.

Siro took one look at me and rushed over, pulling me into her arms. “What did you do to her?” she demanded, helping me over to one of the beds.

“Just took some blood,” I reassured her as I sat down with a sigh. “A lot of blood,” I corrected.

There was a murmur of a voice outside and the bald guard went out into the hall, returning with a tray of food complete with a glass of orange juice. “Get her to eat this,” he grunted, handing it to Siro.

She brought the tray over to me. “Here, Adara,” she said urgently, handing me the juice first. “This should help you feel better.”

I took a few sips and had a few bites of the sandwich. It steadied me somewhat, but I still felt like shit.

“I’m just going to lie down,” I muttered, lying back as I felt the edges of the world fade a little.

“You took too much!” Siro yelled at the guards, her hand tapping my face. It was news to me that they were still in the room. “Look at her! She needs more than some fucking orange juice! She needs sun!”

I didn’t have the energy to admonish her for her language.

Hmm. Sun would be nice.

I drifted away.