Kissing Jake felt as natural as breathing.

Everything in that moment felt right—the way our bodies curved together, the pressure of his lips, and the thrill that ran up my spine as his tongue brushed against mine. All the anger from fighting earlier morphed into passion, and I pulled him closer, never wanting the kiss to end.

Even if he was a wolf—which I still suspected he might be—I didn’t care. Clearly he’d never intended to hurt me. If he had, he would have already. All I cared about was that right now, he wanted me as much as I wanted him.

This was the best thing that had happened to me since being kidnapped to the Vale, and I intended to enjoy every second of it.

Suddenly the back door of the Tavern swung open, and I pulled away from Jake, my heart leaping into my throat at the prospect of one of the other workers barging in on such an intimate moment.

But it wasn’t one of my friends that I saw.

It was vampires.

Five of them, dressed in the sleek black outfits of the vampire guard, their mouths open to bear their fangs.

Jake’s back was toward them—he had no idea that they were vampires and not humans. But he pulled his hood back on, clearly still having something to hide—and started to glance over his shoulder to check on our visitors.

“Don’t,” I said under my breath, keeping my hand in his and stopping him from looking at them.

They had to be here for him. We needed to run.

But what way out was there? My eyes darted around the alley, but we were at a dead end. There were only two ways out—the back door to the Tavern, and the path that led to the street. Both were blocked by vampires. We might be able to climb the wall, but while I was fast, the vampires were faster. It was impossible for humans to outrun vampires.

It was especially impossible for humans to fight them.

We were trapped.

Jake turned around, and I stepped forward to stand in front of him, not wanting the vampires to see his face. Luckily this alleyway was poorly lit, and his hood was drawn so low over his eyes that his features were covered with the shadows.

“Don’t bother trying to escape,” the vampire in front said, his gaze locked on mine. He looked Scandinavian—tall and blond, with light blue eyes.

He was the vampire who had killed my mom. Rage filled my body at the sight of him—I wanted to kill him. But I knew I couldn’t. So I just stood there, hating myself for being so weak. For being so human.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” he continued.” We can’t hurt you, actually—we were ordered not to. So if you’ll just come with us, we can be on our way.”

“Me?” I asked, my voice squeaking.

“You’re Annika, correct?” He watched me, ignoring Jake completely. “You were with the human boy Mike on the day that Camelia chose him for a job at the palace?”

“You know Mike?” I stepped forward, hope surging in my chest at the prospect of hearing news about my friend. “How is he? Is he okay? When will he be back?”

“Your friend is dead,” the vampire behind him spoke. “And if you don’t come with us, you will be too.”

“No.” I shook my head and stepped back, straight into Jake’s arms.

He held me tightly, as if ready to stop me from lashing out.

“He can’t be dead,” I said. “You’re lying.”

“Why would we lie?” The leader glared at the vampire who’d said it, as if mentally telling him to shut up. “My soldier speaks the truth about your friend. But Camelia has instructed us to take you unharmed, so that’s what we’ll do. And you won’t fight us if you know what’s good for you.”

“No,” I said again, my thoughts swirling at a million miles a second. Mike couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t be.

Except he could be. Camelia had said he would be back soon. Yet it had been almost a month. He’d made no effort to contact anyone at the Tavern to let us know how he was. He hadn’t even sent a letter.

I think I’d known for a while that he was gone. I just hadn’t wanted to face the truth.

“You’re coming with us.” The leader smiled, revealing the entirety of his fangs.

I wanted to say no—that I wouldn’t go with them. But I knew better. They were five vampires and we were two humans. I might be quick, but I was nowhere near as fast as a vampire.

I was weak and helpless. Just like I’d been a year ago when I’d watched him kill my mom.

As a human in a world of supernaturals, I would always be helpless.

I was going to be taken. Jake was going to be taken.

And there was nothing we could do to stop it.