Page 41 of Elusive Mate

“I don’t think they bit anyone, which makes me more concerned than it should,” offered Adriana as she struggled to remain on her feet.

“Wouldn’t not being a vampire be a good thing?”

“Well, maybe and maybe not. I’m not saying I would prefer it, but if the vamps that took us aren’t using us to feed, it would stand to reason that they’re someone’s or something’s minions. I don’t know that I like the idea of a creature or person who would run at least two nests of vampires.”

“How do you know it’s more than one?”

“Both groups speak English, but one group was speaking Gaelic, and it was pretty clear one group was clueless as to what was being said.”

“I take it you speak Gaelic?”

“Fluently.”

“What was being said?”

“Not a lot made sense to me as I was pretty groggy. It was just bits and pieces about separating this group into two separate groups, and that one was to be taken to the mill and others straight to the Master. They are either going to perform or have performed some kind of test to see who goes where.”

“The Master—I’ve heard some ripe tales about him.”

“Care to share what you know? I’m new to this whole shifter thing. You are a shifter, right?”

“Yes, but I can’t seem to call my tigress forward,” said Zenya. “I can feel her prowling in my mind, but she can’t seem to do as I ask. So, you were recently turned?”

“Yes—against my will.”

“I’m sorry. That isn’t supposed to happen.”

“Don’t I know it,” said Adriana. “I managed to get away, and the coven I was born into banished me.”

“You’re a witch. That’s odd that you were turned. For the most part, shifters don’t intermix with witches.”

“I know. He turned me in order to traffic me to someone. So, who is this Master?”

“A dragon-shifter. People say he’s the leader of the Shadow League…”

Adriana raised her hand. “New to the whole shifter thing—Shadow League?”

“Sorry. A group of nasty shifters who want to take over the world—not just shifters but humans, as well.”

“Can they do it?”

“I think they might have been able to before, but a large group of shifters have come together as the Resistance, and they mean to make a fight of it.”

The muffled sound of gunfire began to reach them and those in the cells began to rouse themselves. There looked to be a dozen or so; it was dark enough that it was difficult to tell.

When a couple of explosions rocked the room, people began crying out for help, but there was no way to know if those who were attacking were coming to save them or not. After what sounded to be a short reprieve in the fighting, the sound of a door opening caught everyone’s attention before a bright light was turned on. An immediate hush fell over the room before cries of relief as the rescuers entered the room.

Once they had all been moved outside, their needs were assessed and the man she assumed was Cullen Manchester began to have his people load them onto a helicopter to be transported back to Ghost Moon Manor. She didn’t know the man personally, but she’d seen pictures and was pretty sure it was him.

Zenya moved to the back of the helicopter, trying to make herself look as small and as inconsequential as possible.

Adriana sat down beside her. “Problem?”

Turning up the collar to her jacket to ensure no one could see Lucian’s claiming bite, she said, “I can’t get taken by other shifters.”

Zenya was more afraid now than she had been knowing she’d been abducted by vampires. Lucian would be none too pleased that he had been deceived. Knowing he could produce proof that they were bonded and that she had been claimed would make most alphas return her to him… no questions asked. She would need to figure out how to get away and get word to the Shadow Sisters. With the Shadow League and the Master hunting female shifters, Zenya no longer believed she could escape without help.

“Why?” asked Adriana.

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