Page 2 of Deadly Alliances

He snorted a dismissive laugh. “You most certainly are not.”

I scowled at him, fire smoldering in my chest. “You’ve been adamant about me joining the military my entire life, and now that I willingly volunteer, you reject me?”

He flared his eyebrows in surprise and patted my upper back. “By all means, join the military now. I, for one, would be thrilled to have you in our ranks. But as a novice, such a mission would be far above your paygrade.”

“Bullshit,” I snapped, forcefully shrugging his hand away again. “You’ve been training me since before I could walk. If anyone is suited for this mission, it’s me.”

His eyes narrowed. “The answer is no, Tobias. You are too emotionally invested to act rationally, as you already perfectly displayed to everyone here. Your feelings for the siren compromise your judgment and make you reckless. You’d be far more of a liability than an asset. Your placement will be elsewhere, perhaps at the school—”

“No,” I demanded. “I will not sign away my soul to the military unless Arya’s rescue is my first mission. Those are my terms.”

His eyes narrowed further, and his jaw clenched even as his lips curled into a smug smile. “Very well. Then as a student of the Dome, and as my son, I will assign a team of guards to protect you at all times…and to see to it that you don’t do anything foolish.”

He strode away with his hands clasped behind his back before I could pose any sort of rebuttal.

I seethed with rage as he disappeared into his entourage of soldiers, not caring how many eyes were on me. They had allabandoned Arya when she needed them most, and as far as I was concerned, everyone in this goddamned place could fuck off. Not a single one of them cared that Arya had sacrificed herself for them. Not a single one of them cared what happened to her now that she was gone.

With a smoke-filled hiss at my closest audience members, I charged through the crowd, who parted for me like the Red Sea.

My father thought he could keep me under lock and key so I couldn’t go after my mate on my own. But I wasn’t going to play this game by his rules. Nothing would stop me from saving Arya.

Arthur Dracul had underestimated me for the last time.

Chapter 2

Arya

Despair.

I had never felt greater despair than when I allowed Hadrian to pull me to the surface of Lake Michigan. The battle was lost. All hope was lost. And there seemed to be no chance of any of it being found again.

Getting smaller and smaller down below me was everyone in the world I had left to care about. I took the slightest bit of comfort in knowing my sacrifice had bought my fellow shifters some time. I couldn’t even feel angry at Shea and Caesar for being somewhere else together. I was almost grateful that they had each other and that they were both far away from this nightmare.

But I had no idea what awaited me in Hadrian’s custody, and I dreaded finding out.

The closer we got to the surface, the faster my heart galloped, as if it could race out of my body and escape.

At last, we emerged, the frigid Chicago winter air biting my wet cheeks and nose like a vampire—like it, too, wanted a piece of me. And I was running out of pieces to spare.

The world above was dark, and I could hardly make out the white faces that hovered above the water, looking down on me and my captor. Hadrian tugged me closer until my wandering hands ran into the outer shell of a boat, and white arms reached down to pull us both out of the water.

Someone wrapped a large towel around me, and another offeredme a dry pair of jeans. Even though I couldn’t see a thing in this darkness, I was certain these creatures of the night could see every inch of me—and my exposed nether region—with crystal clarity. But I couldn’t find it in myself to care. I slipped into the jeans and pretended that a dozen or more vampire eyes weren’t watching.

At the same time, Hadrian pulled off his diving mask and disrobed his wetsuit with the aid of at least three of his loyal followers. Once I was again fully clothed, he sat beside me on the bench in the boat.

“Let’s go home, shall we?” he said, voice smooth as dark chocolate. His tone assumed far too much familiarity, as did his closeness. As if he really was my loving father.

What did he want from me? He’d supposedly spent my whole life looking for me. What was he going to do now that he had me? I’d heard stories of what he did to shifters, and right now, those stories flashed horrible scenarios inside my mind—images of me on a stretcher, bound and gagged as he experimented on me—tortured me. Who knew what else?

And yet…I didn’t get the sense that he wanted to hurt me. That scared me the most.

For a moment, I considered bolting. With my tail and meager handle on water manipulation, there was a slight chance I could outswim them. Or I could let out my wings and fly away from them. But then I’d be driving the nail into the coffins of everyone I just abandoned to save. My cooperation was the only bargaining tool I had for their safety. And even if I could escape, where would I go?

The boat engine turned on, and wind whipped at my hair and face as we sped across the lake. No one said a thing. Or made any movements at all. The vampires were all so still and silent, I feltlike I was the only person on the lake for miles—like the others in the boat were nothing but mannequins.

I imagined that analogy wasn’t far from the truth. These creatures were hollow beings without souls. I caught the eye of one who sat across from me, and his eyes glistened in the shadows like glass.Yup, hollow.

The boat rounded a bend, and suddenly there was light shining at us from the front of a helicopter several yards from the rapidly approaching shore. The boat docked unceremoniously, and more white arms helped me out, guiding me toward the copter. Its spinning blades threw the cold night air back at me.

---