Page 52 of Deadly Alliances

I scanned the cages in this room for any sign of Tobias. Instead, I found a human—an Initiate, I assumed—wide-eyed and cowering. I bit my lip and turned my head. I didn’t know what the guy had done to deserve such treatment, but I couldn’t allow myself to become side-tracked.

I went through the archway at the opposite end and found myself among more cages. This room was empty of both guards and prisoners, and I breathed a sigh of relief, pressing forward again.

I peered into the third room, and my heart skittered as I finally spotted Tobias and the girl he’d been caught with huddled in the center cell. There were also four vampires standing guard.

I pressed my back against the wall beside the archway, frozen with indecision. The way the two of them clung to each other so tightly looked very intimate. I told myself that they probably desperately needed each other’s warmth to fight the cold down here, and I hated that I still felt any twinge of jealousy toward him. I didn’t really have a right to feel jealous. I had severed the bond between us. And I was stuck between regretting that choice and still resenting him for everything he’d done.

Snap out of it, Arya. You’re wasting time.

Gathering what remained of my courage, I stepped into the room. I didn’t know how far my siren voice could go. I’d never compelled more than two people before. Would it work on four?

I repeated the same command on these guards as I had the last. And to my surprise, all four of them listened and obeyed, appearing oblivious to me as I approached the cell. Just how many people could I influence at once?

The girl’s eyes widened as I came closer, and she nudged Tobias, who was lying unmoving with his head in her lap.

My heart stopped beating for a moment at the fear that Tobias was dead. He wasn’t responding, and the blue tainting his complexion was sickening. Had I come too late? No, please, no.

Finally, he stirred, and my breathing resumed with a grateful hiccup. With help from the girl, he managed to sit up, his two broken arms making even the simplest movements almost impossible. When he registered my presence, his entire body seemed to come to life.

“Arya! What are you doing here?” he hissed, warily eying the guards. But they didn’t acknowledge any of us.

“It’s okay, I sirened them. I just wanted to…”

My voice vanished as the sight of him in such pain stole all my words. I hated seeing him like this, and hated even more that I couldn’t do anything about it. There wasn’t enough light down here for me to heal him.

“Why did you come here?” I asked, more of a wish that he hadn’t than an actual question.

“I’m your mate,” he said in a weak, raspy voice. “It’s my job to protect you.”

I shook my head, even as tears of refusal began to stung my eyes. “I freed you from that obligation.”

“And I will always choose to do it anyway. Ahh—” He tried to lean forward but put too much pressure on his broken arm,making him flinch and wince in pain.

“Please, stop moving,” I demanded, my fear and sorrow turning into anger. “Dammit, Tobias, you shouldn’t have come here! I didn’t need you to save me. As you can see, I’m fine. All you’ve accomplished is making yourself a prisoner.”

“And I would do it again,” he said, squinting through his grimace. “Though probably not quite the same way.”

“Ugh!” I had to turn around to keep him from seeing the tears drip from my eyelashes. How was it possible to both hate and care about someone so much? He was absolutely fucking infuriating!

“Can you get us out of here?” a soft female voice said behind me.

I hastily wiped my stupid eyes and turned back around to face them, really looking at the girl for the first time. Her blond hair was matted, her face was the same bluish white as Tobias, and she was covered in dirt and scratches, but none of that hindered her obvious beauty. That same irrational jealousy tugged at my insides again, but seeing the terror and desperation that carved every feature on her pretty face dissolved it into pity.

A deep well of helplessness and regret formed inside my gut. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I can.”

She inched closer, reaching for the bars but then hissing as they seemed to burn her. “But you’re a siren. You just forced all four of these guards to bend to your will. Couldn’t you—”

“We’re in the lowest level of a vampire fortress,” I countered, trying to make her understand how truly powerless I was. “Even if I could somehow get you out of the cell, you’re both weakened, and there are at least several hundred vampires above us waiting for an excuse to kill you. What sort of fight could we possibly put up?”

The girl shrunk, sagging her shoulders as she admitted to herself that I was right.

I immediately regretted being so honest. They didn’t need the bitter truth right now, they needed hope.

“Shea is working on a plan to get you two out of here,” I confessed.

Tobias’s mouth puckered like he was sucking on a lemon. “I’m not sure hermagicwill be enough.”

His tone triggered a memory to surface, one that I had all but forgotten with everything that had happened the last few days: he had gone to Shea to break some supposed family curse. What had it been about again? I’d been so angry and hopped up on ursa hormones that I hadn’t paid much attention to his confession.

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