Page 73 of Auctioned for Her Blood
“Back there…” I clear my throat. “Why did you call me your mate?”
He nods. “For that too, I must apologize. It was a presumptuous lie, but a falsehood designed to appeal to his values in order to stop him. I hoped that, even as a criminal, he might follow some basic rules of civility.”
I cross my arms over my chest, feeling like an object that the two men made an ownership agreement over. “You mean… you appealed to his bro code.”
He cocks his head to the side. “I do not understand. Oh!” His eyes light up. “Bro is short for brothers. Yes, that is correct, in a sense. I appealed to a code of brotherhood.”
I want to ask more about what the word ‘mate’ means to vampires, but there are so many other things more pressing right now. And I need to conserve my hoarse voice and use it to find out all I can, before I pass out from fatigue.
I was alone when I woke, but the vampires who found me said I was brought in with a male vampire. I assumed it was Ryker, but now I wonder if I was brought in with Zuben? I remember when he was handcuffed in the square. “Why did you leave me alone down here?”
“I did not leave you. I would never do that.” He leans toward me. “Not voluntarily. I too woke alone and had no reason to believe you were down here. My first priority was to search for a guard so that I could inform them that I was captured in error. But upon hearing a commotion, and the mention of a human female…” Closing his eyes, he shudders. “I rushed to investigate, on the remote chance that the human might be you.”
My surroundings are clearer now as my eyes adjust to the light, but the better sight is not easing my fear. Some of the pieces of furniture look like they’re meant for torture—or something—and the center of the room is a mattress, not unlike that room we passed with the orgy.
“You think there areotherhumans down here?” I ask.
“I do not know that with certainty, but no, I do not believe so.”
Fatigue threatens to steal me. I can’t sort through all my questions. If this is a prison for vampires… “Why am I here?”
“I too am trying to ascertain the answer to that question.” His dark eyebrows draw together and he pauses, as if thinking. “I have not yet fully recovered from the silver—” His eyes widen. “But I remember… You were trapped under that silver netting alongside the pirate. The silver burned you!”
Eyes wide, he shakes his head in wonder. “I do not comprehend why silver would harm you, but because of that, the security team must have mistaken you for a vampire. Still, that does not explain why the silver burned you, where we are, or why either of us are here. Nor does it offer any clues as to the pirate’s location.”
His candor takes me by surprise, increasing my faith in him. My gut instinct says to trust Zuben—I have no one else—but my skeptical side keeps urging me to test him.
Remembering that netting, I shift, and a sharp sting radiates from my shoulder.
He moves next to me in a flash. “What is causing you pain?”
I lean forward, revealing my shoulder and back to him, wishing I weren’t still wearing this skimpy red dress that exposes so much of my skin.
“Your burns from the silver have not fully healed,” he says. “That is most interesting.”
Making a face, I look up at him. “My burns areinteresting?”
He bows his head slightly, a soft smile on his lips. “Once again, I find I must apologize.” He places his hands over his heart. “Your pain, Ember, causes me pain, and I wish I could take it away.” Something flashes in his eyes, like he’s had an idea, but it goes away as fast as it came.
“My interest,” he continues, “is inwhyyou burned. And why you seem to have partially healed, but not fully. Have you always had this reaction to silver?”
I shake my head, my throat so sore, my mouth seeming even drier now that he’s so close.
He shifts off the sofa and kneels in front of me, putting his eye level with mine. “Ember, may I ask you a highly personal question?”
I nod. Just because he asks, doesn’t mean I’ll answer.
His head tips to the side, his brows drawing together. “If my suspicion is correct…” Closing his eyes, he shudders, as if his thoughts repulsed him. “I expect that you will not know the answer to this question, but nevertheless I must ask it.”
Curious, I nod, encouraging him to just get on with whatever it is he wants to ask, but not wanting to waste the pain and effort of words.
“Did the pirate—did Ryker—did he drink from your vein?”
I clear my throat to answer, and cough. “Yes.”
Anger flashes in Zuben’s eyes, but then the obvious curiosity of another question takes them over. “How do youknowthat he fed from you? Did hetellyou that he took your vein?”
“He didn’t need to,” I answer, remembering that Ryker was also surprised that I stayed conscious. I felt him bite me. I felt it while he drank. “I didn’t fall asleep.”
