Page 20 of Trapped for Her Blood
Eyes widening, she nods. “Scariest thing down here. No one goes near that thing’s cave. I’ve seen him rip off the head of a vampire who tried.”
Decapitation, one of the few things lethal to vampires, along with complete incineration and wooden stakes through the heart. “How many prisoners are down here?”
“Around a hundred, if I had to guess. But the wolf packs keep having pups.”
“Wolves?” I shake my head.
“Shifters.”
“Why weretheyimprisoned?” I have developed a theory that everyone down here didsomethingto anger Octavia, but why would wolf shifters even come under her notice?
“Fuck if I know.” Gracen turns toward the iron bars and sniffs.
The scent of human blood hits my nostrils, my back straightens, my fangs spring out, and I look through the bars in anticipation, my hunger driving me now.
Behind us, voices rise as our competition for veins draws near.
Through the bars, a group of burly vampires pushes forward a group of naked humans, mostly young women but also some men. Some look indifferent, most look terrified, and a few rush toward the bars once they see us.
One in that last category, a waif-like young woman with long, stringy red hair presses her face against the bars opposite me, turning her head to the side to expose her throat.
“What are you waiting for?” Gracen asks as she grabs the wrist of another young woman.
The din of voices surges behind us, and I realize I have less than a second before the others are upon us.
No time to ask for permission, I plunge my eager fangs into the waif’s throat.
Chapter Seven
Ryker
“You should feed,”Octavia declares after releasing my throat. “I want you at peak energy. I need to feel every ounce of power you’ve got driving inside me.”
My fangs release at the mention of blood. Her venom now in my bloodstream, she’s hard to resist. I won’t get relief till I fuck.
Shooting me a lusty look, she shakes her finger. “Not me, lover. Not until the ceremony.”
Sitting sideways, on a plush sofa in a room to the side of her office, Octavia has one of her legs draped over my lap, and she gestures to one of her mates. “Fetch Ryker a vein. Something extrajuicy.”
Her hand on my cheek, she draws my gaze around to meet hers and then licks her lips. “Bring him the beauty. What’s its name again?”
“Hername is Courtney, my love.” Antonio, one of her mate’s, answers. Antonio is a burly guy with a face that likely was handsome at some point in his human life, but his nose was clearly broken multiple times before he was turned. The transition to vampire enhances a human’s appearance, amplifies a human’s best features, but it can’t work miracles on the raw materials.
All my scars and tattoos from before my transition remain.
“Ah, yes.” Octavia strokes my cheek. “Courtney. Bring her vein to feed my new mate.”
My body tenses. I’m not her mate yet. Don’t plan to be, either. But I’m still formulating a plan to avoid it. One that saves Ember and doesn’t include my ending up back in that prison. Another confinement would fucking kill me.
Memories shiver through me, but I force them back down.
“Courtney isdelicious.” Octavia traces her tongue over her upper lip. “You know I prefer dick over dolls, but when I take Courtney’s vein, even I want to fuck her.”
Her leg shifts over mine, and she grinds her hot snatch against my thigh, rubbing against me. “You aren’t going to fuck her, but she’ll get extra horny for me.”
She leans forward to kiss me, but stops short, hovering her lips above mine.
Should I kiss her? Is that what she wants? Would it seem strange not to? Rude?
