Page 114 of You Only Love Twice
The idea of all that information would be irresistible to the duke, but could she trust him with Obsidian's life?
"Put me down," she whispered.
Obsidian complied.
"My study. Now." The duke stalked down the hallway.
"Good to see you," Byrnes called after him, stripping off his gloves. "And it's our pleasure. We're glad Gemma's safe and whole too."
Malloryn stood behind his desk when they entered, pouring her a brandy. "You're well?" he asked her.
"Tolerably."
"Would love one," Byrnes said, but the duke ignored him and pushed the glass toward her.
"Found her in a warehouse in the East End docks," Ingrid said. "Or should I say, the second the warehouse blew up, we were fairly certain we had her location."
Malloryn's gaze sharpened.
"I set the charge," Gemma said, and then hurried to explain.
About the abduction, the warehouse, thedhampirshe'd taken down. "The way I escaped... I thought they'd be tougher," she admitted.
"Or maybe you're just that good," Byrnes said.
"Itwastoo easy," Obsidian said.
The entire company looked at him.
"In what respect?" Malloryn asked. "Gemma's exceptionally capable."
Obsidian shrugged. "I don't think they intended to kill her. This was a message. If they'd wanted her dead—or intended to set a trap—then it would have happened."
"How is Isabella?" Gemma asked.
She'd been struck to the back of the head, according to Byrnes, and in bed last he saw her.
"One hell of a headache," Malloryn murmured. "She was quite disorientated, and there's some sort of problem with her vision, but otherwise well. She was most distressed. Could barely get a word out and kept crying."
Worried about me. Gemma nodded. This was not the baroness's week. "I'll check on her later."
"Why would they take Gemma?" Malloryn directed this question to the man at her side. "And what message are they trying to send? That they can take any one of mine at any time?"
"It was potentially done because of me," Obsidian replied. Every inch of him remained tense, and Gemma had the feeling she was staring at two strange cats hissing at each other across the yard. "I gave Ghost an ultimatum. This was his answer."
"An ultimatum?"
Byrnes took a surreptitious step closer to Obsidian, and Gemma shot him a glare. If this all went horribly wrong, then the room was going to explode into chaos, because she wasn't going to allow her friends to hurt the man she loved.
Or vice versa.
"He wants me to return for reconditioning." The words were torn from Obsidian. "I said I would consider it on the condition Gemma was not to be harmed. He doesn't care for ultimatums, but I didn’t expect him to take her hostage."
"It seems he's given you an answer."The duke faced off against Obsidian. "What now? I told you that you would have a choice. This is the moment. Them? Or us?"
"Please," she whispered, catching Obsidian's sleeve. "We have to tell them about the neural implant. If there's any chance of saving you, then perhaps we can all come up with an option?"
"The neural implant?" Malloryn said, his voice sharpening as if he sensed a dangerous tidbit of information.
