AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yours, of course,” Nero says with a half-smile. “Who else?”
Chapter thirteen
Oberon
Roman joins us outside of Nero’s office as we head down the hall, looking tense as we go to the very end. Roman looks over at Aisling, blowing out a breath. “Please forgive me,” he mutters.
“For what?”
“You ready to see what’s inside?” Nero’s hand is on the door handle, a tight grip that tells me he’s not just showing off. He’s worried. He pushes it open and we step into the chill of a room that feels more like a vault than a part of his lavish home.
“Welcome to my private collection,” Nero says with a half-smirk, but his eyes are scanning our reactions, gauging our every twitch. “Your sample’s right there.”
I look over at him, finding Aisling glaring daggers in his direction.
Because the sample…it’s not a thing.
It’s a person.
A frail-looking blonde sits at the edge of the room, her eyes glazed over with the kind of hunger I recognize as an artificial, eros-induced heat. I don’t recognize her, but Aisling clearly does, and she races toward her to kneel and smooth her hair back. The girl doesn’t seem to recognize Aisling or anyone else, confusion marring what may have once been pretty features.
It’s only then that she rounds on Nero, glaring daggers at him.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Aisling hisses. “You locked her up like a fucking animal.”
I want to agree with Aisling…but I know from personal experience that an animal is what she is right now. When I was under that drug’s effects, I forgot all about who I was, about the rules of propriety.
Right now, she’s a bitch in heat.
Her gaze locks onto Roman and she launches at him with a desperation that punches the air from my lungs. Roman himself gasps, trying to keep her at arm’s length even as she scrambles to get closer. I can tell he’s on the brink, barely controlling himself.
“Roman!” she cries, latching onto him with arms that seem too strong for her slender frame.
“Easy, Cassie,” Roman soothes, his voice a calm command that somehow cuts through the drug-induced fog. “I’ve got you.”
Shit…this is Cassie?
I can see Roman’s resolve failing, and Aisling reaches out to touch her—maybe to help him. Cassie’s eyes turn to Aisling, wild and wide, and she swallows hard. “Help me,” she whispers. “Please.”
Roman’s eyes meet mine, full of unspoken words. “I need a place for her. Somewhere safe until I can get her out of the city.”
“Why?”
“We have an arrangement to get her to Vance Solace…but we needed someone to transport her,” Nero murmurs. “And I can’t keep her here. Not when Caius has eyes everywhere.”
“Fuck—you have a deal with Vance?” Gunnar says.
Nero gives Gunnar a playful glance. “Ah…keeping secrets even from the people closest to him, hm?”
“I’m not close to him—”
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Roman interrupts. “Please…it’s why I brought you here. I’m begging you to take her out of here.”
“Us?” Gunnar says. “You know we’re on the run ourselves.”
“I would take her myself, but I don’t have a place off the Eclipse’s radar,” Roman says. “Not only that, but…I want to respect her, and when she’s like this…”
He trails off, but we all get it.
