AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah? It’s in poor taste to be a lying bastard, too, but that doesn’t stop you.” With clipped, angry words, she snapped at Roark.
“What happened to the benefit of the doubt? Hear my side.”
“Who were you talking to?”
“Lort, but…”
She shot off the couch. “I’m off the case. I’ll let Kole know. Find some other sexy little witch.”
Before he could smooth-talk her, she charged out the door and along the hall to the elevator. She rode it to the lobby and grabbed a cab in the front of the hotel. It dropped her near the Alexandria portal. She needed a moment before she exploded the bomb at Kole’s feet. Though he probably expected the double cross.
On Scath, she took the gateway to her Covenkirk office. Sometimes work was calming. Having transcribed notes into her iPad, she filed documents. Indigo cleared her desk before she snoozed on the convenient sofa. A very late-night nap.
The next morning, she showered in the attached bathroom, braided her wet hair, and donned fresh clothes. She portaled to the stronghold. Walking into Kole’s outer office, she found Bounty at her desk, checking a handheld mirror while she applied lipstick.
“Is the big guy in?” Indigo wasn’t in the mood for chit-chat. She was still cranky from a restless night and a traitorous shifter.
“Sure.” Bounty waved a hand toward Kole’s office. “Just go on in. I think they’re waiting for you.”
“They? Me?” Indigo pushed the door wide, storming through. She pulled up when she spied Roark, lazing without a care, boots propped on the desk, conversing with Kole as if they were best buds.
She stomped toward the bastard. Snagging a leg of his chair with her foot, she tumbled him to the floor. “Don’t believe a word this slimy double-crossing, faithless, duplicitous worm says, Commander. He was plotting with Lort.”
Suddenly, she was wide awake. Energized. Ready to battle.
Chapter Fifteen
Karen Ames had rushed from the coffee shop where she worked as a barista. She was late for her second job as a waitress down the street at a local diner with cheap tippers but a steady flow of customers. Finished there, she hurried to her Monday night class at the community college. She never made it. Instead, a dark van pulled alongside. Men jumped out. They flung a black hood over her head and tied her hands behind her back. They threw her into the vehicle. As she curled onto her side, terrified, life became a nightmare.
She awoke in a strange place in a warm comfortable bed with plentiful food, enough water to drink, television, books, and other necessities to occupy her time. But she was a prisoner. Her guards were not human. Karen kept track of the days in a notebook, not knowing why she was here. Wherever here was.
Months passed. Then another hood, a van, and a long drive.
When they stopped, the side panel slid open. Someone grabbed her arm, pulling her out, steadying her to keep her from falling. Another man snagged her other elbow. Between them, they dragged her through a door. Inside, they snatched off the hood, her eyes momentarily blinded by overhead lights
“Stand up. Walk,” grumbled the bigger guy.
Her arms hurt, too tightly bound behind her back. “Where am I?” she asked.
The smaller man chuckled. “A private party.”
Karen didn’t like the sound of that. Before she thought too long, another man in a black uniform stepped into the hallway. His arrogance was palpable, his bearing rigid. Then he smiled. Karen’s knees buckled when his lip curled to expose fangs. Long, sharp ones.
She toppled to the concrete floor, the bigger guard helping her stand.
While she trembled, the vampire said, “Don’t worry. You’re not my type, but I have someone you’ll want to meet.”
Karen struggled against the big man who restrained her, but she was an ant attacking a rhino. He simply continued the forward movement.
Inside was a room dominated by a gigantic bed. Heavy green drapes decorated two windows on the far wall. But her eyes focused on a man sitting in a chair, a book across his lap, his legs crossed at the knees. His clothes were elegant, dark dress pants, a silky shirt open at the neck. Blond hair hung straight to his shoulders, framing a handsome face, high cheekbones, aquiline nose, eyes of the purest purple.
When he smiled, Karen relaxed, her worries fading. After a chill swept across her skin, a calming warmth suffused her body for the first time since the ordeal had begun.
“Lort, the poor girl. Unbind her.”
The man with fangs drew a knife, cutting the ropes. Her arms flopped down, aching, sore. She rolled her shoulders, rubbing her wrists, wincing from the pain.
The elegant man rose with liquid grace. He walked toward her, his steps slow, deliberate. He pressed a hand lightly to her back. “Sit, my dear.”
