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“Guess you’re wishing you’d listened to me when I told you to change his sexy ass when you had the chance,” Rafe grumbled.
Marcus shook his head and was instantly relieved that it didn’t make the pounding in his skull worse. “No. It has to be something he wants.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure he didn’t imagine something like this happening. Bet he’d want it now.”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.” He looked over at his brother and smiled. “I love him, Rafe. And I’ll always love him, whether he’s a human or a vampire. That’s never going to change.”
“Fantastic. When we get out of this, you can swap out that stupid collar for a wedding ring,” Winter grumbled. He pushed off the wall and took what looked like some pained steps toward the door.
“Go to hell. That collar is fucking gorgeous,” Rafe said, following Winter.
Marcus couldn’t believe it, but he was smiling as he followed Rafe and Winter. His body hurt, and he was moving like an old man. They had little chance of escaping Minerva’s house without a lot of help. But he couldn’t stop his smile. He had his brothers, his family, with him. And soon, he was sure Bel and Ethan would be with them as well.
“You think Minerva is kind enough to have humans guarding us?” Marcus asked, shoving Minerva’s stolen keys into his pocket. “I’m feeling a bit peckish.”
Winter snorted and Rafe moaned softly.
“Yes,” Rafe said. “I’m famished. I’d kill for a couple of really big ones with strong hearts and slow legs. Let me ride him like a jockey as he pumps that blood straight down my throat. Not going feel guilty about draining them.”
Sadly, Marcus had to agree. These humans attacked his family first, and now they were going to feed his family. After that, they could focus on escaping and finding Ethan and Bel. Marcus mentally sighed. And destroying Minerva. She couldn’t be allowed to continue on her path of destruction. It was the only way to protect his family and so many other vampires and humans.
But first, food.
Then Bel and Ethan.
Then kill Minerva.
Yeah, that was a sound-ish plan.
Fuck, he needed to feed.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ethan wiped the sweat threatening to drip into his eyes with the back of his hand. He leaned against the wall and very slowly peeked around the corner. It wasn’t even warm out, but between climbing over the huge, strong wall and sneaking past the guards and dogs, he was pretty sure he’d had more of a workout in the past five minutes than he’d gotten in the last three months. And they still had to locate Marcus and Rafe.
Unfortunately, Bel had been unable to reach Winter, and they’d begun to fear the worst. Bel was trying to remain optimistic, claiming that Winter had likely let himself be captured so he could take down the Black Wolf clan from the inside. Ethan could only pray he was right.
Glancing around the corner, Ethan wanted to cry. It was yet another long hallway filled with exquisite rugs and priceless vases. He really wanted to smash each one of those damn things, but he knew the noise would bring people running. They’d been in the house for at least six minutes already and hadn’t found a single sign of Marcus or the others. Six vampires had been killed between Ethan’s bullets and Bel’s formula-coated knives. And those six deaths hadn’t been pretty.
Bel’s deadly formula did exactly what he predicted. After becoming infected, the vampire had about three seconds before he felt the effects, and then it was only a few more seconds before they were reduced to a hissing and popping puddle of greenish goo. It looked like the blood melted the poor creature’s bones into a sticky substance.
Even if it was a relatively quick death, it was not one Ethan would have chosen for himself. But that didn’t stop him from using the bullets. They were the only way he was getting through this death house to his man.
For now, he was keeping a close count on them. He’d used five on four vampires while Bel took out the other two with his knives.
“See anything helpful?” Bel whispered.
“More stupid vases and closed doors. Probably bedrooms,” Ethan muttered. His palm was sweaty, and it made the gun feel loose in his hand like he was in danger of dropping it. “I feel like we’re in going in fucking circles. Where the hell are the prisoners hidden?”
“I’ve never kept prisoners, so it’s hard to say. Away from where anyone might stumble across them.”
Bel’s calm and sensible tone had Ethan looking over his shoulder at his companion in stunned silence. He said it like it was a complete possibility that everyone at one time kept prisoners and he’d just not gotten around to it yet. Bel was…interesting. Ethan was never quite sure what was going to come out of his mouth. It was a strange similarity he had with his twin. The only difference was that you knew half the things Rafe said were total bullshit. Bel honestly meant the insanity he spewed.
