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I obviously missed something, and I’m scared that if I find out too late, then I won’t be able to save either of us. The guard isn’t giving me anything. The room looks sparse, but what furniture there is seems to be high-end. Stuff like Valentina’s dad would buy to impress people who came to the house.
I face the guard again. “Let him go. Please. I’ll stay, and you can have me instead.”
This earns me another pitying glance. “As I said, he’s not for me. He’s for the mistress.”
The sound of my name keeps me from punching the guard and likely getting smashed to bits by his big meaty hands. I race back to Kai’s bedside and brush my thumb along his cheek. “Hi, you’re alive. I’m so relieved.”
“You’re beautiful.”
I blink. “Well, thank you, but not necessarily something that matters at the moment.”
He lifts his head to look at me, but it wobbles back like a bobblehead until he gives up. “No, you’re beautiful. You don’t understand. I love you.”
His words pierce me, not because he said he loves me, but because he said it now while he’s drugged and unsure if he’s going to survive. It’s a deathbed confession, not a declaration of his feelings. I hop up to press my forehead against his. “I love you too, you big idiot. Now we need to figure out how to get you out of here.”
“Kiss me,” he murmurs.
I give him a soft peck, and he scoffs at me. Drugged out of his mind, and he still scoffs for not giving him a good enough kiss. “See if I kiss you later when we get out of this mess.”
A soft voice behind me says, “Oh, I don’t believe you’ll need to worry about that.”
I turn and wish I hadn’t. An older woman, maybe mid-fifties, is standing there in black high heels and a silk robe covering her very thin-looking assets. “Uh…who are you?”
She waves at me, the same imperious wave Kai’s sister uses.
It hits me. “You must be the council bitch.”
As she moves around the bed to the opposite side, she gives me a dirty little glare. “Is that what he calls me?”
I snort. “Amongst other things. What are we doing here?”
Her gaze shifts to Kai and his spread body on the bed. I want to jab her eyes out for the way she’s looking at him.
“He’s here for me. You are here for, I don’t know what, power maneuvers…” She leans into him and shakes his shoulder. When he wakes and finally sees her, he recoils, jamming his head against his opposite arm. “Stop pretending you didn’t agree to this. As agreed, your friend is safe and sound. Now, it’s time for you to fulfill your side of the bargain.”
“No,” he whispers, and I recognize the panicked look in his eyes. He didn’t agree to this, and he’d never agree. Even if it meant keeping me safe. If he did agree under those conditions, I’m going to kill him myself because I’d rather be dead than force him to endure whatever is about to happen.
“What’s going on here? I demand you release us both. We are under the protection of the Chicago council.”
“Yes,” she mocks. “But no one told you that sanctuary is tenuous when the season is open. Currently, the leaders there are fair game. They don’t give a shit about you and the head councilwoman’s brother. They are fighting for their seats and their lives right now.”
I should be concerned and try to find a way to warn Kai’s sister, but I wasn’t lying when I told this lady I don’t care about her. Right now, the only person I care about is Kai, and wrenching this woman’s head from her neck.
Wait. Her words sink in, as does her conversation with Kai. “What did you do?” I’m not sure if I’m addressing Kai or her.
“Why, he traded himself for your life, my dear. Now that I have him under my control, I plan to make sure you can’t get in the way, so don’t get too excited.”
I want to smack him again, harder this time. “What the hell?”
He stirs, trying to look at me again, but I turn away, giving him my back while I try to figure out how we can take care of this problem. When I spin again, I face the councilwoman. “Any chance you’re interested in women?”
She sneers. “No, not a chance in hell.” She says it like I’m coming on to her for my own benefit. Gross.
“Well, then how do we fix this?”
She keeps her eyes on Kai as she answers. “Considering the trouble I went through to acquire him, nothing will entice me to give him up.”
I never thought I’d meet someone as disgusting as Sal and his family. Another person who buys and sells humans for their own needs, never caring what happens after they take what they want.
