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I grab my book bag and rummage through it for my phone, which is probably dead by now. I owe Brighton a lot more than a text, but that’s really all I can offer her at this point. When I can’t find my phone, I huff out a sigh.Did I leave it at the hotel?No, I remember slipping it into my bag. Anger simmers in me. They definitely took it.
I drop my bag on the end of the bed and walk out of the room, heading directly for Atlas.
After coming up empty on the second floor, I venture up to the third, peeking in a couple of plain, undecorated bedrooms that look as if they could be hotel rooms, before finding a room with double frosted glass doors at the end of the hall. My bare feet are cold against the hard marble floor, and I walk into the room without knocking.
The room is full of windows—not shocking at this point. The amount of natural light in this place has to be some sort of vampire joke, especially considering they built the house. I barely register the rest of the tidy room before my eyes land on Atlas, standing behind a raised black desk, typing on a laptop.
He doesn’t glance up from his screen until I’m standing right in front of it. “What?” he asks, his voice distant; I’ve interrupted something.
“I want my phone.” I manage a level tone, but my back is rigid. “My friends are going to wonder why I’m not responding to messages. That’s not me.” My mind immediately goes to Brighton. She’s probably freaking out, wondering what the hell happened to me last night.
“The friend who booked your suite at the Four Seasons?” he inquires.
I cross my arms. “I don’t see why that matters.” No way I’m going to let them near Brighton. “You can’t expect to keep me locked up in here with zero communication with the outside world.” My tone sharpens with each word. “Give me my fucking phone.”
Atlas moves with speed my eyes can’t track, and he’s in front of me, glaring hard. “You are in no position to demand anything.”
My eyes narrow as his breath stirs the hair at my temple. The faint scent of citrus tickles my nose, as if he’d just eaten an orange before I stormed in.
“I am not a dog,” I snap, jabbing at his chest. “I will not sit and stay and do whatever just because you wish it.”
His expression darkens, and he grips my hip, pushing me back into the desk. My breath halts at the flash of his fangs. “Shall we test that?”
A muscle ticks in my jaw, and I gnash my teeth together. “Sure, go ahead and glamour me to be your little puppet, because it’s the only way I’ll sit quietly.” My tone is confident, but the truth is, I’m terrified he’ll do it.
There’s a low rumble in his chest, a growl. His eyes narrow on me, and I grip the desk to do something with my hands. “You are far more stubborn than I expected,” he murmurs.
I blink at his admission. “What the helldidyou expect?” I ask, incredulous. “I’m being held against my will because of something I had absolutely nothing to do with. You lot won’t tell me a single thing about what’s going to happen, and I’m just expected to sit by and be cool with it? Fuck that.”
Atlas leans in until we’re practically nose-to-nose and says, “You’d better get cool with it, Calla, and fast.”
My hand brushes against something cold and metal, and before I know what’s happening, I wrap my fingers around it and ram my arm forward with all the strength I’ve built over years of weight training.
Holy shit. I just stabbed him.
I pull my hand back in a flash, but the end of what appears to be a letter opener sticks out of his stomach.
Atlas glances down for a moment, then looks at me, his mouth set in a tight line. He slowly removes the blade, which is dripping blood on the wood floor at our feet. He doesn’t seem to care and drops the letter opener on the desk before lifting his shirt to reveal the wound is sealing itself.
“That wasn’t very nice.” His voice is low, hard.
My mouth is dry as I back away. I make it a couple of steps before my back collides with a solid wall of muscle, and I whip around to find Lex smirking at me.
“You can’t kill us,” he says, nodding toward Atlas. “Not easily anyway, and you’re wasting your energy trying.”
“What would you suggest I do instead?” I snap back and instantly regret it when he arches a brow at me, as if I should know what his response would be.
I shake my head. “I want to know what the hell is going on around here. Why did you take me just to keep me in the dark? What’s in this for you?”
Gabriel chooses that moment to slip into the room, glancing between the three of us, his gaze not missing a single detail—including the blood on the floor and desk. His eyes land on me, and he frowns. “You should be careful with your words, angel. Don’t ask questions you’re not ready to hear the answers to.”
Despite the kindness he’s shown me, I scowl at him. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You want to know why we took you?” Lex says, almost sneering at me. “We were going to kill you. Your entire family, actually—what’s left of it. We don’t do loose ends.”
The blood drains from my face as the world tilts around me. Death by vampire is how I figured I’d go for as long as I’ve known of their existence, but to hear my deepest fears confirmed out loud makes me want to vomit.
“We still might,” he adds with a wink, “if you choose to continue misbehaving.”
