Page 32 of Taken

Moreau’s cameras that didn’t feed into the ops room? They had to be going somewhere. And I had a program that would let me access any nearby video feed.

If Moreau was a blood slaver, I was pretty sure de Froulay didn’t know. He’d agreed to ban the practice of enslaving humans along with most of the other vampire primuses.

If I could take Moreau down without jeopardizing Op A, I would.

I wanted to cause the man a world of hurt.

An hour or so later, I frowned and gave up, having found nothing conclusive. But then, Moreau would do everything he could to conceal his unlawful trade in humans. Hopefully, the intel I planned to feed de Froulay about Moreau and Zaq would be enough.

Before I closed my laptop, I navigated to the feed for Zaq’s cell.

He was passed out, eyes closed. Hanging from the wall with those damn silver cuffs searing into his wrists.

My wrists heated like it was me in the cuffs. I absently rubbed the left one.

Zaq Kral had been kind to me. That morning in the airport, he’d been exhausted, hungry. But he’d stepped in to save me from a vampire he thought was trying to force me into remaining his thrall.

The edgy feeling returned full force.

I bounced my knee, itching to go to Zaq’s cell and give him a few hours relief. But I couldn’t, not while Moreau and the other vampires were awake. I’d have to wait for dawn.

I sank my teeth into my lower lip. I didn’t realize I’d extended my fangs until I smelled my own blood.

I scrubbed it away, then stared at my bloody fingers. I’d trained myself to ignore the blood-hunger, but it was always with me, scratching at my throat, drying my mouth. When it got too strong, I ran an extra few miles or did a hundred extra pushups.

Now I couldn’t stop myself. I brought my hand to my mouth like it didn’t belong to me and licked the blood off. Swallowed.

I stifled a moan. It tasted so good. So fucking good.

I took my hand from my mouth and stared at the now-clean skin.

Monster.

I closed the laptop and placed it on the small mahogany desk, then stripped off my uniform and hung it in the closet. In the shower I turned the water to cold and scrubbed myself down, then stood under the icy stream until I was shivering.

In the bedroom, I folded up the coverlet and set it on a chair before getting into bed.

I wouldn’t allow myself to be warm tonight.

12

ZAQ

So Reaper wanted to be human.

I moved my cramped arms the few inches available to me, trying and failing to find a more comfortable position.

Gods, she was messed up.

And I was even more messed up for wondering why I hadn’t seen her for two days.

Hell, I wasn’t just wondering, I was worried—about the woman who’d drugged and abducted me. That wasn’t messed up. That was flat-out fucked.

Still, Reaper was the only person in this lair who’d treated me halfway decently, and I was afraid she’d gotten in trouble for it. Even if I was ninety-nine percent sure she was a slayer.

The first time she’d fed me, I’d assumed she had permission, but now I wasn’t so sure. She’d come alone, for one thing—both times. And in the daytime, when the lair’s vampires would be asleep.

My eyes drooped. Gods, I could use some sleep myself. I shifted against the cold concrete wall.

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