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“Where are you taking me?” she cried as she dug her heels in, refusing to go along with him.
“Someplace where you will be safe.”
“I’m safe in the castle.”
“This ensures you stay in the castle.”
What if she had escaped to the outside the last time he was gone? He had taken Nasir with him, so it had been easy for her to elude her other guards. Should he not be proud she’d improved enough to evade her guards?
They stalked down dark stone stairs toward the lower levels. The dungeons. He was taking her to the dungeons.
Gabby renewed her struggle. She may have been able to slip past her guards, but he was still a million times stronger than she was. With a growl, he slung her over his shoulder. His pauldrons dug into her stomach whenever she moved, and her punches did nothing against the metal over his back.
“I’ll stay in the castle this time. I promise,” she wailed. She didn’t want to stay in the dungeons.
No response. The hallway blurred. When they stopped, Gabby’s stomach dropped as she faced the gray, uneven stone walls, although she did not see any of the cells from the last time she was here.
Something creaked behind her. Then she was in a wide and well-appointed room. Felix threw her down on the humongous bed covered in silk sheets with a white canopy. The bed sat on a thick patterned carpet. Scattered clusters of candles lit the room, illuminating the richly woven tapestry on the walls and the two bookshelves in the corner.
If it weren’t for the lack of windows, or that she’d walked down those stairs, or the scent of musty decay surrounding them, she would not have guessed this was the dungeons.
“You’ll stay here until I return.”
Gabby’s attention snapped to Felix, and the reason for her imprisonment returned. Despite its warm decor, this was still a prison. Had he always kept such an elaborate chamber under his castle?
“When did you prepare this room?”
His lips thinned. There was no give on his face or stance. For the first time, she faced the Ancient Felix Guerra, the vampire Armando had despised. He even blocked their connection through the mating bond, which he had never done before, but she knew the answer. Something like betrayal stabbed into her.
She thought she was becoming stronger, that one day she would stand by his side like Nasir and help him protect their home. Yet, he’d been preparing her jail cell.
“You will be safe here,” was all he said.
A wave of despair swamped her, a feeling she’d refused to acknowledge for some time now. She loved him with all her soul. Being with him was the closest she’d feel to being in the sun again, so why did she feel like her heart was breaking?
“Please, do not leave me here,” she said, her voice quivering.
Finally, a hint of tenderness from him. “I will release you as soon as I return.”
“How long?”
“A week.”
Gabby staggered back. A week. A week without fresh air. Without the sky and moon. Without a way to relieve the explosive energy with bone-tiring exercise.
“Do not be concerned. Someone will bring you blood,” he said, misunderstanding her shock.
She didn’t know what prompted her, perhaps a survival instinct buried deeper than even the mating bond, but she sprinted for the door.
Felix must have been surprised because her hand almost touched the handle.
“Stop.”
The command froze her in place. Her heart hammered against her chest; her limbs refused to listen to her and move. A thick, invisible cocoon wrapped around her, trapping her. She fought against it with all her strength to no avail. She was a fly trapped in a spider’s net, powerless and defenseless.
Please, let me go,she begged, sending her desperation down their bond. Only blankness met her. How? How could he block her like this?
Felix came into view, his flat expression deepening the hole in her chest.
