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“I know you are.” His other hand roamed her body, and I thought I was going to be sick.
“Lorn, you have to fucking open your eyes!” I collided with the bars over and over again before scouring the cage for anything I could throw or use as a weapon. I shoved a claw into the lock on the door, and I tried to trigger it to unlatch.
Nothing was fucking working.
I died as Lorn did, and my shifter hearing heard the moment her heart stopped.
The chatty vampire bastard slurped one more time and then released her wrist.
“There.” He took Lorn from the other vamp and laid her on the only other piece of furniture in the room, a dirty cot that sat in the corner. “It should only be a matter of time now.”
“What are we going to do with her when she awakens?” the quiet vamp questioned.
“The bitch said one piece.” Chatty vamp shrugged. “She didn’t specify anything further.”
“I want to keep her.”
“You’ll never have her.” My voice was an incoherent rasp as I watched the lifeless shell of my mate.
I didn’t cry. The last time I’d let my guard down long enough to shed tears, I’d been a child watching my mother walk out and leave me behind.
But my face was wet as I mourned my mate.
I wanted to die with her. I wanted to take her place. My heart would have gladly stopped beating if it meant she lived.
Lorn didn’t deserve this. I should have mated her when I had the chance. If we survived this, I vowed to change that.
The vampires rubbed their full stomachs, which were bloated with Lorn’s blood. Their color was high, their eyes at their brightest red.
“Mathias will want an update,” the chatty shithead said, and, talking quietly with each other, they both slipped from the room, promising they’d be back shortly.
I didn’t have much time.
My injury had weakened me, and so had the silver. The magick I possessed barely sputtered to life, but I grasped hold of it and gathered it together.
Carefully, I placed myself in the center of the cage as far from the silver bars as I could.
Teasing Axel had always been a sport, but now I regretted picking on him for shifting into impossibly small animals. I never thought I’d need the skill, but I regretted it now. The smallest creature I had in my spirit arsenal was a fox, and he wouldn’t cut it in this situation.
In my mind’s eye, the picture of a mouse solidified. I grumbled but visualized its small nose, tiny body, little feet, and even its whiskers. In order to add it to my arsenal, it had to be a complete image.
My magick flared and quickly died, the essence of the mouse in my mind incomplete. Frustration surged through me, and I wanted to put my fist through a wall, but I simply tried again. Lorn’s life depended on this shift.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the dead rat, and I crawled across the floor to study its rigid features. It was bigger than the mouse I’d been aiming for, but its body should still be able to squeeze between the bars. When I thought I had the body composition correct, I tried again. A feeling of completion surged through me when I had the image right, and I suppressed the holler of relief as my primal spirit stirred within my chest.
With my injuries, this shift might kill me, but I’d die before I let those bastards come back and harm Lorn.
It took me five agonizing minutes for my body to accept the shift, to downsize into a form so small. Sweat beaded on my forehead, but I didn’t scream. No way would I draw attention to this room before I’d reached Lorn.
The view of the room changed as my stormy gray magick sparkled around me, fizzling out like tiny dying sparks. I’d shifted without magicking my clothing to save even the smallest amount of magick. I’d need every drop if I was going to escape with Lorn.
I nosed my way through my shirt until I saw light.
My stomach was still gashed wide open, an injury even more problematic for a rat. My magick wanted to accumulate over the wound and begin the healing process, but I was already drained, and I needed what was left in my reserves.
Deep breath. I calmed my pounding heart.
I scurried for the bars, squeezing my body between them. My feet blistered from the silver, but a rat was faster than I’d expected, and I headed across the room quickly.
