by Scarlet Day
Blake entwined his fingers with hers and brought their hands up to his lips before placing a kiss on Kate’s fingers. “I know you want to help, sweetheart. But you’re pregnant. It’s too dangerous for you to leave the island. Besides, I think I understand what Brad meant. You need to call Emma and get her to Florida. If they’ve figured out Abby is your sister, they might be looking for the third one. We can’t protect her if she’s in Texas.”
Kate’s face went white. “Oh my god. Emma!”
Blake wrapped her in his arms as Kate’s body shook. Bryce wanted nothing more than to wrap his own arms around Abby. If he never got the chance…No! He refused to think like that. They would find her.
“Get Emma here. Soon.” Brad looked to Bryce and then to their cousins. “Will you help us?”
Blake huffed. “You don’t even have to ask, cousin. You came for us when we needed help.” Blake kissed the top of Kate’s head and looked down into her worried eyes. “We’ll be fine. Promise.”
Kate scoffed. “Where have I heard that before?”
Blake grinned down at her and then looked up to Brad. “What’s the plan?”
“We need to get back to the apartment. I can track her from there.”
Bryce and Brad locked gazes. If Brad hadn’t had sex with Abby, there would be no possible way for him to track her scent. That act had sealed the bond between Brad and Abby and ensured that he could track her over vast distances. Bryce thanked the fates that at least one of them had been able to get that close to her before this happened. He knew if those bastards killed Abby, he and Brad would spend the rest of their long lives hunting down every last one of them.
Chapter Twelve
Abby groaned and rolled over onto her back. Whatever she was lying on was hard. Her head and face hurt, and she felt a little dizzy and nauseous. Trying to figure out why she felt this bad, she raised her hand to her cheek. Pain flared across her face from the touch.
The fight in her bathroom flashed across her memory. Her eyes flew open. She blinked several times. The darkness didn’t recede. She sat up. She closed her eyes and opened them again. Still dark. Panic rose up inside her. Had she gone blind?
She frantically cast her eyes around her, looking for any light. There! Her eyes focused on the smallest sliver of light. She put her hands out to feel her surroundings. It felt like she was on a concrete floor. She crawled toward the light, feeling with her hands as she went. She reached the light and ran her hands along the wall above it. It was a door! She stood up and searched for the doorknob. Her hands found it, and she gripped it and turned. Locked. She beat on the door with her fists and threw all of her weight against it. The wood creaked a bit, but it wouldn’t budge. She kicked the door in frustration.
“Ouch!” Pain shot through her toes. Hopping on one foot, she realized she didn’t have any shoes on. She hoped her toes weren’t broken. She felt her way to a wall and leaned against it. It was rough against her bare skin. Realization hit her, and she ran her hands down her body. She was naked!
“Bastards! You could at least give me some clothes!” She didn’t know if anyone could hear her, but she didn’t really care. Yelling made her feel better.
Fuming, she ran her hands along the walls, searching for a window, something, anything, she could use to defend herself. There was some type of equipment in the corner. Pipes and cylinder-shaped objects. She thought she heard water or some other type of liquid running through them. She pulled on the equipment, but it was firmly attached to the floor. Other than that, the small room was completely empty. She was alone in the dark with no escape.
An image of Brad leapt into her mind. Her heart practically froze with fear and dread. Where was he? Had they hurt him? Was he…? She gulped and shook her head. No. He was fine. She had to believe he was alive and okay. She knew she would fall apart if she let her mind go down that road. She backed up against the wall opposite the door and slid to the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.
She was not going to panic. Absolutely not going to panic. And, maybe, if she repeated that to herself enough times, she might actually start to believe it.
* * * *
Abby lifted her head up off her knees. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep, but her back and butt ached from the hard concrete. The dizziness and nausea were gone. She only felt a dull headache now, as opposed to the pounding in her skull she had felt earlier. Her cheek still throbbed, but she knew better than to touch it again.
The room was still shrouded in darkness. She looked toward the bottom of the door, but the thin line of light at the bottom was just a dim glow. Night.
She shivered. The room wasn’t cold, but something felt…wrong. She snorted. She’d been kidnapped and left naked in a locked room. Everything about this situation was wrong.
The tiny hairs on the back of her neck rose, and she shivered again. Stretching out her senses, she tried to hear something, anything. The only sound she heard was that of her own breathing.
A cold draft passed across her left cheek. She struck her arms out in the direction of the draft and jumped to her feet. “Who’s there?”
A low chuckle sounded in the darkness, next to her left ear. Abby recoiled. “What do you want?”
“I want you.” The voice sounded familiar somehow, but not in a good way. It made her skin crawl. She swung her fist out hard. All she caught was air.
“Where’s Brad?”
“Your boyfriend isn’t dead. I have no desire to bring their entire clan down on my head before my plan is complete.”
“Who are you?”
The chuckle sounded again, but in her other ear. She turned toward it and swung out again. Nothing.
“Someone you are going to become intimately acquainted with, my dear.” Abby felt a cold finger slide up her bare leg. She shoved at it, but there was nothing there.
“Why do you want me?” An icy hand brushed across her shoulder and down her arm. She refused to move, wanting to lash out at the repulsive contact but somehow knowing there would be nothing there to lash out at.
“You are going to be the centerpiece of a grand experiment.” She knew that voice. Where had she heard it?
“What are you talking about? What kind of experiment?” Panic rose inside her, but she held it in, not wanting to let him know how terrified she was.
The cold touch drew a line down her face. “My people want your kind eliminated, but I have a much better plan. A plan we can both benefit from if you will cooperate. We will join our two great powers. We will breed a new species, you and I. Part black panther, part vampire.”
“You’re insane!” Abby inched along the wall, away from the cold presence.
Another low laugh sent shivers up her spine. “We shall see about that, my little cat. I can do this with your cooperation or without. It makes no difference to me.”
“Go to hell!” She backed into a corner, unable to retreat any further.
“Eventually, my dear, but not today.” As quickly as the cold arrived, it was gone. Even though she still couldn’t see anything, Abby knew she was alone again. She slid back down the wall and rested her head in her hands.
What the hell was going on? Panthers? Vampires? Whoever this guy was, he was certifiable. But something about his voice, about all of this, seemed so familiar.
Her dream! She’d dreamed about this! Abby searched her memory for the details of the dream she had just a couple of nights before. It was fuzzy, but she concentrated hard. She had dreamed of this room. And the voice! So that’s why it sounded so familiar.
But…how could she have dreamed of this before it happened? She sighed and shook her head. All sorts of weird stuff seemed to be happening to her lately. Yesterday it had been the bizarre encounter with the injured panther. Now she was being held captive by some nut who thought he was a vampire and she was a black panther. She snorted. The whole situation would be funny if she wasn’t in danger.
But she w
as in danger. Something about the man—the cold, the feeling she got deep inside her bones when he spoke to her— triggered something primal in her. She shuddered. How the heck had he gotten in and out of this room? The door had never opened. And when she’d tried to hit him, nothing had been there, even though she was certain he’d been standing right next to her.
Vampire. Fear rose in her as the word floated across her consciousness. But the thought was ridiculous. Vampires weren’t real. The darkness and stress must be getting to her.
The image of the injured panther rose in her mind. As she thought about the cat, the color of the image changed. It darkened until the image of a black panther stood in her mind. That’s what her kidnapper had called her. A black panther. It stalked back and forth across her thoughts, flicking its tail and growling low and deep.
I’m losing it.
Another fleeting image crossed her mind. The cat from her dream, silhouetted by the moonlight and standing in the doorway.
This doorway!
But what did it mean? She grasped for more images, more feelings from the dream. She had been happy to see the cat. More than happy, she had been thrilled and relieved. She remembered running to it and wrapping her arms around it, and the cat…she gasped. The cat had changed in her dream. But into what? The recollection hit her with the force of a lightning bolt. Brad!
She jumped to her feet and paced the floor of the small room, trying to figure out what it all meant. Somehow, all of this was connected. The dream, the injured cat, Brad, this nutcase holding her captive. All of it. But how?
Gradually, she became aware that the black panther was stalking in her head again as it mirrored her restless steps.
Abby sighed. Well, if I’m going to go crazy, I might as well have some company.
Chapter Thirteen
Abby had to pee. Really, really pee. Like, hopping up and down, need-to-go-right-now. She banged on the door of her small prison.
“Hey! Assholes! If you don’t let me out to go to the bathroom, it’s gonna get really ugly in here!” No way she wanted to relieve herself in the room where she was being held. Seriously, yuck.
The sound of the door being unlocked made her back up a couple of steps. The door cracked open, and a man Abby recognized stood in the moonlight. She noticed the red slashes across his face and realized, with some satisfaction, that he was the man she’d scratched earlier. The marks were just puckered red scars now, though, which puzzled her. How could he have healed so fast?
“Behave yourself, or you can just go where you’re standing. Got it, bitch?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She would say anything if it would get her to a toilet.
The man glared at her for a moment. “Hold your hands out.”
She didn’t understand the request, but she held her hands out, figuring she wasn’t going to get out of here if she didn’t follow instructions. The door was opened farther, and a pair of handcuffs were slipped onto her wrists and locked.
The fresh air from the open doorway reminded Abby of her current nakedness. “I need some clothes.”
“Too damn bad.”
She glared at the man, but he didn’t budge. Fine. They wanted to parade her around naked, so be it. She refused to be ashamed of herself in front of these bastards. She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders then marched forward, shoving past the man.
“Nice scars.”
“Nice ass.”
“Screw you.”
The man laughed. “Not my job, princess. Tiberius has that duty.”
So they all knew the grand plan. She was to be fucked by this nutcase Tiberius and expected to produce freaks. She huffed. Like hell she would.
Scar-face led her around the back side of a clear swimming pool. The water was lit from below, and it looked enticing. Abby had an urge to dive in to erase the grime she felt all over her body. They continued around the pool toward a cabana with big sliding glass doors across one side, facing the pool. On the other side of the pool sat a massive two-story house, the biggest one Abby had ever seen up close. The setting would have been beautiful if it weren’t for the fact she was being held prisoner by a bunch of monsters. A concrete wall surrounded the whole place. Abby guessed it must be at least eight feet tall. So, no way to make a run for it.
Another man left the house and walked toward them, meeting them as they got to the cabana. He leered at Abby, his eyes raking over her body, but she held her head high and didn’t flinch. She wasn’t going to give the bastard the satisfaction.
“In there.” Scar-face opened one of the sliding doors and pointed her toward a small bathroom. “Leave the door open.”
“Here, Tiberius wants you to go in this so he can test your fertility.” The newcomer held out a small plastic container.
Abby stared at it in disbelief, and her stomach rolled in disgust. “I don’t give a damn what he wants.”
The newcomer smirked. “No problem. He can just fuck you every day, several times a day, until you get pregnant.”
She glared at him and then grabbed the container from him. She stalked through the door and into the bathroom. The toilet was just out of eyesight of the men. As she sat there, she looked around for anything she might be able to use as a weapon and could get her hands on without the men seeing her. There was a sink and a small shower stall, but nothing more lethal than a toilet paper roll.
Resigning herself to the sad fact there was nothing in the room she could use to attempt to beat them to death, she finished up and walked back outside, thrusting the container at the one with the lid.
The man laughed and took it from her, securing the lid. “Tiberius is gonna have his hands full with this one. Leave her in the cabana until Tiberius has these results.” The man’s eyes raked over Abby’s body again before he turned and went back to the house.
Scar-face grabbed Abby’s arm and marched her back into the cabana, and then he secured her to a headboard with another set of handcuffs before leaving the room and sliding the glass door closed behind him. Abby could see him standing by the door, guarding her.
She looked around the room. The floor was tiled in a white stone, and there was a leather chair and a small table. A wet bar adorned one wall. A lit lamp stood on a small table next to the bed. She tried to reach it, hoping she could use it to bash someone over the head, but the handcuffs wouldn’t let her reach.
At least this was better than the concrete cell she’d been cooped up in. The bed she had been secured to had a lightweight, white comforter across it. She maneuvered the handcuffs down the post they were attached to and managed to grab one corner of the comforter. Raising it up, she slid under it, using her legs to secure it around her as best she could. At least she would be covered the next time someone walked in, and hopefully, she would be able to drag the comforter with her when they unlatched her from the headboard.
As she lay there, she thought of Brad. If she wasn’t able to get out of this mess, if this Tiberius person, or whatever he was, got his way…well, she was just glad Brad had been her first experience with sex.
She thought about their night together. Brad had been gentle when she needed him to be, aggressive when she wanted that, and he had let her take charge when her confidence grew. He was the perfect lover, and she couldn’t imagine anyone better.
An image of Bryce rose in her head, and she felt heat flush across her face. Okay, maybe one other man might be as good as Brad. She pictured being sandwiched between Brad and Bryce, and a shiver shot through her. She imagined their hands stroking her sensitive body, sharing in the heat and passion as they drove her toward climax. She gasped as her heart beat faster, and her sex clenched in arousal. Heat raced through her veins. The cat in her head stopped pacing and purred in anticipation.
Oh, get a grip! How could she possibly be turned on when she was being held captive by a lunatic who wanted…Well, never mind what he wanted. He wasn’t going to get it. There was only one person who was getting any of her.
&n
bsp; But even as the thought crossed her mind, the picture in her imagination wasn’t just one of Brad, but of Brad and Bryce again. The heat in her veins intensified.
The sound of the door sliding open made her jump and doused her arousal. A man stood in the doorway. She had never seen him before, but she recognized him all the same. His presence permeated the space, just as it had in the small concrete room. He had long, dark-brown hair that flowed over his shoulders. His black suit was tailored to his body, emphasizing his wide shoulders, and appeared to be made of silk or some other expensive material. He was handsome, with strong cheekbones and a square chin, but Abby didn’t feel attracted to him at all. In fact, she felt repelled by him. The man exuded power. And evil. It emanated from him like a cold, invisible hand as it stretched across the room and caressed her exposed skin.
Abby shuddered. He walked casually toward the bed, and Abby felt bile rise in her throat.
Oh, god, no. Please no.
“You look so much more comfortable in this setting, my dear. I could be persuaded to allow you to stay in here, instead of your other quarters.” He sat down on the bed next to her, and Abby recoiled at the proximity. He reached out and stroked her cheek. Abby jerked her head away from the cold touch.
“Oh, my sweet, this could be so much more pleasurable for you if you would just cooperate.”
“Never.” Abby clenched her jaw and glared at her captor.
He sighed heavily. “Very well. Since you are not yet fertile, perhaps a few more days in more uncomfortable surroundings will convince you to be reasonable. But make no mistake, my dear, this will happen.”
“You’ll never get away with this.”
He laughed. “Of course I will. I truly hope you are not holding on to any ridiculous delusions that your one night of passion actually meant something, my dear. The Dawson boys are known for their bachelor lifestyle, I’m afraid. I’m sure your lover will quickly find another to warm his bed.”
