by K. A. Linde
She rocked her body around and then screamed at the top of her lungs. The sound of the scream made him wrench his head up to look at her. His eyes were dark and empty. Her blood dripped down his fangs, over his chin, and fell down onto her chest. He was a predator, an animal, and the sight terrified her more than she ever thought it would.
Reyna scrambled away from him and off the bed. She grabbed for her clothes and started putting them on before she even thought another second about what she was doing.
Her mind wasn’t just fuzzy. It was dizzy and delirious. She didn’t know what to think. All she knew was that he was going to kill her. He hadn’t stopped, and he was going to kill her.
He seemed to come back to himself for a split second when he saw her rushing into clothes.
“Reyna?” he said, his voice low and dangerous.
She was shaking from head to toe. “You were going to kill me.”
“I wasn’t…”
“I trusted you,” she whispered, her voice breathy.
She wanted to believe him in that moment, that the monster was gone, that her Beckham was back. She wanted to trust that this was a mistake, and all would be right, but how could she forget that he had been feeding off of her like food…like his prey. He hadn’t wanted her for anything more than food. She had sworn to herself she trusted him to stop…but he wasn’t going to. Only her screams had jolted him back to reality…and even then the monster was still brimming under the surface.
Chapter 34
Reyna stumbled out of Beckham’s room and toward the elevator. She had no plan in mind. Terror pricked at her, and it was the only thing fueling her forward. She was shaky. Her body disagreed with every movement. She felt like she could sleep for days, but the desire to run, run far away, kept urging her on.
The elevator door was closing just as she saw Beckham’s face appear. He slammed his hand in the slit before the doors closed and they wrenched back open. She screamed at his appearance. Still completely nude, blood running down his chin and chest. He looked ferocious and deadly.
“Beckham, please,” she muttered.
“I wasn’t going to hurt you. You have to know,” he said.
“I don’t know.” Her body trembled. “You weren’t going to stop. You could have killed me.”
“It was a mistake. Reyna, forgive me,” he ground out, reaching for her.
She stepped back against the elevator wall and shrank from his touch. “You were right. You are a monster.”
Beckham recoiled at that word and removed his hand from the elevator doors. They closed on his hurt face and she heard his fist slam on the closed doors. Her heart rate picked up, and she had to hold on to the railing to keep herself steady.
When the elevator opened, she lurched forward through the lobby. She tottered and floundered until she made it through the glass sliding doors. Some part of her mind realized she was making a spectacle of herself, but she couldn’t seem to care.
As she stepped out into the daylight, she blinked back tears from the intense sun. She needed somewhere to go and collect her thoughts…try not to move. God, this moving thing was horrible. So much of her body was screaming to slow down, but the rest was telling her to run. It made her head throb.
“Reyna!” Everett called.
She turned toward the voice and blundered forward into him. “Everett.”
He caught her easily. “Hey, are you all right?”
“Yeah…I guess,” she slurred.
“You’re bleeding.” He touched her neck tenderly and she winced. She hadn’t even realized she was still bleeding. Everett’s face darkened, as he seemed to piece everything together. “Did he do this?”
“Oh,” she mumbled. She placed her hand on her throat and when she looked at it, it came back red. “Yeah.”
“I’ve never seen you like this,” he said softly, concerned. “You’re really out of it, Reyna. Does it normally work this way?”
She shrugged and teetered forward. “I don’t know.”
He furrowed his brow at her answer, but let it go. “You look fucked out of your mind. Where the hell were you going in your condition?”
Reyna shrugged her shoulders again. “Away. I need to think…”
“You’re not going to think doped up on a vamp bite. Christ, how much did he take?”
“More than he should have,” she said with an uncontrollable giggle.
“Look, we need to get you cleaned up and somewhere where you can come down from this shit. Come with me. My shift is almost over. I can leave now,” he told her.
Everett put a comforting arm around her waist and helped her to his Mustang. He ran back to the front to tell his manager that he had to head out a little early and then they were zipping through the city. They reached his apartment a short while later. Reyna’s head was drooping forward into her chest by the time they arrived. She could barely keep her eyes open. Her mind was muddled as if she was trudging through a swamp.
He unlocked the front door and she sprawled onto the floor in a heap. She opened her mouth to say something, but she felt herself slipping toward unconsciousness.
“It’s okay,” she heard someone say to her through the murkiness in her mind. “I’ve got you.”
Then it all went dark.
* * *
—
Reyna woke up in a daze. She reached out blindly and all she felt was some kind of scratchy surface. She opened her eyes and groaned as she hoisted herself into a sitting position. She stared around at her surroundings in confusion. It was dark outside so she couldn’t make out much in the room, but she was on a couch in a very strange place. Definitely not Beckham’s penthouse.
She placed her head in her hands and tried to remember what the hell had happened. Everything was fuzzy, and she struggled to recall anything. Or where the hell she was.
“You’re awake,” Everett said, walking into the room.
She glanced up at him and sighed. At least she was in a safe place. “What happened?”
“I hoped you’d tell me.”
Reyna shook her head. “I don’t know. Why am I here?”
Everett frowned. “You came out of the apartment building high as a kite from a vampire bite, with blood running down your neck. I staunched the blood and put a bandage on for you after you passed out.”
She gasped and touched the bandage on her neck. Everything seemed to slowly come back to her. The rally, the accusation at Visage, Beckham admitting he was a rebel and that he had used Penelope as a cover story, sex, the bite…
The bite.
“He bit me,” she whispered.
“I gathered that much.”
“He lost control when we were…” She stopped that sentence and flushed. Sex with Beckham had been incredible. Just thinking about it made her body heat up at the remembered feeling of his body on hers.
“Right,” Everett said, looking away. “Doesn’t he do that all the time? Isn’t that your job after all? I always thought it was supposed to be safe and controlled for Visage employees.”
Reyna stared down at the beige carpet and sighed. “That was the first time.”
“Doing what? Having sex?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No. Well…yes. That too. But it was the first time he bit me.” She laughed humorlessly. “I guess technically second time.”
“You’ve been here for a month.”
“I know.”
“What the hell have you been doing all this time?”
She shrugged. “Nothing. Today was the first day.”
She felt weird telling him this. She hadn’t told anyone but her brothers that Beckham hadn’t ever drank from her. It felt like a secret he liked to keep hidden so she didn’t flaunt it. She had assumed he was drinking from Penelope this whole time…and he probably had been trying to quell
his cravings. That was probably why he’d bitten her at the Vault in the first place.
“Why wouldn’t he drink from you? You’re the same blood type, right?”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “O negative. I guess he was afraid something like this would happen.”
She gestured to her neck and waves of remorse washed over her. She shouldn’t have run out like that. It had been as if she couldn’t help it. Her first instinct had been to run and that was exactly what she had done.
“Did he…come after me, by any chance?” she asked softly.
Everett shrugged. “I don’t know. We left as soon as you came downstairs.”
“He’s probably beating himself up right now.”
Fuck, the elevator. She was just remembering what had happened. Had she called him a monster? How could she do that? He wasn’t a monster. She needed to make this right. She stood on wobbly legs. She was feeling better after sleeping for however long she had been out, but she needed to get back to Beckham now.
“He probably should be.”
“No,” she disagreed. “I trusted him to not go further, and I told him I trusted him. But he had trouble stopping. He told me ahead of time that my blood smelled too good. That’s what the vampire we met in the alley said too.”
“Really?” Everett asked. He furrowed his brow. “I’ve never heard of that before.”
“Yeah. It made it hard for him to stop.”
“So, just like that you’re going to go back? After he almost killed you?”
Everett’s voice was low and pained. He clearly hated this line of discussion. He wouldn’t even look at her. He was staring down at his phone. She knew that she could never make him understand.
“He didn’t mean any of that,” she insisted. “He lost control. He wasn’t trying to hurt me. My fight-or-flight reaction kicked in and I ran without thinking. He followed me to the elevator and said it was a mistake. Now that I’ve come down from what happened, I know he was right. I actually said some pretty horrible things.” She winced as the memory hit her fresh again. A monster. Christ.
“I think you should stay here a little longer, Reyna,” Everett said. His eyes finally met hers, and he looked sad. “I’m not trying to push you, but what you went through was pretty traumatic. Maybe you should give yourself time to heal and process.”
Did she need time to process? Sure, having Beckham lose control had been scary. It had made her freak out. But he had said it was a mistake and she believed him. She had been too freaked out to see beyond her own fear to his sincerity. She shouldn’t have let Everett lead her away. She should have gone to the park and then come back a couple minutes later to discuss what had happened. Instead she had barely made it inside Everett’s apartment before passing out.
“I’m fine,” she said finally. She started toward the door, finding her balance along the way.
“You might be,” he conceded. “Physically at least, but that doesn’t mean your mind is. I remember my bite. My body recovered, but I was still fucked up in here.” He reached out and touched her temple.
“I’m fine,” she repeated. “Really. I know Beckham isn’t going to hurt me, and I want to let him know that I know that.”
“I hate to say this, Reyna. I really do. But have you considered the fact that you have Stockholm Syndrome?”
Reyna’s mouth dropped open. He thought that she cared for Beckham because she was his prisoner? “I’m not crazy!”
“Come on. Isn’t it worth considering? It’s the same kind of situation. He takes you off the streets, gives you everything you could want except your freedom. Then the first time he hurts you, you go running back to your cage hoping he’ll forgive you for leaving and wanting to make sure he’s okay?”
“No! I’m not considering that.” She refused. This was ridiculous. She had left. She had walked out of his apartment. She had tried to go back to her life with her brothers, but she couldn’t. She didn’t feel like his prisoner, and she hadn’t in a long time.
“He took you in, almost killed you, and now you want to go back without even stopping to think about it?”
Reyna narrowed her eyes. “Beckham isn’t a bad guy. He just lost control this one time.”
“What happens the next time he loses control?” he asked, staring her down. “Do you wind up dead instead of just drugged?”
“No. He would never do that!”
Reyna crossed her arms. She didn’t have to listen to this. All she wanted to do was get back to Beckham. Everett’s words were laced with jealousy or prejudice or whatever the hell his problem was. But he didn’t know Beckham. He wasn’t like all the other vampires she had met. One bad action didn’t make him bad.
“I hope you’re right.” Everett rested his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. “I don’t want to argue with you. I just want you to be safe. I’m not sure Beckham is going to keep you safe.”
“Well, you don’t know him.”
Reyna pushed his arm away and walked toward the door. His time was up. The panic in his eyes about her leaving wasn’t helping anything. She was going to leave whether he thought it was a good idea or not.
Everett stepped in front of her. “Reyna…”
“Take me back to Beckham’s or get out of my way.”
“You can’t leave.”
She glared at him. “Like hell I can’t!”
She tried to push past him, but he grabbed her hands in his and shoved her backward. She stumbled a few steps. Her feet nearly left the floor but she righted herself. Her eyes rose to Everett’s in confusion. He had pushed her!
“Reyna, I’m sorry. I want you to stop and think about this.”
“I appreciate you taking care of me. I do. But I won’t let Beckham think I’m angry when I’m not. And you can’t stand in my way of doing that.”
“I understand,” he said. His shoulders slumped and he looked resolved. “But it’s almost curfew…”
“Why are you stalling?” she asked.
“Stalling?”
“If you’re not stalling, then let me leave.”
Just as the words left her mouth, the door burst open. Reyna screamed as a group of men in all black stormed the apartment. Everett lay sprawled on the carpet, but they paid him no mind at all. Two of them rushed straight toward Reyna. She screamed again and tried to run away from them, but she was both uncoordinated and slow with the aftereffect of the bite still in her system. She tried to fight the guys off, but she had no luck.
“Everett!” she cried. Tears streamed down her face in a panic.
“This her?” one of the guys addressed Everett.
He stood smoothly from the floor and dusted off his black shirt. He nodded once. “That’s her.”
“What the hell? Everett?” she asked, shocked and confused. What the hell was happening? Were they speaking to him? Why were they holding her?
“Reyna, I’m sorry,” Everett said softly.
Her arms were jerked behind her and knotted in place with a heavy black cord.
“Everett, please!” she pleaded. Tears streamed down her face. She couldn’t believe this was happening. “Did you do this? Who are these people? What are they going to do with me?”
He stepped in front of her and their eyes met. “I regret that you had to be involved, Reyna. But it’s for the benefit of everyone.”
“What is? Please, no. No. You can’t do this. Let me go!” she screamed.
“Take her out, guys,” Everett said.
Reyna let loose a bloodcurdling scream. It was cut off mid-scream as one of the guys behind her landed a swift blow to the back of her head. Her mind went hazy again.
“Beckham,” she whispered before she blacked out.
Chapter 35
Drip. Drip. Drip.
What was that noise?
Beep. Beep.
Beep.
Reyna took in a shuddering breath, but it made her head pound. Everything made her head hurt. In fact, her whole body ached.
She tilted her head back and rested it on a cushion. Slowly, she dragged her eyes open. It felt like only seconds ago when she’d had to force herself to open her eyes in a strange place, but she was certain she had never been here. Wherever here was.
It was a white room. In fact, it reminded her of the Visage hospital she had first walked into when this nightmare had begun. Her pulse quickened with her anxiety and the beeping next to her increased in tempo.
Yes. This felt like a hospital.
The beeping was her heartbeat.
The drip…
She glanced over and realized that an IV was hooked into her arm. At least she had been asleep for that. She gagged at the sight of it and turned away. Her fear of needles hadn’t abated even with her recent bites.
She forced herself to look back at the IV, and she tried to claw it out of her arm. She doubled over at the sight of the thing. It was too much.
Where the hell was she? Who had taken her? Why was she here? When would she see Beckham again? She had an endless array of questions.
The sound of the door handle turning pulled her from her depressing thoughts. The person who stepped into the room made her start. She never would have guessed.
“Mr. Harrington?” she asked.
She wanted to feel relaxed in his presence, but she remembered the evil glint in his eye. The thirst for power. The need to be in charge. He was a man not to be reckoned with, and she had no idea why she had drawn his attention.
“Hello, my dear.”
“What am I doing here? Please, let me go,” she stammered.
“Ah, ah, ah. I believe you have something of mine.”
She stared dumbfounded. “I don’t have anything.”
“Now, we both know that’s not true. Don’t we?”
