Page 24 of Bitten By Desire

Maybe I hated the woman, but I cringed at the thought of what that might look like.

“Okay. How do we get out of here?” I asked. “They put the room on lockdown.”

“You’d need a portal for that, I’m afraid.” She smiled, gleeful at my distress.

I looked to Julian and grabbed his hand to speak privately. Can you try to reach Zoe?

He nodded and started searching the other people for cell phones, finally digging one out of someone’s pocket.

“Do you know who killed my mother?” I asked her.

“No.”

“Do you know who killed the board member?” I asked.

“Not yet.”

I paused. That meant she had something she was working on. A lead, perhaps. “Does Lorraine work for MorningStar?” I asked, recalling the small potion bottles that matched those in the lab.

“No.” The major’s strength was waning as her head lulled to the side.

“Stay awake. How did she get samples of the elixirs?” I pressed.

She licked her lips, her eyes half closed. “I don’t know. I didn’t think she knew who we were.”

“I couldn’t get through. They’re jamming the cell signals,” Julian reported from my side.

“What do we do?” I asked, panic starting to kick in once again.

“They brought us in through a portal,” he said, looking toward the door. “We need to use the major here to get back to it.”

I stepped back as Julian bit into his own wrist and tipped a bit of the blood into her mouth. I noticed it wasn’t much.

“Keep quiet,” I said immediately. “And do what we say. Don’t give us away.”

She sat up as the wound in her neck stitched itself back together, and she winced.

“You will help us get Binx and then get to the portal,” I said. “Call off the lockdown and pretend we’re prisoners. Do not follow us or remember where we went, just go back to the lab, and sit there until someone comes and gets you.”

The lascivious grin on her face sent alarm bells blaring through my brain.

“Tell me why you’re smiling,” I demanded.

“The incubus is under heavy guard, and the time it will take to retrieve him will cost you your attempt at escape.” She spit the words at me like darts, and they hurt just as much.

“We can’t leave him,” I said to Julian.

“Let’s get you to safety, then I will retrieve him.”

He made it sound like no problem, but when I looked—really looked at him, I could see that, despite the smoothing of his external injuries and brief reprieve from Marcia’s blood, something wasn’t right. His skin had sallowed already, and when I pressed a hand to his cheek, he felt cool. What he’d been through had been beyond torture, and he was trying to act like it was nothing. But the blood he’d taken had already been used by his system to heal him.

“Look at me, Julian,” I said softly. He turned, and his eyes had dulled to pale blue.

My heart pounded as I made a quick decision. “Take us to the portal without Binx.” We’d come back with reinforcements if possible. I’d get him out somehow, but first I had to get Julian back to normal.

The major wobbled on her heeled feet but obeyed my commands. She tried to put silver cuffs on Julian, but I made her use iron. I didn’t care if it tipped anyone off, I couldn’t stomach him coming into contact with any more of the horrible stuff.

“Just keep your head down and wrists lowered,” I told him, then turned to Marcia. “And you, take us on the least-populated path.”

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