Page 17 of The Blood Widow

It wasn’t just his words that gave me goosebumps. His deep lyrical voice was thrilling in the worst and best way.

“Wait. Look at her eyes, she didn’t mean to portal in,” one of the guards shouted.

The hand loosened. “What?”

My body shivered at the deep rumble of his voice. Oh, damn, who was this guy?

“My grandma was turned into a vampire, and she had the gift to portal. She’s not here anymore, but whenever she didn’t mean to travel somewhere, she’d get those eyes. It’s a punishment.” The speaker’s confidence wavered as he finally realized how angry this man was.

“Is that so? Was this attack unintended?” His voice sounded patronizing. So much for Grandma helping me.

“I honestly don’t know where I am.” I squeezed out the words through his grip on my neck.

The smells around the room were muffled as well, but I could tell the room was full of men. The scent of testosterone was thick.

The man laughed. "You expect me to believe you fell out of thin air, landing on one of the most powerful men in the city, by accident? I think not." He scoffed.

He wasn’t tooting his own horn. I could sense the power he had. The static in the air was almost enough to lift my hair.

A spike of fear coursed through me. I’ve been poked and tortured before, I refused to go through that again. I’d kill myself before I let that happen.

A chair screeched across the floor. I was lifted and tied up quicker than I thought possible. There must have been at leastten pairs of hands on me. All men. The testosterone made me choke. Being around this many men had my skin crawling.

“Now, you’re going to tell me who you work for?” the leader asked. He was so close I could feel his breath on my face.

“I bet it’s the Sinisters, sir,” one of the men said.

I couldn’t help but scrunch my face in disgust. I would never.

“That face says no, but we can’t be sure. Search her,” the leader barked. His tone had a wicked edge to it like he was daring me to fight back.

The hands groped me again, searching my pockets. Even my damn bra. I might have to kill that one.

“Don’t fucking molest her. Search her.” The lone female in the group chastised.

The groper grunted and backed up. “I’m sorry, miss.”

All right, so the female was younger but had power. It still could be the vamp royalty. I needed to?—

My ring slipped off my finger. I growled. “Hey, give that back, motherfucker,” I yelled and regretted it instantly. Damn it Novem, you know better than to show weakness. Now, they knew I cared about the ring. That was my link to Beaut, and I got protective of my friends. Being friendless was so much easier. When I cared for nothing and no one, I didn’t make mistakes.

The leader chuckled. “If you want this back, start talking.”

I sighed. My vision was coming back slowly. I could see shapes now. “I don’t work for anyone. I didn’t mean to come here. I don’t even know wherehereis.”

A strong hand gripped my face. “How could you not mean to? To create a portal, you need to know?—”

I cut him off by shaking my head, so he’d let me go. “Not for a pocket portaler. We can create them anytime and pretty much anywhere.”

Fabric swished and the shape in front of me moved. “From what I can remember, I’m pretty sure she’s telling the truth. Mygrandma appeared at the weirdest times, confused and blind, especially at the end.”

A few grumbles and curses, but the guy in front of me shook his head. The room wasn’t so dark anymore. “I don’t believe after what happened tonight, this is a coincidence.” He sighed. “Take my daughter to her room and get rid of our problem.”

A smaller shape came up next to the guy in front of me. My sense of smell was getting better. It was woodsy, with a hint of stone. Weird smelling those together. If they were vampires, it should smell more like dirt and blood. Vampires lived underground.

“Dad, no, you can’t just kill her because I was stupid,” the female said. I liked her.

Then, the next scent hit me. Fur… Shit. I made a mistake. Please don’t tell me that my portal took me to the Alpha’s fucking house.

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