Page 1 of Kidnapping Their Third

Chapter 1

Cora

“I’m going to end you!” Cora shouted at the mostly closed bedroom door. It was an empty threat, but she felt better for having stated her intentions.

She’d already searched the sparse bedroom for weapons but came up with nothing. Who didn't at least keep a baseball bat next to the bed or a knife in the nightstand drawer? But no, there wasn’t even an en suite bathroom where she’d be able to use the heavy ceramic toilet tank lid as a bludgeoning tool.

Creeping up to the door, she peeked out the sliver-sized opening. The hulking shadow beyond hadn’t moved since the last time she looked. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was a statue. The only thing that moved at all were those blood-red eyes. They slid over to meet hers without his head shifting. The guy's absolute stillness was freakish.

Considering what was going on, she wished his ability to be perfectly stationary was the strangest thing he did. Unfortunately, both the odd eye color and preternatural stillness ranked low on the list of inexplicable things. Much higher was the man's ability to shift into a griffin and fly away with her clutched in his claws!

“No one’s going to believe me,” she muttered, thinking about her father and brothers. If she had her cell, she’d call them, and they’d come in with guns blazing. Even if they thought she was crazy to talk about vampires and shape changers, theywouldn’t hesitate. Not that she should need rescuing—she was a badass bitch who wasn’t afraid of anyone.

Except that wasn’t exactly true anymore. After watching a vampire rip a man in half with his bare hands as easily as she’d tear a sheet of paper, she was scared. Even worse, that same vampire was the one standing in the living room.

Running her fingers through her black hair, she tugged hard at the ends. At least Imani knew she’d been abducted by the red-eyed vampire. Imani was her best friend and a vampire too, so she could stand up to him, right?

Except Imani was a young vampire, and this guy was obviously old and powerful. Even if Imani found this apartment, she could end up getting seriously hurt trying to rescue Cora. Maybe even killed.

Cora pulled her hair forward, covering her vision with black and purple strands. “This is a fucking mess.”

For a full minute she let self-pity take over. The bedroom window was boarded up. Even if she could get a board free, she was on the third or fourth story. Despite what action movies might have audiences believe, climbing down the side of an apartment building wasn’t an option, not even if she tied the bed sheets together to make a rope.

Another wave of hopelessness hit her hard. This was not how she wanted to die. “There’s nothing I can do.”

No sooner did that thought cross her mind than she got angry. Yes, anger was much better than fear or self-pity.

“What am I doing, standing around feeling sorry for myself and waiting to be rescued?” she asked the empty room, squaring her shoulders and dropping her hands to her hips. Lifting her head, she swung her hair out of her face and looked at the door.

“I’m going to walk out that door and leave,” she stated, as if she hadn’t already tried to do that multiple times.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open. This time, she didn’t edge around the vampire or walk past pretending not to see him; she sprinted. The figure followed her with his eyes but didn’t move otherwise. She couldn’t be sure he was even breathing. Maybe she could take him by surprise and be out of the apartment before he had a chance to act.

Her hopefulness did nothing and this attempt at escape ended the same way as the previous one.

She was almost to the front door when he was suddenly a blur of movement. One moment he was standing in the center of the room like a red-eyed statue, and the next he was in front of her with no change of expression at all. He picked her up, effortlessly carrying her back into the apartment's only bedroom. After setting her down, he took up his same position in the living room.

Once again, she was back in the bedroom with the door wide open and those red eyes trained on her.

“Fuck!” she screamed and punched the wall. Her fist went through the paper-thin drywall and scraped against a stud. Pulling her hand free, she saw blood flowing from her knuckles. Flexing her fingers, she noted nothing was broken, but now her knuckles hurt.

She was still looking at her bleeding skin when two larger hands went around hers. She watched as the vampire’s big hands cradled her hand like a wounded bird.

Looking up, she found his expression had finally changed. He looked worried.

“No hurt,” he whispered. “Please.”

Maybe he wasn’t waiting to make a snack out of her. Could he even care about her? She needed to leverage that.

“Will you let me leave?” she asked.

His expression went from worried to desolate. He looked like he might cry. “No leave me. No leave us.”

“Us?” she murmured, transfixed by his expressive face. “Who else lives here?”

“Me.” Both of them looked up to see David Pike, known as only Pike to his friends, standing in the open door of the apartment. Standing at six-foot-all-the-inches, the black hair on Pike’s head brushed the top of the doorway as he stepped through. His broad shoulders forced him to turn slightly to avoid bumping the sides of the doorway.

She’d gone out on a few dates with the giant man and found him gentle, kind, and unbelievably sexy. There had been instant sparks between the two of them and for the first time in years, she considered sleeping with someone. Maybe even risking a relationship.

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