Page 43 of Isabel and the Werewolf Beast

I crawled on my hands and knees into the larger cavern, gulping in the fresher air as though I’d feed on the oxygen. Firm hands hauled me to my feet. Lucian’s stern yet eerily handsome face swam before my eyes.

“I have questions for you.”

I wet my cracked lips. “Ask them.”

“Why are there broken items in the castle? Did you attack Isabel?”

“No. I never attacked her. I accidentally broke them trying to help her when the maze poisoned her.”

His head tilted to the side. “How did the maze poison her?”

“It came alive and sliced into her, the branches speared into her arms like hooks. I had to rip them from her body so I could carry her out.” I hung my head. “Please can I have water?”

He clicked his fingers. A hand appeared with a bottle of water. How hadn’t I noticed the other vampire? He faded back against the wall and seemed to blend into it.With shaking hands, I unscrewed the lid and sipped the water slowly so I wouldn’t bring it back up. My stomach gurgled reminding me it was empty and starving for food too.

“How long have I been down here?”

“A few days.”

“Why did you leave Isabel like that for so long? Or did you find Silas and her head?”

He released me from his tight grip and I fell to the floor. The bottle toppled from my hands, and I scooped it up in a rush so I didn’t lose any of the life-saving fluid.

“We didn’t find Silas.” He squatted in front of me.

“Let me go. I’ll find him. The moment I saw him holding Isabel’s head, I ingrained his scent into my soul.”

“I don’t believe him,” the other vampire said.

“Maximus, you saw the evidence.”

“I saw a ruined pile of books and a pair of curtains outside. Not to mention the Turkish rug and the Venetian glass,” Maximus said, moving out of the shadows and looming over me menacingly.

“Why are the books ruined?”

“It rains outside, dumbass.”

“No. Shit. Isabel will be upset. She loves her books.”

“See,” Lucian said. “He knows too much about Isabel for his story to be a lie.”

Maximus’s glare lessened, but the hostility was still there. “What do you comprehend about the curse?”

My stomach groaned, and I wrapped my arms around myself.

“Not much. We couldn’t work it out. It seemed to change the longer we were in here.”

“In what way,” Maximus asked.

“Every time Isabel walked inside the castle she’d become a ghost. She couldn’t touch anything and I couldn’t touch her, but she grew fainter each time until I forbade her to go inside.”

“You forbade her to go in her own home?” Lucian laughed. “I’m surprised she didn’t rip out your heart.”

“I think she liked it,” I said. The way the feisty woman had enjoyed me bossing her around for her safety had surprised me.

“You care about her,” Lucian stated.

My cheeks warmed. “I do.”

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