Page 81 of Rejected Exile

Demetri murmurs, "Still, seeing is believing, isn't it? We can't exactly bring her to the quorum without confirmation. Especially now that so many of our brethren have risked so much and lost their literal limbs in the service of taking her."

Ambrosia snorts. "Very well. But it will be on your head if any harm comes to her before they're able to get their hands on her."

"Everything is onmyhead."

My mind tries to make sense of their squabbling, but the only word I know the reference to isquorum.That's the governing body of vampires in the Americas and outlying islands. They're a kind of oversight, keeping certain members in check and negotiating with other creatures and humans alike.

Why they would be interested in me, I have no idea. All I'm sure of is that my freedom is a few yards away—so close I can taste it. And the last thing I want is to stay in the arms of this jackass, with his pencil-thin erection poking against my ass cheek.

So I relax in his arms intentionally, letting my weight drag down. In the same moment he pulls my neck towards his mouth, and his fangssnikout.

I take in a breath as they pierce my skin, tensing my muscles. Venom courses through me—enough to numb my skin and neck.

Demetri makes a noise of pleasure as my blood hits his tongue.

If there's one thing I know about vampires, it's this: they're never more vulnerable than when drinking blood.

Also, they have all the same parts and weakness as humans, even though they recover from mortal wounds more easily. So I guess I know two things.

As Demetri's hands relax their grip on me, I ease my hips away to make space between us, then take my right fist andpunchhard behind me, right towards his crotch.

He groans and jerks back in sudden pain. Hopefully, his balls are currently shrinking up into his body and his dick is wilting like an overripe banana.

I don't pause to find out how much of it he feels. With a rush of triumph, I run directly towards the trees in the distance, pushing myself to the very limits of my body so I get as much speed as possible.

My legs fly. The ground barely touches me. I grin as I get within a yard of the trees, then a few feet, then one foot—I take my final step.

An invisible barrier surges up to meet me and throws me back.

As I'm thrown from my home, my territory, my pack, and the men I just saved—none of whom, I'm realizing with a sick punch, are actuallymine—I feel the rush of cruel wind in my ears. Then the ground meets me, and I groan in pain, eyes squeezing shut.

How cruel, to have forgotten for a moment what I am.

Rejected. Exiled. Unwanted.

Unwelcome.

"How nice," says Ambrosia's smug voice from above my head, "the mutts come with their own built-in return delivery system."

This time, when I'm grabbed by a hand at my throat and fangs sink into my neck, I let it happen.

At least I manage to close my eyes so I can fall asleep as the paralysis takes my body.

* * *

I wake sometime later with a pounding headache. Jeers and laughter greet my ears. Groaning, I force open my eyes and blink in late-morning sunlight.

Somehow I've been out of it for hours.

And now I'm in a totally new location. I no longer smell or hear trees in the distance, or feel the call of the earth beneath me. Old blood hits my nose, and I blink to see pale ashen faces all around me.

One of them is smirking down at me from above, hands around my wrists, dragging me on my back across carved stone flooring. A male with dark hair and a small goatee—not Demetri, but one of the others who was with him when I found Kieran.

"Good, you're awake." He grins without humor as I stare up at him—then past him, into the sky. "Just in time. Not that it wouldn't have been fun to watch the thing eat you alive, but I always enjoy a good sport."

I can't work my mouth well enough to get out a retort, and my head is pounding too much to think of one. Numbness still tingles in my body from the waist down and the shoulders up, but I'm able to bring my head up until I'm staring at my surroundings.

I'm in the middle of some kind of old, Roman-style indoor-slash-outdoor arena. The pale vampiric faces I saw earlier are sitting on rows of curved seating above me. Columns stretch above my head towards the sky, while an open dome lets in the sunlight. My shoes bounce against pits and gouges in stone, suggesting this place has seen a good deal of wear and tear.

---