Page 59 of Captive Hybrid

He raises a hand, silencing me. ‘Hush, pet, I’m talking. Do you have any idea what Drusilla will do when she finds out?’ A wicked gleam shines in his eyes. ‘It is going to be a bloodbath. My favourite kind,’ he adds. ‘She has a whole network of witches, humans and vampires down here ordered to keep tabs on you at all times, and here you are, sneaking off in the middle of the night, like a dog off its leash.’

Dread coils in my stomach. ‘Please just let me go. She won’t know it was you—’

‘Ah,’ he waves me down. ‘I’m her favourite. I could drain you dry in front of her and I’d get a slap on the wrist. Or, you know, a more fun punishment.’ He winks at me, and I cringe. Amusement curdles into seriousness. ‘Aidan and Evelyn were supposed to watch you.’

Cold grips my chest. ‘Drusilla will punish them?’ I breathe.

Callen twists his lips. ‘Perhaps not. Aidan doesn’t drink. Only thing I don’t like about the guy. But I bumped into him earlier. Those wounds, they’re not from Evelyn, are they?’ He eyes my vines. ‘Naughty little fae creatures, injuring one of our pets.’ He tsks me. ‘It… could be believable that you attacked him in order to get away.’

I blink. ‘What… why would you do that?’

Callen tilts his head, staring at me in the gloom. ‘I like chaos,’ he says, weighing his words. ‘But Godric will have my head if Dru chucks a tantrum. And I don’t like the idea of Evelyn and Aidan being punished.’ He leans back and gestures up the stairs. ‘Go on, pet. You’re no good to us as a captive. I’ll handle Dru.’

My jaw drops.

Callen huffs a smile. ‘I expect you to remember I did this for you.’

I take a tentative step forward. ‘Are you messing with me?’

‘Usually, I would, yes. But this time, no.’ He smirks. ‘Go on, up you go.’ He grabs my wrist as I approach. ‘One little condition.’

I blanch, trying to break his grip. I can feel the iron in the air, the ground. It pulls at my energy like a vacuum. ‘What?’ I snap, his grip vice-like.

His eyes gleam. ‘A little taste.’

I flinch back. ‘Get away from me—’

His grip hardens. ‘Not too much. Just a mouthful.’ He raises my wrist to his mouth.

I try to urge my vines toward him, but the iron in the ground seems to suck my fae powers, that energy. I clap my hand over my mouth to stifle the yelp as he bites down on my wrist. Twin bolts of pain lance through me, then as he sucks, the pain increases until I’m wriggling away desperately.

Goddess, how can Will and Aidan stand this?

Pain burns through me, unlike anything I’ve ever felt. His fangs seem to pierce my veins, muscles, my very bones until I taste blood in my mouth from biting my lip so hard to keep from screaming.

Finally, I feel Callen’s fangs retract, sliding slowly out of my ravaged skin. I whimper as a wave of dizziness crashes over me. The vampire catches me smoothly as he gives a low, breathless chuckle. ‘That might have been slightly more than a mouthful. You are delicious.’

I whimper, trying to push away from him.

‘Shush, pet.’ He hauls me up into his arms. ‘I can taste the lack of vitamin D in you. Let’s get you some sunshine.’

I feel the steady rock and sway of his body against mine as he ascends the stairs with me in his arms. I float in and out of consciousness, only aware that I should be running away from the vampire whose arms are around me. But his hold is surprisingly gentle. Firm, but not tight at all. I stare up at him. ‘Why…?’

Callen smiles down at me, my own blood shining on his lips. ‘Learn this, little hybrid, everyone has their own agenda. It suits me to keep you alive and out of here.’ He pushes the door open, and a wave of fresh. Air. Washes over me. And something light and wet splatters my face. Rain.

A low, guttural growl sounds close by, then something attacks, and we’re pushed to the ground in a pile of limbs and fur.

In Callen’s arms, I topple to the ground along with the vampire. But he gets up, fast, springing to his feet with a growl, fangs snapping out, my blood dripping from his canines.

Disoriented from the blood loss and the hit, I lay on my back, blinking up at the canopy of trees, the stars winking through the gaps. I lay for a long moment, my bitten wrist aching. I don’t remember choosing to close my eyes. Only how much I enjoy the fresh air after all this time.

Someone shakes my shoulders with rough urgency. ‘Zenna!’

The pain of Callen’s bite comes rushing back. I flinch, trying to set my arms behind me so that I can scramble away, but I yelp as I try to put weight on my still-bleeding wrist.

‘Hey, hey.’ Jana wraps her arms around me fiercely. ‘It’s okay, it’s me.’

Blonde-pink hair shines in the dim moonlight filtering through the branches like ghostly fingers reaching out. Through the strands of her hair, I catch a pair of silver eyes. Mordecai in wolf-form, snarling and snapping at Callen, Vale by his side on all fours.

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