Page 9 of Captive Hybrid

Godric glances at a watch on his wrist. ‘Until nightfall.’ His eyes gleam. ‘Then I get to feed.’

My stomach heaves and I clamp down on the ‘ew’ comment. No need to annoy him. Perhaps my next guard will be more forthcoming.

‘He won’t.’ Godric says, amused, as though reading the hope on my face. ‘Callen probably won’t tell you anything, unless he’s describing how he would like to eat you. He’s… uncivilised like that.’ He gives a little shrug as though he were talking about someone who always leaves dishes piled in the sink. A minor annoyance.

I swallow. ‘But he… won’t? Right?’

The vampire leans closer to the bars. ‘Don’t give him a chance.’ A hundred more questions push at my mind, but Godric shakes his head. ‘Get some rest.’ His tone is bored. Someone who wants to get back to reading their book. I know the feeling.

I wake up, feeling as though I’ve been hit in the head with a baseball bat. My whole body is covered in a thick layer of sticky sweat, grease coating my hair. In the first few moments, as I wake, I feel the presence of a wolf. Someone close. As though watching over me. It might be the lingering concussion, but I can almost feel the words.

Zenna. I’m here—Can you—can you hear me?

I sit bolt upright with a gasp. Surely, a fever dream.

‘Arise, Restless Beauty.’ A strange voice says, just beyond the boundary of my world. ‘Well, the beauty might be an overstatement. You’re a little, uh, wet-looking.’

My glassy eyes find the source of the voice. A thinner man—vampire—than Godric stands in his place. This man is a little shorter, pale and slimmer, though a thin layer of muscle covers his bare arms. He presses up against the bars and makes a show of sniffing me.

‘Maybe I could let you have a shower,’ he taunts. ‘If you let me help. Just a bite… or two.’

I cringe away, pressing my back against the far, earthen wall. ‘Let me guess. Callen?’

A feral grin splits his face. ‘Oh, my, I do like when my reputation precedes me.’

‘I was warned that your company would be less than pleasant.’ I let my words whip out, though I’m still blinking away the fever dream and Mordecai’s voice.

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