Page 127 of Blood and Bonbons

I felt the weight of his disappointment in that single glance.

“Would you have believed me if I’d marched into your office and said that I suspected Sierra kidnapped my brother? Because I wouldn’t have believed me. She had no reason to. Honestly, I thought we were just going to find out where she got her tattoo and go there to start asking questions. I didn’t think she’d have him tied to her chair in her spare room.”

I could tell by Shepard’s expression that he believed Vena, and he didn’t like it.

“From now on, come to me. No matter how unbelievable it might be, I’ll do my best to believe you.”

Rather than make any promises we both knew she wouldn’t keep, she turned to look at Miles.

“What are you going to do with Sierra?” I asked, hoping to distract Shepard from the fact that Vena hadn’t given her word.

“We’ll keep her somewhere safe. Vampires are proprietary about their feeders, and I’m hoping hers will come looking for her. Until then, we’re calling in backup. D.C. isn’t as clean as it should be, and we need to do something about it before it gets worse. If we kill the vampire controlling her, Sierra will be free to go. Until then, we’ll keep taking care of her.”

“Shit,” Vena breathed. “Look at his neck.”

She pulled back Miles’ collar, and I moved closer to look at the twin holes there.

“Is someone controlling him, too?” I asked.

Shepard studied Miles for a quiet moment. “It’s hard to say. A single feeding doesn’t necessarily mean a vampire has control. We’ll need to keep an eye on him for a while.”

“I wish I understood why Sierra kidnapped him in the first place,” Vena said.

“Research,” Miles breathed. “Tired.”

Vena gave a shout of joy when he spoke. She hugged him hard.

“I think it’s safe to move him now,” Shepard said. “Let's get you home.”

CHAPTERTWENTY

Miles satat our dining room table as I finished preparing soup. He looked like he’d lost ten pounds since I last saw him. His unhealthy pale skin accentuated the dark circles under his eyes.

“Soup?” Fully lucid, Miles made a face as I set a bowl in front of him.

I sat across from him and gave him my no-nonsense stare.

“You said Sierra kept you drugged the entire time and can only remember being fed twice.” He didn’t remember being fed on, but I didn’t bring that up. “Yes, soup. You’ve lost a lot of weight and are probably starving for something substantial, but your stomach won’t know what to do with it, and you’ll make yourself sick. So, eat the soup.”

He looked to Vena for support, but she shook her head. “Everly’s soup is a cure-all. Trust her. Trust the process. You’re still pale, and listening to you heave will break my heart.”

He grumbled but dipped the spoon into the soup. We waited until he was finished eating before asking more questions.

A few had already been answered before we left Sierra’s place, like where his car had gone. Shepard’s guys had found it in Sierra’s garage, which Vena used to drive Miles to our house. But we still didn’t know how Sierra had managed to kidnap him in the first place.

Vena and I needed answers, especially after what we had been through to find him.

“How do you even know Sierra?” Vena asked.

“I don’t know her. Not really. Before you came home with that ring, I’d gotten a lead on some research I was doing. Spawn connected me with Sierra. Since she’s human, I thought she was relatively safe enough, so we scheduled to meet at my place.”

“I remember opening the door for her and then…” He shook his head. “Next thing I knew, I was drugged and tied to a chair.”

“Spawn connected you?” Vena bristled at the information. “Iaskedhim if he knew anything.”

“What happens at the Shadow Market stays at the Shadow Market.” Miles gave a weary grin. “You know not to trust any of them. I’d grown too comfortable with Spawn and forgot that lesson. A vampire must have paid him really well for him to stab me in the back like that.”

Vena got up from the table to pace.

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