Page 96 of Rogue Wolf

A few orange lights glowed between boarded-up windows on the paneled wall, equally spaced to push away the shadows. Aboveground once more, Kodiak could tell it was nighttime.

“Should I tell you to take me outside? I need to piss.” He could do with the feel of the moon on his skin, to combat the permanent ache of the metal. That and maybe a chance to escape.

It was a long shot, but you never knew.

“Shut it,” hissed one of the vampires.

The last thing Kodiak wanted to do was invoke their wrath, but he needed to. He opened his mouth, ready for another snarky comment. “I’m not going to just stand around, chained up like a pet.”

One made to speak when he stopped and turned.

A movement in his peripheral vision caught Kodiak’s attention. He turned his head, too.

Then he caught her scent, sweet and fresh and his, and his worst fear came true.

Tamaska had come.

CHAPTER 25

Tamaska

Pain flooded her heart as she caught sight of Kodiak standing there naked, clearly weakened.

He struggled to stand and there were marks all over him, bruises blooming on his ribs and cuts, too.

A wild anger whipped through her and she wanted to destroy these creatures who’d dared hurt him. She wanted to go to him and wrap herself around him, holding him, as if her touch could somehow heal him.

Or she could protect him.

Tamaska forced herself to stand there, keep her face as neutral as possible, but one of the vampires started to laugh as he caught her eye.

“Sweet on the doggie, are you? Pathetic.”

“Watch it,” Amdis said to the vamp from behind her.

She didn’t turn. If she did, she’d be laying hands on him and even if it was in anger, she feared that would be enough to give them what they wanted.

Because so far they hadn’t touched her. Not yet. And maybe for what they were to do, they needed her to initiate it.

She squeezed her hands into tight balls and whispered, “Kodiak.”

One of his eyes was bruised, his cheek grazed, and he was still the most handsome man she’d ever seen. Even weak, he was strong.

Because roles reversed she didn’t think she’d be standing, when they—

Tamaska frowned. Her man barely stood on his own, yet his wrists were bound by a thin chain by the vampires. And…he wasn’t fighting.

What the hell had they done? “Kodiak…”

He lifted his head and through it all the faint glitter of his eyes, the anger she was there, the heat and desire for her; the defiance at these monsters for keeping him like an animal. Less than an animal. It was all there and it almost undid her. Because even she could see how close he was to being broken, how his sheer stubborn will and resilient strength of character kept him in one piece.

Tamaska pushed down her rising emotions. She had to keep her wits about her. Because one wrong move and all would be lost.

She was just human, no matter what genes lay latent in her blood, but even she could sense that.

She turned so she was face-to-face with Amdis. And she lifted her chin. “We had a deal.”

“And you’re here,” he said.

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