I shook out my shoulders as I rounded the first sedan, hating the cold cobwebs clinging to my skin. My heart hammered in my chest, my adrenaline spiking, prickling…
Turn around, a familiar voice called in the shadows of my mind.
My eyes widened, my body freezing at the warning.
This wasn’t about last night.
This was about right now.
I could feel it in my gut, in my blood.
My fingers shook as I gripped the keys. I held my breath, straining my ears for any movement.
A whisper of feet hissed behind me.
I whirled, jagged keys sticking out of my fist—
And smacked into a face I recognized. One with blue horns and malicious, yellowish-blue eyes.
Terror clanged through me—this close, in the stark white lights of the parking garage, I could tell the creep wasn’t wearing a mask. Then what the hell—
He sneered, batting away my second attempt at a swing as if I were nothing more than a fly. His grip was searing, grinding my bones together as he hauled me to him. I struggled, the breath freezing in my lungs as I thrashed and clawed. His grip only intensified, and he dragged me toward that sedan—
“No!” I screamed, managing to work some air into my lungs. “No!” Someone had to hear me. Someone had to be up here. Weren’t there cameras in garages like these? Some kind of security guard? I dug in my feet, bending my knees and flinging my arms toward my car’s doors, grabbing for a handle, anything that would stop the creep’s pace.
My fingernails scratched against the metal, cracking two of my nails with a sharp bite of pain.
The creep hissed again, releasing me so fast I smacked into my car. Relief pulsed through my blood as I got my feet under me, as I prepared to run—
A white-hot burst of pain radiated from the base of my skull to the crown of my head. Black spots dotted along my vision, my limbs instantly ten times heavier than they’d been seconds ago. I slumped against my car, the cold pavement jarring my skin as I fell in a heap near my tires.
Black bled into my vision, a thick layer of fog as I fought to get my hands to work.
The creep stood over me, his blue horns glistening in the flickering lights above.
I blinked, my lids heavy, my heart racing and stuttering as if it didn’t know whether to go incredibly fast or incredibly slow.
He reached for me, his fingernails black and filed to razor-sharp points.
I fumbled in my mind, searching through the sticky syrup for the use of my arms.
He screeched, his head flying upward, those black eyes looking above and behind me. I couldn’t move to follow his gaze, couldn’t think, couldn’t blink.
One second he was there, the next, he wasn’t.
Scuffling sounded behind me.
Grunts and wails and growls.
My lids were lead weights.
My heart slowed.
A squelching sound.
Silence.
The deep-sea of my mind pulled me under like a heavy curtain, sinking until there was nothing but suffocating black.
Normally, when I passed out face first in whatever ancient book I was studying for my doctorate, I awoke with my mouth as dry and dusty as the pages of the book. Not to mention a major kink in my neck.
My lids were heavy, but my mouth wasn’t dry and dusty.
My tongue was coated in a unique flavor—cocoa and cayenne and something else, something almost woodsy. Had I bought a cup from the coffee cart before I inevitably fell asleep in the library again?
The memories of the night before were sluggish, almost lazy as they rushed to the forefront of my mind.
Blue horns.
Razor sharp nails.
Growls. Struggles. Pain.
I snapped my eyes open, shooting straight up in—
A bed.
Omigod, I’m in a bed.
I shifted the black silk sheets around my body, sighing in relief when I found my clothes intact. The breaths in my lungs came fast and erratic as I scanned the area.
Black.
Almost everything in the room was black. Black sheets, silky against my trembling fingers. The ultra-soft mattress was supported by a massive ebony four-poster, the pillars intricately carved with sharp yet flowing designs. The walls were a slate-gray stone, broken apart by shuttered windows and thick, woven tapestries with midnight backgrounds and near-glowing white night-blooming flowers scattered across the top. An ebony wardrobe sat on the opposite side of the room, brass candelabras sitting atop, the black wax dripping from the heat of flickering flames.
Panic clawed up my spine, choking my airways. I jerked the sheets to the side, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I hissed at the cold stone floor as it hit my bare feet. A quick search said my shoes had been stolen. I hurried toward the giant wooden door decorated with swirling black steel, and yanked on the handle.
Locked.
My heart raced, my mind trembling as I sucked in too much air too quickly.
Shit, shit, shit.
Why hadn’t I asked Valor to walk me to my car? Why had I insisted I’d be safe in the stark lights of the parking garage? Why—
No.
I couldn’t crumble right now.
Later.
I could do that later.
I tugged and yanked and jerked on that iron door handle. So hard my shoulder barked in pain, and the skin of my palm scraped.
“Only myself or those I choose are capable of opening that door, and the steel makes it impossible to wend through” a deep, masculine voice resonated from behind me.
I whirled around, and I swore my heart stopped.
Blue-gray eyes that nearly glowed, strong jaw, hair as black as midnight, and a body that could render mine useless in seconds.
“You.” The word was a strangled breath.
The man from the night before. The one who’d tried to help me before rushing off to help the other girls.
He slid his hands into his pants pockets—leather. Leather that clung to every glorious muscle. Notes of citrus, cocoa, musk, leather, and cedar hit me with his simple move. The scent as intoxicating as the taste in my mouth, and somehow, the two complemented each other. My body relaxed, my breathing slowed, but my mind? It was content in panic mode.
The man cocked a dark brow, not bothering to step toward me. Those eyes tracked my movements as I tried and failed to subtly edge toward the wardrobe. Toward the only space in the room with a potential weapon.
“Who are you?” I managed to ask, finding more of my voice as I neared that candelabra.
Amusement flickered in his eyes as if he could indeed read my intentions.
“Alek.” The name rolled off his tongue, and betraying chills raced across my skin. He oozed sexuality, but in a way that both terrified me and had my blood spiking without my consent. He’d haunted my thoughts the night before, and I’d only seen him for a few minutes. Here, now? In this locked room, complete with silk sheets and a scent that made my head spin?
“Omigod,” I said, reality hitting me like a bolt of lightning. I shook my head, subtlety all but forgotten as I snatched the lit candelabra off the table and wielded it before me. A few drops of black wax sizzled against my skin, just above my wrist that still tingled. Alek flinched at the sight. “No,” I said, the brass, burning structure before me. “I will not be sold. I didn’t hang onto my virginity for twenty-four goddamn years to have it auctioned off by some master of a sex-slavery ring.”
Alek’s full lips parted, just a fraction. He almost looked offended—a blink of emotion before he schooled his features into what I could only describe as a predator’s gaze.