“Coffin.”

I turned and looked at him, his lips trembling as he said it again.

“Alex is in a coffin.”

Fuck it all, he was right, we were in a giant coffin. Which meant we were, most likely, underground. My stomach flopped and sweat popped out on my forehead. I wouldn’t have said I was claustrophobic before, but I’d never been somewhere where there wasn’t even a possibility of escape. I dug my hands into my hair, as the air around us shifted and I spun to see Faris slip through the veil, a squirming sack in his hands.

His blue eyes were cold, and they bored into mine. “I do not think you believe me or my threats. In that, I have done you a disservice. I won’t kill you; we both know that, so I need to make this very clear. You will do as I say, when I say, or your people will begin to die off. I’d use Alex as an example, except I think your friends might notice if he goes missing. But this one, no one except you will notice his loss.”

From the bag came a muffled, “Yous be taking yours hands off the lassie.”

Charlie!

I made a move toward them and Faris lifted the bag high, twisted the veil, and I could see through the opening into a bubbling, spitting pit of lava.

“Faris, don’t do this.” I held my hands open to him, dropping my sword to the heavy carpet at my feet. There was no choice here. “I get it, you’re the boss; you don’t need to prove the point.” A whiff of sulfur curled through the veil, and a vision of the red ogre going under the rushing lava rose to the front of my mind.

Faris tipped his head to one side. “Since you activated this particular volcano, I think this is fitting.” He paused and shifted his stance so he stood sideways to me, his hand that held Charlie dipping ever so slightly. “Do you understand me now? I own you, Rylee. You will do what I say, when I say it. There will be no questions; there will be nothing you do unless I will it until your two oaths are completed. At anytime I can snatch one of your loved ones and destroy them. Up until now I have been … gracious.”

Bile rose in my throat and I forced it back down, counting in my head the thousands of ways I would chop Faris up and feed him to the fishes, how I would make him regret this day.

He, of course, was oblivious. “And you will breathe a word of this to no one. This will be our little secret. Not even your wolf will know of this.”

“Yous thinks I won’t be telling on your ass?” Charlie mouthed off from in the bag.

“Shut it, Charlie,” I snapped, my eyes pleading with Faris. “He won’t say anything.”

Faris shrugged. “Well, I can’t be sure, and you need to never forget this.”

“I’ll give you something else,” I sputtered, thinking only to get Charlie out of this in one piece. To make sure another person I cared for didn’t die on my behalf.

The vampire’s eyebrows rose slowly. “And what would you offer me for his life?”

The bag squirmed and shifted. “Don’t yous do it, Rylee. Not a thing do yous give this bastard.”

I licked my lips. “What do you want?” Fuck, f**k, f**k. How did we get to this point and, more importantly, how the hell was I going to get out of here with all three of us intact?

Faris smiled, his lips lifting so I could see his teeth easily. “Well, there is something your wolf has that I would like very much.”

I glanced down at Alex.

Faris chuckled. “Not that wolf. The one you are f**king.”

The term ‘blood running cold’ finally made sense to me. There seemed to be no heat left in me as Faris’ eyes drifted up and down my body. I shivered involuntarily.

Charlie screamed. “Don’t yous dare. Nothing yous can say will shut me up, vampire. I be screaming yous deception from the rooftops. Rylee, don’t yous f**k him!”

With a casual flick of his wrist, Faris tossed Charlie through the veil toward the lava. Before I could even move, Faris snapped his fingers, and I could no longer see through to the lava. Just the other side of the room. Shaking, I fought to comprehend what had truly just happened. What Faris had done. That Charlie was gone.

“Do you understand, Rylee? Up until now, I have been kind. I am running out of time. I do not think kindness will work with you. Even for your body, I couldn’t have your brownie friend blabbing.”

Charlie was gone, killed because Faris wanted to make a point. That he could destroy those I loved while barely lifting a finger.

From cold to hot, my blood raged with fury, but I could do nothing.

Faris walked toward me and at my side, Alex bristled, stepping in front of me.

“No hurts Rylee,” he growled through bared teeth.

I put myself between them, pushing Alex away with my knee, more than cognizant of just what Faris could do. On our own, we couldn’t face him. So I was left with bargaining.

“I need to make sure things are settled before I do your Tracking.” I crossed my arms over my chest, struggled to keep my voice even when I wanted to rage at him, slice his head open like a rotten melon, and rip his dead heart from his chest, feed it to Blaz, and laugh when the dragon shit out pieces of the undead blood sucker.

Yeah, I was a little pissed.

“One week is all you get. One week and I will come for you, you and the wolf.” He pointed at Alex.

Alex snapped his teeth, chattering them together before he spoke. “Piece of shit fang head.”

I lifted a hand to him. “Why Alex?”

“Because he’s the weakest link of your pack, but he will make for a great motivator.” Faris winked at me, twisted the veil and stepped through leaving us alone once more.

“How the f**k are we supposed to get out of here?” I yelled, my voice bouncing back to me in the small space.

How the f**k indeed.

There was a major flaw in their plan as far as Liam could see.

“You can’t go after her without me,” he snarled, tension rising in the air like a fog he could almost see and could surely scent.

Milly put her hands on her hips. “It’s not my fault you can’t jump the veil. I don’t understand why, but you can’t.”

Pamela glanced at him, but he shook his head slightly. The less Milly understood, the better.

Jack poked at Liam with his cane. “You’ll just have to wait here, wolf. We’ll bring her back to you.”

That was just it, he didn’t want to wait, but he also knew he was inadvertently stalling them from rescuing her. Stopping them from doing his job. Damn it all.

“I can stay with you.” Pamela moved to his side, concern rolling off her. He shook it off, all of the crap going through his mind.

“Just go.” He turned his back so he wouldn’t have to see them leave without him. Wouldn’t have to see Will, and worse, Milly, rescue Rylee.

They left, jumping the veil back to London, and he paced, his mind churning with all the things he should have done. All the things he had done and shouldn’t have. Like getting after Alex. There was nothing wrong with the submissive wolf; he’d been a better friend to Rylee than almost anyone else. When no one else was there, Alex had been her—albeit squishy—rock.

Things would be different when they came back. He would make things right with Rylee and Alex. First, they had to come back, and he had to believe they would come back.

That for once Milly wouldn’t f**k them over and would do the right thing.

That he could trust the witch.

He let out a groan. Of all the people he had to put his faith in, Milly was dead last on the list.

Yet here he was, betting the life of his mate on her.

Sliding his hands over his face, he tried to focus on the good. Rylee would come back, things would be okay.

They had to be.

I paced the small room, AKA padded cell, Faris had left us in. An hour, maybe more had passed since he’d left, and I still didn’t know how to get out.

With little thought, I yanked my sword out and swung it toward the chaise lounge, cracking through the bones of the chair as if they were matchsticks.

“Wrecking stuff?” Alex poked at a vase that stood on top of a side table.

“Yup, wreck it all.” I took another swing, this time toward the paneling that covered the cement walls. Somewhere, there had to be another way out.

Alex let out a howl of excitement and ran in circles three times before laying into things. With his claws, and my sword, we demolished the room. The clatter of porcelain and wood clattering to the floor was a grim satisfaction I clung to. Maybe I couldn’t kill Faris, but I could destroy the f**king gilded cage he put us in.

Fifteen minutes later, we stood in the middle of the room, and I inspected the damage. Destroying the old paintings, expensive material and furniture had been a drop in the bucket as far as soothing my rage. The room looked like an explosion had ripped through it. Bits of feather clung to Alex’s grinning mouth as he smiled up at me.

“Fun, yupppy doody. Alex likes breaking shit.”

I dropped to a crouch beside him, sliding to my ass on the hardwood floor. He lay down beside me and put his head on my thigh.

“Rylee sad.” His long tongue lolled out as he panted.

“Not sad, just—” I didn’t even know how to put it into words. Frustrated, angry, stymied. All those and so much more; guilt over Charlie’s senseless death, fear for the deal I’d been forced into with Faris. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against a chunk of broken furniture. Charlie had been a good friend, one who deserved so much more than a death at the hands of that gods be damned two-faced vampire. But, like always, there really wasn’t time to grieve. Later, always later, right now I had to figure out a way to get the hell out of here. A week, I wasn’t sure I could last a week in here.

We sat there long enough that Alex fell asleep. Twitching and mumbling, he let out a fart that made me gag.

“Damn it all, what have you been eating?” I muttered, waving my hands in front of my face. He just snorted and rolled over, oblivious to the trouble we were in. That we were at the mercy of a vampire who was no longer trying to play nice. That we were well and truly trapped until said vampire decided to let us go, if he ever chose to.