Chapter 32

NATHANIEL

“Nathaniel, can I talk to you?” Ayra asked, tugging on my sleeve. I turned away from Kai to give her a raised brow. She looked like something had spooked her, and that was never a good sign.

“What’s wrong?”

“Can we talk about it here? They have enhanced… “

“Okay. Come with me.”

I led her out of the main hall, going down a hallway that led to an office. It was formerly the pack house, but the bigger we got, the less space there was, and to be honest, I preferred my privacy. I opened the door, shutting it behind us.

“What happened this time around?”

“There was a woman here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before. She didn’t look like she belonged here.”

“Did she try to do anything?”

“No. She just smiled and disappeared into the wall.”

“Disappeared into the wall?”

“I’m not crazy, Nathaniel.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

“Your eyes said so. I saw her. She was… shit.”

She doubled over with a hiss. I’d already reached for her before the smell of her arousal hit the air. I looked out the window, cursing when I saw the moon had risen over the sky. Along with the smell of her arousal came the primal urge to claim her as mine.

“Ayra,” I said, feeling the heat descend on me.

When she looked up at me, her irises had turned red, and it looked like she was battling within herself to regain control.

“Do you want to head home?” I asked, struggling to get myself under control.

“Yes, please.”

***

ZACHARY

I stood anxiously in front of my window, waiting for Keela to return. I felt her presence even before I turned around.

Even though I was antsy, I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corner of my lips. She thought she could sneak up on me.

When she was close enough, I snagged her by the neck, pinning her against the wall.

“The fuck were you thinking?”

“That I’d have accomplished the most important thing in my life, had I succeeded?” She asked with her grin, wrapping her arms around my neck.

“Where’s Ayra?”

“She’s fine. Didn’t look different at all. She looks content where she is.”

“Did she see you?”

“Yes. She was the only one that could see me.”

“Can I see her?” I asked, hope filling my chest.

“You can’t get into The Borough. You don’t have a connection to Nathaniel. He’s the only one who can give access to his island. My uncle made sure of that when he created the shield around the place. I wasn’t able to go in. Do you want me to get into a full breakdown of how I saw her?”

“It probably has something to do with your uncle creating the shield.”

“Bingo. This is one of the many reasons I love you. You’re smart.”

I huffed at her praise, knowing she was trying to take my mind off Ayra. “I want her back, Keela.”

“She’ll come here on her own time. They fucked with her memory.”

“I wish I could get my hands on that crackhead, Samuel. He did this to her.”

“I’m not so sure. I said it was just a thought.”

“Your thoughts are never wrong. When I find him, I’ll tear him apart for what he did to Ayra, and most importantly, you.”

She shook her head in disagreement. “I’m fine, Zach. You don’t need to take revenge for me. Right now, we have to keep searching for Samuel. Until then, there’s nothing much we can do.”

“I disagree. There’ are a lot of things we can do,” I whispered, pressing my lips against her neck.

“With Scar in the room?” She asked, referring to one of my hellhounds. “I think not.”

On cue, Scar rose from his spot by the door, disappearing out the cracked open door.

“You were saying?” I asked with a grin.

***

AYRA

*One Week Later…*

“Are you sure this is the building?” I asked, staring at Dalia with uncertainty. “It looks a little different from what I remember.”

It was one week since the Blood Moon Festival. One week since Nathaniel and I had marked each other. The relief I’d felt that night was unexplainable. Ishmael had been right, after all.

It was almost like I could hear every thought in his head, and the thing he was thinking right now was how much he didn’t trust Dalia.

“I’m sure. This is the correct building.”

“Is this the building, Ayra? If you don’t think it is, then we should leave,” Nathaniel said, completely ignoring Dalia.

“Or you could just say you’re scared of going in,” Dalia retorted.

“Yes. That’s why you were so eager to get her to regain her memory so you could get her to make me come,” he said blankly. “What a fucking joke!”

“You’re the joke. You wouldn’t helped these women if Ayra didn’t ask.”

“I’m glad you know that. You should kiss the fucking ground she’s walking on right now,” he spat, kicking down the front door.

I smiled sympathetically at Dalia, squeezing her hand in mine before going in behind Nathaniel.

“For a place where women are imprisoned, they’re not putting a fuck ton of effort into security.” Nathaniel faced Dalia. “If this is a fucking trap, I swear I’ll… “

“Nathaniel.” I cut him off with a glare. “How about you stop being a dick to her?”

He grunted, walking deeper into the open space. “Looks to me like they packed up and left. There’s no sign of life around here. Dalia give me a breakdown of everything in this building.”

“This space used to be the common room where the women would occasionally come to and hang out together. There’s a kitchen through that door.” She pointed at an open door that indeed led to a kitchen. “The upper floor contains about five rooms. That’s about it.”

“No basement?”

“No basement,” she confirmed.

*’Does that check out with your memory?’* Nathaniel asked through the mind link, looking around the common room.

*’I vaguely remember there being a common room, but I don’t know about a basement,’* I replied.

“I’ll check the upper floor. There’s nothing much to look for down here,” Nathaniel said. “Stairs?”

“I’ll take you there.”

They both left, leaving me all by myself in the common room. Something about this place didn’t sit well with me. The exterior of the house didn’t even look like the one I remember.

“The wall!”

I moved to the corner of the common room to a place where I’d written my name with the sharpie I’d found so the other women would know my name.

There was nothing there.

I checked the second corner, thinking I’d somehow mistaken the place I wrote it. I was in the third corner when Dalia snapped out my name.

“What are you looking for, mistress?” She asked in a much softer tone.

“Why do you call me that?”

“Because you’re my mistress. You turned me into a vampire.”

“I did?”

“Yes.”

“I owe you my loyalty.”

“Seeing as I remember nothing, you owe me nothing. You can go live your life as you please. I don’t want you to feel tied down or anything.”

She nodded. “Very well, then. I’ll be there whenever you need me. Goodbye, mistress.”

“Goodbye,” I said in return before she teleported out of the common room.

“Where is Dalia?” Nathaniel asked a minute later.

“She left. She said I turned her into a vampire, so she owed me her loyalty. I didn’t want her to feel that way, so I asked her to leave.”

“That explains how she has become stronger. There’s no one upstairs.”

“I figured. They must have packed up like the poison manufacturers.”

“If you knew that, why did you make us come here?”

“Because I couldn’t take the chance. If these women were still here, they deserved their freedom.”

He sighed. “I guess it’s back to our peaceful island. Don’t let this shit weigh you down. It’s not your fault.”

“I know. I guess it’s back to the island, after all.”

The demons had tried nothing else after they tried to kill Nathaniel, and I could get used to the peacefulness. This was what I’d wanted when I first got to the island. I was getting it, after all.

Or so I’d thought. You know that saying about it being the calm before the storm? Yeah, that applied perfectly to the tragedy that befell us.