CHAPTER TEN

Jesse

My head is throbbing as I roll over to my side.

The iron chains around my wrists and ankles have me as weak as a baby. I can’t even lift my head without effort. Whatever curse is on these chains, it’s draining my abilities, suppressing my vampire strength.

I shouldn’t have tried to play hero.

Even now, I was still desperate to prove myself to Taylor.

Closing my eyes in despair, I push myself against the tree into a sitting position.

It’s been days since they’ve been dragging me around, but I don’t understand something. I’m still near the islands. They move for a bit, maybe an hour, changing direction at what seems like random. But there doesn’t seem to be any method or reason.

I hear footsteps approaching me, and I quickly close my eyes, not wanting another interaction with this person. However, she’s smart enough not to buy into my act.

“Open your eyes, Jesse,” the voice of my ex-girlfriend reaches my ears. “How long are you going to keep at this?”

I open my eyes, staring at her. “Maybe I’m waiting for you to get the hint.”

Rachel Adkins, my ex-girlfriend, smiles back at me. With her red hair, tawny eyes, and delicate features, there had been a time when I had been madly in love with this girl. At that time, I had thought that she felt the same. But when the opportunity came, she had no qualms about walking away from me. But even then, under the hurt of the breakup, there had been pride in me that she was going out in the world to do some good.

Had I known back then that she would go on and become part of the Black Wreath Group, I would have done anything to stop her.

“Don’t be silly,” she laughs, sitting cross-legged across from me. “You should be lucky I am the one looking after you. The rest of the guys here are dying to do a number on you.”

“I’ll take that over you, any day,” I retort harshly.

She just smiles, unaffected by my words. “I brought you some food.”

“I don’t want it.”

“I made it myself.” She ignores my refusal. “You know ever since you and I parted ways, I taught myself how to cook. I mean, before I couldn’t even boil an egg, but now I can roast an entire cow. I did so once. When you come to my apartment in Manhattan, I got myself a lovely penthouse with a terrac—”

“Do you ever shut up?” I snap at her.

Her eyes darken, her hand clenching on the bowl in her hand. “You’d better watch how you talk to me, Jesse. I can make your life very uncomfortable.”

“Oh, because I’m living the high life right now, right?” I give her a cold look.

Rachel leans forward. “You don’t know the half of it.”

I stare back at her, unafraid. “What? You want to torture me now? Go ahead.”

“Torture you?” Rachel suddenly throws her head back and laughs, as if amused by the very idea. I wait for her chuckles to die down, a strange knot of tension forming in the pit of my stomach. “I wouldn’t hurt you, Jesse. No, no. There are other ways of making you fall into line than causing you physical pain. For starters, that little girlfriend of yours. How much would you be willing to do if you heard her scream in pain?”

I stiffen at her words. “What does Taylor have to do with this?! You leave her alone!”

Rachel ignores my words, watching me, a tiny smile playing on her lips. “Although, a little birdie told me that you broke things off with her. What is it, Jesse? Did you get tired of her? Or what? Did you find out what she really is? Is that it?”

“What are you talking about?” I pretend to be in the dark.

“The Blood Moon Hybrid,” Rachel lets out a delighted laugh. “I was brought on because of her, you know. But the Director never told me what she was exactly. I just pieced things together. It wasn’t that hard. The girl is ridiculously strong, but her powers are not all there. See this?” She points to the eye patch she’s been wearing ever since I saw her this time. “She did this to me.”

The look in Rachel’s other eye borders on insanity. “An eye for an eye, right? I’m going to gauge hers out too. Make her scream as I do.”

A cold shiver of fear passes through me.

She actually means it.

“So, why’d you break up with her?” Rachel bares her teeth at me in a smile.

“Why do you care?”

“I heard she was heartbroken about it,” she says and gives me a gleeful look.

Guilt stabs me.

I’ve still not forgotten the look of shock and betrayal in Taylor’s eyes when she had looked at me. I had seen the desperate desire for an explanation in those pretty eyes of hers. The heartbreak in them, the dullness in the days following.

But she’s a Blood Moon Hybrid.

She’s not someone I can ever be around. I know what Blood Moon Hybrids are like. Insanity, death, and bloodshed follows them wherever they go. I come from a family of vampires. I know all about the Blood Moon Hybrids. Rare as they are, they are a magnet for chaos and destruction.

I knew I made the right decision by backing away from Taylor. However, I can’t forget the hurt in her eyes. It’s not been easy either, watching Quill, her friend, get closer to her. Sharp as Taylor may be, she has a certain innocence when it comes to guys. It was obvious to me from our first meeting. Prickly as a hissy little kitten, she was always wary around guys, keeping them at arm’s length. The only two guys she allowed past her shields were me and that alpha werewolf friend of hers.

I always knew Quill was interested in her. He didn’t exactly hide it. But now with me out of the picture, he’s begun inching towards her, and she’s vulnerable enough to let him.

Despite my situation, thinking of Quill makes my teeth grind in anger.

But I can’t do anything about it.

I lost that right when I walked away from her.

I glare at Rachel.

I can still protect her, however.

“Taylor is none of your business, and even if I did break up with her, I would never choose you over her. I don’t date traitors.”

Rachel cups my jaw, smiling secretively. “Try as you might, Jesse, the only woman in your destiny is me. And it will always be me.”

I jerk my head away from her.

She scoffs.

Getting to her feet, she leaves the bowl of food near me, just out of reach, and walks away.

My heart sinks.

It’s been days.

Is no one looking for me?

I don’t regret protecting Taylor. I would do it again in a heartbeat even if the outcome was the same. But I know her. She’ll be drowning in guilt. Prickly on the inside, my girl has the softest heart I’ve ever seen.

My head lowers to my chest as a familiar pain coils within me.

I lost the right to call her my anything.

I don’t know where she is.

I had spent half the night outside of Taylor’s barrack, fighting with myself, with my decision. It had been on my way back that I had discovered the intruders. The alarm on my island had already been destroyed. I was on my way to the Level Two island when I had seen one of the masked men walking off the bridge and then stopping and walking back.

If I hadn’t recognized Taylor and grabbed her when I had, she would be the one sitting here, tied up. I don’t even know when they grabbed me. I was restrained, and the chains were put on me to subdue me. I must have been hit on the head because I remember waking up to see Rachel’s face grinning at me.

I don’t know what this organization wants.

All I know is that Rachel planted the means to destroy the shields around the islands before leaving. She and some of the members of the Black Wreath Group were on the island for hours before the alarm sounded. From the sound of it, they didn’t uncover anything from the vaults.

But with the shields down, they’ll go back.

I know it.

I have to find a way to stop Rachel.

Before it’s too late.