Page 55 of Hitched to the Vampire King
“And remember, keep the phone line open at all times. If anything feels off, you get the hell out of there, okay?” Jaden said.
“Affirmative,” I said, winking at my friend. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to go according to plan.” I didn’t mention that my stomach was a nest of knots or that the thought of returning to that warehouse had my heart hammering in my chest. Jaden and Josh didn’t need to know that, and Sam and Lucy could already hear it.
When I turned away from the table, I spotted Avery. She’d been so silent this whole time that I’d actually forgotten about her presence here. But I saw her now, standing in the doorway, fear stark on her face.
“Don’t worry,” I told her. “I’m a pro. And so is Sam. We’ll be home long before sunset, and Nash will never know we were there.”
Her head bobbed, though she didn’t look quite so convinced. “Be careful.”
“You bet.” I strode forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ve got this.”
Lucy opened the door for us, the afternoon air already uncomfortably warm as we stepped outside. The city of New Orleans, with all its history and secrets, lay before us. The path back to the warehouse was clear, our mission set.
“Be safe,” Lucy called softly after us. I couldn’t blame her for worrying. She was sending her sister and her husband into the devil’s den, after all.
Sam and I didn’t look back as we climbed into the van and drove away. The drive to the warehouse wasn’t far, but the real challenge would be finding what we needed inside. I only hoped we were successful.
As the city passed by in a blur, I steeled myself for whatever awaited us, knowing that this was just the beginning of a much larger battle.
ChapterNineteen
Samand I didn’t speak much along the way. Nerves, I suspected, considering my heartbeat grew louder and louder with every passing mile. I’d thought I could handle this, but my pulse said otherwise.
We hit the city’s outskirts and the urban sprawl gave way to the untamed beauty of the bayou. I hadn’t realized how badly I would react to all this. Perhaps I should have stayed home with Avery and handed this task to Jaden or Josh.
No. It had to be me. They were slayers, yes. But I had the added bonus of being a werewolf. They didn’t. And if something happened to either of them, I would never forgive myself.
“Hey,” Sam’s voice invaded my thoughts.
I blinked and glanced his way, noting how tightly he gripped the steering wheel.
He spared a glance at me before turning his eyes back onto the road. “You okay?”
My nod was too fast, too forced, too jerky. Cramps twisted my stomach and my hands were clammy and shoulders tight. No, I wasn’t fine. But I couldn’t tellhimthat. I was supposed to be leading this damn mission.
“Talk to me,” he said, his voice soft.
In the years since we’d met, I’d come to think of Sam as a brother, but we’d never exactly had a heart-to-heart before. That’d always been Lucy’s job. But seeing as how she wasn’t here…
I bit my lip, then finally admitted, “I’m scared.”
“Well, I’d be surprised if you weren’t,” he said.
I slid my fingers through my hair, pushing it all back from my face. “I have no reason to be scared. Adrian held me prisoner, sure, but no one hurt me.”
“No one hurt you?” Sam swung his head toward me, surprise widening his eyes. “Maddie, there are other forms of harm beyond the physical. Adrian held you prisoner for three days. You barely slept, they barely fed you. You maintained wolf form practically the entire time, which is exhausting. And you had to watch them torture your mate. Do I also need to remind you that they injected you with liquid silver? These people were about to kill you when you escaped. You haveeveryreason to be afraid.”
I shook my head. His response made sense logically, but there was a part of my brain that kept reminding me that what I faced was nothing compared to what Avery and Gabriel had gone through. Avery didn’t want to talk about it, but I’d been there. I’d seen her room, smelled her blood, and seen the stark terror in her eyes. She’d endured far worse than me.
“Look, it’s alright to be scared. No one is going to hold that against you. Just make sure that you don’t freak out and lose sight of our mission, and everything will be fine.” Sam glanced at me again with a small, encouraging smile. “I’d also like to remind you that this time, we know where you are. You’ll be in communication with everyone. So if something goes wrong, they know where to find us. Plus, I’m here,” he said with a shrug and a grin. “I won’t let anything bad happen to either of us.”
I blew out a stuttering breath and nodded, repeating everything he’d just said silently in my head until my pulse started to slow.
I wasn’t alone. Everyone knew where I was. I would not wake up in a cage. Not again.
“There we go,” Sam commented when my heart rate returned to normal. “You okay now?”
I gave another nod. “Just…make sure I keep my promise to Gabriel and I’m there when he wakes up tonight.”
