I clutched the bars, not giving a fuck that my skin was melting.
On Roman’s heels was Adam fucking Emery carrying a large square box. The man hadn’t lost the arrogance in his brown eyes since the last I’d seen him on national television. At his early morning news conference last month, he’d announced to the nation that he was building prototype vampires by using humans as guinea pigs. He’d even gone as far as to show the public a true vampire.
Roman pulled a dagger from a sheath on his leg and twirled it in his hand. “You’ve got to love a witch, Mason.”
My wife was supposedly a witch, as was my daughter Rorie. So I couldn’t say I hated all witches—just certain ones.
Roman cleaned a fingernail with the tip of his blade. “Seeing you in a cage calls for a celebration.” He flicked his blue eyes at Adam. “Don’t you think?”
Adam set the box on the dusty, dirt-ridden floor at his feet. “This should be fun.” He swiped a hand through his coiffed brown hair, smug and proud.
“Are you trying to impersonate a soldier in those fatigues that look hideous on you?” I asked Adam. The fucker probably didn’t know what it meant to serve his country.
Ignoring me, Adam said, “I always knew I would capture you again.”
I pried my fried skin from the bars, my burning flesh masking the stench in the room. “Don’t be so pompous. The day isn’t over yet. And at some point, I will follow through on my threat to hang you from a fifty-story building by your toes. In fact, I’ll even make sure it’s one of your skyscrapers in Chicago.”
He tucked his hands into the pockets of his fatigues without a care in the world. “I should cut out your tongue.”
“What are you waiting for?” I was surprised I wasn’t already dead. “Why haven’t you killed me?” I doubted he needed my DNA, since he had probably taken Orion’s and Luna’s already.
He puffed out his chest. “Because you’re my leverage. I want my brother Fred, as well as Carly Aberdeen released from your prison.”
I let out a derisive laugh. “I want my wife, son, and daughter. Until then, fuck off.”
“Your father will agree to my demands,” Adam said confidently.
I snorted. “That will never happen.”
My old man, Steven Mason, didn’t bargain with the enemy. Although he now had grandchildren whose lives were on the line. I wanted to believe Adam had a heart when it came to babies, but desperation had a way of overshadowing a person’s morals.
“Why do you want Carly? Do you even know what happened to your precious scientist?” I asked.
Adam rubbed his chin. “I’m well aware that Rianne injected her with the serum.”
My eyebrows drew down. “You want a monster working for you?”
If Carly followed the same route as her brother-in-law, Noah Aberdeen, she would eventually be unable to string words together, let alone conduct a science experiment. The end result of her genetic-altering trials was either immediate death for those who were not healthy or a creature who became barbaric, with no sense of who he was, just like Noah. Adam knew all this.
“She has information you need for your experiments.” That had to be it.
The last I knew, the trials were failing, and that update had come from Matthew Costner, an inside source.
He flinched slightly. “Your father will release Carly and Fred. I’m sure he doesn’t want his daughter-in-law to die either. You see, I’m the one keeping Maeve Monroe from killing Layla.” He stabbed a thumb at Roman beside him, who was still picking his fingernails with the dagger as if he was bored. “And him from killing you. So you should be thanking me, Mason.”
Roman sheathed his dagger, went over to the freestanding curtained wall, and slowly moved it.
My vision blurred, my heart fell to my feet, and acid punctured holes in my lungs.
Roman cackled. “This is your first surprise. Isn’t she beautiful?”
Layla’s wrists were shackled to a stainless steel table with an IV bag of blood flowing into her veins. Her face was pale, her heart rate scarily slow, and she had a bandage around her neck.
Roman was licking his lips as he continued to stare at her.
Rage so strong had me embedding my fangs into my lower lip. “What the fuck happened that she needs blood?” My voice boomed and cracked at the same time.
I knew the answer to my question, but I wanted to hear the fucker say it.
