I tried to get up, but muscles and bones weren’t working like they should. Every impulse just sent a fresh explosion of white-hot pain through me.
I thought of Cara and how scared she would be to see Bennigan coming for her—how she would be wondering why I abandoned her and let this happen. I gritted my teeth, forcing all the energy I had into my broken body until I could sense the growing pressure moving through me, knitting broken bones and weaving torn muscles back together.
Within moments, I was limping toward Anya’s, then walking, then running.
I heard more gunshots from the rooftop above but couldn’t afford to stop and worry about them.
Seraphina and Alaric would be okay. This was Bennigan’s game. He knew he couldn’t actually kill any of us without more justification, but he could hurt me. He could take Cara from me, and all anyone would hear was that he’d toyed with my human. They wouldn’t care, and the world would go on.
I wondered if the bastard actually preferred this to killing me. I’d taken his wife, but he was taking the woman I cared about and making me live with the shame of knowing I hadn’t been able to stop him. He probably hoped he’d turn her into one of his disgusting little harem, too. It was his gift, after all. He charmed women into following him blindly, vampires and humans alike.
I saw Bennigan shoving Cara into a car while she kicked and screamed for him to let her go. There was a little metallic ping on the ground when the bullet in my leg was forced out by healing flesh.
I broke into a run, wishing I had Alaric’s speed, even though I knew he couldn’t even keep up with a car. I followed them for a block until I lost sight and had to stop to think of a coherent plan.
I didn’t know how, but I was going to find her and get her back.
Then I had stopped long enough to feel the growing sense of separation in my chest—the familiar pulsing throb of the bond.
It was a bond that shouldn’t have been possible.
A bond that made no sense and defied all my understanding.
But right now, it was also the bond that was going to lead me straight to Cara, even though Bennigan likely thought I’d have no way to find them.
I’d get Cara back, and this time, I wouldn’t leave her side unless Bennigan was in the ground.
33
Cara
I threw my legs and arms out wildly, kicking or punching anything I could reach. My fist found something squishy and earned me a tighter grip from the two women in the back holding me.
Jezabel let out a low, irritated grunt. “Punch my breast again and I’ll drain you of every drop of blood in your pathetic little body, human.”
They adjusted their grip, twisting my arms and forcing them behind my back so all I could do was sit there and fume. “You kidnapped me,” I grunted. “Am I supposed to start writing thank you notes?”
“You’re supposed to cooperate if you don’t want us to hit you until you stop resisting.”
With effort, I managed to stop squirming and trying to break free from the women. I felt myself calm enough to try to take stock of the situation. I could see Bennigan’s huge shoulders and shaved head in the driver’s seat. An old, dignified looking man in an expensive suit was in the passenger seat, too.
“Who’s that?” I asked, nodding my head—which was the only part of my body that wasn’t being pinned down by the women on either side of me.
The man turned to look at me. There was a cold depth to his eyes that made me want to flinch back. Definitely a vampire.
“I am here to make sure this goes smoothly.” He had a faint accent that sounded vaguely European, but I was hardly an expert. His hair was dark with flecks of gray and he wore it pushed back from his forehead. His nose was slightly hooked, and his eyes were hooded and dark.
“What goes smoothly?” I asked.
“The pawn doesn’t need to know why it’s being moved. It only needs to know it has no choice.”
I wanted to be defiant and try to dig more information out of the men, but I had a feeling it didn’t matter how much I knew. I could gather the obvious, critical clues about my situation easily enough.
They were taking me, and they weren’t killing me. They’d already used me as bait once and it worked. They wanted Lucian, and I was their ticket to drawing him in.
I knew I had really gone over the deep end when my first thought was to hope he didn’t come. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see him again or feel his touch. I didn’t trust these vampires not to hurt him—to kill him, if that was even possible.