Pain forgotten, Nicole snapped her eyes open. The blurry image of a woman’s face hovered in front of hers.
Beyond her head, pinpricks of light shimmered from what appeared to be a ceiling made of stone and . . . roots? She blinked, bringing a little focus to her vision.
The woman peered down at her, her dark skin creating indistinct lines in the background, which was definitely composed of stone, roots, and what looked like packed earth.
Maybe this was a dream.
The rock jamming into her spine said otherwise.
But how had she gotten here?
Riker.
The breakin at her mansion came back to her in vivid -D—her terror at the sight of Riker, the feel of Ginsu’s fangs scraping her neck, and the masculine, smoky scent of Riker’s skin.
“Where . . .” She swallowed, grimacing at the raw scrape of her voice on her throat. “Where am I? Who are you?”
One black eyebrow popped up. “Aw, you can’t even guess?” A smile joined the amused cant of the woman’s eyebrow. “You’re in a vampire stronghold.
And I’m a vampire. Basically, you human scum,” she said, her smile widening to reveal glistening, deadly sharp fangs, “you’re in your worst nightmare.”
------------
The piercing scream caught Nicole off-guard, drilling into her head with laserlike intensity until it felt as if her brain would explode. Only when the vampire slapped Nicole hard enough to roll her onto her side did she realize that the scream had come from her own throat.
The female leaned close, her eyes glinting like silver fishing lures caught in the sunlight. “I have a bizarre condition that makes me go into murderous rages when I hear screaming,” she whispered. “So don’t.”
Nicole nodded, swallowing the fresh scream that had built in her lungs.
“katina.” A familiar male voice froze Nicole to the cold ground. “I’ll take it from here.”
The female vampire inclined her head sharply and stood with effortless, sinewy grace. “She’s all yours, Rike.” katina pegged Nicole with a look so full of hunger that she should be drooling. “But when it’s time to eat her, share the wealth. The skank looks like she has rich blood.”
Skank? Nicole planted her palms on the hard— packed dirt floor and sat up. “You have no idea, you bitch.” Probably not the brightest thing to say in this situation, but then, Chuck often teased that the default mode for Nicole’s tact switch was set to off.
Riker went down on his haunches in front of her, and her heart skipped a beat. Maybe two. He was as imposing as he’d been at the mansion and as huge as she’d remembered as a child. Always before, when she’d thought about him, she’d wondered if her memory had exaggerated, if maybe her small size had made him seem bigger.
But no, if anything, he was larger than she’d remembered, an intimidating figure clad in jeans, a black T-shirt, and a black leather jacket that didn’t do enough to conceal the weapons stashed on his body. Worse, he was even more handsome, and how twisted and sick was it that she thought anything about this bastard was attractive? He was a vampire. One who had killed his own mate.
Yet she couldn’t deny his savage beauty, his chiseled cheekbones and full, crimson lips. Sterling eyes framed by thick lashes a few shades darker than his messy blond hair. A jaw as strong and sharp as a knife blade . . . or a vampire’s fang.
“I’d be careful about slinging around insults if I were you,” he said. “Can’t think of many that can’t be thrown right back in your face.”
Nicole could think of several. Bloodsucking fiend.#p#分页标题#e#
Fanged monster. Every dentist’s nightmare. It was probably best to engage her tact switch, though. Chuck would be proud.
“Where are we?” She peeled her gaze away from him long enough to scan the surroundings. “What is this place?”
Now that she was sitting up and the blur in her vision had cleared, she could see that her initial impression was correct. She was in some sort of underground chamber. Faint light streamed through the tiny barred window in the door, allowing her a chilling view of chains and shackles secured to slabs of stone in the wall.
But what truly freaked her out were the rows of skulls, some human, some vampire, high up on one wall.
“You’re at my clan’s headquarters.” Riker flicked his tongue over a fang and grinned at her involuntary flinch. “In what we affectionately call the prey room.”
Terror tightened around Nicole’s chest like a steel band. Breathing became a luxury as fear put a strangle— hold on both her lungs and her memories. This was like something straight out of a horror movie, and while she’d expected nothing less from vampires, seeing it firsthand chilled her to her bones.