Manacles made of the lumber circled Maximus’s wrists and neck, preventing him from rousing. Gabriel hoped his spouse awakened before dying.
He had no idea where Sameya was located. Gabriel had tried to get to her when he spied Tyrone Gryphon, but the bastard had subdued her with ease by spraying something in her face. And she’d been practically depleted from the orgasms they’d forced on her. She’d said they weakened her, and he’d arrogantly thought they were safe in their magically locked-tight home.
Gabriel snarled. They forced danger on her every time they made love to her. The idea of what Gryphon could do to her turned his stomach sour. Anger leached through his tiger, and he heaved himself against the door with a roar. The barrier didn’t dent. Had it been anything but steel—his weakness—he’d have torn down the barrier.
“Gabriel?” At the sound of Maximus’s scratchy voice, he swung about. “What the hell happened?”
Maximus pushed up into a seated position and slouched against the wall. Breathing shallow, and his skin pallid, the vampyr’s predicament was gloomy. Chuffing two heavy breaths, neither calming Gabriel, he shifted, wincing as he altered into his human skin. Injuries always hurt worse in mortal form.
“Tyron Gryphon happened.” Gabriel put his hand through his hair and related the events, as he knew them. He’d taken down ten of Gryphon’s minions. Ripped the throats out of two of them. The remaining bastards had managed to restrain him. His only consolation was that they all wore various lacerations. None of them had come away from the scuffle unscathed. “I don’t know what he used on Sameya, but she went down quickly after he sprayed it in her face.” He turned and rammed his fist against the door. Knuckles splitting, they dripped blood on the floor. “We’ve got to find a way out of here. She’s alone without us to—”
“Stop.” Maximus curled his fingers around the wormwood collar. Seeing his mate’s flesh bubble around the restraint, Gabriel fisted his hands as his claws burst through his fingertips. He ignored the punctures they created in his palm, focusing instead on what his lover said. “Sameya’s strong and smart. Don’t count her out.”
“I’m not.” Gabriel prowled back to Maximus and knelt in front of him. “Thinking of the things Gryphon could do to her without us there to protect her…it drives my cat crazy.”
“I know.” Maximus scratched at the flesh blistered on his wrists.
“I already tried to remove these.” Gabriel indicated the wormwood restraints encircling Maximus’s wrists and neck.
The vampyr nodded, but changed the subject. “What about Kat?”
“I have no idea.” He hadn’t even thought of her. What type of friend did that make him? “The last time I saw her was when I left the kitchen to get the box of toys. She was playing the X-box, and I cautioned her to stay out of the kitchen unless she wanted an eyeful.”
“Gryphon obviously knows our vulnerabilities.” Maximus tapped a finger against a wrist restraint and motioned to the steel cage they were housed inside. Steel was the only thing that could contain a shifter. “How did he learn Sameya’s weakness? We don’t know what he sprayed in her face. How did he even know she was with us?”
“I don’t know.” Not liking Maximus’s labored breaths, Gabriel sat down and pulled him against his chest. “My best guess is he had the house bugged.” He ran his fingers through the chocolate strands of his mate’s shoulder length hair. “I’m going to kill him, Maximus.”
“If he’s left a single mark on Sameya, he suffers first.”
Gabriel could get on board with that. They sat for a while in silence. Maximus lying on his side, with his head reclined on Gabriel’s legs.
“You think we pushed her too hard in the kitchen, Maximus?” He couldn’t stop thinking about the things they’d done to her. The things she’d allowed them to do to her. Nary a complaint from her, and he’d sensed her reticence with the butt plug. He’d also tasted the spice of her excitement.
“She needed to know what we’re about if she’s going to make an informed decision whether to remain with us.” Maximus went into a coughing fit that racked him harder than a grand-mal seizure. Wormwood sickness worked rapidly and was lethal ninety percent of the time if not countered almost immediately. Gabriel prayed for a miracle from every god he knew about. “We can’t pretend to be something we’re not.”
He wanted to tell Maximus to conserve his energy and stop talking, but that felt like giving up. “But we could’ve taken it slow. We don’t have to fuck her together before the month’s out.”