The Warrior Vampire(93)

Warmth gathered in her stomach, a tiny sphere of energy the size of a marble. She envisioned it as a pinpoint of blue light that pulsed at the center of her being. There it is. Now that she had a grasp of the magic, growing and manipulating it would be easier. The marble gained in mass like a snowball coasting downhill as Naya drew on her power. Her breathing became deep, even, and her heartbeat slowed. Thrump.… Thrump.… Thrump.… Thoughts that thwarted her focus were sucked away like water down a drain, and the world around her dropped away as she achieved the perfect meditative state.

The blue orb that pulsed in her center exploded.

Power flooded her body, saturated her pores, and coursed through her veins. The pain in her neck disappeared, and though her memory still failed her, her mind became sharp and clear. Naya no longer felt as though she could sleep for hours. Instead, she was ready for a fight.

Her eyes snapped open and her vision was hazed over with a gossamer web of blue. Flooded with the magic inborn to her, Naya stumbled as she pushed herself to stand. Maybe her focus had been a little too sharp. Her brain buzzed and her ears rang in the silence that enveloped her. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and her once nearly still heartbeat kicked up its pace.

Whoa.

She’d been introduced to several new facets of her power over the past few days. And of all things, she had a vampire infected with parasitic magic to thank for it. A smile crept to Naya’s lips, but her amusement was short-lived. She looked around the empty room—one of many in the large house the elders used for day-to-day business.

How did she get here? And when?

She reached around to her back; her dagger was gone, as were her sidearm and the knife she kept tucked in her boot. A search through her memory turned up nothing, as though an impenetrable wall blocked her path. She never would have left her house unarmed, which meant someone had divested her of her weapons or she’d been brought here against her will. Either option left her shaken. Because in order for anyone to do that, they would have had to go through Ronan to get to her.

Naya sprang to action, unwilling to remain static for a moment longer. A quick search of the house confirmed that she’d been left here without anyone to keep guard over her. Interesting. Familiarity tugged at her memory, as though the key to the missing chunk was just within her grasp. A cold chill snaked around her arms, residual malicious magic. She hadn’t done an extraction since the night she’d tried to banish it from Ronan. Or had she?

Damn it. Not knowing what had happened stressed her the hell out. Her worry for Ronan overrode even her own sense of self-preservation. She needed to find him, make sure he was safe. If Joaquin or Paul or anyone else had laid a finger on him, her wrath would rival any punishment the gods could conjure. She’d make them all pay.

Naya wandered down the hallways, poking her head into this doorway and that only to find more of the same unhelpful nothing. She might as well have wandered in after hours and fallen asleep on the floor without any help from anyone. At the back end of the house, Naya stopped at the entrance to the council room, the very place where the elders had made their decree that she was to be mated to Joaquin. She let out a derisive snort as she walked into the room, remembering how she couldn’t help but think that their order signaled the end to her marginally happy life.

Now the prospect of being mated to a male didn’t fill her with dread. Rather, it filled her with a sense of hope. A future of companionship and a connectivity that she’d never had with anyone else. In hindsight, she realized that it wasn’t the idea of being mated that was so unsavory. No, it was the command that she be mated to a male she hadn’t chosen for herself.

But really, had she chosen Ronan?

Yes. Her soul had chosen his.

In the far corner of the room, a citrine glow drew Naya’s attention. She made her way to a small desk and the drawer that had been left open just a crack. She yanked it open to find her dagger, gun, and knife tucked away inside. Paul. That son of a bitch. It had to have been him. Who else would have kidnapped her and taken her weapons without exacting any bodily harm. He had to keep her in good breeding condition for his son, after all.

Anger churned in her gut as she snatched up her dagger and sheathed it at the small of her back. She holstered her gun and tucked the knife back into her boot where it belonged. First things first, she was going to find Ronan. And after that, she was going to get some damned answers. Even if she had to threaten the entire elder council to get them.





CHAPTER

28

“What is this place?” Ronan asked as he stared up at the façade of the large, weathered house that loomed over the darkened street.