Adrian pulled back slightly and looked at me, confused. “Adam has been brainwashed, and I think the fae are using mind control to make him tell me things that can’t possibly be true, Adrian. I need your help to get Adam and me out of here before they eat us.”
I nodded my head in the direction of the fae as I slid down his body, peering into the turquoise depths that studied me like I’d lost my mind. He narrowed his eyes, glanced at Adam, then the fae, and I frowned. His expression was filled with pain as my body rested flush against his.
“You broke her fucking brain, asshole?” he asked angrily, spinning toward the golden-eyed fae, the one the others had called Ryder. “What the fuck did you do to her?”
“Balls! You’re compromised too?” I frowned worriedly, moving back further, turning to glare murderously at the male named Ryder, who crossed his arms. He glared at Adrian like he wanted to kill him. Adrian met his glare head-on, and I shook my head vigorously.
“A lot has happened, Adrian,” Ryder snorted. “None of it good, I’m afraid.”
“No. Don’t look into his eyes. Look at me, baby,” I said softly, pulling his face back to mine. My lips brushed against his, and I winced, stepping back as I tasted coppery blood on my lip. My hand lifted to his mouth, holding it open, and I stared at twin incisors. I pulled my hand back and slapped him hard, the noise echoing through the room as my heart thundered against my ribcage. “You have a major dental issue!” A smile curved his generous lips as his head tilted, watching me, so I slapped him again, harder this time.
“Yeah, I’m a vampire, Synthia.” Adrian watched me with wide eyes as tears filled mine, and denial ripped from my lips in the form of a sob. “No. No, angel eyes. Don’t do that. Don’t cry.” He reached for me, and I flinched, recoiling from his touch. “Fuck, a little help here?” Everyone in the room just stared at him, as if no one wanted to intervene.
“Did the whole world go crazy? What is happening?” I demanded, slowly stepping back from him with tears rolling down my cheeks. My heartbeat echoed in my ears, my heart clenched in pain with the meaning of those fangs. Adrian was dead, as in the undead. I had to end his suffering. “What did you do to us?” I asked through trembling lips, turning my attention to Ryder.
His eyes narrowed on me, a flash of something like regret entering his beautiful depths before he shook his head and opened his mouth to respond. I beat him to it as anger replaced sorrow, and my spine snapped into place.
“I didn’t do what you think I did,” Ryder snorted, pinching the bridge of his nose as Adrian looked between us in confusion.
“If you don’t let us go, the entire fucking Spokane Guild is going to come down on your ass! Do you hear me? I will bring you to your fucking knees and take your pretty head from your shoulders, you fairy-farting-fuck-face fucker.”
“Somehow, I doubt the guild is coming, Pet.”
Anger boiled within me, and I pointed my finger at Ryder as I over-enunciated every word through gritted teeth. “I’m. Not. A. Fucking. Pet! My name is Synthia Raine McKenna, and you would do well to remember it, as I will be the one to murder you, bastard.”
Sighing, Ryder turned to look at the men beside him, none of which offered him any support. Turning back to me, he smiled slightly. “You’ll try, I’m sure. Not today, though. Today you’re just an enforcer who is in my world now, and you’re not leaving until I decide otherwise.” His grin increased as he walked to the front of the table and leaned against it. “Besides, can’t let my girl slip away now, not when she’s plotting to murder me, which is hot as hell. I do look forward to playing with you, sweet wife.”
My head tilted, and I snorted loudly. I crossed my arms over the gaudy white dress to glare at him, raising one delicate brow to my hairline with ire. “You think I’m buying the shit Adam is selling today? I’m smart enough to figure out he’s been compromised, and that you’re feeding him lies to tell me, asshole. I’m also not your anything. You don’t own me. You’re nothing to me. I sure in the fuck wouldn’t have tripped and landed on your dick and got knocked up. You’re not even pretty enough to lure me onto that pathetic little thing in your pants.” I said, waving my finger in a circle, indicating his crotch. “I’m smarter than most women, and I sure as hell don’t fall onto a dick just because it’s attached to a pretty face, fairy boy. I mean, seriously! Adam said I died. Do I look dead? I assure you, I’m very much alive.”
Taking a step forward, I ran my hands down the sides of my body and glared at Ryder. “Does this body look like it created triplets? And if it had, why the fuck would I want to come back to you? You’re just some pathetic fuck that needs me to buy the lies you’re selling because you can’t keep me in this world without them. Fairies have laws, and they have to abide by them. I assure you, I follow no rules, and I sure as hell have not broken a single one that would allow you to hold me here. You will let me leave this place, and you’ll watch me walk out your front door one way or another. How I do, well, that is up to you. With your head, or without it, but either way, I will go home.”
“I think I like you better when you just wanted to get fucked by random dick.”
“Excuse me? I wouldn’t fuck a random dick, and I sure in the fairy-farting-blue-balls wouldn’t fuck you. I’d rather play dead than touch you. You want to fuck a corpse, bring it, Fairy.”
“Clearly,” he chuckled huskily, watching me as if he wasn’t afraid in the least by my threats—idiot.
I’d brought down monsters larger than this prick before I’d even cut teeth. I turned on my heel, flipping my hair and dismissing Ryder. I walked back to Adam, glaring over my shoulder at Adrian, who watched me with his mouth still wide open, his fangs on display.
“Adrian’s a dead stick. I need to find an actual stake and release him from that shell he’s stuck in.” My throat tightened, and I fought tears that burned my eyes as my heart shattered at the reality of what that meant. I’d lose Adrian forever once I freed him. “We can’t leave him like that. Adrian would hate being a vampire for all eternity, watching us age while he remained eternally cursed.” Emotion clenched in my throat as pain echoed through my chest, the familiar sensation of losing more people struck me hard, threatening to swallow me whole again.
“Actually, Adrian chose this life, Synthia.” Adam shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. My gaze zeroed in on the frown tugging the corners of his mouth while he continued looking to the fae as if they held the answers he was seeking. “Let’s not go pushing any stakes through his chest just yet, okay? At least wait until he pisses you off first, then you can free him.”