“This is all wrong. We are inside Faery.” I closed the distance between us and grabbed his hand, preventing him from leaving me. “You have to fight this hold they have on you. Do you hear me? Whatever the fae did to you, you are strong enough to fight against them, Adam. You have to. I need you to help me figure out what they have done with Lari. Do you think they are holding her upstairs? If they are, I can try seducing the big, sexy fae that wants me to believe we’re married. I can use him to get up there and check it out.”
Adam put his hand over his forehead as his fingers pinched his eyes like he was suffering from an extreme headache. We didn’t have time for this. I turned to look at the fae, and they were all trying to act busy, but I could tell they were watching our every move. “We have to do this now, Adam, before we all end up being turned into mindless beings. I mean, what if they turn Lari into a vampire, just like they did to Adrian?”
He smiled tightly. Pain filled his gaze as he stood. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
I grabbed hold of his hand before he walked away and whispered low. “Don’t look into their eyes. We don’t know enough about this type of fae, and they could be the nasty ones. They’re obviously not Dark Fae, nor Blood. Light Fae would have already tried to seduce me into submission, and I hate to say it, but looking around, I think we may be in the Horde Kingdom, which means we have to escape like now, for reals.” He tried to pull away from me, but I squeezed his hand hard as I pulled him down, forcing him to make eye contact. “Our lives are in danger, so you need to snap out of whatever the hell is going on inside your head. We need to find a way back home, regroup, and come back for the others. Understand?”
“I think we need to get Alden here,” he stated, and my eyes widened, and then a frown creased my brow. My heart pounded in my ears at the idea of bringing an elder this close to the fae. Let alone that particular elder, who I thought of as family. If we were going to die, it would be better for Alden to remain where he was: safe from these monsters. There were rules, and if we went down in this shithole castle, we did it on our terms, and we didn’t take anyone else down with us.
“We can’t bring an elder into Faery, are you crazy? If it comes to it, I’ll take down Ryder, the big one with the golden eyes; he looks to be in charge here. They won’t chance losing him with the Horde King gone. They have to be able to follow someone while he’s out on his walkabout, or whatever it is he’s doing. The guild thinks that power fuels the horde, and that creature is powerful. I can feel it caressing me even now.”
“Take him out, how, Synthia?” Adam smirked. He spoke barely above a whisper as his eyes sparkled with mischief.
“I don’t know, my weapons are gone,” I shrugged as if that knowledge should have been easy to figure out. “I could wield a spell and make him drown on saliva, which may cause enough confusion that we could escape as they try to save him.” I turned to peek over my shoulder as Ryder’s dark brows lowered while he locked gazes with me. “I think he can hear us. Let’s try this,” I said, clapping my hands over Adam’s ears as I peered directly into his emerald-green eyes.
I focused on the spell that would deliver the telepathic channel where we could talk, but it wasn’t Adam’s voice that I heard in my head.
“You are so fucking delicious when you’re plotting to murder me, sweet girl. My dick is hard with anticipation for you to fucking try me.” A deep, rich baritone voice entered my mind, and I pulled my hands back from Adam, turning to stare at Ryder. A smile curved his lips, and I opened my mouth to tell him off, but my body ached, pulsing with need as his gaze swallowed me whole. “Your pussy remembers me. Doesn’t it? I can smell it begging me to fill it until you ache from the fullness.”
“Stay the fuck out my head, asshole. My body’s only response to you is repulsion.” I narrowed my eyes at him and glared.
“Or you’ll do what? Drown me with water? My saliva? Which is it, witch?”
I stood, calling my magic to me, and repeatedly blinked when nothing happened. I stared down at my hands in disbelief because my magic had never failed to come when called. I was powerless here! I huffed. My mouth opened and closed, and I crossed my arms, staring daggers at Ryder, where, no doubt, the blame should be placed. I lifted a brow, daring him to make a move against me. Fuck it. Plan B. I would rip his throat out if he tried to touch me, and I’d make him scream.
“Even without my magic, I’ll still kick your ass,” I warned him pointedly, studying the way the people around the room laughed.
Dark eyes smiled into mine. His sinful lips curled into a wicked grin that I wanted to slap from his too beautiful face. Numerous brands of gold and obsidian danced over his arms, and for a moment, I was hypnotized by them.
I was unable to look away from the way they pulled, calling me into his sinfully carnal web that would consume me whole. My hands slapped over my eyes as I spun back around, sitting down by Adam.
“This is really bad. We have to escape soon. That fae is oozing sex from his freaking pores, and my body is responding in ways I’m embarrassed to admit to myself, let alone you. The sooner we break out of this place, the better. I’m guessing he is just letting those powers work their way over here until I am unable to deny how they’re affecting me. If they turn me FIZ, you have to get out of here; promise me you will escape. Do you understand what I am saying to you?” I was telling Adam to abandon me and live. Leave me here to this hellish fate where I would be turned mindless and forced to lay in a bed awaiting this monster’s lust, unknowingly.
“I do,” Adam replied carefully. Standing, he glanced over at me before lifting his eyes heavenward as if he were trying to figure out how to handle the situation. “I’ll be right back. Don’t stake Adrian while I’m away, okay? You actually are fine with Adrian being a vampire, Synthia.”
“Whatever, I’ll wait, but we cannot leave him like that.”
I watched Adam as he crossed the room, narrowing my eyes when he stopped in front of the male named Ryder. He wasn’t just drop-dead gorgeous. Ryder’s gaze burned with an intensity that ate away at my soul, consuming my will as it chipped away at my resolve until nothing was left.
Those eyes held mine, and I repeatedly swallowed, trying to ignore the desire that rushed through me, wrapping around me, causing my sex to clench with need. I wanted to scream in frustration because Adrian never had this effect on me. He had never made my panties need to be changed. I was sure if I snuck into the bathroom, I could actually wring them out. I surveyed Ryder carefully as Adam whispered into his ear.
“Balls,” I muttered as I rubbed the tension in my temples from being wound tighter than a bowstring.