Seduce the Darkness (Alien Huntress #4)(45)
Author: Gena Showalter

"When I learned Devyn had found you, I almost died. I’d been searching, had no luck, and suddenly he was on the hunt to bed you. Did he hurt you?" Macy demanded.

"No." Her cheeks flushed to a pretty pink, and she flicked him a glance. He shrugged, sheepish. He’d never made a secret of his desires.

"Oh," Bride said. "I have your necklace." She removed it and anchored it around Macy’s neck.

The two women returned to their conversation, and he continued to watch them, strangely happy with the way things had turned out.

His phone vibrated, and he dug it out of his pocket. The number belonged to Breean. He was moaning inside as he answered.

"I knew you would do the right thing," Breean said without preamble. "You knew I had Bride?"

"I knew you were close to finding her and using my woman to do it. But I let you, because the end result was all that mattered."

"And if I had betrayed her?”

“I would have killed you."

It was stated so simply, Devyn knew the big guy had already planned it out. Just in case. Couldn’t blame him, really. "You would have tried," was all he said.

Breean chuckled. "You underestimated me once before, my friend, and I locked you up."

That he had. In the end, Devyn had still won. "You know, I’m starting to like you. We should hang out more."

Breean choked, his breath crackling over the line. "I won’t bed you. Now or ever."

Devyn rolled his eyes. "As if you’re handsome enough to win the likes of me." The thought of being with someone else, however, slipped into his mind and refused to leave. Bride was affecting him, and he didn’t like it. Perhaps if he bedded another woman, he’d stop thinking of Bride so intently. Perhaps he’d stop this cursed softening. Once more, tears would no longer affect him, and jealousy would no longer delight him.

Yes. That’s what he’d do. Just as soon as he turned Bride over to AIR.

CHAPTER 14

Bride hadn’t seen Devyn in days. Three days, eight hours, and twenty-seven minutes, to be exact. Three days, eight hours, and twenty-seven minutes she’d spent inside AIR headquarters.

Though she’d committed a crime by stealing Nolan, she wasn’t a prisoner; they’d oh, so nicely asked her to stay as Devyn had told her they would. They recognized her abilities and wanted her happy, but they also wanted easy access to her. Had she insisted on leaving, they would have caved on the issue, she was sure, but she hadn’t. She stayed for Aleaha, who visited her every day. Or rather, Macy. That was the name her friend now used, so that was the name Bride needed to call her. By citing Macy as the reason for her compliance, she hopefully made Macy look good to those in charge.

Wasn’t like it was a hardship to stay. She had a comfortable bed, a small dresser with her changes of clothes, a portable enzyme shower, and a fridge and microwave for bags of plasma. Yeah, she was a pincushion, poked and prodded every few hours. It wasn’t such a bad deal, though. The agents were surprisingly friendly and had honored her request for them not to wear perfume around her.

So … why hadn’t Devyn checked on her?

She knew the answer to that, she thought, fuming. He’d had her. He’d won. Like she’d suspected, once a man like him got his target in bed, he became tired of her. The bastard. God, what a fool she was. She should have resisted harder.

She paced the length of her cell, her boots digging into the tiles. There’d been talk about him. She knew Devyn had taken some stupid female out on a date. A date! With the otherworlder, there was only one way that could have ended. In bed. Naked. Doing the things she and Devyn had done in her bed. Only more.

Doesn’t matter. You knew it would end this way. Still, her fangs and nails were elongated, and what little blood coursed through her veins was like white lightning, sizzling, raising the fine hairs on the back of her neck and razing her chest.

Think of something else before you combust. She knew several AIR agents had moved into her apartment to keep track of Nolan, too afraid to transport him. How was he? Still healthy? She hoped so. He wasn’t a bad guy.

The only door to her cell slid open, and three female agents strode inside. One of them clutched a plastic basket filled with needles, tubes, and bandages.

"Time for another withdrawal already?" she moaned. She should tell them no more needle sticks for a while, but she did want them to find out if her blood was indeed a cure for Nolan’s virus. If Al— Macy were ever infected, she wanted the cure available immediately.

"Yep, we’re here for a little more juice," one of the girls said. "Sorry." A pause, a frown. "You look paler in person than you do on the monitors. Plasma not to your liking?"

"No." At this rate, she’d be drained by the end of the week. The plasma had sickened her more than usual, and she’d been unable to absorb even those first few little mouthfuls.

Every day she edged closer to starvation, and these women with their strong pulses weren’t helping. They were a mouthwatering temptation, her tongue swelling for a taste. Don’t drink from Macy’s coworkers. Don’t you dare drink from Macy’s coworkers.

"I’d offer to feed you," the second girl said, "but Mia said we couldn’t. She doesn’t want our blood masking the effects of yours."

Bride strode to the chair and table that had been set up for this type of thing. The woman with the basket moved in front of her, red hair fluttering around her chin; the other two moved behind Bride. They were the guard dogs, she suspected, just in case she went feral.

They were all young, no older than thirty, and pretty in their own ways. What surprised her, though, was the fact that they didn’t seem disgusted by her need for blood. They had shrugged off her dislike of the plasma and would have offered themselves if possible. Where was the horror she’d always dreaded?

"I haven’t seen you guys before," she remarked. Everyone who visited her was female, but never the same one twice. She’d begun to wonder if there were any male agents besides Devyn and Dallas.

"There’s a waiting list to meet you," one of the girls behind her said. "We finally got our turn." A waiting list? For her? "Why?”

“Devyn," they said in unison, and then they sighed dreamily. Just hearing his name, the moisture in Bride’s mouth increased.

"I’m Ann, by the way," the redhead said. "The brunette is Claire, and the blonde is Madison." As she spoke, she wrapped the self-tightening tourniquet around Bride’s arm and cleaned the inside of her elbow.

"What’s Devyn got to do with everyone wanting to meet me?"

"He decorated your cell," Madison said, her tone making it clear that should have been obvious to Bride. "Everything here, he picked out."