Gemstone

  “Get up here!” Raphael thundered.

  Viktor trotted smartly to his side.

  Whatever this was, he wanted it over with. Then he’d take the iron blade and do what he should’ve done long ago. Damn the consequences. His life wasn’t worth shit. Why prolong it? And maybe, just maybe, he’d manage to do away with Raphael. At least then he could live out however many months he had left free from his sire’s oppressive yoke.

  Raphael drew a set of old-fashioned handcuffs from one of his many pockets. Moving faster than a human eye could follow, the Vamp snapped cuffs on Ketha right behind the wrist manacles. “Take her to the caves,” he said and all but pushed her into Viktor’s arms.

  Viktor latched a hand firmly around Ketha’s elbow. Her intoxicating scent filled his nose, but he ignored it. “What then?” he asked Raphael.

  His sire sent an incredulous look his way. “Lock her up and return. I’ll decide her fate once she’s told us what she knows about escaping Ushuaia.”

  “I already explained how that would happen.” Ketha’s tone was pointed. “At a conference table as an equal. So long as you hold me captive, my wolf and I will die before we help you do anything.”

  Raphael slanted his gaze her way. “It appears we’re at a stalemate. Perhaps some cell time will alter your perspective.”

  “Don’t count on it.”

  Relief weakened Viktor’s knees, but he did his damnedest to hide the excitement sluicing through him. He didn’t have to kill Ketha. Didn’t have to do a thing beyond delivering her to the prison caves. He’d leave her in the cell he’d occupied because it was farthest from the ravages of the poisoned ocean and more comfortable than the others.

  An insidious thought intruded. Before he could stop himself, a treasonous path stretched dead ahead. He’d know where she was, which meant he could free her. In truth, he never had to lock her up at all. Too late, he felt the subtle edges of her magic probe his mind. He engaged wards, but a smile turned her face into something profanely beautiful.

  “Lead out.” She hip-butted him. “This room stinks of Vampires, and it’s giving me a headache.”

  Raphael snarled and lunged for her. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her until her teeth rattled against each other. “Keep a civil tongue in your head, or I’ll rethink my generosity. Never forget who runs things in Ushuaia. This is blood’s dominion. My dominion.”

  Ketha stood her ground. “Funny, but I thought I and my Shifters were in charge. Besides, if you were going to kill me, I’d already be dead.”

  Viktor tamped down growing admiration for the woman. As soon as Raphael let go, he hustled her out of the room.

  “Remain quiet.” He kept his tone stern and herded her toward the stairwell. “Vampires have excellent hearing.”