Hands perched on her hips, Ava lifted her chin. “Aside from the fact that you’re an interfering bastard who thinks you have some say in my decisions?”

“Yeah, aside from that.”

She blinked, surprised. Apparently she’d expected me to resent that statement. “Tell me it isn’t true that you’ve told the males on this island I’m off-limits.” When I didn’t deny it, she said, “You are unbelievable.” She folded her arms, her innocent little face scrunched up in outrage. “Take it back.”

“No. Even the thought of another guy touching you makes me want to kill – and we both know I’d do it without hesitation.” And I’d enjoy it. Probably a little too much.

Her arms flopped to her sides. “Are you high?”

“You know I want you, Ava. So I don’t get why you’re so surprised.”

She massaged her temples. “We don’t have time for this. Just take it back.” Head held high, she tried to march past me. Oh no, I wasn’t having that.

I collared her throat and slammed her against the wall, crowding her, trapping her there. She didn’t struggle or object. Instead, she froze, looking up at me with eyes that were glinting with need. It was a need that mirrored my own.

As the smell of her lust and her mouth-watering scent snaked around me, I groaned inwardly and breezed the pad of my thumb over her bottom lip. “Do you know why I resisted you for so long? Because I knew that if I had even one taste of you, you’d never be free of me. I thought I could do the right thing and stay away. You’re sweet and kind and everything I’m not. I’ve done a lot of bad things. Things I don’t even regret. You can do a hell of a lot better than someone who’s as fucked up as I am. But I’m a selfish prick. I’ve never let anyone keep me from what I want. Ever.”

She licked her lips. “I told you, I don’t do relationships.”

Unease flashed across her face, taking me by surprise. I fought to soften my voice, drawing circles on her throat with my thumb. “What are you so wary of, Ava? Me?” She shook her head, but I wasn’t convinced. “I’ll never hurt you. Tell me you know that.” I’d kill for her, but I’d never hurt her.

“I know.”

I scraped my teeth over her pulse, barely resisting the urge to bite down hard and feel her blood flowing into my mouth. I badly wanted to know how every part of her tasted. “Then why are you nervous?”

She quickly shook her head in denial. “I’m not.”

My lips curved as realisation dawned on me. “You know how tight I’ll hold you to me, don’t you? The thing is, baby, I’ve had a taste of you now.” Recalling how her mouth had felt beneath mine in the bar, I almost groaned. “There’s no going back. As far as I’m concerned, you already belong to me. Every single inch of you. And what’s mine stays mine.” Reluctantly releasing her, I stepped back. “Accept it, Ava. The sooner you do that, the simpler things will be.”

CHAPTER TWO

(Ava)

“It doesn’t look like a brothel.”

I had to agree with David on that. Situated on a long stretch of land a hundred feet away from us, the large manor was beautiful, modern, and contemporary – the kind of house you would expect to hold cocktail parties or charity functions. But behind those colourfully stained windows and red brick walls lay a sight that I wasn’t looking forward to seeing. “They obviously aim to attract upper-class clients.”

I was surprised my voice was steady, considering Salem was pressed up against my side; his body taunting mine merely by being so close. Damn the bastard. After his little declaration, I’d scampered from the conference room, unsure and off-balance. A part of me wanted to give in to him, because the hard thing about resisting a guy like Salem was that…well, that he was as hot and deliciously dominant as Salem. But another part of me was determined to stand my ground. If I was to give him what he wanted, Salem would eventually try to change me like others had before him. I was surprised by just how much the thought of that hurt.

Squatted at my other side, Butch ran a hand through his bronze hair. “It sure guarantees them discretion, being all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.”

Damien turned to Sam and Jared. “By all rights, you could storm in there and demand they surrender. You’re the Grand High Pair now.”

“Yeah,” agreed Sam, “but they might have a teleporter in there, someone who can get the girls out of the manor before we even have the chance to help them. We can’t risk that.”

Max shuffled forward. “So what’s the plan?” I noticed Max was crouched close to Sam – no doubt to irritate Jared purely for his own amusement, as he often did. Going by Jared’s scowl, it was working.

“I need my spies.” Sam looked to Denny who, as an animal mimic, was able to reduce his body to liquid just like the sea cucumber. “I want you to scout the perimeter, find out if there are any guards for us to play with, and check out how many entrances there are. Stuart, I need you to take a look around inside; we need to know how many vampires we’re dealing with and exactly where they are.” Being a Shredder, Stuart exploded into molecules just as Denny melted into a puddle of mush. Then they were both gone.

“Okay, so there are three floors, plus the attic.” Jared pursed his lips. “It’s possible that there’s a basement too, so we have to be prepared to search five floors.”

Sam nodded. “We’ll need to split up for that.”

“Depending on how many girls are in there,” began Max, “it could take quite a few teleporting trips to get us all back to The Hollow. Where will we put them?”

“The infirmary is ready for them,” Jared informed him. “If they’re as bad as Luther described, they may each need to be put on a drip of blood for a while.”

“What drugs do you think they’re using in there?” Harvey’s face was twisted in confusion. “I mean, Luther said we were carrying the girls in his vision, so they have to be pretty out of it, right?”

Sam turned to Harvey. “I’ve been thinking about that and…it makes no sense that they would be sedated. Drugs flow in the blood. If a vampire fed from a sedated person, they’d be quickly sedated themselves.”

David tilted his head. “Huh, I never thought of that.”