“Why does Royalty do anything?” Will asked her, and then he answered, “Besides, there aren’t enough Bane to make a dent in their food supply. We’re no threat to them.” Not anymore.

“How much blood do you need?” she asked. Kahli’s fingers pressed against her neck, wondering if he’d bitten her while she slept.

Will saw her fingers move to her throat and laughed softly. “There is no way I’d drink from you. Ever. An untouched human is priceless. There are no markings on your neck. No vampire has ever tasted you. You’re completely pure.”

Kahli’s spine straightened. This wasn’t what she expected at all. She always thought she would be dropped off at Section 8 if she was captured, or drained. She didn’t expect this. Her stomach dropped when she thought she caught his meaning, “You plan to sell me, then?” she asked, panic coursing through her veins. “To who?”

Will replied, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

CHAPTER FIVE

The Tracker left Kahli after that conversation and did not return. She was too weak to move. Her shoulder throbbed, despite the ointment that was slathered beneath the bandages. It stank something awful. The stench told her that it was a vamp tonic of some sort. It would heal her faster than nothing, but not as quickly as vampire blood. She wondered why he didn’t force his blood down her throat. Was it because he was Bane? Did his blood not have the same effect? Or was it because he wanted her pure? The boy could have done it already, but he didn’t. And damn. The way he looked at her. It made her stomach twist. Kahli was too weak to ponder what it meant and tried to rest.

When she closed her eyes to sleep, she saw his face as a child. She saw him move swiftly and heard his soft voice lie and say she wasn’t there.

He saw her.

The thought consumed her. The Tracker boy saw her all those years ago and said nothing—no, he’d done more than that. He lied. He lied and saved her. He spared her from whatever fate her mother encountered. Well, until now. Confusion pinched her brow. Her head ached. What was he doing? Why bother saving her from the wolves and risking his life to save her? Humans were valuable, but not worth risking the wolves. Hell, she wouldn’t have risked facing the wolves if she realized the entire pack broke into the building. Only the utterly foolish did something like that—something that could be construed as nuts—or brave. Maybe that’s what was bothering her. The Tracker seemed to be brave. He fit the sense of the word, but the last thing he said didn’t jive with that ideal.

The next time her eyes flew open, it was at the sound of food being passed into the room. A metal tray was sitting near the door with bread, a small chunk of cheese, and water on it. Kahli sat up slowly. The room didn’t spin this time. She padded across the room to the tray, feeling ravenous. She hadn’t eaten since the morning she left the safe house. Tearing into the bread, she bit off a big chunk and swallowed. Quickly, she swallowed some water to force it down. As Kahli chewed another bite, she felt herself becoming less hungry and more lightheaded. She blinked once, slowly, and lifted the bread to her eyes examining it like something was wrong. Her head felt light and heavy at the same time.

“It’s just preparations for your departure—a light sedative—I’m sure you understand,” Will said. He stood in the room. She never heard him come in. Startled, Kahli dropped the bread to the floor. She wanted to speak, but couldn’t remember how to her move her mouth. Will bent down and lifted the bread, handing it back to her.

Kahli took it and looked at him. Drugs swam in her mind, ingested through the piece of food in her hands. The world felt fat and lazy. Things seemed to be happening in slow motion. The Tracker’s blue eyes were inches from hers face, caught in a stare that was far too soft for his kind.

Kahli rolled the words in her mouth and forced them to come out clear. “When you least expect it, I will kill you.” She smiled at him weakly, before blinking hard again. The world wouldn’t stay in focus. Will smiled at her, like she was all sweetness and not threatening to kill him.

Another voice came from the doorway. “She seems like a handful, Will. But I see what you mean about her colorings.” He wore a thick woolen coat that was dark as night. It moved around his calves as he crossed the room, bending down to the place where Kahli sat drugged on the floor. He took her chin in his hand, and turned her face, examining her. “I suppose she’ll do. There’s no trace of ownership?”

“Look for yourself,” Will answered. Kahli’s eyes shifted between the two as they spoke, but she couldn’t focus on what they were saying. The only thing she knew was that they were talking about her. She decided that she would kill the man in the coat as well. He was handling her like she was an animal and she didn’t like it.

The man in the black coat lowered his dark eyes to her arms. His smooth fingers pushed back her filthy sleeves, looking for inkings. When he found one, he looked at Will sharply, and squeezed her arm, “What’s this? You said she was wild.”

Will leaned against the wall, his hands in his pockets. “It’s fake. Like the one from a few years ago. She’s the real thing. Examine her all you want, Reggie. It’s not going to change what she is.”

The man’s back straightened. He dropped Kahli’s hand and rose. His lips were thin, and ghostly pale. “Have you such utter disrespect for everyone? Or is your tone reserved for me alone?”

Will smiled and pushed himself off the wall. He hopped two steps to Kahli, and lifted her up. Kahli felt his hands slide under her as he lifted her like she was weightless. His scent lingered in her head. Will set her down on the ledge where she’d been sleeping. The piece of bread fell from her fingers as she stared blankly at him with a how-could-you look etched across her face. Will’s eyes swept over her, but lingered for half a second too long. He almost seemed sorry, but Kahli knew the drugs were making her see things that weren’t real.

Will turned back to the vampire who required respect. Many had died as a result of lesser things. Will’s taunting nickname for the man was used with discretion. It was a way to distract him from seeing what was really going on. And that was something Will couldn’t afford to lose.

“Regent Reginald is a bit of a mouthful,” Will’s eyebrow twitched once as he looked at the vampire. “And there are other buyers that will take her with her fake inkings and sell her on the black market without a second thought. So,” Will said, moving away from Kahli and extending his arm toward the door, showing Reginald the way out, “if she’s not to your liking, that’s fine by me. There’s another coming who’ll want her just the way she is.”

Reginald’s wide mouth pulled into a curved slit, like a caught fish. “I didn’t say that I wouldn’t take her, Will.” His hands were so white that Kahli thought he was wearing gloves. He turned to Kahli again. Sweeping his black eyes over her body, he turned sharply and moved to the door. “Done.”

Before Kahli knew what was happening, Will walked off with the man in the black coat. Four other men entered the room and moved in around her. They spoke to each other, but she didn’t understand what they said. They reached out for her, shoving their calloused hands around her arms and pulled her from the room. Kahli’s arm was still tender, but the jerky movements didn’t cause it to bleed. She yelped as they dragged her outside in the cold.

The frozen snow crunched under her bare feet. The wind tore through her ragged clothing, chilling Kahli to the bone. She looked wildly around for help, but there was none. Without a word of explanation, the men hoisted her up into a truck. The metal was warmer than the snow, but she’d still freeze to death back there. Her mind was foggy and her teeth wouldn’t stop chattering. When they rolled up the back door of the truck, Kahli could see rows and rows of cages filled with exotic animals. They were animals that only lived in warm parts of the world—warm parts that no longer existed.

Kahli gasped, as she was shoved head first into a black metal cage. Before she got to her feet, the hinges creaked shut and the lock clicked. Kahli wrapped her fingers around the metal bars and immediately released them. They turned white hot, heating her cage while the base remained cool. The men that had hoisted her into the truck jumped down one by one. They turned their hunched backs and returned to the building in front of her. Kahli stared at the letters on the side of the building. The exterior door to the truck suddenly rolled closed, leaving Kahli alone in the inky darkness.

CHAPTER SIX

A cornucopia of sounds surrounded her in the darkness. Eventually Kahli’s head became clear and she realized that the creatures surrounding her should not exist. The truck bounced along the road like they were driving over fallen logs. The jolts shook Kahli in her cage. She tried to keep from slamming her butt into the bottom of the cage every time they hit a bump, but it was no use. There was nothing to hold onto. The bars surrounding her were heated somehow. That was the only thing that kept her from freezing to death. If she held onto them to keep from bouncing around, she’d burn her hands. Peering through the darkness Kahli watched the animals, wondering what she had in common with them. Why would someone who collected animals that were supposed to be extinct want her? Kahli rested her head on the cage floor, trying not to lay on her bad shoulder. Just as her eyelids were growing too heavy to keep open, the truck stopped. Voices filled the air. She sat up, straining to hear.

She caught the middle of a sentence, by the time the masculine voice wandered to the back of the truck. “…in here? This is the Queen’s land and you know damn well that this kind of vehicle is forbidden. Regent Reginald or not, I can’t allow you to pass this…”

Kahli understood the condemning tone. She’d snuck up on enough Trackers at camp to hear them speaking to one another in that fashion. It was the tone of someone tested to their limit—someone who could be pushed to the breaking point. Someone who could free her. Without another thought, Kahli screamed, “LET ME OUT! YOU CAN’T KEEP ME IN HERE!” she continued to shriek until the man talking fell silent. He heard her.