But she couldn’t stand idly by,cowering under the blankets like a child afraid of the boogeyman,while an innocent female was used as bait.
She was about to fully piss off hermate. It was tempting to try to talk to him again, but if he hadany inkling of her plans, he’d lock her up in the bedroom and she’dbe trapped.
What was it her grandmother used tosay? Better to ask forgiveness than permission.
She just hoped to hell that she got tothe female in time to save her and everyone else.
* * *
It was faint, but Trinity heard it. Ahowl on the wind.
Her skin prickled, and she roseshakily to her feet. The chains wouldn’t allow her to reach thebars, but she could rise onto her toes and see a little more outthe tiny barred window in the door. She knew it was Wrath howling.She could feel it in her bones.
He had to know that Veltris had takenher, and that he was using her as bait to lure him to hisdeath.
But her mate was a powerful, dangerousmale. He might have a tender and loving side now that they weretogether, but the purebreds wouldn’t necessarily know that. Or evencare.
Wrath was a wanted man.
Turning, she tugged on the chains,wrapping the thick lengths around her forearms to protect herankles from the bite of the cuffs. The bolt in the floor was huge,the size of a tennis ball and thick. She’d poked around the woodenfloor, and discovered it was bolted through the wood into some kindof metal plate. If the purebreds put their own kind in the cell forpunishment, then the chains would have to be strong enough toprevent them from escaping.
She stopped pulling on the chains andlet out a gusty sigh. Her whole body ached, and she was exhaustedand stressed. She had no idea how much time had passed since she’dbeen taken, but the sky she could see through the window wasdarkening.
The door opened and a woman steppedin, shutting it quickly. She rose onto her toes and peeked out thebarred window, her chest heaving.
She turned slowly and facedTrinity.
“Who are you?” Trinityasked.
“I could ask you the samething,” the woman said. She pulled a brass key from her pocket andunlocked the door, which creaked as it opened. “My name’s Gemma.I’m Veltris’s mate.”
“I thought you lookedfamiliar,” Trinity said. Then she took a step back. “Are you hereto hurt me or something? I didn’t have anything to do with yourabduction, and I know for a fact that Wrath didn’t actually hurtyou except to deny you food and water and let his males taunt youwith threats.”
Gemma crossed her arms. “You make itsound like that’s nothing to be pissed about.”
Trinity shook her head. “I’m sorry, Ididn’t mean it like that. I know his males terrified you, but Ialso know you were hurt because you kept trying to escape andeventually you wore yourself out which was why you were unconsciouswhen Veltris found you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “How do you knowthat I was unconscious? The Blood Wolves weren’t around when I wasrescued. Veltris is the one who found me. Did he tellyou?”
Trinity told her where she was fromand how she’d wound up in their world.
Gemma snorted in disbelief. “Yeah,okay. You know, I came here to help but if you’re going to be abitch and lie to me, then maybe I should just forget the wholething.”
Trinity jerked in surprise. “No, wait!Don’t leave, please. I’m sorry. But it’s the truth. Everything Itold you happened—Wrath and I have been dreaming about each otherfor twelve years. I know everything that’s going on in this worldbecause I saw and heard things in the dreams.”
Her gaze remained skeptical. “Thentell me something that I’ve never told anyone.”
Trinity stared at the woman. She wasangry and confused, and Trinity could relate. She thought back towhat she knew about Gemma. She was twenty-one, raised in a humansettlement called Markston, a forty-minute walk from packterritory. Her parents disowned her because she matedVeltris.
“Your family disowned youwhen you joined with Veltris,” Trinity said.
“Everyone knows that,” shesnapped. “Even Wrath, because one of his males taunted me aboutbeing abandoned.”
Trinity nodded. “Yeah, it was Rook.You shouldn’t take that so seriously, though. Blood Wolves arealways abandoned because their parents are either killed for havingthem or disown them.”
“Rook told you what he saidto me?”
“No, I dreamed about it.It’s why you sprained your ankle, because when he said it, youlunged at him and he was too fast for you. You got tangled in thechain and wrenched your ankle.”
She shook her head dismissively. “Hecould’ve told you about that. It doesn’t count.”
“All right,” Trinity said,blowing out a breath. Then it came to her. She just hoped thatGemma hadn’t told anyone about it. “One of the guys who came tocoerce you back to the human settlement with your family was namedGreg.”
Gemma’s eyes rounded a little insurprise.
Trinity continued, “He was the manyour parents wanted you to marry because his parents had money andstatus in the settlement. You never liked him. You always calledhim a jerkhole, and when everyone showed up at the pack territoryline, your parents said Greg was a much better man than you’d everfind with an animal.”
“There were a ton of peoplethere when that happened,” she said. “Anyone could’ve toldyou.”
“Maybe,” Trinity said. “Butwhat you didn’t say that night was that you’d had a suspicion thatGreg was up to no good—that his whole family was. Before you metVeltris, and the subject of marrying Greg had come up, you’ddecided to follow him and see if you could figure out what he washiding. You never trusted him in school, and that opinion hadn’tchanged. One night you followed him and his brother—all the way toa vampire kiss, where they took money in exchange for donating avein to vampires. You watched through the window of a house and sawhim strip naked and let two vampire females bite him in the thighsand feed from him. It’s why you never saw any bite marks when theywere healing—they were hidden by his pants. You
