“This changes nothing, though. Come with me, and I’ll let her live,” Dante said.
“Let her go,” Trent warned. He widened his stance, clearly ready to fight.
“If you insist.” Dante snickered and flung me across the room.
My head hit the corner of the wall, and I slammed against the floor. The breath rushed from my lungs, and my body screamed in agony. I tried, and failed, to sit up. Trent lunged for me, but Dante intercepted him.
Bright white spots flashed in front of my eyes, making it impossible to see anything clearly. But I could hear Trent and Dante fighting. Bones cracking. Flesh smacking. I touched my forehead and winced.
I tried again to sit up, and I managed to prop myself against the wall. Vertigo hit me hard, and I closed my eyes, willing it to pass quickly. My head throbbed without mercy, and nausea rolled through me like a rogue wave.
Unable to hold it back a second longer, I leaned over and threw up. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Trent. Dante had him pinned against the wall, and Trent wasn’t moving.
“No,” I said, but my throat was raw, making my voice weak.
Trent slumped to the floor. A sob wracked my beaten body. He couldn’t be dead. If he were, I’d know it. We were linked. I’d be able to feel his death. But then, why wasn’t he moving? What had Dante done to him?
Dante crouched in front of me and brushed my sweaty, bloody hair from my face. “You know I have to kill you, right?”
I glared at him through blurry, tear stained eyes. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him if he killed me, Trent would die, too, but something held me back. A warning in the back of my mind. The less this man knew, the better.
“Such a shame. Though I’m very much going to enjoy drinking you,” he said and gathered my hair from my neck. And then he stopped. His eyes narrowed. “He’s marked you.”
“I’m his soulmate,” I whispered, praying that would mean something to Dante.
Trent told me that when a vampire claims their soulmate, it’s a sign, a warning to all other vampires that the soulmate is off-limits. That was part of the reason Colt had claimed Karina, so Dante couldn’t touch her.
“Well then.” He released me and dusted his hands off as if I was somehow dirty. “It really would be much easier for you if you weren’t marked. Trust me when I say death would be preferable to what your future holds.”
I stared at him, waiting for him to say more, but he didn’t. My eyelids were heavy, and another wave of nausea hit me. Why wasn’t Trent getting up?
“Did you kill him?” I asked, tears spilling down my cheeks faster than I could stop them.
“No.” Dante stood. “But you won’t ever see him again.” He flung Trent over his shoulder and rushed out of the cabin.
I slumped over and succumbed to the darkness.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO:
Taken
VIOLENT SHIVERS SHOOK MY BODY. Icurled into the fetal position and wrapped my arms around my knees. Why was it so cold in here? Slowly, the events of earlier seeped into my consciousness.
Trent!
I jerked upright, and a sharp stab of pain shot through my temple. I winced and carefully got to my feet, steadying myself against the wall until the dizziness subsided enough that I could see somewhat straight. The door was still busted, and snow had drifted inside the cabin. I stumbled through the living room, almost tripping over Vivienne’s dead body.
Gagging, I rushed outside. The rental truck was still parked where Trent had left it, but there was no sign of him or Dante.
“Trent!” I shouted into the darkness, and I was greeted with deafening silence. “Trent,” I said softer, knowing in the pit of my stomach that he wasn’t anywhere nearby.
Fear clutched my chest and squeezed the breath from my lungs. Where had Dante taken him? Maybe if I got in the truck and started driving, I could find them. Don’t be stupid. They were vampires with superhuman speed, and I’d been knocked unconscious for hours. There was no way I was going to find Trent. Numb, I went back inside and flopped down on the sofa.
Trent was gone.
And I was here alone.
Panic choked me, and I hyperventilated. My shallow breaths were sharp and painful and made only more agonizing by the sobs now wracking my shoulders. I buried my face in my hands and cried.
How had this happened? Why hadn’t I just taken Trent’s hand when he’d offered? If I had, maybe we would’ve been able to escape before Dante took him and left me for dead. Or maybe if I hadn’t wasted those few precious moments kissing him, we could’ve been gone before Dante barged in.
Was that the last time I’d ever kiss my husband?
I doubled over, the pain in my head intensifying to an excruciating level. I squeezed my eyes closed, but the pain persisted until I could feel the blood rushing to my head, the throbbing a dreadful staccato, mocking me for being weak. For not being able to fight back. For not being able to save Trent.
“Oh God,” I whimpered.
Bile rose in the back of my throat, and I barely made it to the bathroom before I threw up, violently, which did not help my headache.
Closing the toilet lid, I rested my cheek against the cool ceramic, my tears coming harder and faster now. When I was positive I wasn’t going to vomit again, I stood, swaying on my feet. I gripped the edge of the sink and hung my head.
After a moment, I splashed cool water on my face and then stared at my reflection. There was dried blood on the front of my shirt, remnants
