A nasty lump protruded from my forehead. Gently, I touched it and winced. I probably had a concussion. It was then I realized I needed help. I couldn’t do this on my own. Not only was I in no condition physically to do anything, I had no idea where to even begin looking for Trent.
But I knew someone who would.
I raced back into the living room and searched for my cell phone—and then I called the only other person I trusted to deal with this situation.
I’D TOSSED A BLANKET over Vivienne’s body and wrestled the busted door back in front of the frame, though it did little good. Snow still managed to swirl in around the cracks. Still, it made me feel slightly better than having gaping hole in the front of the cabin. Then, I’d started a fire to kill the chill permeating the interior, but that wasn’t working out so well, either.
Exhausted, I curled up on the sofa beneath a blanket and waited, my gaze not moving from the door. What if Dante decided to come back for me? Sitting in plain view probably wasn’t the smartest idea.
Gathering my blanket, I shuffled into the bedroom, but the French doors offered very little in the way of security, so I locked myself in the bathroom. And then I curled up in the hot tub.
Sometime later, what remained of the front door creaked and then slammed against the floor. I jumped and slapped my hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t scream. Yanking the blanket over my head, as if somehow hiding beneath fabric would protect me, I stayed perfectly still, my heart drumming a terrified staccato.
Please don’t let it be Dante. I closed my eyes, repeating my silent prayer. Please don’t let it be Dante.
“Chloe?” His voice was frantic.
I froze, and then instant relief flooded me. It wasn’t Dante. I stood and fought to get the blanket off me, nearly tripping and face planting on the tiled floor as I rushed to get out of the hot tub.
“Chloe?” he repeated, his voice now in full-blown fear mode.
Hands shaking, I fumbled to get the bathroom door unlocked. “Jax,” I said and flung myself into his arms just as he rounded the corner of the bed.
He caught me, and I sobbed against his shoulder. He held me tightly, face buried in my hair, and whispered, “Shh. It’s okay. I’m here now.”
I needed to let him go so I could tell him what happened, but I couldn’t make my body cooperate. I’d called him in hysterics, and he hadn’t hesitated to drop everything to run to my rescue.
“You’re freezing,” he mumbled.
Releasing me, he jerked the comforter off the bed and wrapped it around me; then he ran his hands up and down my arms as he studied my face. His eyes darkened, and he scowled.
“Who hurt you?” he asked through clenched teeth. He reached up to touch my head, and I jerked away.
“I’m fine,” I said, even though I wasn’t anywhere close to being fine. “He took Trent.”
“Who took Trent?”
I’d been crying so hard when I’d called Jax, all I managed to say coherently was, “Trent’s gone,” “I’m alone,” and “Please help me.” It had taken Jax a solid five minutes to get me to calm down enough to even tell him where I was. I imagined he was confused right now.
“Dante,” I whispered.
Jax’s eyes widened. “Dante?” he asked slowly. “Blue eyes, blond hair, baby face… looks like a choir boy but acts like the devil?”
I nodded.
Jax blew out a breath and muttered several curses. “Okay, tell me everything that happened.”
I sank down on the edge of the bed and recounted everything that had happened from the moment Vivienne walked into the game room to the moment I woke up alone on the floor. I’d thought the day I’d taken my mother off life support had been the worst day of my life, but I’d been wrong. That pain had been devastating, but the pain I felt right now… that was completely debilitating.
“So, Dante did that to you?” Jax asked, motioning at the lump on my head.
“Yes.”
Jax clenched his hands into fists. “I’m going to beat him to death,” he said, his voice deadly calm.
Normally, I’d tell Jax to calm down, but not this time. I wanted Dante dead, and I wanted him to suffer for what he’d done.
“Trent didn’t have the chance to tell me much, other than we needed to get away from Dante.” I fidgeted with the corner of the blanket. “I thought he was chasing Colt. Why does he want Trent?”
Somewhere during my story, Jax had sat beside me, and now I turned to face him, hoping he had the answers I needed.
Jax rubbed his hands over his face and stood. “Did Trent ever tell you we left Sean for a while?”
“Yes.”
“During that time, we met Dante. We thought he was a friend, until we realized he was a sadistic monster.”
I swallowed hard. Great, and my husband was at the mercy of this madman. This day couldn’t possibly get any worse.
“Did Trent ever tell you that there are vampires who change humans simply because they can?” Jax asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, he said some vampires will create a personal army, or sometimes, they’ll just keep humans as pets, feeding on them whenever they want.”
“Dante was created by a vampire who does both. She collects humans and feeds on them until she gets bored. Then, she either kills them or changes them. But she only changes the ones who are one hundred percent devoted to her,” Jax said as he paced at the foot of the bed.
“He said something about a woman named Yolanda, that she’s wanted Trent for years,” I said, my muddled brain racing to catch up with my jumbled thoughts.
“Yeah, she’s created her own personal harem.” Jax stopped pacing—thank God because he was making me even dizzier
