horses?” Sixten’s lips lifted at the corners. “I find horses repugnant and somewhat smelly.”
Kash wanted to pull his hair out. “Think metaphorically, you raving lunatic!”
“Ah, Kash, the romantic,” Sixten gagged dramatically. “I’ve found my replacement for chick flick night. Blythe will adore your romantic edge. I don’t see Rock doing that shit, so lucky you.”
Was he hearing things? Had he received Sixten’s acceptance? “You don’t enjoy watching movies with her?”
“Well, if you must know, the last one contained wall-to-wall strippers.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
Sixten tossed his hair from his eyes. “ Male strippers.”
Kash snorted. “You let her watch that?”
“Let her?” Sixten stared at him as if he’d grown two heads. “If she accepts you, and you expect to let her do things, you won’t last long in Blythe’s house.”
Finally. “I really do love her, Six, you know?”
“Then you’d better follow me home.” Sixten said as he dematerialized, heading toward Captiva Island. “Blythe’s pissed. Rock’s waiting on us. And I have a feeling it’ll take the better part of the night to hammer this all out between us.”
Wasting no time trailing Sixten, Kash whispered, “I’m already there.”
Chapter Three
I sla woke up manacled to a stainless steel table, horrified, her body chilled and aching. Severe pain seared her right side. Something pumped into her stomach, though she couldn’t see what it was, the throbbing was indescribable. Working her jaw, no words formed, since a long tube traveled her dry throat. She tried to move her head, blinking her eyes, her sight slowly returning with every passing second.
What had happened to her? Where was she? A hospital? No, this place didn’t smell like a hospital, didn’t sound like one, either. Was much too quiet. Eerie quiet. Quiet enough to hear the blood rush her head. Quiet enough to pick up the sounds of…
Wings.
Overhead.
Black wings to be exact.
Briefly, Isla closed her eyes, slowly recalling her night's horror. Twin winged monsters had approached her as she rushed across campus late for her next class. Gripping her arms, they carried her away as if they had every right to. As if, she belonged to them. With bored ease, they tossed her body into a white van. Her textbooks landed to her right. Her backpack slammed to her left. All the while, she looked on in horrified wonder as students walked by without noticing anything.
How?
“She’s coming around,” a deep voice approached, a brush of wind against her face. “You cannot deny the stamina found in a youngling’s blood.”
Still focusing her eyes, she refused to look at theirs. Isla remembered those yellow feline-like pupils stretching across onyx irises, commanded by an ebony body lost against night’s sky.
A hand brushed matted strands from her face. “Such straight, jet hair and look at the endless blue of those eyes.”
“Celtic Were somewhere down her line, I suppose. Tempting, yes?”
“They always are.”
A third voice cut in, melodious, his lilt deeply seductive. “I’ve visited every facility, and I can’t help but wonder. Where are the others ?”
Glass shattered next to her, the splash of liquid hitting the floor. She couldn’t look at him, either, the one whose voice was now a raw whip, the one who had briefly greeted her when she arrived here, right before she fainted. Isla focused to her right. A man in a white lab coat was standing inside a glass enclosure while studying slides under a microscope. Blood filled the containers surrounding him.
“No others were found.” The voice to her left stood strong against the one she knew as Poison.
“One?” A sharp inhale. “ Two of you hunted one for thirty-six hours? Where were you the rest of the night?” His hand lowered on her abdomen, skin tightening beneath his touch, a sharp pain responded.
“Serving the Dynasty Prince, you knew this!” A flap of wings, a light