Page 13 of Ice

“Sam…” Tanner’s hand on my shoulder makes me look up. “Perhaps you should shift back for now. British vamps aren’t the biggest fans of—”

Thornfield releases a loud but dark boom of laughter. “We are their sworn enemies.”

Shifting back, pushing my dark curly hair from my face, I shake my head. “Sworn enemies? Well, that’s all very dramatic. Back home, a super is a super. We’re – mostly – all friends.”

“That is not the case here.” Lucien folds his arms and backs away, looking me up and down as if he expects me to draw a weapon and come for him at any moment.

“Well, you can tell me that story another time.” I roll my eyes and turn to Tanner, opening my arms and folding him into a tight embrace. Next I look for Mack. He rises slowly from his chair, and my heart aches to see him like this – worse than when he left instead of better.

“What are you doing here, Sam?” he asks, patting my shoulder.

“Nova…” I pinch the bridge of my nose and try to read Mack’s expression. “I felt like she needed me. Like she was in trouble…”

“You’re right about that.” Tanner looks nervously from Mack to Lucien. “She was captured by Zephyra, the vampire who’s holding Miranda. Kole too. We’re trying to figure out a plan to get her back but—”

“She was captured? How? She’s too powerful.”

“She’s not in full control of her powers yet,” Mack says, meeting my eyes. “You know that.”

“And Zephyra made Miranda lace their shield with a chaos spell. Our powers were completely unpredictable.” Tanner flexes his fingers. “Nova couldn’t fight back without risking our lives. None of us could.”

I realize I’m not breathing properly, and that I’m feeling lightheaded, and clutch my chest. “Okay, so what do we do? How do we get her back?”

The three others in the room simply look at me. “We haven’t figured that out yet,” Lucien says. “But we need to. Miranda just became very important indeed.”

“Miranda? I’m talking about Nova.” Frustration blooms in my gut.

“I’m aware,” Lucien replies. “But seeing as I lost the auction to the Anti Magick Alliance and they are now in possession of the scepter… perhaps you can see where my concern lies at this precise moment?”

“You lost?” Mack’s voice comes out in a growl. From the fireplace, Snow growls too. He’s been injured, and looks as ridiculous as I remembered as a dog sized bear instead of a bear sized one.

“I lost.” Lucien leans back against his desk. Hatred oozes from him when he looks at me. “So, wolf, can you help with that?”

6

NOVA

We can hear Zephyra fucking above us. She makes no effort to hide it, and the vampire who stumbles down the stairs high on FHB with his fly open makes it very clear what exactly she bargained in exchange for his cock. He glances at me, then at Kole, then runs straight past us and disappears into the shadows further down the tunnel.

Is that how she manipulated you?

The question shoots from my mind to Kole’s without me having the chance to stop it. He meets my eyes but does not reply.

“Sorry,” I mutter, shaking my head.

I am finding this harder than I thought I would.

Gingerly, he reaches for my hand. But his fingers have barely brushed mine when Zephyra appears and tells her minions to take us to one of the holding cells.

“I’m getting dejavu,” Kole says gruffly.

“At least this time, there’s not a cage,” I reply as the door swings open and we are thrust into a damp concrete box that looks like a moldy jail cell.

“I don’t know,” Kole mutters. “I didn’t mind the cage in the end.”

He looks at me out of the corner of his eye, and I almost smile.

But then the door slams shut behind us, and we don’t have the chance to ask how long we’ll be kept or where Kim is or what Zephyra is doing with Miranda.