Jake sat in his cell, his head bent low over a table as he wrote on a piece of paper. He’s been getting letters from Mark for the last four days. And it was almost time for them to swap letters again. Mark always came at the same time every day. With a cup of coffee for both and chocolate. They’d spend an hour just talking and then they’d exchange letters. He found himself looking forward to those letters almost as much as their daily visit. Even resenting his prison, he felt calmer, happier, knowing that Mark would come to him. His head snapped up as he heard the door open at the top of the stairs, and Mark came walking down. Since he was the only one down there now, they’d left lights on, and he wasn’t in the dark as he was when he was locked up with Mark. He wondered sometimes, just how much Mark had to do with that. He knew Lucy also advocated for him. She’d always stood by him. He stood then froze as Mark took a key out of his pocket and unlo

Paine threw her whiskey glass across the room. It shattered, pieces spilled across the woman tied to the steaks in the floors, chest. The woman closed her eyes and turned her head to the side to try and avoid getting any glass pieces in her eyes. Paine almost laughed. The woman must be in so much pain as she lay there, and yet she flinched from a few pieces of glass. “Clever, they were clever,” Paine muttered. “I made a mistake, underestimating them,” Paine told the woman as she pressed a piece of the glass into the woman’s flesh with her foot. “Doesn’t matter, they don’t know my exact location. You did what I asked you, didn’t you?” She knelt beside the woman. Her hands pressed to the woman’s breasts. “You put the barrier around my home as I asked you?” She smiled as the woman nodded furiously. “Good.” Paine pushed to her feet again and the woman let out a breath of relief. Paine paced to the window and back, her eyes tracked between the woman on her floor and the man she’d picked up

Amber stood, the screaming, which had started as two low voices going at each other, was now full-blown shouting and definitely more than just two voices. She followed the screaming and found Mya leaning against Sam’s door frame, arms crossed over her chest. “What’s going on?” Amber asked her.“Mark wants Sam to release Jake to him.”“Oh.” Amber knew that this would come. Ever since she’d spoken to Diane and found out that she’d almost walked in on the two men going at it. She hated that it was causing trouble between Mark and Sam. But it was also understandable that Sam was reluctant to let an enemy loose on pack ground. Jake had proven on more than one occasion that he would betray them without a second thought. “Who’s winning the argument?” Amber asked. Diane and Lucy were in the middle of the fight too.“Well, honestly. No one. This is just a screaming match, with no one list

Gem woke slowly, she knew she was in a car, and wondered why they were driving again. The last thing she remembered was Hunter shoving the door open and… nothing. Shit, had she been hit in the head? She tried to lift her hand so she could feel her head. And found she couldn’t. Her hands were tied behind her back. She tugged at them and was surprised at how strong the bonds were. “What the hell?”“Oh, you’re awake.” A strange voice said from the front seat. The music that had been playing died and silence filled the car. “I was hoping you would stay asleep until we reach our destination. But this is okay too.”“Who are you? Where am I?”“Who, what, when, where?” The stranger laughed. “Those are good questions. Well, the who is Paine. Nice to meet you. The what, is your plan to take me down, failed, so now you’re my hostage. The when, I’m not sure yet, since that will

The first thing Mya saw when she walked into the conference room was Hunter. The vampire was pacing the length of the room, her hands buried deep in her pockets and her head down. Mya reached out and took Taylor’s hand. She knew what Hunter was going through. The only difference was that they would bring Gem back, if she had to burn Amber City to the ground, she’d find Gem! Taylor squeezed her hand and smiled reassuringly at Mya. Then let go of her hand and walked to where Amber stood talking with Michelle. Mya walked to Hunter.“Hunt,” Mya said quietly, she reached out and touched Hunter’s shoulder. “We’ll find her.” “Yes,” Hunter said. She stared down at Mya. Mya was only an inch or so shorter, but Hunter always had a way of standing taller. “She’s tough and she’s been through so much in her life, she can handle this.” Hunter rubbed her hands over her face and then smiled at Ash who came walking in and held out a cup to her. “Thank you.” “My pleasure,” Ash said. Mya smelled the b