I grabbed some towels and peroxide and hurried as fast as I could out of the bathroom. As soon as I entered the chamber, I found Valentin’s eyes already watching me, his broad and bulking chest awash with blood.

Getting on the floor, I immediately took a towel and pressed the soft fabric around his neck, trying to soak up as much of the blood as I possibly could. Valentin didn’t even flinch; instead he stared down at my breasts, his nostrils flared and his lips thinned.

“I am fine,” I said.

His eyes met mine. Nothing was said. I wasn’t convinced he could speak now anyway.

Removing the towel, I took the bottle of peroxide and pressed my hand to his cheek. When he looked to me, I said, “This will sting, but we need to close up the holes around your neck. We need to stop the blood.” Valentin’s lifeless eyes never moved, even when I poured the peroxide over his cut and all around his neck.

I winced, knowing how it must have felt. I re-covered the holes with a clean towel. I moved closer, my heart as bruised as my body, to take in the broken expression on his face.

Valentin tracked me the entire way, but I could see his eyes closing. Dread and fear filled my aching bones. Touching his face, I said, “It’s gone, Valentin. You removed the collar from around your neck.”

The black stubble on his face stood in stark contrast to the paling sallow skin beneath. My heart surged when his lips twitched, then pulled into a ghost of a smile. A strange feeling washed over my soul as I saw that smile on his savagely scarred and brutal face, but it quickly faded when Valentin’s eyes closed and his body grew frighteningly still.

12

VALENTIN

“Where are they taking us?”

I gripped Inessa tighter as the truck we had been thrown into started to move, taking us away from the orphanage that had been our home for the past two years.

“I don’t know, dorogaya moya.”

I blinked, trying to see something in the darkness of the truck, but I couldn’t make anything out. I could hear the cries of the other children the Night Wraiths had chosen, whom she had chosen. I could hear their sniffles and fast breathing.

I closed my eyes, pulling my little sister toward me¸ stroking through her hair. I rocked her back and forth, sighing when her little body stopped shaking and she slumped against my chest.

I worked on keeping still; I worked on breathing in slow and steady breaths. But the truth was, I was terrified. The woman who dressed all in black had ordered the Wraiths to bring us out to the truck. When the door opened, the back of the truck was filled with small cages.

The blood drained from my face. I looked over to Inessa, who was being held by a Wraith. As he went to throw my sister in the back, she started screaming for me, holding out her hands.

As I rammed my elbow into the Wraith that held me his hand released my neck, and I climbed in the van after my sister. The Wraith turned when he saw me running and held out his gun. It didn’t stop me. I kept going, seeing the Wraith remove the safety, when a cracking sound hit the wall of the van and the woman commanded, “Stop!” The Wraith holding my sister froze at the woman’s command. Heels clicked on the floor behind me, and something ran over my neck and into my long messy black hair.

“Interesting reaction, don’t you think?” the woman said to the guard holding my sister.

I suddenly saw what had been running through my hair when the woman hit out a whip toward the guard’s still-raised gun. The gun fell to the floor. Inessa cried out and tucked her head in the Wraith’s shoulder. My hands balled at my sides and my teeth gritted together as I saw my sister looking so small in that bastard’s arms.

The woman then turned to me and ran the edge of the whip down my face. Her dark eyes were bright, and she leaned in, using the end of the whip under my chin to force my head up. “You’re going to be an interesting one, I can tell.” Her voice was as sharp as a knife, and my skin broke out in shivers at the way she watched me.

She stared at me in silence, but my eyes drifted over her shoulder to check on Inessa. Inessa’s blue eyes were watching me, her bottom lip trembling. My stomach roiled at seeing her so upset. I wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms and tell her everything was going to be okay.

The woman followed my gaze; then as she snapped her head back to me she cracked her whip across my cheek. I staggered back as blistering pain sliced across my face. My hand lifted over my cheek, and when I pulled it back blood was on my palm.

I looked up at the woman, rage building in my veins. When my rage-filled eyes met hers, her eyes flared and her thin lips spread into a wide smile. Without turning to the male Wraith, she ordered, “Put them in the same cage! One last ride will not make a difference.” My shoulders sagged in relief as the male walked to a cage and put my sister inside. My heart squeezed as I looked at Inessa so small in the metal cage. Her dark hair fell down her back and her blue eyes were so big they almost appeared unreal.

The guard snapped his fingers and I rushed forward, but not before the woman gripped my arm bringing me to a halt. Her long fingers dug into my biceps as her mouth leaned down until it met my ear. I shivered again, something in my soul warning me to pull away.

“I see the fury in your eyes, little boy,” the woman said coolly. I saw her mouth break into a smile, and she added, “Good. Keep it. Fuel it. It will become essential for what I have planned…”—she looked over her shoulder to my sister, then turned back to finish—“for you and your little angel there.”

I wanted to argue, I wanted to hit her in the face, but my body was frozen to the spot. The female didn’t release my arm for several seconds, until she pushed me toward the cage. I stumbled but rushed into the cage with Inessa. As soon as I was in the cage, Inessa crawled onto my lap. She threaded her arms around my neck and whispered, “I am scared, Valentin. That woman scares me.”

“Shh,” I soothed, and held her close. “She won’t hurt you.”

Inessa exhaled and whispered, “Big Brother Promise?”

Tears pricked my eyes, and I nodded my head. “Big Brother Promise.”

“Then I’ll be safe,” she said softly.

As I glanced up, I heard the other children being loaded into the other cages. But as I did, I met the dark gaze of the woman, now standing before our cage. My body stilled when I saw the look on her face. My stomach turned in dread when I knew she’d heard everything I’d just promised Inessa.