Page 63 of Take
I recoiled. Guise was saying something, but I couldn’t hear him as I blocked out everything except Drake’s voice.
“Did you fuck him, Breanna?”
“Don’t kill him.”Jasper was alive. He still had a chance.
He chuckled again. I remembered the sound so clearly and a thread of fear sliced into me. Because I knew what came next. And I’d do anything to save Jasper’s life; that was why Drake hadn’t killed him yet. “You know what I want. Don’t make me chase you . . .” he paused and I could hear him breathing in my mind. “There will be consequences for leaving me and for lying to me, you know that. But I will make it easier on you if you stop running.”
“And Jasper?”
“Max!” Guise’s hands gripped my arms and shook me, trying to get my attention.
“Jasper?”I repeated.
“He’ll live if you come to me. I’ll even be generous and let you heal him. But he leaves and you come back with me. To where you belong, Breanna.”
I had one chance and if I failed . . . I wouldn’t fail. I was stronger now, and if my plan worked, I’d have help. I knew Drake better than anyone. He’d kill Jasper. He’d never let him walk away no matter what he said. His acid-laced lies spilled so easily from his mouth. “I’ll meet you. But if Jasper isn’t alive, I will never heal your Ink.” I had no intention of ever healing his Ink even if my idea didn’t work.
“As my slave you will.”
“Know this, Drake. If he dies, I will never drink your blood. And I will spend each and every day fighting you. I know how you hate it when I fight.”My chest swelled at some of the power I had over Drake. It was no longer fear but determination. It was no longer submission but rebellion. He could torture me and hurt me and mentally destroy me, but what he couldn’t do was take my will away. In order to become a vampire and his slave, I had to willingly drink his blood and I wasn’t the little ten-year-old girl anymore who had no one.
I had something to fight for—Jasper.
“And I will torture him until you do,”Drake said confidently.
“No, because I will heal him and then you will let him go. He walks away first. So, you better make fucking certain he stays alive, Drake.”He hissed, knowing I had the upper hand. “And the blades I hold to my throat. I’m not afraid to die. You made sure of that. Don’t fuck with me, Drake.”
He was quiet, and for a second, I thought he’d left my mind, but the cold, cruel blackness still lingered and I knew he was deciding how far he could push me.
“There is a white house by the road across from the hotel where you stayed . . . with him. Find a way to get there. You have less than two hours. Remember your house burning with your mother inside? That is what will happen to him in two hours if you don’t show—alone Breanna.”
And then he was gone.